The Island (1998) Poster

(1998)

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10/10
A Special place in my heart
macaded9 September 2006
Warning: Spoilers
Wow! Nothing means more in a docudrama than accuracy. This history lesson has it in spades. From beginning to end, it presents the evidence fact after fact at a break-neck, action-flick pace. Especiallly noteworthy, the scene where the real Oswald stopped off on his way to Curacao. What a blast!

In every aspect, it show the artistry and craftsmanship of the film professionals who created it. I only wish that Jack had gotten to see it before his second untimely death. And Oswald too.

A personal note... This classic historical document is special to me because I actually spent one wonderful fun-filled summer on the island with Jack and Marilyn. Talk about memories.

As a previous comment mentioned, don't miss the writer/director's other great docudrama, "The Path to 9/11". But don't forget: you gotta take it the way it gives it---with a great sense of humor.
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trite, banal, and dull
edddie-110 September 2006
I had the misfortune of seeing this film recently, and it was perhaps the longest two hours of my life.

The film was plodding, dull, and banal beyond belief. The writing was on a par of what I would expect from a tenth-grade English class, and not an Honors class, either.

The film's direction was laughably bad. At times one can see boom mikes overhead, and at least one scene showed a cast member with a Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand in the background; clearly he was not supposed to be in the frame. But there he was. That gaffes like these should survive the editing process simply beggars the imagination.

If you get a chance to see "The Island," take it, if you are a fan of MST3K and such things. Otherwise, your time would be better spent organizing your sock drawer, or trying to teach cats to subtract. It is a bad film, one of the worst ever made.
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8/10
Kirkland is the bomb!
jakephall15 March 2008
It is too bad this film has never seen the light of day, save a small run on Dish Network.

The premise is great, JFK and Marilyn in exile together since 1963 on a desert island, where only the CIA delivers supplies.

Kirkland is standout as Marilyn Monroe and surely would have got some awards consideration for her amazing work if the film had been released properly.

Michael Murphy is great as JFK. A real treat for Baby Boomers and Marilyn fans.

Murphy and Kirkland have great chemistry and go at it with much passion in several scenes of heated dialogue and built of tension of the last 30 years.

Rumor has it Kirkland is going to distribute a copies with her Autobiography currently under way.
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Witty, bold, brazen, irreverent, affectionate, a real kick in the pants!
ysteb26 September 1998
It's now called Norma Jean, Jack, and Me. JFK and Marilyn are alive and well and living out retirement in their boozed-up version of Eden when along comes an unexpected intruder. Time hasn't dulled any edges, in fact, it's sharpened their tongues. Even when you hate them you love them, and they're just as impetuous in this myth as they were in life. You gotta take it the way it gives it---with a great sense of humor. Yummy!
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