Nixon (1995)

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I had a film professor once who said that, when he was programming his viewing selections for a course, he wanted to show movies that had some problems. Problems promote discussion and shed light on the filmmaking process; often we were asked to consider how a screenwriter had gotten around a problem or theorize on how existing flaws might have been fixed. This professor was emphatically not a fan of Oliver Stone, but I remember thinking that discussion on just one of Stone’s films could spark enough discussion to last a whole semester. His wildly ambitious Richard Nixon biopic is as good an example of this as any, seeing as how Stone delves headfirst into the dense politics of the time, often not caring whether or not his audience knows who these people are, and not waiting for them to catch up. Plus, he has an actor who looks and sounds nothing like his famous subject, and a runtime over three hours to boot. Unsurprisingly, the film was a box-office dud, but I think it stands as Stone’s greatest achievement nonetheless for all its problems. As a biopic, the film is unusual for its structure and tone, darting back and forth in time and mostly focusing on events in Nixon’s life for their political significance instead of their significance to him as an individual. Even events such as the deaths of his brothers are relayed in these terms, attempting to link those personal tragedies to the choices Nixon made as a political figure. Furthermore, the tone of the film is often that of a classical tragedy; Stone is unafraid of straightforward dramatic gestures, giving Nixon a feel of a modern Shakespeare tragedy more than a nuts-and-bolts biopic. This is a very difficult film, and not without its flaws (beyond those that I’ve mentioned here) but I find it immensely rewarding. Even more than his other films, it sets Stone apart as a highly unique and vital filmmaker. 10/10

Savages (2012)

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Oliver Stone directs this story of two pot dealers (played by Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Johnson), whose mutual girlfriend (Blake Lively) is kidnapped by a Mexican drug cartel. The tawdry premise, seemingly ripe for an exploitation picture (which the film was basically advertised as), actually gives way to a very strong script despite some poorly written and heavy-handed voiceover narration. Stone and his writers have a good feel for the characters and their circumstances, and the story is relentlessly logical in the way it plays out. A big narrative twist at the end is extremely daring and has displeased some critics, but again, the logic of it is pretty clear, so it didn’t feel like a cheat to me. Among the lead actors, I thought Johnson in particular stood out after being so dull in Kick-Ass, and among the supporting characters, Salma Hayek and Benicio Del Toro have a lot of fun playing the villians. It’s John Travolta, though, who has the best character and the best scenes, as a corrupt DEA agent playing both sides. Stone’s output has been very inconsistent for the last decade and a half, but this is one of his strongest films during that time. 8/10

Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)

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I’ve never considered Wall Street to be one of my favorite Oliver Stone films, but this sequel, for the first hour or so of its running time, is one of the best movies of the year. Stone’s obviously working in an area that he knows something about – the original film was dedicated to his father, who was a stockbroker – and his critique of today’s financial system is harsh and effective. Surprisingly, during these sections of the film, Gordon Gekko (the iconic character from the first film, played again by Michael Douglas) is mostly relegated to the sidelines, surfacing mostly to serve as a sort of Greek chorus, filling the audience in on how things work and why they’re so corrupt. Unfortunately, the movie flatlines over the second half, as Gekko returns to the forefront, and it becomes clear that the filmmakers can’t make sense of their ambivalence towards the Gekko character. Hence, he becomes both ruthlessly villainous while at the same time, just a flawed old guy who wants to be a better dad to his grown daughter (Carey Mulligan, giving some dimension to the kind of underdeveloped female character common in Stone’s films) and future son-in-law (Shia LeBeouf). My lasting impression was that of disappointment, since Stone had half of a great movie here, with a career-best performance from LeBeouf and terrific supporting turns by Josh Brolin and Frank Langella. 6/10

Natural Born Killers (1994)

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It’s interesting how time can shape perceptions of a movie like this. When it was originally released in 1994, Natural Born Killers seemed like a savage full-frontal attack on America and its media culture. The story of Mickey and Mallory Knox (played by Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis, respectively) and their murder spree through the US heartland was itself attacked, as all of Oliver Stone’s films were back then, for its relentless violence and amoral handling of the two killers. Today, though, it seems far more tame, not just in terms of the onscreen violence, which is still startling at times but hardly novel. Stone’s vision of a wholly celebrity-driven culture seems almost quaint now, even though it’s as viscerally compelling now as it was then. Neither Harrelson nor Lewis have done better work in film, and I still enjoy Tommy Lee Jones’s crude Texas prison warden, Robert Downey Jr’s megolomaniacal TV host, and Rodney Dangerfield’s depraved and incestuous creep. Nonetheless, the film’s impact is less than what it was, since we’ve gone so far around the bend that nothing here can really be considered all that shocking. I suppose we can take some solace that the celebrities that drive our media culture today are mostly insignificant and held up as objects of derision, and not mass murderers held up as role models. Woohoo. 8/10