Oliver Stone Ultimate Collection DVD

Advantages: excellent film, decent features
Disadvantages: Adagio for strings is played a little too often for my liking

...Having never seen the film prior to buying it on dvd, all i really knew about it was that it had been a multiple academy award winner and that it had charlie Sheen and Willem Dafoe in it, whom i had already seen in a lot of films. Ultimately the film lives up to the hype, not as an stunning action film, but more of the harrowing downbeat movie that it is more renwoned for (which is only emphasised more by the famous "adagio for strings" orchestral piece that is played throughout a lot of the film - maybe too much, which can often take away from the emotional impact of the theme). The film is ultimately quite somber, and makes it hard to smile, even in funny moments - which isnt such a bad thing, as i can see this is part of oliver stones message to the audience; war isn't something we can smile at. The movie is starkly brutal... Read review

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Advantages: good extras
Disadvantages: packaging, very long film

...watch them with optional Stone commentary. There are also 2 "multimedia essays" that run for a total of 40 minutes. One is an interview with Mr X himself Fletcher Prouty. The other is a look at JFK and the impact it had on america and the way they looked at the Kennedy incident. Finally there are a few dvd-rom options that are accessible by the internet. They take you to a collection of reviews of the film as well as information on Oliver Stone. This is an excellent dvd package that for once deals with its subject through the extras rathner than having standard making of extras. I only hope that this sees the light of day on the Region 2 market soon. The only negative thing is the packaging. Warner Bros have only produced double disc sets for Oliver Stone films so far and still resort to the snapper case. The second dvd comes... Read review

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...Oliver Stone's Nixon is similar in style and some content to JFK in that it alludes to the military industrial complex which is ultimately responsible for Kennedy's death and Nixon's rise and fall from powr.The scenes in the film are very dark and shadowy and Anthony Hopkins is excellent in playing the multifaceted personality of President Nixon. This film is long and arduous to watch but a very interesting interpretation of how one man's desire for success and to be liked makes him the most despised president in US history held responsible for Watergate and Vietnam. The general mood of the film is one of darkness which Stone excels himself at.... Read review

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