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04/23/09
Virtual JFK (2008)
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Reviews Counted:19
Fresh:14
Rotten:5
Average Rating:6.6/10
Runtime: 82 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Synopsis: Film Forum is pleased to present the US theatrical premiere of Virtual JFK: Vietname if Kennedy Had Lived, beginning Wednesday, September 17. Scottish historian Niall Ferguson calls it virtual... [More]
Director: Koji Masutani
Reviews for Virtual JFK
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Fascinating stuff, but after a while the film runs out of things to say and falls back on clichés.
04/09/09
Director Koji Masutani has masterfully assembled a wealth of archival footage, photos and audiotapes, some of which has been recently declassified.
03/20/09
Top CriticDespite its title, Virtual JFK doesn't imagine a world where JFK survives the events of Dallas and goes on to win a second term as U.S. president. That would be a whole other movie, and a fascinating one at that.
02/27/09
If nothing else, Virtual JFK does remind us of what it was that made him charismatic.
02/27/09
The film is a seductive immersion into an early sixties zeitgeist and Cold War cool.
02/27/09
The word Iraq is never uttered, but there's no avoiding it as Kennedy asserts during the Bay of Pigs crisis that to attack Cuba, a country that hadn't attacked the United States, would be contrary to our national tradition.
01/08/09
Contrary to its title, Virtual JFK is less a counter-history of the Vietnam years than a tribute to John F. Kennedy's stubborn resistance to a military that pressured him to go to war on six occasions during his short presidency.
12/12/08
The controversial process of counterfactual history gets a captivating workout in Virtual JFK.
12/11/08
A compelling history lesson that offers an insightful primer on the Kennedy presidency even while proving sadly germane to our current times, Virtual JFK: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived spells out its provocative premise in its title.
10/06/08
Top CriticHearty takes and outtakes by Kennedy, his peers and nemeses intertwine objectively to thwart anyone who pegs the work as purely absurdist.
09/19/08
plays out like a hagiographic screed
09/18/08
Virtual JFK -- directed by Tokyo-born, US-educated Koji Masutani -- doesn't bring up Iraq per se, but the parallels are clear.
09/18/08
Assembles an amazing array of recorded conversations and vintage newsreel, and offers up enough press conference footage to make one nostalgic for the days when an uncowed, penetrating press really did serve the public interest.
09/17/08
Koji Masutani and Blight methodically examine how John F. Kennedy’s stalwart authority and nuanced judgment preserved an unambiguous, if fragile, peace at six different inflammatory moments during his presidency.
09/17/08
The title of the documentary Virtual J F K: Vietnam If Kennedy Had Lived pretty much says it all, though the movie itself says not nearly enough.
09/17/08
Top CriticThe question: Can an individual leader take a nation to, or keep it from, war? The conclusion: Individual temperament matters, and John F. Kennedy's example proves it.
09/17/08
Virtual JFK reps an extended glimpse into a bygone era of statesmanship.
09/17/08
Top CriticArgues that nearly 60,000 United States armed forces wouldn't have lost their lives in Vietnam had John F. Kennedy not been assassinated. Duh.
09/15/08
With its fascinating central question (What if … ) and well-chosen, nostalgic footage of John F. Kennedy in his prime, this well-played documentary manages to escape the fate of other dry historical overviews.
09/15/08
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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