JFK

It's been nearly 60 years man, and we're still raising hell about it.

Now I will say I am not a historian, and I ain't too keen on politics, I'm just a film critic. But I will say it is quite hard to discuss this film because it handles such a weighty subject, sure I can talk about it's merits, the direction, the cast, all that good stuff and it is a pretty solid film but boy howdy is it a minefield to traverse without getting swept away in the events of that day in 1963. So very briefly, I will state I quite liked Kennedy, I agreed with a good deal of his progressive policies that did in fact one day come true, I think the 1960s were quite possibly the worst political times in american history, with his brother Robert and Dr. King also getting shot, I would not want no part of this country during that time. And the film does such a commendable job showing that every President, could be anybody, has their detractors and haters when they were in office. It really goes to show how far someone will try to obtain the truth as we follow Jim Garrison, a district attorney in New Orleans who pushes and pushes to obtain evidence of the Kennedy assassination despite obstacles of the government and home. I personally have a fair distaste of conspiracies, but the movie does get you thinking and often too about the situation, the evidence, and the events that occured around that ill fated day in Dallas, and I am not devolving through that rabbit hole but I'm sure conspiracy theory fans love this movie and can get even more out of it than I did. The cast is excellent, I mean it throws a good share of big names here but it's the performances that strike true. Even if this was a Kevin Costner vehicle I won't hold much grievance over that because he does deliver such an incredible performance, I never thought of him as that great of an actor though I do like him, but he sure did rise just from this. Yeah he dips his toes into that Atticus Finch pool at the end but I'll be damned if I said it didn't work, it does go on par with To Kill A Mockingbird with that final court scene, and the giant monologue he gives is you know, entirely true, just as powerful, just as relevant, just as important maybe now than ever, I mean I applaud the script writer for just keeping all the strands connected let alone that phenomenal speech at the end. Never to disregard the rest of the cast, I mean holy hell they put their effort into this and made it good, from the big players like Tommy Lee Jones down to brief bits from John Candy (Man that guy was better than we deserved.) so nothing but top notch marks across the board. For my second Oliver Stone movie, I certainly can see his style in direction, editing, and cinematography quite clearly, it all works but you can quickly tell who made this. It's a loooong movie, I totally thought it was a 2 hour standard fare but it goes past 3 hours, and while the pacing is kept expertly I really was not expecting such an extensive movie. But every scene exists for a reason, it's predominantly dialogue heavy yet still keeps your interest, and like I said I am not terribly interested in politics but it still had my attention. I'm not here to fact check everything, I'm here to tell you if it's worth seeing. Yeah. I give it 3.5 stars, 8/10. Hell even if you aren't there for the whole 3 hours watch that final speech, it's up there for me like The Great Dictator's speech. That's good stuff man. We got a new movie incoming tommorrow so see you at the movies.