Nixon (Oliver Stone)

Rating: 1.5					Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

I think I'm going to remember 1995 in years to come as the Year of the 
Three-Hour Snoozefest.  In addition to CASINO and the nearly-three-hour 
HEAT, both of which made me long for a fast-forward button (or, better 
yet vis-à-vis CASINO, a stop button), there's Stone's ludicrously 
overheated NIXON, which, had it been only ten minutes long and devoid of 
credits, I would be hailing as a brilliant and devastating Stone parody.  
Sadly, it isn't a joke (not the right kind of joke, anyway).  What it is 
that many critics find so fascinating about this film is utterly beyond 
me; Anthony Hopkins' interesting (if ultimately ineffective) 
interpretation of Richard Milhous was the only element standing between 
me and a 175-minute catnap (the first fifteen minutes had a certain 
I-can't-believe-my-eyes charm; every fifteen minutes following was the 
same fifteen minutes).  A disaster; I now have little hope that Stone, 
whose last decent picture was SALVADOR, will ever make a good movie again.