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Comments (24)
A film by a film-maker i detest about a President i despise?
Wow. I can avoid two distasteful experiences and save seven bucks (plus gas, here in Georgia where the average price is forty cents/gallon above the national average, last i looked) by avoiding one movie!
What a two-fer!
I'm looking forward to this one, thanks for the trailer Ray
fairportfan : Why do you detest the O.S. ? Is it because he butchered the Doors? I can see why you detest GWB...
Your welcome, I saw the first trailer online about a month ago. Just saw an interview with Oliver Stone about him doing this movie. Didn't know that he & Bush both went to yale around the same.
I'm not big on Ollie, either, fpf. In my experience, he tends to clobber the audience over the head when a tap on the shoulder might sometimes suffice. "Restraint" is not in his repertoire. But I like the idea of this film, and will almost certainly see it. And I've liked Brolin in everything I've seen him in, so that's a plus.
just for posterity's sake this vid belongs here -
Whether grandiose or sublime, Ollie certainly makes us think - and in today's me-too offerings that has caused the term "Snarky" to have it's own section in the brick and mortar video store, this style is more than welcome.
I don't mean to be rude, but I honestly don't understand why anyone would watch this. Sorry :/
Anna, I agree with you. I find it hard to believe anyone can go see this movie and expect to get an accurate picture of the truth. It's just not going to happen.
And maybe it's just me, but releasing a movie about a president while he's still actually president is just bad taste. I'm sorry, I don't care what your opinion about the presidency or the president is, it's just tacky.
You guys take it all too seriously, Stone is clearly no fan of G. W. and neither am I but I did read the reviews and am truly interested in this perspective of the man, and the timing was well planned I feel.
“W.,” Stone said, “isn’t an overly serious movie, but it is a serious subject. It’s a Shakespearean story… . I see it as the strange unfolding of American democracy as I have lived it.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/29/entertainment/ca-w29
B, his own comments aside, I don't see how anyone could help but take it seriously. No matter how lightly he presents the subject, there are going to be millions of people going to see it, armed to the teeth with preconceived notions and anger, and those people are going to leave the theater just as angry and armed with virtiol and hate. I don't see how this can do anything but worsen an already terrible situatino.
I don't see the "terrible situation", I do see an unfolding and just possibly a bit more transparency for everybody everywhere.
Tulips for everyone :)
and this video from the vp debate probably also belongs here, again just for posterity's sake -
well here's the link - http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/vp-debate-open-palin-biden/727421/
Good morning, B! :)
I am not sure if I'm taking it seriously or not, but if it's not to be taken so, I don't see the point of watching the movie even more.
B, you don't see a terrible situation? The country more divided than ever before? The economy down the toilet? The war in New Vietnam?
The country more divided than ever before? It's always been divided and at times in our history much more so than it is now; The War between the States, Vietnam, etc.. The economy down the toilet? I see this as a major readjustment that was long overdue. The war in Iraq? War sucks, and always has.
I hope we all live to see peace and prosperity in our lifetimes but until that happens we as individuals must make the most of the time we are given.
Anna, contempt prior to investigation is not your style, you listen to a song with an open ear? You watch a movie with an open mind.
Thank all for freedom of speech and expression. Bush has the lowest approval rating of any Presdient in history, I hardly see how a _movie, could make that any worse - or whether or not that would even matter. If we paid a little more heed to Ollie's movie Wall Street in 1986, we might have learned something to avoid our current fiscal mess. Or his movie Platoon for that matter.
Definitely is a terrible situation, and Dubyah (and his administration, and no bid contracts handed down to his VP and their cronies and so and so on) did more than its fair share than to contribute to this mess.
Just my humble opinion.
Okay. My turn to be dry and didactic.
Buzz: I have no problem with political satire aimed at a sitting president. And I can offer no explanation for exactly why I feel this way, but I just think a bio pic about a president while he's still the president is tacky. Note, I didn't say bad taste, just tacky. Plus, I don't think this would be classified as satire, would it? It doesn't strike me that way. I think it's meant to be a bit more serious that that.
Look, bottom line: B, you can talk all you want to about how things have always been bad, and I know I'm not speaking with the advantage of hindsight on this, but I think times are a little more drastic than some. Not the worst of the worst, surely, but not that good, either. And I think what we need now is something that can pull us together. That's all I'm saying. And this movie, these candidates, whatever, certainly ain't gonna do that. That's all I'm saying, really.
B52: Thanks for the funny vid, although I do like Palin. Your right we shouldn't take this flick so seriously. I agree with Stone saying that he is a very dangerous person.
Buzz: Thanks for the link, that was a very interesting vid. What comes down to it for me is the human nature. I agree when they say it's an issue of morality & practicality. I think the system is very mafioso.
I want to see "An American carol," but I probably wait for the DVD on this one.
Anna: Your not being rude, I see where your coming from. I like to see Stones interpretation of the man who really mess things up.
Groon: I don't see it being tacky IMHO. I think it's suppose to be partly about his first term.
Vannatta: I got to rent out Wall street again. I forgot he did that...
"Tacky" means "(1) In bad taste," "(2) Neglected and in a state of disrepair," or "(3) Slightly adhesive or gummy to the touch." Which of the latter two did you mean?
I can't yet judge the success of "W." as a satire, but Stone has explicitly stated that his intentions are satirical.
Also, "satire" and "seriousness" are not mutually exclusive, as you imply; satire is a durable old literary form that wraps a serious point in an absurd presentation. (In my humble opinion, Bush's life story is absurd as-is; to tell it without being absurd is impossible, whether you confront the facts or seek to obscure them. This is the most interesting and promising aspect of Stone's project to me.)
Since Bush is a lame duck, I don't see what's so incendiary about releasing the film now. If Stone had sprung it on us in 2004 - and in some way helped to spare us a second Bush term - now, that would have had some bite to it!
Maybe "tacky" is not the best word to use. And as I stated above, I can't quite explain why it bothers me. If this film were slated to be released January 23rd or whatever, I wouldn't have a single problem with it. And I don't have a problem with it from a freedom-of-speech standpoint. The man is more than welcome to make whatever film he wants and show it anywhere people want to view it, regardless of the topic. It justs seems to me to be designed to be incendiary in nature, and no amount of disclaimer from him on that aspect will persuade me otherwise. And the last thing we need is another thing to set us off.
All in all, I can't give a very good logical descriptino of my issues with this. It just rubs me the wrong way.
and for the record, my being rubbed the wrong way is not in any way due to my being a supporter of Bush. I am quite firmly on record in these and other pages about the fact that I think both major parties equally suck. And suck hard.
" I am quite firmly on record in these and other pages about the fact that I think both major parties equally suck. And suck hard."
I totally agree with you there...
Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: out here in the real world, outside the rarified realm of political rhetoric, we are often confronted with choices that amount to judiciously selecting the lesser of two evils. Hold your nose and vote.