Movie of the Week – JFK

This week’s movie: JFK (1991).

After the John F. Kennedy assassination, New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison discovers that there may be more to it than the official story of a lone gunman. Garrison believes that there were multiple shooters and the assassination plot may have been hatched and formulated in his own city.

Oliver Stone was one of the most prolific filmmakers in Hollywood during the 1980s and 1990s with films such as Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July, and Natural Born Killers. However, JFK is his masterpiece. Using a mixture of documentary, found, faux-documentary recreations, and new footage, Stone creates an utterly compelling case for a conspiracy. John Williams’s iconic score, Robert Richardson’s cinematography (winning an Oscar), and Victor Kempster’s production design are all top notch as well.

JFK features an ensemble of fantastic performances starting with Kevin Costner as Jim Garrison. The supporting cast is wonderful and packed with great actors, including: Jay O. Sanders, Edward Asner, Jack Lemmon, Vincent D’Onofrio, Gary Oldman, Sissy Spacek, Brian Doyle-Murray,  Michael Rooker, Laurie Metcalf, Joe Pesci, Wayne Knight, Walter Matthau, Tommy Lee Jones, John Candy, Kevin Bacon, Donald Sutherland, John Larroquette, Ron Rifkin, and Frank Whaley.

Whether or not the whole JFK conspiracy theory holds any water or not is irrelevant to the brilliance of this film, both from an aesthetics and narrative standpoint. Aesthetically, this is a masterwork – and gravely underrated. Narratively, Stone all but convinces the viewer that the JFK assassination was indeed a conspiracy due to Stone’s powerful, moving, and compelling directing/editing choices. It is one of the 1990’s best films (and among my personal favorites).

Trailer: Here

Available on: Blu-ray and Streaming

Movie of the Week - Charade

This week’s movie is Charade (1963)

Charade is a thriller about a woman, recently windowed, who finds out that her husband is not who he said he was, and not only that he stole a large some of money. Now his partners in crime are looking for the money and they suspect she is hiding it. What makes Charade so good is director Stanley Donen’s ability to mix comedy and romance into a story that is mostly structured as a thriller, while maintaining the mystery and suspense, not an easy task. This is also the last great movie of screen legend Cary Grant and his only with the brilliant Audrey Hepburn. (The film was later remade poorly as Jonathan Demme’s The Truth About Charlie.) Charade also features a wonderful score by Henry Mancini and artful cinematography by Charles Lang. The film remains today as one of the best thrillers and certainly worth checking out. The film stars: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, and George Kennedy.

Charade [DVD] (Criterion Collection)