Okay, I’m hooked.  Completely.  Utterly.  Missed the start of the series during the regular season, and when I finally tuned in I was, well, lost.

I was delighted to see “story by Jeffery Lieber” in the opening credits.  Jeff and I go back to the mid-1990s when Matt Costello and I were scripting the “Dark Half Interactive” project for Orion Interactive; Jeff was acting as producer.  He’s not the least bit squeamish but Matt and I managed to gross him out with our “Birthing Woman” interaction (don’t ask). The project was orphaned and became vaporware when MGM bought Orion.  He’s a talented guy and I do believe he might have learned a few things from Matt and me about telling weird tales.  If so, I’m happy to have passed them on.  He’s paid his dues.  He deserves this.  I wish him the best.

FF = a big fat ZEEEERO (and hungry for more while praying the quality holds up)

Almost 3.5 hours. Yow. There aren’t many folks who like a conspiracy theory more than I (e.g., Conspiracies), but this was looooong. Compelling, though, even if the film places the entire blame on the wrong shoulders: the military-industrial complex (MIC).

According to Stone, the MIC wanted Kennedy dead because he was going to pull every American soldier and advisor out of Nam, thus depriving the MIC of all those contracts. This is a fiction concocted by the post-assassination canonizers of JFK who are embarrassed by the fact that he was a devout anticommunist.

Bear with me while I copy here a paragraph that Arthur M. Schlesinger deleted (maybe he just forgot?) from his coverage of Kennedy’s 9/10/63 news conference in his book, A Thousand Days:

“We want the war to be won, the communists contained, and the Americans to go home. That is our policy. I am sure it is the policy of Vietnam. But we are not there to see a war lost, and we will follow the policy which I’ve indicated today in advancing those causes and issues which help win the war.”

That’s 10 weeks before his assassination. Does that sound like a man who’s going to toss the Vietnam war in the dumpster?

Lastly, I don’t understand why Stone ignored the mob’s involvement in the assassination.  (Perhaps it got in the way of his agenda). If you want to read a gripping, unflinching, meticulously researched novel that considers all aspects of the conspiracy theories – including the mob and even Howard Hughes – pick up James Ellroy’s American Tabloid. By comparison the Stone film is a pallid, timid invertebrate.

FF= 1 (I FF’d through 20 minutes in the last act, but that’s only 10% of the running time, thus the good score)

I thought this might be suitable for Bad Movie Night (which means it’s so bad it’s fun) but this one’s just terrible.  Screenwriter Larry Cohen (Phone Booth, Cellular, and a zillion other scripts) on autopilot.  A little bit Valentines Day, a little bit Prom Night, a lot Maniac Cop (another Larry Cohen creation – Maniac Cop 3 is one of my guilty pleasures) but lacking the verve and sense of mischief.  A couple of somewhat imaginative murders, but mostly deadly dull.

FF= 7 (might even be 8 – my finger was glued to the FF button between the murders)

Can’t say much more than captivating, fascinating, cool. Uniquely structured. (On a side note, I found the scenes involving the Red China’s Cultural Revolution upsetting – and proof of my assertion that, as far as individual liberty is concerned, the only difference between fascism and communism is the rhetoric.)

FF= 1 (during the Cultural Revolution sequence)

Very well-done ultra-low-budget film.  And very confusing.  I knew the film was short and was afraid I’d miss a crucial plot point if I FF’d.

FF=0

Supposedly based on a true story. Another Cinderella-team tale a la Hoosiers, but grittier. Samuel Jackson and a great cast of kids kept my finger off the FF button.

FF=0

A script that follows the Hollywood formula, but well-done formula with an engaging cast.

FF=2

A classic but see this only in the full, super-widescreen version.

FF=0