Jeffrey Wells has a nice little conversation-starter over at Hollywood-Elsewhere about Oliver Stone:
“Director-screenwriter Oliver Stone, currently the Noam Chomsky of Hollywood filmmakers, is still fully engaged, plugging away and firing on all cylinders. He’ll probably remain that way until the day he drops dead. But from ’86 through ’91 Stone was incandescent and untouchable— Salvador (’86), Platoon (’87), Wall Street (’87), Talk Radio (’88), Born on the Fourth of July (’89), The Doors (’91), JFK (’91). You could extent the streak, I suppose, to Natural Born Killers (’94), even though Heaven and Earth (’93) was a problem. Any Given Sunday (’99) was of course a major rebound. Okay, call it a 13-year streak.”
My reply:
I'm not too sure I would include “The Doors,” that was a heavily flawed movie, although it does merit a rewatch on my part. I would grade the ‘86 through ‘95 period like this:
Salvador [A-] Platoon A Wall Street [B+] Talk Radio [B] Born on the Fourth of July [B+] The Doors [C+] JFK [A] Natural Born Killers [F] Nixon [B+]
Many neglect 1997's U-TURN, but it's such a nasty little pulp-noir treat. It needs to be re-assessed by many.