FemaleFirst.co.uk: DVD: Nixon [DVD] [1996]

Nixon [DVD] [1996]
enlarge	Director: Oliver Stone Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Ed Harris, Bob Hoskins Studio: Entertainment in Video Category: DVD List Price: ~~£12.99~~ Buy New: £2.56 as of 21/11/2009 21:49 GMT details You Save: £10.43 (80%) New (16) Used (8) from £1.40 Seller: selectcheaper Rating: 17 reviews Sales Rank: 6920 Format: PAL Languages: English (Original Language), Russian (Original Language) Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over Region: 2 Discs: 1 Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1 Number Of Discs: 1 Running Time: 190 Minutes Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2 Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 UPC: 501723919131 EAN: 5017239191312 ASIN: B00005U1ZC Theatrical Release Date: December 20, 1995 Release Date: January 21, 2002 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days


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Customer Reviews: Showing reviews 1-5 of 17 1 2 3 4 Next » Citizen Nixon October 27, 2004 R Jess (Limerick, Ireland.) 15 out of 16 found this review helpful 'Nixon' comes off as a greater success than Stone's 'JFK', in part due to the subject of the film itself. President Nixon always had an awareness of his place in history and did much to construct and protect his public image. Oliver Stone's mixture of drama and documentary footage allows the audience to disengage somewhat from the subject and contemplate the historical legacy of this much maligned president. Stone has been obvious in his references to two great fictional American icons, Citizen Kane and Willy Loman of Arthur Miller's 'Death Of A Salesman'. The story of the film is close to 'Kane' in its investigation of the trappings of power, but Nixon's personal character has all the eager despair and bewildered arkwardness of Willy Loman. Probably the last American President who best representated the American Dream through his rise from a lowly grocer's son, Nixon nevertheless remained paranoid about his position in the halls of the elite and like Loman felt the over bearing need to prove his abilties.pUnlike Stone's 'JFK' information and detail are not as important as mood and nuance. Shooting from the bottom up, Stone tries to artifically create the ambience of power but instead the low-lighting, sinister looks and bw flashbacks creates a pseudo-narcotic atmosphere. An obvious allusion to Nixon's alleged pill-popping.pTime and time again Stone has been attacked for the historical inaccuracies of his movies. However most American historians contemptuous of the purported 'scientific' basis of history espoused by Marxist historians, would be the first to confirm that history isn't a minor fact obsessed 'science'. Oliver Stone's Finest Film. Hopkin's Greatest Role. October 27, 2003 Martin R. Taylor (UK) 5 out of 5 found this review helpful This is Oliver Stone's epic "Nixon", perhaps his finest film to date. It's certainly one of Anthony Hopkins greatest roles he has ever undertaken as the tragic disgraced 37th US President. The overall presentation of this film which marks Nixon's rise and fall along with the usual milestones (childhood, early political life, the wilderness years etc) is stylistically akin to Stone's "JFK": deft camera work, rapid edits, use of different types of film, whilst the story and its characters zigzag back and forth. Befitting the subject, it's complex yet utterly compelling. brIts a lot to take in at first, and it does help if you have some knowledge of Nixon's life before and during his presidency (i recommend the Nixon screenplay book which includes essays and the full unedited script with footnotes), but with repeated viewing it all comes together. If Shakespeare were alive today I'm sure he would have found the figure of Nixon, the architect of his own downfall,hard to resist. The story is the King Lear or Othello of the modern age, and Stone's cinematic patchwork along with Hopkin's astonishing delivery in the role (though robbed of the best actor oscar award). The final scene depicting Nixon's farewell speech to his staff is an acting masterclass,full of pathos, brilliantly poised and executed, it could well be Hopkin's finest moment. Its hard to even imagine how Jack Nicholson would have fared! (He was reputedly in second place for the role)brThe White House interior sets are breathtaking, the use of historical archive footage fits well, the legendary John Williams is on top form with a brilliant score, and a superb supporting cast just add to the spectacle. This is one of the best drama films of the 90's.brMy only negative criticism would be the DVD itself. The US release is far superior, as its a 2 disc set and includes numerous deleted scenes which are featured in screenplay book, and were also put into the actual theatrical trailer. All that is in this DVD is a five minute featurette. It really deserves better. Hope rests with the arrival of a possible DVD Stone boxset Volume 2 over here. Truly gripping! March 4, 2004 K. Abraham (Southampton, England.) 7 out of 8 found this review helpful This is a film about a troubled President who fights to the bitter end to save his political career. The sheer tenacity that Nixon displays in trying to keep his political career afloat is truly amazing and this is vividly portrayed in Oliver Stone's film. Anthony Hopkins stars as Richard M. Nixon in Stone's continuation of his own American political film saga after the success of JFK. Hopkins delivers a stunning performance as one expects from the renowned British actor. Stone's direction maybe a little distracting from the content of the film, perhaps, but it adds to the postmodernism that is evident in the film. This is a film that stays in your mind for a long while since it creates such a dramatic impact on you the viewer through it's psychoanalysis of Nixon's character. The film is also an covert examination of American conscience during the most difficult times of the Vietnam War when so many Americans were opposed to it. Note the scene where ordinary American students surround Nixon in front of the Lincoln memorial as they protest against the War in Vietnam.brThe film does this parallel examination through Nixon's own examination of his conscience.brThis film is a must see for all fans of American politics and politics in general. An extraordinary portrait of the corruption of power. October 12, 2003 chuchu (Essex,United Kingdom) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful This extraordinary film takes the viewer from Watergate back through Nixon's life in a series of flashbacks, montages, and newsreel excerpts that expose as near as probably any of us can understand, the reason why Richard M Nixon became the only president in US history to resign his office.pWe will probably never know how close Stone and Hopkins have come towards capturing the real Nixon (there are no special features on the DVD examining the process of research process) and Stone admits cooperation with the film was limited, but Nixon is a compelling film which makes itself almost totally believable.pThe good points about the film is the sheer amount of detail, even going into how good Nixon was at American football, to the sheer volume of supporting cast members (even Nixon's butler is given a meaningful part, and of course Hopkins performance which is virtually flawless and makes you believe you are wathcing the real Nixon at times.pHowever to pull the film up on its bad parts, it doesn't really explore what drew the American people to Nixon. It exposes him as such a shambles that it's at times difficult to see the charm and worldliness that Nixon seemed to bring to the voters. The shaky camera work covering the key press conferences he gave doesn't really do justice to this Nixon 'magic'. He can't have been so transparent in real life.pI would also have liked to have seen more 'real footage' of Nixon woven into the film. The only bit of the real Nixon that came in was right at the end but a bit of Forest Gump type merging of footage would have been good. pHowever the imagination of Stones camerawork, with strong influences of Citizen Kane (the shot through the white house gates at the beginning, the Hearst like soliquies, and the use of shadow, newsreel montage etc) really carry the film over any flaws (of which it is bound to have some) into a category of its own. Probably the best biopic of all time and almost incredible the way it can impress all from a student of Nixon's politics, historians and people who know little of the former president's tragic life. Stone's brilliant biopic. January 12, 2003 Jason Parkes (Worcester, UK) 6 out of 11 found this review helpful Nixon was given the predictable treatment by the press that has been meted out to Oliver Stone since he released JFK (1992) as a result appeared to put off the public... This is a severe loss, as Stone is unlikely to get funding for any further films in this mode (though he had failed to make films on Noriega and Eva Peron at this point also). pStone takes an approach towards the subject which fits somewhere between Welles' Citizen Kane and the historical writings on Nixon by historian Fawn Brodie. The film refers to it's non-reality frequently, from the cue card which alludes to its dramatic status to the opening shot of a projector, to the film within a film- to the montage of real figures (Nixon, JFK, Robert Kennedy etc) with their acted versions. Or the way that Hopkins is not made up to look like RMN, or the frequent stock changes (seemingly for no narrative purpose- like Lindsay Anderson's If...) that flash between black white and color. Stone is appearing to confirm that this is not the truth, that there is no definitive truth, that the historical record is incomplete with this style. The film also frequently veers off into time-lapse imagery common to films like Koyaanisqatsi at the end cuts audaciously from Hopkin's goodbye as Nixon to the real thing in the form of Nixon's funeral (where we see Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr Clinton)- here it is made clear the distinction between the two Nixon's (real fictional). Then again, as we know- Nixon fictionalised the historical record...pAnd can we really accept critics like Ambrose Kissinger on Nixon, stating that a dramatic film based on reality is not the truth. Yeah, that and Battleship Potemkin, Napoleon just about every film that uses history to any degree! I mean, at points we see Nixon with the ghost of his mother- how can an image of the fantastic be seen as "reality" (rather than symbolic interpretation of various biographies of Nixon)? And I didn't see the press pounce on Fawn Brodie for suggesting an analogy between Nixon's two dead brothers and the dead Kennedy brothers found here...pStone is surprisingly empathetic towards his subject from time to time, he is seen as an intelligent man who made some achievments such as detente a man who had everything...and lost it all (as the Biblical quote that precedes the film suggests). The fact we see his controversies: Kent State, the bombing of Cambodia, the Checkers speech, the Alger Hiss lies etc only puts these in tragic context. The historical record, as with JFK, will only get more complete as time passes- fresh works on Nixon suggest that the establishment view of Nixon is as questionable as Stone suggests it is here. pHopkins delivers one of his greatest performances, and is ably supported by a stellar cast: JT Walsh, James Woods, Joan Allen, Powers Boothe, Paul Sorvino, EG Marshall, Mary Steenburgen etc. The cinematography by Robert Richardson is particularly great also. pNixon is a key biopic, with its allusions to King Lear- and something more than most biopics- applying codes of cinema to notions of biography. Strange that a film like this is criticised by the mainstream press, who have let similar dramatic approaches to Nixon elsewhere slide. Nixon being depicted alluded to in works such as Sleeper, Nixon's Nixon, Saturday Night Live, countless TV movies, The Simpsons, Futurama, Dick etc- Look also at fiction that operates in a similar manner like American Tabloid Underworld. Stone is doing nothing new in depicting the subject, it's just his approach which people find problematic. Perhaps as it looks at things that people don't want to look at? Perhaps cos it wants to look at the erroneous nature of history, something that will only be corrected when the information becomes impotent (look at the tapes that Nixon protected for the rest of his life). No whitewash? pNixon is one of the strongest films of the 1990's and a key biopic of the 20th century- though it would be helpful to read a little around the subject if unfamiliar with Watergate, Hiss, Cambodia etc. Stone assaults the senses with this audacious film that I think is a neglected work of genius. Showing reviews 1-5 of 17 1 2 3 4 Next »

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