Stone. I’ve thought for years that Stone is underrated for two reasons: 1. His subjects are controversial (Lars von Trier is polarizing on metacritic but has managed to be adored by TSPDT) 2. He’s a very American director (regardless of his politics I feel like the subject and content of most of his films are very American-centric) and I feel like this hurts him on lists like TSPDT. Basically too much of the conversation is on the subject of the films which isn’t something I think matters when we’re talking about film art. Stone should be ranked higher. I have JFK as a top 100 film and one of the 4-5 greatest examples of film editing…period…. Stone has really faded in recent years but his run from 1986-1997 (all 9 archiveable-grade films I have from him fall into this time period) has to be one of the greatest stretches in contemporary (non-studio era, post-Godard) cinema.
Best film: JFK. Sort of an oddity here but sometimes I feel like even I’m underrating this film or film editing in general. Hear me out… if it have it as one of the best edited films of all-time and yet it’s still only at #91 on my top 100. How could that be? I’ve also said this before but beyond the editing, it’s gloriously shot by Robert Richardson, the acting is superb, and it’s one of John Williams’ better scores. I find the film to be one of the genuinely scary non-horror films (All the President’s Men) as well. Stone can do paranoia nearly as well as Pakula and Polanski. Still, the story is the editing. We combine black and white flashbacks, the color narrative, the documentary footage. It’s all mashes together for a marvelous blend.
total archiveable films: 9
top 100 films: 1 (JFK)
top 500 films: 1 (JFK)
top 100 films of the decade: 4 (JFK, Platoon, Natural Born Killers, Nixon)
most overrated: none… TSPDT only has JFK in the top 1000 from Oliver Stone and even that is heavily underrated at slot #661.
most underrated: Everything… literally all 9 films below are underrated. Nixon, U-turn, Wall Street all have poor mc scores…but, if forced, I’ll go with Platoon here for my singular choice as his most underrated. It doesn’t have Stone’s trademark montage editing style (he would really hone it in 1991 with JFK) but it’s still worthy of praise. Yes, it won best picture in 1986 but for overrated and underrated categories I use TSPDT. I have no idea how this isn’t in the top 1000 of all-time. It’s an underrated Oscar winner. It’s not a masterpiece (and it’s not Apocalypse Now or The Thin Red Line ) but it’s an excellent film. TSPDT has it at #1172 right now and that’s preposterous. Natural Born Killers at #1349 is stupid, too.
gem I want to spotlight: Nixon. If you love the editing in JFK and Natural Born Killers half as much as I do you’ll love this film as it’s edited in the same mode (so is U-turn for that matter).
stylistic innovations/traits: I don’t think of Stone as a political filmmaker first I think of him as a great montagist and editor. That is his aesthetic. Stone really evolved (his 80’s films aren’t edited in the same way with the trademark short average shot length- ASL) so though he has been consistent on his passions from a content/narrative standpoint he has grown and morphed as a stylist (and then regressed since U-Turn). He’s an issue-oriented auteur but also makes deceptively beautiful films. Through his heyday he consistently worked with Ralph Richardson as his DP (all 9 archiveable films) who would go on to work with Tarantino and Scorsese of course. And when his films weren’t known for the great soundtracks he worked with John Williams (3 times)….not bad.
top 10
- JFK
- Platoon
- Natural Born Killers
- Nixon
- Salvador
- U-Turn
- Wall Street
- Born on the Fourth of July
- Talk Radio
By year and grades
| 1986- Platoon | MS |
| 1986- Salvador | HR |
| 1987- Wall Street | R |
| 1988- Talk Radio | R |
| 1989- Born on the Fourth of July | R |
| 1991- JFK | MP |
| 1994- Natural Born Killers | HR/MS |
| 1995- Nixon | HR |
| 1997- U-Turn | R |
*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film
MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film
HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film
R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives
Another viewing of Platoon (1986) really impressed me.
– Maybe the best war film in depicting war from the point of view of the soldier.
– Absolutely insane cast, loved Sheen, Dafoe and especially Berenger who gives an
incredible performance.
– Similar to Wall Street (1987) there is a battle for Sheen’s characters soul between
Berenger and Dafoe’s characters.
– The blue silhouette images reminded me of Kill Bill, stunning.
– Loved the scene where Sheen’s character smokes pot for the 1st time in the “underworld”
bunker, amazing use of atmosphere and music (White Rabbit from Jefferson Airplane)
– Demonstrates horrors of war without becoming preachy.
– Good call on the slow motion death of Dafoe having religious imagery
– The last 20 min reminded me of Seven Samurai with the all-out battle in the rain.
– I think it’s a near masterpiece