Alicia I love this movie so much

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Tss5078 Based on Vincent Bugliosi's book, Four Days in November, the film Parkland chronicles the events following the assassination of JFK. What I liked about this film was how it tells a part of the story that isn't widely known. From the doctors at the hospital, working on the President, to the acquisition of the Zapruder film, Parkland goes behind the scenes to tell the untold story. I was also impressed with how the film managed to stick to the facts and not dwell on any of the conspiracy theories that surround the case. Zac Efron stars and really wasn't all that great. I think that Efron needs to stick to what he does best, taking his cloths off and making people laugh. While the film is kind of slow, I really enjoyed Paul Giamatti's portrayal of Abraham Zapruder, the man who filmed the assassination. Zapruder really struggled with releasing the tape to the media and the events he witnessed ultimately destroyed his life. Giamatti's portrayal of the man is supposedly spot on and truly deserves an honor mention. Parkland gives us a lot of new information about the events that followed the assassination of President Kennedy, but a lot of it are things the general public really aren't that interested in learning about. For a Kennedy aficionado, this film must of been eye opening, as for the rest of us, it was an interesting, non-bias view of history, albeit a little boring.

Gregg Wager I fear films like this, because I know if anyone ever makes one well enough, I might end up hating American cinema forever. Thankfully, I found this film to be executed poorly enough that I can breathe a sigh of relief."Parkland" is a super-somber, ponderous marathon of long silences between sparse dialog delivered with exaggerated whisper. Abrupt and remarkably volatile tantrums also occur, but can all but be counted with the fingers on one hand.In such ultra-slow motion, out comes a one-dimensional bore of a narrative that never pleads with conspiracy theorists to give up their presumably errant beliefs, but pretends no controversy ever existed in the first place. Perhaps the dubious design is to wear the theorists down until saliva drips from their gaping mouths.Otherwise superb actors (Thornton, Giamatti, Harden, and Efron) are lost among a generally weak cast. James Newton Howard adds a snail's-pace music soundtrack resembling a weeping choir that makes Brian Eno's "Music For Airports" sound like a frenetic, dizzying étude.But that's not the point. Those of us who have actually read Vincent Bugliosi's 1700-page tome know that the main purpose here is to debunk conspiracy theories (it is titled "Reclaiming History," after all). Unfortunately, even admiring Bugliosi's skills as a prosecutor and zealous advocate do not overcome the painful reality that he makes a horrifically misguided claim to also being an historian. He is no such thing.Those who know the conspiracy-friendly film "Kill the Messenger" also might be shocked to learn that its same screenwriter and producer also wrote and directed "Parkland." Other familiar names, including actors Tom Hanks and Bill Paxton, flesh out a rather lengthy list of producers.We have all seen the Zapruder film, which includes depiction of a large piece of JFK's scalp being torn almost completely off (footage even included in this film), so why during the opening do we see a completely intact head as JFK's body is being rolled into Parkland Memorial Hospital on a stretcher? Why so much effort to portray Agent Hosty's acts as merely a cover-up of ineptitude without even the hint of the controversy that raged in the newspapers that Oswald was supposed to have been an FBI informant and even kept Hosty's name in his address book? The only hint that Oswald might have been a trained agent provocateur (explaining his defection to the USSR and public displays of over-the-top Marxism) come from his mother, who is portrayed as a sociopath, with grief uncharacteristically emerging only at the end during her son's funeral. If only Robert Oswald had a crystal ball when scolding his brother for being such a bad father—in real life, the older daughter, Rachel Oswald Porter, graduated as the valedictorian of the University of Texas.Follow this moping maze of darkness if you must, but just for fun, read Mark Antony's famous soliloquy when it's all finished. This is not the last word.

crdnlsyn13 I have been studying, watching, speaking about, and all around fascinated with this event that happened 8 years before I was even born. I've seen every adaptation and film about this event, and this is the first one that actually captured the 'human' element of the story. For decades we've grown so jaded by the coverage, and documentaries and reports that go on year after year on the anniversary, that we've disassociated the 'human' element of what happened.We've never been given a real glimpse into the emotions of the doctors, and nurses in the room that day. We've NEVER truly felt Jackie's pain and anguish in that room, on that day, until now. I cried, after years and years of watching, and reading, and talking about all this... during the emergency room scene, I cried. The 'human' element of all of it, FINALLY hit home.Great film, great story, told from a great angle. Conspiracy theorists, and detractors should set aside their agendas for a moment, and just feel what the Doctor's and Nurses, and all the others felt during those moments. Truly moving, no matter what you believe happened that day.

chris In the aftermath of such high profile tragedies there are inevitable speculations that will surround the event from then onwards. Conspiracy theories have prevailed throughout the years since JFK's assassination and therefore become an instant association in the minds of many people thereafter. This movie decides to focus on the people involved immediately after the assassination and concentrates on how they reacted amidst the chaotic events that unfolded. The acting is superb all round as you watch the story of ordinary people and how they deal with the horror and magnitude of the situation at the time. It provoked me to reassess the way I look at historical events. When I look back in time at historical events I can only associate what I have read and heard about it to the event in my mind. But being there would be totally different from anything we could ever imagine. This movie really focuses on the ordinary people who were there. People not so well known fifty years on after the event whose lives were changed forever. This is done to great effect with the focus on the portrayal of Robert Oswald rather than Lee Harvey. In terms of conspiracy theories - the movie doesn't directly address them...but there are moments that it leaves the viewer an open assessment on possible theories. For example: suspicions were raised for some theorists that the body was removed too quickly without a proper post mortem examination allowing for potential tampering of evidence. However the way this scene is played out in Parkland - you could see how moving the body immediately could have seemed like the appropriate thing to do during those moments of chaos. This movie is fast paced, well acted and thought provoking which makes it a success for me. If there is a final message that it leaves me with it's this: after death the legacy of people and how they are remembered changes greatly from one person to the next. What will always remain is the sorrow and suffering of those closest to them.