JFK

Rating:
Summary: The day the Heavens fell on Oliver Stone.
Review: The most trusted man in America Mr Walter Cronkite called the film JFK "a tissue of lies".Indeed,from the false opening scenes where a man cops a beating for'snooping'(he was actually beaten over a gambling debt)to the final scene where Garrison leaves the court with his family(he was actually in his office when the verdict was announced),the film is a lie followed by more lies.
We have scenes where a woman in a hospital warns about the upcoming assassination(never happened)to a co-conspirator and possible witness found murdered(never happened).
We have Garrison going to Washington to meet an officer that was in New Zealand at the time of the shooting(never happened).
The court statement that the shots lasted 5.6 seconds is false and the Zapruder film clearly shows that 9 seconds went by.
The sound evidence about other shots being fired,mentioned at the end of the film,has now been found to be in error.
But the best example of what a dishonest film and director we have here is the 'grassy knoll' scene.
Try as he might,director Oliver Stone could not find a gun that would make enough smoke to be seen by witnesses.
Now,does it occur to Oliver Stone that if he couldn't find such a gun then why would an assassin use one? No,instead Oliver then got a man to blow smoke from a bellows to simulate the smoke. Some critics say that sums up the film,full of hot air.The film ends with a line written by a Hollywood writer-Garrison is shown saying "let the truth be known or the Heavens fall".Mr Garrison wasn't even at the court at the time of the announced verdict,he was in his office at the time.Mr Stone has the gall to talk about truth when he makes up facts.
Oliver Stone has since made other films that have had their historical accuracy questioned.

Rating:
Summary: Believe in conspiracy theories...
Review: Director Oliver Stone tackles the biggest conspiracy theory of all time in this all-star cast, big budget production. It is not that easy to defend a theory like this, but Stone packs in a great deal of believable evidence to back his claim. The idea that there was more than one individual involved in the assassination of President Kennedy doesn't seem that far off the mark after viewing Stone's three hour plus masterpiece. Kevin Costner brilliantly plays District Attorney Jim Garrison, the only man in history to bring someone to trial for the murder of President Kennedy. The rest of the cast is great, I especially loved Joe Pesci and John Candy - two very different roles than what they were used to. What you may not read on the trivia section for JFK is that Martin Sheen did the voiceover narration for the film, he played President Kennedy in the TV series "Kennedy" and in THE DEAD ZONE he plays a politician that faces an assassination attempt. JFK took two Academy Awards for best cinematography and best editing. These two awards were well deserved as Stone is now notorious for editing black & white sequences with color sequences which blend together beautifully. This film will always be a milestone, in my opinion, in risk-taking cinema. Whether you believe it or not, you have to give the man credit for going against the common ideology and making a bold statement that we don't have to believe everything we hear and we don't have to swallow everything whole, that it is good to question things no matter how tragic they are. "Let the truth be told though the heavens fall."

Rating:
Summary: Nice and Controversial
Review: When JFK first hit the theaters, I wasn't interested in it at all. But then I read Michael Parenti's account of the controversies the movie faced, and how it was attacked months before its theater release. In fact, critics continue to attack the movie today. That's when I got hooked and acquired my own copy of the movie.

The Director's Cut is a most welcomed version of any movie. Viewers would certainly love to see extended and deleted scenes. The other extras contained in JFK are nice too. I would have like to see behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the movie, though, but that's not a big problem. I haven't listened to the full director's commentary yet, so I am not sure if Oliver Stone has tried to defend his movie against the relentless wave of criticism it has endured.

For anyone who has yet to see the movie, get yourself a copy and watch it.

Rating:
Summary: One of the greatest movies Of the 90s
Review: To say Oliver Stone's epic JFK was a little generous in exposing half truth's about the JFK assasination would be a gross understatement. In fact, some of the most chilling moments in this 'true' story are mere heresay. However, movies were not made to educate, but to entertain. And this movie comes through. Filled with numerous cameos (Walter Mathau, Jack Lemmon, John Candy, Donald Sutherland, Kevin Bacon) this ensemble piece really manages to focus upon one man's lone struggle to prove that the asssasination of JFK was not only done by someone else than Lee Harvey Oswald, but that the government knew Oswald was innocent. Second maybe to only To Kill A Mockingbird, this film delivers the best courtroom scene ever produced. And even though this movie winds much longer than 3 hours, there is not a dull moment. If you want to know the truth read a book, but if you want Oliver Stone's truth, watch JFK, Stone's best film and Kevin Costner's best too.

Rating:
Summary: The greatest DVD commentary of them all?
Review: Upon release JFK was heavily criticised for being a speculative film that was liberal with its account on the JFK assassination. I believe it is the greatest film ever made, and that these critics are probably the same people who predicted Fight Club would inspire a generation to start beating each other up. It is not my favourite film but JFK is perfect in every way, and showcases the heights at which this medium can reach.

There are two DVDs available. Warner were hasty when DVD arrived and shipped off loads of films that had zero features (the odd trailer here and there) and JFK was one of them. Thankfully there is now a Special Edition DVD that spans over two discs. The first contains the film and Stone's commentary. The second disc's notable inclusions are the "multimedia essays" and a near hours worth of deleted scenes. The second disc is great but even if it were not part of the package I would still be urging you to buy it because the commentary Stone provides is ridiculously good.

If you look at JFK on merely a filmmaking level you will appreciate it all the more. It is probably the most accomplished, daring and epic film ever made. Lord Of The Rings may have been difficult to film (understatement) but no one can tell me it is as complex as JFK in terms of plotting and editing. There are so many scenes, cuts and speaking roles (think Traffic times ten!) that it startles me how under appreciated the film is. The courtroom scene alone should be analysed by film students across the world. Then think of the cast (the best ever assembled?): Kevin Costner, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Gary Oldman, Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Michael Rooker, Kevin Bacon, John Candy and many more. How Stone managed to handle this many stars proves his strength as a director.

Anyway, the commentary covers everything. The filmmaking, the writing, the politics, justifications of excluding certain events, scenes and characters and he responds to each criticism of his film and makes the people who voiced them look like idiots. And Stone is not like a monosyllabic Tim Burton (whose commentaries can be so boring and painful at times). He speaks with an articulacy that is rare among any Hollywood director. He is an educated man whose intelligence overwhelms the listener. He ends on an ambiguous tone. He questions my generation (I am 18). He asks if I am an institutionalised consumer in a capitalist society who blindly accepts the information fed by the media. That is DEEP! Stone's intention in this film was to elevate the importance of the JFK assassination. To show how a country that was once founded on the greatest of ideals allowed such a horror to occur. It is also a very relevant commentary as the face of Lee Harvey Oswald could easily be replaced by the face of Osama Bin Laden.

I thought the Fincher/Pitt commentaries were good but Stone puts them to shame. This director has proved to me that film still matters, that it is a serious medium which can make serious changes in the world. If you care about film you should own this DVD.

Rating:
Summary: Oliver Stone's Greatest
Review: This film marks not only an achievement for Oliver Stone, but for all film. It is no surprise to me that Roger Ebert chose this film as one of his 100 Great Movies, recently published. The DVD is a stellar production as well, with more than anyone could hope for in extras and quality. Pick this one up, and you'll want to watch it every day.

Rating:
Summary: Closer to the Truth than the Warren Commission
Review: Oliver Stone, to say the least, is one of the most controversial directors in film history. Many see him as a dangerous loose cannon who rewrites history to fit his own agenda. I see him as a filmmaker who has the guts to speak his mind on controversial subjects -- even when his point of view flies in the face of "conventional" wisdom.

Nowhere is this more true than in JFK. Despite the fact that a large majority of Americans believe that President Kennedy was assassinated as the result of a conspiracy, the media lambasted Stone for his interpretation of the events of November 22, 1963. Various journalists and columnists called Stone everything from a revisionist historian to a crackpot when the film was released. To be sure, New Oreleans Disctrict Attorney Jim Garrison wasn't the knight on a white horse of Stone's film -- his investigative tactics were very shady. Garrison mysteriously did not investigate possible mob connections to the assassination. And Stone does implicate almost everyone, including Presidents Johnson and Nixon, J. Edgar Hoover and almost the entire Dallas Police Department.

However, Garrison is merely a catalyst for Stone's thesis as the only person who ever indicted a suspect (Clay Shaw) in the murder of John F. Kennedy. And even with its myriad of conspriacy theories, the sad fact remains that Stone's interpretation is much closer to the truth than the Warren Commission Report. We can, for example, see on the Zapruder film that JFK is suddenly and violently slammed backwards and to the left by the shot to his head, indicating a firing position from the front and not from the Texas School Book Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald was. Most Americans don't believe that Oswald, who, at the height of the Cold War, defected to Russia with the intention of passing on U.S. Government secrets, married a Colonel's daughter, then somehow regained his U.S. citizenship and returned to the U.S., was just the "lone nut" the Warren Commission claimed he was. And most Americans don't believe that Jack Ruby killed Oswald merely to "spare Jackie Kennedy the trauma of having to return to Dallas for Oswald's trial." In spite of this, however, the media jumped all over Stone's film, lambasting him as loose with the facts and irresponsible.

Stone does in JFK what the Constitution gives Americans the right to do -- namely question authority when the answers it gives us do not satisfy and enlighten. I do, by no means, think that the media were part of the plot. But the media also does no service to the American public when they whitewash the work of an Oliver Stone as the work of a crackpot. Perhaps the media collectively does not have the courage to risk its reputation or maybe they are frustrated and angry that they didn't dig deeper at the time of the assassination. Whatever the reason, they do no service to either the people of the United States or the truth when they issue their blanket dismissals of JFK and other films like it. I agree that Stone should be held accountable for any inaccuracies in his films. However, the press should be held just as accountable when they back the utterly useless Warren Commission version of the Kennedy assassination. Gerald Posner can shout "CASE CLOSED" all he wants from the highest mountain top, but the questions and the doubts remain.

Last June I visited Dallas, Dealey Plaza and the Texas School Book Depository. To say it was an eerie experience was an understatement. Most of the museum on the sixth floor (where Oswald allegedly fired from) was dedicated exclusively to the assassination. However a large portion of the museum was dedicated to President Kennedy's life and administration. Almost as heartbreaking as the memories of his assassination and funeral were the reminders of all the hope and potential that was snuffed out on November 22, 1963. JFK brings back the pain and anguish of not only the assassination, but America in the years after John F. Kennedy's assassination. Thank you, Oliver Stone, for showing us what we lost and for inspiring us to demand the truth.

Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece! Oliver Stone Delievers!
Review: JFK, what can you say about it to do it justice? Its a work of art? Its the most controversal film in history? A true masterpiece? Nothing in words can describe this epic. From the director who has brought you some of the best (Platoon, Born on the 4th of July, Natural Born Killers, Nixon, U-Turn, The Doors, Wall Street, Heaven & Earth & Talk Radio) brings another mystery to life, the JFK Assasignation. The acting is some of the best in history. Shame the Academy didnt think so. This film has everything you go to the movies for, and everything you thought no one would ever talk about. Go see this movie, if you ever see one more movie in your life, its gotta be JFK!

Rating:
Summary: Who grieves the name Oswald?
Review: Yes, Who grieves the name Lee Harvey Oswald. He was set up from the go and the remarkable film JFK explores this deeply and other things in the wrongful death of JFK. JFK was a man wh wanted to change things for the better. He wanted to make a world with peace and cooperation. Sadly this dream was shattered by men who only knew war and knew no peace. Kevin Costner gives the best performance of 1991 as New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison who searches for the truth in the assassination. GAry Oldman is remarkable as Oswald. You are bound to cry at the end when Kevin Costner gives his final statement because you know that the assasination was a conspiracy and our own country killed what was going to be the greatest president ever and was killed because he wanted peace instead of war. He thought life was too precious and was murdered by the CIA, tyhe FBI, the Dallas Police Department,and sadly LBJ

Rating:
Summary: An eye-opener.
Review: Oliver Stone's JFK is a brilliant piece of gritty analytical cinematography. It's much, much more than a film though. It would be a mortal sin to dismiss it as such.

This is the story of Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner) and his search for the truth within a system riddled with lies and treachery. His research, following the death of John Kennedy, uncovers a shocking conspiracy manifested deep within the most elite realms of the US Government. The deeper Garrison digs, the more dangerous it becomes and the greater amount of compelling evidence comes into focus; revealing how, in true Shakespearean style, one of the world's greatest leaders was rubbed out by his own.

Even though his marriage was to suffer, his life thrown into the most unimaginable turbulence, Garrison never gave up his quest for justice and truth until his death in 1995. This is a film that any one who rejects the status quo should watch. Garrison's closing speech to the court is tear-jerking, articulate and above all, logical.

This film is a classic regardless of whether it proves to be true or not. It represents something that is very rare in Hollywood today - that is, disputation over the axiom. Sadly, made in 1991, it doesn't seem to have set a trend.
Maybe the true meaning of this film shall be realised when the innumerable amount of classified documents currently held by the likes of the NSA are released for public consumption sometime this century. Maybe...