Killing Kennedy (2013)

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?

I recently watched two movies produced by Bill O'Reilly, Killing Kennedy and Killing Jesus. What can I say? Bill succeeded to kill them both. With such a enormous intriguing stories behind the lives and deaths of those great men, O'Reilly used them to show us a soap opera kind of third grade TV movie. Apparently, two flops in a row! Everybody who watched O'Reilly talk show pays tribute to his oral skills and intelligence. However, in film making Bill O'Reilly came out as a failure. Both his movies are dull and just boring. But even more problematic is Bill O'Reilly's choice to disregard the known facts and to show his own view that doesn't settle with history.

I generally like Rob Lowe, and they have him somewhat looking like JFK. He did get many of his mannerisms and somewhat voice inflection down. But it just seemed like Rob Lowe playing Rob Lowe playing JFK. ALL of the other cast members were way off. The actress playing Jackie was wrong all the way around. The actor playing RFK was just as bad a choice. The script was bad. The story line basically sticks to the Warren Commissions version of things which is generally considered bogus now. They have JFK making decisions all alone rather than taking advice as he was known to do. Over all a huge disappointment. Watch 'The Kennedys' with Greg Kinnear, Katie Holmes and Barry Pepper instead. It's brilliant.

I hesitated to watch this movie because I was in college when Kennedy was killed, I remember it well and I wasn't sure I wanted to be reminded of it again. But I did and I am glad.The movie is based on Bill O'Reilly's book. He was in fact a reporter in Dallas during the 1970s and has had a keen interest in the death of Kennedy for quite a while. As he himself says the story, as far as he has been able, just tells the facts that they were able to uncover from witnesses and official police reports.As the title "Killing Kennedy" suggests, much of the focus in on Lee Harvey Oswald, his background, his unhappiness with American Imperialism, his attempt to live as a Communist in Russia (couldn't stand the life and the cold), and his great unhappiness at the USA stance on Cuba and Castro.The author doesn't believe Oswald was necessarily after Kennedy, any high-ranking government official would have served his purpose, but he worked in the Dallas book depository and the parade route gave him the perfect vantage point for a shooting. But Oswald was passionate and not very smart, he had no post-shooting plan, he made it up as he went along, was quickly caught, and Jack Ruby made sure we could never get Oswald's side of the story.Oswald's story is told in parallel to Kennedy's story, throwing his hat in the ring for President, picking Johnson as a running mate just to get the Texas vote, and winning a narrow victory. Kennedy's being too trusting of his military advisers early, leading to the Bay of Pigs fiasco, then standing his own ground later to turn away the Russians in the Cuban missile crisis, averting a war with Cuba and Russia.So these two paths crossed, in November of 1963, in Dallas. Within 3 days both were being buried, under quite different circumstances.Most of the actors do a very credible job, quite different from the people as we remember them, but things people younger than about 60 wouldn't necessarily notice. Rob Lowe as John F. Kennedy and Will Rothhaar very powerful as Lee Harvey Oswald. Francis Guinan did as good as he could with Lyndon Johnson, a person difficult to get right.I really like Ginnifer Goodwin and she was OK as Jacqueline Kennedy, but Jackie was also such a unique person I never felt like I was seeing her. But Michelle Trachtenberg seemed just perfect as the Russian bride, Marina Oswald. Even when her lines were in Russian they seemed perfectly believable. For me she was the best in this movie.

First I will state the disclaimer that I am a Kennedy and Kennedy Assassination historian, have been for a very, very long time and am generally considered a worthwhile voice in the Kennedy community (not bragging just stating my background...and maybe bragging a little!) I scramble to see every Kennedy film, bio and documentary I can so I was thrilled to see this one. I had reasonable expectations though and knew that it would be a very straight forward/non-controversial telling of the events leading to Kennedy's assassination and it is exactly that. It brings nothing new or shocking to the table but rather follows the generally accepted history of Kennedy and the Assassination. There is a lot of good to this TV made film but there is also a lot of missed potential. I dream of the day that someone with true brilliance makes a full fledged TV Series (four seasons would be great.) There is far too much history, drama, and major events to cram it all into an hour and a half. That being said they do the very best they can in the time frame given. The cast is brilliant, one of the best "Camelot" era casts I have seen in a film (more on that in a moment.) Some of the scenes where they recreate intimate Kennedy moments was powerful and just really moving to see dramatized. It was a nearly perfect representation of the story but due to the time constraint it comes across as just a little dry and underdeveloped.Rob Lowe...wow. He absolutely nails his role as John Kennedy. He looks the part, nails the voice (without sounding cheesy), has good charisma and just really embodies the part. He is easily one of the top three JFK actors I have ever seen. The problem is (and this extends to the entire cast) is that because of the time constraint he and the rest of the cast don't get enough time to really shine in the roles. Everything is so fast and so by the book that their brilliance is hampered just a little bit. Ginnifer Goodwin is the perfect example of this because I think she was terrific as Jackie (though her chemistry with Lowe was okay and not great.) She also tries just a little too hard to imitate Jackie but 99% of the time she does an amazing job and I think given hours to unfold the character she could have been amazing. Will Rothhaar is mesmerizing as Lee Harvey Oswald. He gets the most development as a character and he makes the most infamous killer in modern day history come alive on screen like you are there with him trying to understand him. Michelle Trachtenberg gives an absolutely stunning, Emmy worthy performances as Marina Oswald. As one reviewer pointed out, she is a little too pretty to be Marina but outside of that she is amazing. Her Russian sounds flawless and her chemistry with Rothhaar is perfect. I would have watched an entire film about the two of them (another great idea for Hollywood.) Jack Noseworthy has an achingly small role as Bobby Kennedy but I think given a much bigger role he would have been great at it too because in his couple of scenes he really captures the look and voice of Bobby. Casey Siemaszko and Francis Guinan are also decent in extremely small roles as Jack Ruby and Lyndon Johnson.Director Nelson McCormick is probably a great choice to helm this film. He does a good job with the information and tells the story exactly as its presented to him. He has a long history in TV and I think if they did stretch this out into an actual series he would be a good choice. As I said before he recreates some really interesting scenes in the Kennedy family and it was the first time I have seen these particular scenes recreated. One reviewer pointed out a particular scene of nudity (a woman's backside as she gets out of the pool) and pointed it out as disappointing and pointless. They were jumped all over by people (of course) but I agree! For a film that nearly anyone could watch and history classes of all ages should see, to have that single moment of nudity was completely gratuitous and pointless. Still as a history buff and as a Kennedy buff even moreso I was impressed by the film, had a great time watching it but fell just shy of being blown away. The historical accuracy was definitely there and I thought it interesting (as a conspiracy theorist) that I thought their tried and true by the book story only made it look even more implausible but that's a story in itself. Absolutely check this out because its well worth your time. 8/10