Highly recommended viewing: Oliver Stone

The link below is to a fascinating talk recorded at University of Southern California on March 3 with Oliver Stone.

It covers the Vietnam trilogy, Wall Street, Natural Born Killers, JFK, Nixon, W. and much more of his work but is more than a look at Stone, it is an intellectual discussion of the role of media in todays society, the rise of image and spin over fact and many others things - think a Sight & Sound article version of a talk! It is fascinating listening for anyone really interested in film and interesting filmmakers.

I find Stone fascinating. Many people dismiss him out of turn. Many completely buy into his rhetoric. I find neither path wise. I have seen him speak in person on more than one occasion and i find him intelligent, witty, charming and passionate, but also at times prone to over-statement. He says in this talk that Hollywood studios spend three times the production budget on marketing. The point he is making is Hollywood values what it can market - the product - over the quality of the film - the art. It is a valid point. But the statement he makes is a gross exaggeration and it is things like this that get him into trouble; that his detractors leap upon time and again.

Never-the-less i always find his work worthy of attention. No matter the outcome of his last film i will always anticipate a new one, he is that type of filmmaker - never dull, always challenging. He is like Brian De Palma or Paul Schrader in that way. All three are filmmakers who i find myself disliking probably about the same amount of their work as i like but Alexander did not lessen my interest in World Trade Center and that film did not alter my interest in seeing W. I thought The Black Dahlia was awful (and Femme Fatale - which went straight to video here in the UK - before it was as bad if not worse) but that did not stop me seeing Redacted in the cinema. I found Schrader's The Walker fairly dull but a new Schrader film is cause to suit up and head down the arthouse and i look forward (should it see UK release) to catching Adam Resurrected when i can.

The below link is accessed through Deadline Hollywood. I didn't time the whole thing because i was listening to it while working but it is about an hour i think, so best to do what i did and listen while doing other things. I recommend it though.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/oliver-stone-on-wall-street-then-now/