Staying Fit
Senseless violence. Bottomless conspiracies. Val Kilmer in leather pants. Oliver Stone's movies have been making waves — and winning awards — for the better part of 40 years. So, with the 73-year-old filmmaker now publishing his first memoir — Chasing the Light: Writing, Directing and Surviving Platoon, Midnight Express, Scarface, Salvador, and the Movie Game — AARP figured it was time for a refresher course on why so many critics consider Stone to be one of America's greatest (certainly one of its most controversial) living auteurs.
Below are 10 of Stone's classic cinematic achievements, in descending order of re-watchability. (Note: the CIA, the FBI and Lyndon Johnson were in no way involved in the following rankings).
RELATED: The director dishes his dysfunctional family life with AARP in this interview.
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10. The Doors (1991)
Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll were never more depressing than in this humorless dirge following the short, not-so-happy life of ‘60s icon Jim Morrison, who died in 1971 at age 27 after years of boozing and narcotics abuse. But the film does have one thing going for it: Val Kilmer's dazzling, over-the-top performance as the doomed rock messiah. The concert scenes are exhilarating — Kilmer (now 60) performed many of his own vocals, miraculously channeling Morrison's cadence and timbre, and at one point during filming he actually broke an arm jumping from the stage into the crowd — even if the rest of the movie is kind of a downer.
Watch it here: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube
9. Any Given Sunday (1999)
Stone and Al Pacino had known each other for years — since Stone wrote the screenplay for 1983's Scarface — but it wasn't until this gladiatorial drama about the NFL that they finally got to work together. Still, the breakout performance here belongs to Jamie Foxx (now 52), who plays a hotshot quarterback who clashes with Pacino's aging, out-of-step coach. (Foxx can thank Sean “Diddy” Combs for the role; the rapper was originally cast but reportedly couldn't throw a football well.) Reviews were decidedly mixed — “quintessentially zany Oliver Stone,” is how the New York Times described it — but with a running time of two hours and 40 minutes, this movie is definitely more of a marathon than a scrimmage.
Watch it here: HBO Max, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play, Microsoft Home
8. W. (2008)
Stone didn't just court controversy with this real-time biopic of George W. Bush — shot quickly and rushed into release while the 43rd president was still occupying the Oval Office — he grabbed controversy by the lapels and gave it a big wet smooch. The shelf life of a gimmicky campaign season stunt like this isn't long (it pretty much expired on Jan. 20, 2009, when Bush handed the White House keys to Barack Obama), but there are still elements worth rewatching, especially Josh Brolin's shockingly spot-on performance as the title character. Brolin (now 52) not only nails Dubya's voice and posture, he captures the very essence of Bush, with every shoulder shrug and heh-heh chuckle. Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney isn't half bad either.
Watch it here: Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play, Microsoft Home
