The Doors
One of my all-time faves I tend to forget about quite easily. I can’t not be biased about much of this movie – watching this time, for the first time in quite a while, I was reminded how massive a part it played in my whole introduction to The Doors. Val Kilmer pretty much was Jim Morrison to me for a time. But even with my bias, it amazes me that he wasn’t at least nominated for an Oscar for this role. And the great casting doesn’t end there; this is one of the few Meg Ryan movies I really love (perhaps because it’s almost possible to forget it’s even her); Frank Whaley, Kyle MacLachlan and Kevin Dillon are perfect as the band members, and Michael Wincott, Michael Madsen, Billy Idol and Kathleen Quinlan are excellent in their supporting roles.
Likewise, I’m biased as to the way Oliver Stone chose to do the movie – I know some people dislike the American Prayer recordings (as is actually referenced right at the beginning of the movie, Morrison never wished for his poetry to be coupled with the music), but they’re personally among some of my favourite tracks, and the “Is everybody in?” line at the beginning and the “Feast of Friends” tracking shot through Pere Lachaise cemetery at the end are reasons in themselves for me to watch the movie. Stone focusses on the myth, the legend, the moments and the apocrypha – there are incidents shown here that could only be known had Morrison actually told anybody of them, and considering how this movie paints him, its unlikely he ever would’ve ever had cause to do that. But I like that.
There is obviously more to The Doors, more to Morrison, than one movie can ever cover. There’s more I could write right here than I could possibly fit into one review. This movie makes its decisions and sticks by them. That’s Stone for you, I guess. For the fact it brought me to this wonderful catalogue of music, it’s forever special to me.