Nixon (1995) (Election Year Edition)

[wnicholas76]

According to DVDTown.com, Disney/Buena Vista has announced the Blu-ray release of the Oliver Stone/Anthony Hopkins biopic "Nixon", set to be released on August 19.

To see the info and Blu-ray cover art, here's the URL:

http://www.dvdtown.com/news/nixon-el...d-blu-ray/5567

I'm really looking forward to "Nixon" on Blu-ray a lot more than Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic "W." set to be released in theaters later this year. So now, all that's left is for Warner Bros. to announce the inevitable release of Oliver Stone's "JFK" for Blu-ray!

[sfmarine]

The Doors....Nixon...WHERE IS JFK!

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

The Doors....Nixon...WHERE IS JFK!

I know right lol

[jw]

Heck wheres Titanic, and at the bottom of the Atlantic isnt a vaid answer

[Marcusarilius]

I have never seen Nixon. Is it any good? I do want JFK for sure.

[wnicholas76]

Originally Posted by Marcusarilius

I have never seen Nixon. Is it any good? I do want JFK for sure.

Nixon is a pretty good movie. Anthony Hopkins gives a real convincing performance as Richard Nixon, with a cast including Joan Allen (as Nixon's wife), James Woods, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins, Powers Boothe, David Paymer, David Hyde Pierce, Paul Sorvino, Mary Steenburgen, and the late actors E.G. Marshall and J.T. Walsh. There are also some appearances by Annabeth Gish (playing Nixon's daughter), Michael Chiklis, Tony Goldwyn, John C. McGinley, Dan Hedaya, and the late Madeline Kahn, among others.

[entertrend]

Originally Posted by Marcusarilius

I have never seen Nixon. Is it any good? I do want JFK for sure.

i never seen too!.. Is it any good?

[Marcusarilius]

Originally Posted by entertrend

i never seen too!.. Is it any good?

Same here. Is it better than JFK?

[BLU for Blue]

Bobby? Now that was a good movie

[supersix4]

Originally Posted by Marcusarilius

Same here. Is it better than JFK?

depends on what your looking at I would say jfk is more intresting to watch and probly better for the average viewer but nixon might require a bit more thinking on the watchers part because of all the political talk.

[thebluemax]

Originally Posted by Marcusarilius

I have never seen Nixon. Is it any good? I do want JFK for sure.

My recollection of "Nixon" is that it was a pretty bad movie. May have to view it again, but Anthiny Hopkins was superb.

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by Marcusarilius

Same here. Is it better than JFK?

No, but it's pretty good. It actually humanized that scoundrel just a little bit. Big points for that and the supporting cast.

[sfmarine]

Nixon is decent but JFK has great pace. You may get bored with Nixon. JFK is so damn interesting.

[wnicholas76]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

Nixon is decent but JFK has great pace. You may get bored with Nixon. JFK is so damn interesting.

Yeah, I think so too. Warner needs to hurry the hell up with JFK!

Favorite quotes from JFK:

Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner): "Back, and to the left... back, and to the left... back, and to the left."

Jim Garrison: "Who grieves for Lee Harvey Oswald? Buried in a cheap grave under the name "Oswald"? Nobody."

Jim Garrison: "What I need to know is why. Why are you telling us this?"
Willie O'Keefe (Kevin Bacon): "Cause that motherf***** Kennedy, stole that motherf***** election, that's why. Nixon, was gonna be one of the great presidents 'till Kennedy wrecked it up. Got n***** running around askin' for their damn rights. Why do you think we got all this crime nowadays? He promised those motherf****** too goddamn much you ask me."

David Ferrie (Joe Pesci): "Hey, Willie. I want you to meet Leon Oswald."
Willie O'Keefe: "Hey, man! How you doin'?"
Lee Harvey Oswald (Gary Oldman): "What the f***'s he doin' here?"
Willie O'Keefe: "F*** you, motherf*****!"

Jim Garrison: "Mr. Shaw, have you ever been a contract agent with the Central Intelligence Agency?"
Clay Shaw (Tommy Lee Jones): [smiles politely] "And if I was, Mr. Garrison... do you think I would be here today... talking to somebody like you?"

[gvortex7]

Nixon is a good movie, but if you haven't seen it before and are the type that doesn't handle slow paced movies well, then beware because it is 192 minutes (over 3 hours) long. It does have a superb cast rounded out by a another great performance by Anthony Hopkins. If nothing else, rent it when it's released on Blu-ray.

[*TIMMIE*]

Luckely it is the extended cut.

Hopefully it will be region free.

[lgans316]

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRe...on_blu-ray.htm

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Riff Magnum

No, but it's pretty good. It actually humanized that scoundrel just a little bit. Big points for that and the supporting cast.

Since Stone's, um, background is in weed-paranoid conspiracy theories, his biographies actually do a good job in setting out to try and offer humanizing alternative ideas for "persecuted" famous figures, eg. "The Doors".
(Also considering Stone was originally tapped to direct the Klaus von Bulow "Reversal of Fortune".)

Stone's script throws out a few neat alternate theories for the eighteen minutes, or for "Won't have Nixon to kick around anymore", and even if they may not be plausible, Hopkins brings them off so perfectly, you're ready to believe them.
Although the audience did giggle when Stone tried to tie the "Cuban businessmen" Nixon theory with...yyyep, you guessed it.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by EricJ

Since Stone's, um, background is in weed-paranoid conspiracy theories, his biographies actually do a good job in setting out to try and offer humanizing alternative ideas for "persecuted" famous figures, eg. "The Doors".
(Also considering Stone was originally tapped to direct the Klaus von Bulow "Reversal of Fortune".)

Stone's script throws out a few neat alternate theories for the eighteen minutes, or for "Won't have Nixon to kick around anymore", and even if they may not be plausible, Hopkins brings them off so perfectly, you're ready to believe them.
Although the audience did giggle when Stone tried to tie the "Cuban businessmen" Nixon theory with...yyyep, you guessed it.

NIXON is an interesting film, the director's cut even more so, but at the end of the day, its a failure for the simple reason that it fails to make the viewer comprehend and even understand the events that led to Nixon's downfall. It speaks in shorthand. If you're familiar with the plumbers and John Dean and the Impeachment hearings and the sad trajectory of the Vietnam war, you're likely the target audience for the film. Stone's thesis was that Nixon was a small man who could not rise above his smallness and even though he became a Governor and a President, he always suffered from the idea he was being persecuted and attacked.

Well, he was being attacked. That's what it means to be President. They come at you from all sides, all day long, every day, every year, even the years you have left office. It is interesting to see how Stone juxtaposes the idea of Kennedy being attacked for his ideas and Nixon's. Kennedy is shown head down, back turned...almost Christ-like. Nixon is shown damn-near baring fangs while rasping about sticking knives into his enemies and twisting them. Kennedy was not Christ and Nixon was not Dracula, but the movies make good theater -- and that's the whole point.

NIXON - as a movie - is wonderful theater, full of spectacle and outrage. Yes, it does humanize a figure in American history that few people want to get to know. Yes, it does revist a chapter in American history that was pointlessly tragic. Yes, it is laughably cartoonish in its depiction of politicians, administrators, and world leaders (my favorite -- a smash-edit showing the head of the CIA with black orbs for eyes) -- and laughable in its conspiracy theories.

And yet the damn thing is strangely hypnotic and compelling. The film asks us to evlauate this man -- First as fictional character, and then, once the melodrama has subsided after the end credits, as a real person and an American President -- but it fails to present the latter. You're left watching scenes wondering what is real, what is based on truth, what is fictionalized, and what is based on specualtion and fiction. And you can't take your eyes off of it.

It is interesting how Stone humanizes Nixon in the film -- there is a particularly memorable sequence of Nixon visiting Texas oil men and rejecting their threats to his power, and in the scenes before, avoiding the trap of philandering when a Texas coquette places her had on his knee offering herself to him in no subtle terms. Nixon has honor in this film.

He is also shown trying to fight the CIA before they blackmail him by divulging a secret group of commandos approved by Nixon for Black Ops overseas were brought home to kill the American President John F. Kennedy. This comprises a central section of the director's cut, along with a War Protestor who asks Nixon why he doesn't stop the war, only to magically realize, "You can't, can you?" Nixon's off the hook and the wise protestor has a great story for future grandkids (though as a narrative device, it goes nowhere and its no surprise why it was cut for general audiences).

At best, NIXON is a showpiece for Anthony Hopkins, and a five finger exercise for Oliver Stone's "vertical editing" technique. At worst, it is the convoluted fever dream of a drug-addled 60's radical. Between such extremes it is no secret the film has polarized audiences and will likely draw sharp opinions in your household, too.

[EricJ]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

It is interesting to see how Stone juxtaposes the idea of Kennedy being attacked for his ideas and Nixon's. Kennedy is shown head down, back turned...almost Christ-like.

Well, er...that IS the Kennedy portrait that hangs in the White House.
And it has been noted that Nixon did go around talking to portraits during some of the last days.
(As imitated by Dan Aykroyd in a 70's-SNL parody of Bob Woodward's "Final Days"... )

NIXON - as a movie - is wonderful theater, full of spectacle and outrage. Yes, it does humanize a figure in American history that few people want to get to know. Yes, it does revist a chapter in American history that was pointlessly tragic. Yes, it is laughably cartoonish in its depiction of politicians, administrators, and world leaders (my favorite -- a smash-edit showing the head of the CIA with black orbs for eyes) -- and laughable in its conspiracy theories.

Although to be fair, Stone's Cuban-businessman theory is only slightly more believable than the wild and woolly versions thrown about it in Altman's "Secret Honor". In relative terms, of course.

At best, NIXON is a showpiece for Anthony Hopkins, and a five finger exercise for Oliver Stone's "vertical editing" technique. At worst, it is the convoluted fever dream of a drug-addled 60's radical. Between such extremes it is no secret the film has polarized audiences and will likely draw sharp opinions in your household, too.

When the James Woods character watches the Debate and asks out loud "Can you imagine what this guy woulda been like if he'd ever been loved?", he delivers the line so flat-out in Woods "Shark" style, we don't know whether he's soliloquizing out loud, or whether he's trying to sell the idea to the TV director--
Either way, it's Stone jumping on the soapbox for a quick opportunity, and just about as subtle...It's Hopkins who sells us the character, despite whatever Stone can do to it.