Help
Sign In
films
October 2008 
EQUAL Views for October 23, 2008
Posted on Oct 23rd, 2008
by 
wolfspirit
wolfspirit
Oliver Stone's "W" movie reviewed in all four quadrants: Bush's motives, his behaviors, the cultural reference points, and the damage inflicted on the world by a failed presidency.
| Inquiry: What Does Oliver Stone's "W" Tell Us About George W. Bush? | |
 Entertainment Weekly: "The fascinating, clumsy rhythms of blind men trying to describe an elephant (a Republican pachyderm), bravely fronted by one intrepid explorer with his eyes wide open, looking for nuance" ... Roger Ebert: "If there is a saving grace, it may be that Bush will never fully realize how badly he did. How can he blame himself? He was only following God's will." ... Me: Bush's motivations seem surprisingly easy to read; low hanging fruit for a biopic. | Roger Ebert: "In his presence, Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice tend to defer, to use tact as a shield from his ego and defensiveness. But Cheney's soft-spoken, absolutely confident opinions are generally taken as truth." ... Marc Ambinder: "Powell, in a meeting at Bush's ranch, warning Bush that if he 'breaks' Iraq, he'll have to buy it." ... Me: Bush's actions are bumbling, incompetent, and have grave consequences. |
| Entertainment Weekly: "The director fixes on the Freudian through-line in a Greek tragedy/SNL comedy." ... Marc Ambinder: "The story Stone presents has been told over and over, creating grooves in the brains of Bush-haters... Bush's religious conversion is treated sensitively and believably" ... Me: Bush rose to power on the basis of his everyman, frat-boy personality, religious conversion, and privilege. | Roger Ebert: "One might feel sorry for George W. at the end of this film, were it not for his legacy of a fraudulent war and a collapsed economy." ... Me: The monumental failures of the Bush legacy--the war debacles, worsening climate change, the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression, the collapse of the GOP--are brushed over. Stone's omission gives the film a certain lightweight, SNL skit quality that feels tragically inappropriate. |
| Holon of the Day: The Pencil | |
"Every Quadrant Under a Lense (EQUAL Views)" is a Web column written by Joe Perez, published most weekdays at Joe-Perez.com.
Access: PublicTagged with: Oliver Stone, W, George W. Bush, movies, films, reviews, Joe Perez, Roger Ebert, Marc Ambinder
