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W.
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| RJT |
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._(film)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20081010/film_nm/us_bush
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"Whoever wins this election, Bush's impact has changed the world," Stone told Reuters. "This man has left us with three wars -- in Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror -- and the legacy of the pre-emptive strike.
"These are legacies that will haunt his successor for years. It's good for people, before the election, to think about who they elected eight years ago and about where we are as a country right now," the three-time Oscar winner said.
With Josh Brolin in the title role, "W." is a rare movie about a sitting U.S. president, made by a director whose past films have been criticized for mixing fact and fiction.
Yet Stone says audiences will not find the partisan portrait his critics might expect from the director of Vietnam war film "Platoon" and Cuban documentary "Looking for Fidel."
"It was not our intention to bring malice or judgment on George W. Bush and his administration. He and his administration clearly speak for themselves," Stone said.
"EVEN-HANDED"
Among early reviews, show business paper Daily Variety says the movie is a "clear and plausible take on (Bush's) psychological makeup, and, considering Stone's reputation and Bush's vast unpopularity, a relatively even-handed, restrained treatment of recent politics."
"W." traces Bush's transformation from a privileged, hard-drinking frat boy to religious convert; his rise from Texas governor to U.S. president; and to his decisions in the weeks ahead of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
. . .
"The movie tries to understand Bush and make him a human being," Stone said. "I have tried to be fair and balanced. I have tried not to take sides." |
Comes out this weekend and I honestly haven't been this excited for a movie that will more than likely only depress me in a long time.
Early reviews are all saying it's plausible and pretty fair (this is at least a matter of perspective), and the early footage looks pretty good (particularly Drefuss' as Dick Cheney - spitting image), but I'm wondering how they'll make this compelling when it sounds like most of it is pretty much reenactments of famous events from his presidency.
Stone has discussed it as a three act play, the first of which being Bush as a drunken frat boy - this is probably the part of the movie I'm most interested in seeing. :p |
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| RJT |
| Let's try this again... |
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| montana |
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| woscar99 |
This is an interesting review from the movie posted on the IMDB boards:
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A Fair And Balanced Portrait of a... Fairly Simple Man, 12 October 2008
This is a very good movie, but not the classic it wants to be. It's funny and tragic, although not too informative if you've read a newspaper with any regularity over the last eight years. In short, there are no surprises.
Josh Brolin gives an excellent performance as W., and the supporting cast is generally superb, although Jeffrey Wright, Richard Dreyfuss, and James Cromwell particularly stand out. Thandie Newton is hysterically funny as Condie Rice, but it's an SNL-type parody, not an emotionally honest performance.
The film is obviously meticulously researched and carefully considered, which is why the sequences that are clearly either utter conjecture or merely political finger-pointing stand out by a mile.
Bush -- whom I personally despise for his offensive combination of idiocy and self-righteousness -- is treated with fairness and sensitivity. The effort here is obviously to fashion him as a tragic hero; a man who genuinely wants to do good but simply doesn't grasp how hard that is, especially when surrounded by the likes of Karl Rove and Dick Cheney (who is, very specifically, the villain of the piece, as he is in life). And it generally works. I found myself feeling bad for the poor guy.
However, while trying to make W. a sympathetic character, Stone pushes his theme -- "It Was All To Prove Himself To Daddy" way too far. He overplays his hand, including a mood-breaking dream sequence near the end. There simply has to be more to George W. Bush than that..... doesn't there? The film ultimately plays much, much better when Stone relies on actual transcripts and information gathered by experienced reporters, and those sequences, whether they are cabinet meetings, press conferences, or more personal moments, snap and zing.
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| idoru |
Well me, James Cromwell is in it? This flick automatically gets a gold star.  |
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| woscar99 |
| quote: | Originally posted by idoru
Well me, James Cromwell is in it? This flick automatically gets a gold star. |
Yup, he plays Bush Sr. |
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| lücid |
| quote: | Originally posted by montana
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awesome. :stongue: |
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| PoisonJam19 |
| I'm am definitely looking forward to this. |
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| Paradox Lost |
| Hmmm, I want to hear what diggerz has to say about all this. :D |
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| denys envy |
| The man is obviously a communist! |
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| Sushipunk |
| What happened to the last thread? :conf: |
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| RJT |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sushipunk
What happened to the last thread? :conf: |
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