Nixon
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Movie Reviews of Nixon
Movie Review: Not For the Kiddies
Summary: 5 Stars
Although the title of this review may falsely imply that this is a one-stop gorefest of a film, anyone who would just look at the title of the film would realize that the movie takes on more of a biographical undertone. And who better to provide us with a 3-hour+ epic with limited historical credibility than Oliver Stone?I must say immediately that I am a huge Oliver Stone fan, mainly impressed with the range of direction appearing in his films and his tendency to take filmmaking to an extreme. Along with JFK, which unlike this film is not a biographical account of a past president, Nixon takes the viewer on a ride which causes him to ponder, "is this true? Did it really happen this way?" Although thorough in character development and powerful in delivery, this is not meant to be a documentary so to speak. If anything, it is sort of a subjective adaptation of events that took place; a dramatization.
The reason I say this film is not for children, is the level of its plot. Basically, you would have to had taken several college-level American history courses to even grasp some of the names and events mentioned by the actors in the first 20 minutes of the film to understand it.
Nixon, for whatever else it may represent, is a tale of a president who felt he was never beloved by the people, and who always feared the long-looming shadow of his predecessor JFK. It describes the trials and tribulations of a man disjointed with the public, yet still pure at heart.
The main focus of the film is on the notoriety of the Watergate Scandal, with the rest of the movie setting up the motive and the circumstances under which it took place. Nixon (played brilliantly by Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins) spends most of the movie sheltered by his cabinet and chiefs of staff in discussing various conspiracy issues that occurred in the 60s and 70s.
Where this film truly blossoms, and where it earned a rare 5-star rating from me, was in its dynamics. Sure, 191min is a long movie (with the director's cut tallying an even greater 212min), but the film is brilliantly filled with "Oliver Stone-esque" flashbacks to old newsreel footage and supposed earlier points in the character's lives.
To mention the fate of all the characters would be futile in that there are so many key roles. Look for appearances by James Woods, Joan Allen, J.T. Walsh, Dan Hedaya, David Hyde Pierce... among others.
The only place this DVD lacks is in the lack of instillment of extra features, a maladie which was remedied in the Oliver Stone boxset. I cannot wait for Stone's next attempt at a president, with the title being Clinton.
Movie Review: Not For the Kiddies --- (Fact or Fiction???)
Summary: 5 Stars
Although the title of this review may falsely imply that this is a one-stop gorefest of a film, anyone who would just look at the title of the film would realize that the movie takes on more of a biographical undertone. And who better to provide us with a 3-hour+ epic with limited historical credibility than Oliver Stone?I must say immediately that I am a huge Oliver Stone fan, mainly impressed with the range of direction appearing in his films and his tendency to take filmmaking to an extreme. Along with JFK, which unlike this film is not a biographical account of a past president, Nixon takes the viewer on a ride which causes him to ponder, "is this true? Did it really happen this way?" Although thorough in character development and powerful in delivery, this is not meant to be a documentary so to speak. If anything, it is sort of a subjective adaptation of events that took place; a dramatization.
The reason I say this film is not for children, is the level of its plot. Basically, you would have to had taken several college-level American history courses to even grasp some of the names and events mentioned by the actors in the first 20 minutes of the film to understand it.
Nixon, for whatever else it may represent, is a tale of a president who felt he was never beloved by the people, and who always feared the long-looming shadow of his predecessor JFK. It describes the trials and tribulations of a man disjointed with the public, yet still pure at heart.
The main focus of the film is on the notoriety of the Watergate Scandal, with the rest of the movie setting up the motive and the circumstances under which it took place. Nixon (played brilliantly by Academy Award winner Anthony Hopkins) spends most of the movie sheltered by his cabinet and chiefs of staff in discussing various conspiracy issues that occurred in the 60s and 70s.
Where this film truly blossoms, and where it earned a rare 5-star rating from me, was in its dynamics. Sure, 191min is a long movie (with the director's cut tallying an even greater 212min), but the film is brilliantly filled with "Oliver Stone-esque" flashbacks to old newsreel footage and supposed earlier points in the character's lives.
To mention the fate of all the characters would be futile in that there are so many key roles. Look for appearances by James Woods, Joan Allen, J.T. Walsh, Dan Hedaya, David Hyde Pierce... among others.
The only place this DVD lacks is in the lack of instillment of extra features, a maladie which was remedied in the Oliver Stone boxset. I cannot wait for Stone's next attempt at a president, with the title being Clinton.
Movie Review: An Excellent Film.
Summary: 5 Stars
Oliver Stone's "Nixon" is probably the greatest political film of recent years alongside his masterpiece, "JFK." Some people have attacked Stone for supposedly "re-writing" history, these are people who either don't care about knowing the dark truths history has to offer or don't understand how dramatic composition works. This is a brilliant, powerful and important work. Stone does not justify what Richard Nixon did, he instead, presents a portrait of a flawed man haunted by memories and events. There is a Shakespearean feel to the screenplay. The film is a look at how politics really works, how it's a jungle in that field where issues are forgotten and the object is to win. "Nixon" is a study of power, and how power really works in our system of government. Stone is one of the most brilliant filmmakers of our time, his film here is filled with powerful moments, intense, rich cinematography by Robert Richardson and an editing style that adds texture, realism and energy to the movie. As for re-writing history, the pundits who attack this movie are living in Disneyland and even John Dean claimed that there wasn't anything "unfair" in the dramatic license found in the script. Besides, who the hell goes to the movies to get the facts? For that watch a documentary (and those use a large degree of dramatic license too) or read a book! "Nixon," in it's depiction of how politics and the world works is completely accurate. If you don't believe it, do your own research and especially read Anthony Summers' "Official And Confidential: The Secret Life Of J.Edgar Hoover." Oliver Stone is one of the true film directors who dares to show the truth, who takes a mirror and forces us to look at ourselves. He understands how society and how we who live in society really do operate. Those who attack his work are the ones afraid to realize the realities of this world, they got no balls. He's a dramatic historian, a genius who's work is vital to the history of American cinema.Movie Review: VIDEO OVER DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I hope that this is helpful to both the prospective buyer .... Firstly, there is no "making-of" featurette on the DVD edition of this movie, as advertised. Secondly, there is about a half-hour worth of deleted scenes that were tagged on to the end of the Video edition of this movie. They are not on the DVD edition. How crucial are those scenes? More than those edited and then added to the Natural Born Killers release on Video & DVD. Another scene with Hoskins as "Hoover" explains Nixon's tapes and Hoovers apparent philosophy on personal record keeping. There is an interesting scene where we get a conversation between Nixon and his aide's where they discuss the hippy movement and their opinions shed a little light on the attitude of people surrounding the president. Call the scene "the Fig Leaf Topic". One scene cut has Nixon confronting his cabinet regarding press leaks. It seems to indicate his slipping into paranoia regarding alliegence and certainly another powerful moment where we see the president seperating himself from everyone and screaming through the looking-glass. Finally, the one real reason to have this feature (only available on Video) is the leangthy scene where Nixon meets with Richard Helms, Director of the CIA. Want to understand the difference between death and evil? Want to understand the dark conservative philosophy behind the cold war? The discussion is an explanation of the "Wild Beast" mentioned on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, as Helms explains the "organic appetites" of many of our nations mysterious ad-hoc institutions. Helms is perfectly Satanic. His place in history and its disclosure in this movie is as close we will ever come to personifying the evil of absolute power. As Emerson said, "Things are in the saddle and they ride mankind". Heed Stone's warning and mine too, if you will. In this rare instance I much prefer the Video release of this movie.Movie Review: great film-making, good history
Summary: 5 Stars
While Oliver Stone has many times given into historic speculation and wild theorizing, his unflinching love for controversy has always had my respect. With "Nixon", however, Stone largely sticks to the certifiable historical record, perhaps in response to the Kafka-esque damnation of "JFK." Nixon comes through in this film as I'm sure he was in actuality: a manipulative, conniving political genius, albeit a seriously disturbed one. Nixon as a pill-popping alcoholic? Such a stretch you say? Read the recollections of Haldeman and Erlichman, not to menton Kissinger, who constantly make reference to Nixon's chemical dependancy and mental instability. Actcally as history, "Nixon" works quite well. Sure there are embelishments for the sake of time: the "Jack Jones" character, for instance. But we would be foolhardy, not to mention dead wrong, to ignore the role of big money in the election of Nixon in '68 and '72. The supposedly "wild" ssumptions Stone makes about Nixon and his paranoia about the JFK killing? Once again, read Haldeman's own account, in which he speculates that Nixon's constant references to the "Bay of Pigs" was a "code" for JFK. (The Bay of Pigs operation was inherited by Kennedy from the Eisenhower White House, and who had been its handler then? Nixon.) I don't want to turn this into a rant, but I sincerely challenge Nixon defenders to actually go back and READ the history, which has become even more starkly clear since Nixon's death and the release of de-classified Watergate tapes. Like Welles and Kubrick, Stone is a man ahead of his time, and doomed to suffer condemnation by phillistines on both sides of the aisle. But his films only gain relevance, and furthemore, truth, as years pass.