W
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Thandie Newton
Lionsgate

Long gone were Presidents Kennedy and Nixon when Oliver Stone decided to dissect them back in the 1990s and those two films (JFK and Nixon) turned out just fine. With President George W. Bush, Stone is not only dealing with a sitting president, but is dealing with the fact that good ole W is among the most discussed presidents of all-time.

Go ahead, try and turn on a news station that isn’t discussing this man’s calamities. It’s impossible. That fact alone would dissuade most directors. But Stone handles W’s issues and dilemmas with a keen understanding and a unique freshness that results in a fascinating foray into W’s desire to break away from his family’s name, but at the same time be accepted by them. Let the debates begin.

Stone’s tactic isn’t to give the audience a lecture or a PowerPoint presentation on the 43rd President of the United States. W (Josh Brolin) isn’t like Lincoln or Washington, or, any president for that matter. Most of them are made out to be monuments, not alcoholic, spoiled, feckless men like the young W. Those prestigious presidents would fill the movie screen in searing dramas and portraits of history that would be directed by the likes of Spielberg.

W.
Directed by Oliver Stone
Starring Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn
Rated PG-13
Release Date: October 17, 2008

Any comedian will tell you the secret to a good joke is to make it accessible, have a good setup, and kill with the punch line. I don’t know that there is necessarily a golden formula but this seems like pretty sound advice on a general level. I suppose variations of the same thing can be said about making movies. Director Oliver Stone had nothing if not a golden setup. A movie about the exiting President of the United States, while he is still in office, mere days before the election that would remove him from power, and with just enough time to reflect on his last eight years in office. Stone, being no stranger to controversy or films of historical significance, seemed to be in a perfect position to move in for the kill. Instead we got what those in retail refer to as the old “˜bait and switch’.

W. does show us what we expected to see from this movie; that George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) grew up as a hard partying man of privilege who rarely had to deal with consequences for anything he did or said. He was an irresponsible, womanizing, carousing, spoiled little rich kid who wouldn’t and couldn’t hold a job. Any trouble he got into was fixed by a phone call from his father, George H.W. Bush (James Cromwell). It also told how Dubya fell ass-backwards into politics and eventually became the leader of the free world. It would almost be an inspiring “little engine that could” type story, if not for knowing the details about how everything actually turned out. The pre-release posters and trailers suggested the movie would be a caustic illustration of the rise and fall of the 43rd President of the United States. Turns out, W. shows a surprising lack of poignancy, political or otherwise.

The Sum of All Fears
Blu-Ray
Directed by Phil Alden
Starring Ben Affleck, Morgan Freeman, James Cromwell
Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: July 29, 2008

Perhaps the most telling line in The Sum of All Fears is spoken by Morgan Freeman as CIA Director Bill Cabot. The POTUS says they run nuclear fire drills against the Russians because who else has over 2,000 to worry about, to which Cabot says, “It’s the guy with one I’m worried about.”

It’s been years since I originally saw this film, and I have to say it was not as bad as I remember it being the first time.

The series took a bizarre turn on this one. Bonus feature commentary revealed that Harrison Ford was originally supposed to reprise the role of Jack Ryan for the third time, but ultimately decided against it before filming began. The role was recast with Ben Affleck, 30 years Ford’s junior, and the script was rewritten to have Ryan as a new recruit to the CIA instead holding a high office like in the novel. The story was altered significantly from the novel, effectively rebooting a series that did not need rebooting. However, it all went down with the approval of author Tom Clancy, who served as the film’s executive producer.