16 replies to this topic

[Ryan H.]

Yet another entry in our series of "Which is your favorite film by such-and-such auteur" polls, I now turn to Oliver Stone, a director with whom I have a kind of love/hate relationship. I haven't found much about Stone elsewhere in our forum (but I might not be looking in the right places). I wouldn't expect Stone to be an A&F favorite, but nevertheless I'd be curious to see which films Stone has made that A&F does appreciate, and to what extent.

I'll fire the first salvo: I dig NIXON. Don't particularly like anything Stone has done since.

[Overstreet]

• JFK
  
• NBK
  
• Val-K

runner-up: Nixon, definitely.

Edited by Overstreet, 07 September 2011 - 03:30 PM.

[morgan1098]

JFK. When Costner broke the "fourth wall" I was bowled over. It's one of the few times that technique has really worked for me in a movie.

[Christian]

I love Oliver Stone, but The Doors is one of two films I've walked out of at the theater.

[Ryan H.]

I've never seen THE DOORS.

[Overstreet]

Christian, on 07 September 2011 - 05:02 PM, said:

I love Oliver Stone, but The Doors is one of two films I've walked out of at the theater.

Really? Why?

The aforementioned Val-K's performance alone was enough to bring me back for two rounds in the theatre. (Granted, that was a long time ago. I wonder what I'd think of it now.)

Edited by Overstreet, 07 September 2011 - 09:36 PM.

[J.R.]

Stone is a blindspot in my film viewing. I've only seen Platoon andNatural Born Killers. And maybe half of The Doors.

[Christian]

Overstreet, on 07 September 2011 - 05:28 PM, said:

Christian, on 07 September 2011 - 05:02 PM, said:

I love Oliver Stone, but The Doors is one of two films I've walked out of at the theater.

Really? Why? The aforementioned Val-K's performance alone was enough to bring me back for two rounds in the theatre. (Granted, that was a long time ago. I wonder what I'd think of it now.)

Well, it was half a lifetime ago, but the rocking camerawork made me sick to my stomach. And I like the camerawork in most Stone films, and the editing. But not with The Doors.

[Andrew]

Stone's a major blind spot for me, too - I've only seen three of his films (Salvador, Platoon, and Wall Street), and much as I admire those three, I have no great desire to view his other work.

[Anders]

I've seen less than half of Stone's ouvre, but JFK is masterful. Even if you don't buy the conspiracy theories, you have to admit that it's a striking piece of filmmaking, dizzyingly weaving a mass of sometimes contradictory information and history into a mythos that remains a part of the popular imagination ("Back, and to the left!") and it's compulsively watchable, with a nearly 45 min monologue/courtroom scene that never seems to drag, and with literally dozens of fine performances. I don't love all the other Stone films I've seen. I think PLATOON, regarded by some as one of his best, is overrated, but I count JFK among my favourites.

[Ryan H.]

Anders, on 07 September 2011 - 08:26 PM, said:

I've seen less than half of Stone's ouvre, but JFK is masterful. Even if you don't buy the conspiracy theories, you have to admit that it's a striking piece of filmmaking, dizzyingly weaving a mass of sometimes contradictory information and history into a mythos that remains a part of the popular imagination ("Back, and to the left!") and it's compulsively watchable, with a nearly 45 min monologue/courtroom scene that never seems to drag, and with literally dozens of fine performances. I don't love all the other Stone films I've seen. I think PLATOON, regarded by some as one of his best, is overrated, but I count JFK among my favourites.

I, too, think PLATOON is overrated. Indeed, I think many Oliver Stone "classics" have a bit of a bloated reputation (alas, yes, even JFK, which I've never been able to love as much as everybody else).

But NIXON, for some reason, clicks with me. I love almost everything about it. Hopkins delivers what I consider to be career-best work. I adore that the script gives everything a grand, mythic arc and sensibility; this is the story of the President of the United States told with all the heft and theatricality normally given to tales about monarchs and Caesars, shot through with a kind of spiritual/moral resonance that's quite unusual for this kind of political flick. And stylistically, NIXON is terrific. The montage sequences are wonderful.

Edited by Ryan H., 07 September 2011 - 09:11 PM.

[Anders]

Ryan H., on 07 September 2011 - 09:08 PM, said:

But NIXON, for some reason, clicks with me. I love almost everything about it. Hopkins delivers what I consider to be career-best work. I adore that the script gives everything a grand, mythic arc and sensibility; this is the story of the President of the United States told with all the heft and theatricality normally given to tales about monarchs and Caesars, shot through with a kind of spiritual/moral resonance that's quite unusual for this kind of political flick. And stylistically, NIXON is terrific. The montage sequences are wonderful.

To be honest I haven't seen NIXON since high school, and so I don't feel confident making any proclamations about it. But I want to revisit it one of these days.

[Overstreet]

You haven't mentioned Joan Allen as Pat Nixon. It's a brilliant turn for her as well.

Oh, and for me, JFK tops the Stone list on the strength of the park-bench scene with Donald Sutherland alone! The whole thing is exhilarating, but Sutherland is spellbinding in that part.

[John Drew]

Count me in as a huge fan of JFK. So many things about that film shouldn't work. It's heavy on exposition and, as stated before, presents a lot of contradictory ideas. Yet Stone manages to make the jigsaw puzzle come together, unlike Ron Howard with The Da Vinci Code, which faced a lot of the same hurdles and just seems to collapse under the weight of all the information it tries to present.

JFK also provided for one of the funniest parodies that I've ever seen, and still laugh at today...

The Magic Bullet explained


The Magic Loogie

[Nick Alexander]

I found JFK unwatchable. Couldn't sit through it all. Never made it past the half hour mark. Too big a named cast, all for speculation. Yuck.

Nixon was also horrible, but that I saw in the theater. Same problems. Hopkins was miscast, and Steenburgen's career went south after this.

I liked Wall Street best of those I'd seen. Never seen NBK nor Doors nor the autobiography of Mr Hand starring Michael Caine as Jeff Spicolli.

[Ryan H.]

Anders, on 07 September 2011 - 09:15 PM, said:

Ryan H., on 07 September 2011 - 09:08 PM, said:

But NIXON, for some reason, clicks with me. I love almost everything about it. Hopkins delivers what I consider to be career-best work. I adore that the script gives everything a grand, mythic arc and sensibility; this is the story of the President of the United States told with all the heft and theatricality normally given to tales about monarchs and Caesars, shot through with a kind of spiritual/moral resonance that's quite unusual for this kind of political flick. And stylistically, NIXON is terrific. The montage sequences are wonderful.

To be honest I haven't seen NIXON since high school, and so I don't feel confident making any proclamations about it. But I want to revisit it one of these days.

I strongly urge you to do so.

[Overstreet]

I saw Platoon several years after it was released, and I remember wondering what the big deal was. Sure, there's a powerful moment of heroic sacrifice. But I didn't see that the film itself was anything particularly special.