The Doors (Special Edition)

Rating:
Summary: The real jim morrison
Review: Well I see a few of these reviews, and the reviews from others saying that this movie doesn't show the real jim morrison. What Oliver Stone is trying to protray is his version of jim. oliver stone has said that he tried to get information on morrison from others that knew him, and all claimed that they knew the real jim. But their stories call conflicted, so what he did was take all of their stories and try to put together what he felt was jim. When your a fan of something you want your tribute to come out to be wonderful, but it's hard to please everyone. like on one review I read that crosby said that's not what jim was really like, but with everything that was going on in the sixties i'm sure that crosby barely knows what he was like. Now as for the film I thought the whole cast did a wonderfule job, and that's including meg ryan. Now this role was a totally stretch for meg ryan because she was know as america's sweetheart. She did a great job as pam because pam was really sweet, but she was also naive. I thought she really transformed herself on screen, plus her drug sceens were very real. I thought val kilmer was flawless as jim. I've been a long time fan of the doors because of their music, and also because jim morrison was a sagitarius, and I'm also one so I really understood where he was coming from. I thought this was one of oliver stone's best film, and that's from the acting to the casting to just the film as a whole.

Rating:
Summary: A Must-See for All Fans
Review: If you love The Doors, you need to watch this film. It's absolutely amazing. Full of many songs from The Doors and other bands of the era, it paints a picture of the band from the very beginning until Morrison's death. Val Kilmer gives an outstanding performance and slips into the role of Jim Morrison with no problems. You're tempted to think it IS Morrison. Meg Ryan is wonderful as Pamela Morrison.

I highly recommend this movie if you are a fan of The Doors. I can't get enough of it.

Rating:
Summary: Colorful film
Review: I just watched this movie again a few days ago, and the photography sticks in my mind. There are more special effects in The Doors than in Star Wars. I think this movie represents a change in Oliver Stone's career. I didn't like some of his earlier films as much as other people. The most interesting films to me were the ones where he used a lot of special photography to convey the message like JFK, Nixon, Any Given Sunday, even Natural Born Killers although I think the movie hits a doorstop in the prison scenes. I like the colorful, tripping stuff. There are scenes in Killers that have the kind of visual exuberance and improvisations inherent in the text.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Movie
Review: The thing about most rock movies like this one is that in reviewing them, people are often caught up in the accuracy of the presentation. Is this EXACTLY how Jim was? Is that REALLY what Patricia and Jim did together? And what about that Ed Sullivan thing, did that really happen?

Please, people. If that's what you're looking for, watch an actual Doors concert. Watch Jim Morrison interviews. Read a decent biography. This is a MOVIE, coming straight out of Hollywood. As Oliver Stone says in the bonus features, it's his interpretation of a figure that has fascinated generations for decades, even after his untimely death in the early 1970s.

Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. It's certainly legitimate to be annoyed at minor factual inconsistencies, and the like. Also, this movie was bound to make at least SOME of Jim's closest relations angry. Patricia Kennealy hates poor Mr. Stone with a passion (but then she hates most everyone these days, so that's probably not saying much). Ray Manzerek, keyboardist for the Doors, called the movie "atrocious". Perhaps this isn't what Jim was like -- in my opinion, it was slightly unfair, the way Stone handled Jim's drug and alcohol issues.

However, despite all this, I love the movie. It wasn't supposed to answer any questions, it was supposed to represent one man's image of the Lizard King ("whatever that means"), and this image is surprisingly universal. He recreates the hazy world of 60s L.A. with magnificent usage of color, music, and set, so that this movie is a visual feast. The Doors songs scattered throughout are also quite accurately placed -- the misty effects of 'Riders on the Storm' are especially poignant in the beginning of the film, and a recurring theme in 'The End' is an interesting film technique. All in all, it builds a very interesting view of the late 60s, Jim Morrison, the Doors, and their world.

Oh, yes, and the acting. The acting in this movie is tremendous. Meg Ryan does a wonderful job as Pamela Courson (Jim's common law wife, and longtime love), with a great performance in a violent Thanksgiving scene. Though I forget her name, the actress playing the witchwife Patricia Kennealy is also quite impressive, though based on the real-life Kennealy's recent endeavours, I'm not sure how realistic her interpretation was. And, of course, the impeccable Val Kilmer. Some may say he didn't display all the facets of Jim to the extent that he could, I say don't blame him for that, blame the script. His performances onstage conduct the same energy Morrison himself provoked in a crowd, his MysteriousDrunkenPoet interpretation was perfect for the mood Stone set, and I challenge any nonbelievers to watch Kilmer sing 'Light My Fire', and then put the actual song on. To the average listener - perhaps even the above-average listener - there is NO DIFFERENCE. The voice, the word-breaks, the tone... it's all perfectly on the mark. It's scary, actually.

So, in conclusion, I challenge any negative critics of Stone's movie to include all of its features in their consideration. Oliver Stone did not catch Jim Morrison on film. He encapsulated the mystery, the enigma that was Jim Morrison. He opens more questions than answers them, and rightly so. The only person that can REALLY claim to know what Jim was like is Jim himself, and of course he's not exactly around to do so. This movie is a triumph as a film, with amazing visuals, brilliant acting, and a true passion for the subject. It's extremely enjoyable, and comes highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: AMAZING
Review: This movie changed my perspective of Rock n' Roll intensely. This movie was so gratifying, it gave me chills, it also made me sort of understand Morrison more. Val Kilmer portrayed such a terrific roll as Morrison, I acually believed it was Morrison instead of the actor. I love the doors. I dont think the movie could be any better or any worse. Thumbs up to Oliver STONE. JIM MORRISON LIVES

Rating:
Summary: Don't Judge Until You Understand The Facts!
Review: Ok, I don't care what most people say, this movie is probably 75% or more true than what has been said. Sure there are a lot of inconsistencies (Such as the New Haven Incident being pegged for 1968 when it was 1967) and charachter mistakes (Patricia Keneally was not backstage in Miami..Morrison didn't meet Pam on the street etc..) but for the most part the actual events such as the New Haven Arrest, Miami, The Whiskey, and to some extent Ed Sullivan are depicted fairly accurately (At the very LEAST a little overdramatized). I also have noticed that Oliver Stone did a lot of consolidation in this movie (Why not? I mean c'mon you can't sum up the entire Doors Legacy with a 2 hour movie!)but he did it for the most part accurately. Before passing judgement on this movie read the books (I Highly recommend 'Riders On The Storm' by John Densmore, 'Jim Morrison: Life Death, Legend' by Stephen Davis and 'No One Here Gets Out Alive') the books will paint a picture in your mind before you watch the movie and then you can compare the two, you will find that Oliver Stone, considering the circumstances he was up against did a great job with depicting Jim Morrison and The Doors. Sure, its in no way a complete accurate representation of 'The Doors' but instead it is what Oliver Stone has made them out to be based on talking to the band and the transcripts he's read that were based on those who knew the band and/or Jim Morrison well. Also, keep in mind, this movie is not meant to be a documentary...its an artists recreation of that era from his own perspective.

Rating:
Summary: Morrison's Show
Review: In 1991 director Oliver Stone made two epics concerning the 1960s, "JFK" and "The Doors". In my humble opinion, Stone was most successful with "The Doors" in evoking the spirit of that tumultuous time in American history. You can feel and taste the ambiance of the Sunset Strip and the smoky clubs that the Doors used as their stomping grounds. But who's kidding who; the Doors were a vehicle for the musings of their charasmatic leader, Jim Morrison, and the rest of the band were able sidemen. Val Kilmer so eerily channels the spirit of Morrison in his performance here that you feel that you are actually witnessing the rise and downward spiral of the Lizard King himself. The cast here includes many talented individuals(Meg Ryan, Kyle Maclachlan, Frank Whaley, Kevin Dillon) but essentially they are but straight men to the Morrison show. The reason I rate this film four stars instead of five is indicative of the fact that this is ultimately not an easy film to watch. It's something of a chore to witness the self-destruction of a talented individual through his own narcissistic indulgences.

Rating:
Summary: One man's drink is another man's career.
Review: Oliver Stone's fascination with Jim Morrison may be in part due to their similiar backgrounds. Both were voracious readers from comfortable, middle-class families who rebelled against their conservative fathers (Morrison's an admiral, Stone's a stockbroker). Morrison, like Stone, was also a film graduate and it is this common social background that seems to make Stone believe that he and Jim are 'Dionysion' brothers bonded across time and space.

Stone had done credible research before the making of this film, he conducted interviews with over a hundred people and the sets and concert shots are scruplessly detailed. Instead of a straight ahead biopic, Stone used the Doors' songs themselves as the foundation of the story. The film would become a poetic depiction of Morrison's life. Stone has used this technique before, in many of his movies, characters are too often representative architypes (Elias & Barnes, Gordon Gecko), rather than 3-dimensional real people. Through these architypes Stone can then rather symplisticly proclaim his views about the time and era we're looking at e.g. the 60's.

Again we see Stone's MTV-style shooting technique where images come thick and fast in contrasting styles. This is supposed to represent the flashes of insight Morrison was prone to. Even the lighting and colour of the film get progressivly darker as we follow Morrison's obvious death obsession, another trait Stone believes he shares with Morrison. In fact Stone identified with Morrison so much that during the making of the film, he drank heavily and even indulged in peyote.

Ray Manzerak must find the royalties he's made from the movie hard to stomach.

Rating:
Summary: A true poet...
Review: Alot of people have said that this movie isn't completely accurate...and even though that is true...the movie was amazing! The acting was great. They could not have found anyone else to play the part of someone as amazing as Jim Morrison...Val Kilmer was fantastic! You really felt like you were seeing Jim all over again. And while it is true that this movie only shows the wild and drug-addicated side of Jim, the movie...the acting...and the direction is great! Oliver Stone did a great job of showing Jim the way that Oliver saw him...and Oliver even said that was how it was supposed to be...an opinion and a vision that he had. So with that in mind...and the fact that Val Kilmer, Kyle MacLachlan, Frank Whaley, Kevin Dillon, and Meg Ryan did an amazing job, this movie is one of those...turn out the lights and let your mind go...kind of movies! A MUST SEE!!!

Rating:
Summary: Not factually correct and
Review: Not a factual presentation, but more of Stone's interpretation of Morrison's image. I don't think Jim would be happy. Stone puts his own spin on Morrison's life with The Doors.

Visually - it's interesting. The acting is decent. The concerts are well choreographed.