W. (2008)

First and foremost, W. dazzles by Josh Brolin's astounding performance, but the film itself entertains and engages thoroughly from start to finish.

A movie that's like a photo album made of moving pictures, focusing on his early, untamed life, the extraordinary turnaround and finally the first term.

Rather simplistic and reductive, but something tells me Oliver Stone didn't mind it turning out that way.

W. is the October surprise. The movie won't change anybody's ideas about the values of the last eight years. But it may make some of us think differently about their protagonist. If one expects -- or demands -- a Liberal screed against G.W. Bush, t

When [Stone] looks into Bush's eyes... he's reflecting on the long, tormented nights of many an American soul.

Love him or hate him, there's no denying that George W. Bush is a remarkably controversial figure, so how is it possible that Stone has managed to make a movie that's about as incendiary as Kung Fu Panda?

Josh Brolin develops an ingenious physical tic that encompasses the President: He talks with his mouth full, like a man who's bitten off more than he can chew.

Stone miscalculates by wanting to talk about George W. Bush just as he has become the lamest of lame ducks.

... while not the ideological lambasting many probably expected, it's nonetheless not a portrait the subject himself would find flattering.

Like the worst of Stone's movies, W. feels bloated, sloppy, and overambitious.