W. Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Pictured above (clockwise from upper left): Nights in Rodanthe, W., Frozen River, Chocolate.

Nights in Rodanthe
I'll quote our own Jeffrey M. Anderson: "If you're the type that likes crying at the movies, you'll love it. If you loved Richard Gere and Diane Lane together in a thriller like Unfaithful (2002) but you don't like to cry, you probably won't like it. Me, I found a few things to like and much to loathe." The DVD includes two mini-features, alternate scenes, and a music video. Also on Blu-ray. Skip it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon. | Read Jeff's review.

W.
Oliver Stone's biopic is more bromide than probing drama, but as a comedy it's pretty entertaining, and Josh Brolin is superb as the confoundingly charming George W. Bush. DVD includes an audio commentary by Stone and the featurette "Dangerous Dynasty: The Bush Presidency." Also on Blu-ray. Rent it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon. | Read James Rocchi's review.

Chocolate
Thai action has never hit harder than under Prachya (Ong Bak) Pinkaew's direction in Chocolate, featuring the irresistible young star Jeeja. She plays an autistic girl with a forcibly-retired assassin for a mother and an absent Yakuza for a father, and the girl has mad skills with her hands, feet, elbows, and knees! This has endless replay value for action fans. DVD includes interviews with the director and a "making of" mini-feature. Also on Blu-ray. Buy it.

Add to Netflix queue. | Buy at Amazon. | Read my review of the import DVD.

Also out: Spike Lee's WWI drama Miracle at St. Ann; Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac in Malcolm D. Lee's comedy Soul Men; and Julianne Moore in Fernando Meirelles' thriller Blindness.

Technically, the news here is that the charges against W. stars Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright -- who were arrested last July at a Shreveport, La., bar for interfering with the arrest of another crew member -- are being dropped. A Shreveport City Court spokesperson told E! News that Brolin, Wright, and five others arrested at the same time are on what's called "district attorney's probation," meaning that as long as they stay out of trouble between now and their next court date, in March, all the charges against them will officially be dropped at that time.

Accounts of what happened at the bar that night vary wildly, but apparently the film's cast and crew were celebrating the end of shooting, things got rowdy, the cops were called, and a W. crew member, Eric Felland, got arrested. Wright and Brolin tried to talk the cops out of it, and they got arrested, too. A round of arrests for everyone! On the house!

But that's not all. In the process, Brolin was pepper-sprayed and Wright was Tasered. Now video footage of this has shown up, hosted at the sleazy-but-occasionally-useful TMZ.com. (We can't embed it, but you can watch it here.) In the video, you can see a post-spraying Brolin, now mellow and subdued, still trying to talk the cops into letting everyone go, and being handcuffed. Meanwhile, out in the street, Wright -- who appears to already be handcuffed -- is on the ground, being Tasered repeatedly for the duration of the video. What possible reason the police could have for Tasering a suspect who's already restrained and behaving calmly, I cannot imagine. No doubt "you weren't there, you don't know what happened" will be cited as justification for it.

There's an interesting discussion currently making its way around the internets after About.com's Jurgen Fauth listed his choices for the most disappointing films of 2008 -- a list which boasts fan favorites like The Dark Knight, WALL-E and Slumdog Millionaire. Obviously Jurgen is one to go against the grain -- and more power to him -- but we're certainly allowed to disagree with statements like (when speaking of WALL-E): " ... for my money, the much maligned Star Wars: The Clone Wars offered much more exciting entertainment and a fresher visual style." George Lucas sends his love.

Karina over at Spout then picked up the torch and shoveled out some of the films she was most disappointed by in 2008, including Religulous, Che and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (this one in particular caused the gal a few hate mail waves). As far as the films on my list, top (or bottom) honors would have to go to Choke, which was a great book that landed in the wrong hands. Part of me already expected to be disappointed by Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, so we half-count that, and, like both Jurgen and Karina, felt Oliver Stone could've done much better with W. I'll round out my list with Clint Eastwood's Changeling -- a film I thought tried to be too much at once -- and then ask you for your most disappointing films of 2008. So ... sound off below.

It looks like our James Rocchi wasn't the only one thinking something was off with Oliver Stone's W. as Richard Dreyfuss isn't exactly thrilled with it either. He recently popped up on The View and discussed his thoughts on the film and working with Stone. (Clips online aren't completely inclusive. Jezebel will give you his intro and the start of the discussion about W., while Huffington Post cuts off the beginning, but gives more at the end.)

All in all, Dreyfuss says that he participated in this film for the money, that it's 6/8 of a good film, wonders if the film has any historical legs, and likens working with Stone to working with Sean Hannity. But this is also a good case of needing to see it for yourself. Out of context and in print, his words sound quite rant-filled, but come off as wryly critical in video, with a little sarcasm and humor for good measure.

I must say I appreciate this. In fact, I'm much more likely to see a film where an actor gives his completely honest opinion. Saying "it's pretty good, but not awesome," makes me trust the statement a heck of a lot more than "it's sensational!" What do you think?

October in Austin might mean the Texas-Oklahoma game to some people, or the welcome end of triple-digit temperature hell to others, but for movie lovers it brings us a week of Austin Film Festival, which celebrated its 15th year last week. I can remember when the festival was limited to one hotel and a couple of movie theaters, and the films were just something to do at night after the screenwriters' conference. This year, the conference spread out over several venues and the film festival itself, which lasts a full week, screened films in nine different locations around town.

The Paramount Theatre, which seats about 1,200 people, was packed for the opening-night film, W., with actor James Cromwell in attendance. This was a specially apt venue for the Oliver Stone film because if you walk outside the Paramount and look down the street, there's the State Capitol. The Governor's Mansion -- well, what's left of it right now -- is in walking distance of the theater. If we could only have blocked off Congress Ave. (hah), we could have posed Cromwell with the Capitol prominent in the background. Cromwell not only stuck around after the film for a Q&A, but stayed for the screenwriters' conference the next day to lead a conversation-style session about acting.

Oliver Stone's docudrama W. opened last week to mixed critical response (including our own review) and a modest box office take of just over $10 million. Now, as Stone has promised in interview after interview, a rather thorough fact guide has been posted online, a bibliography with which one can corroborate several facts in a film admittedly filled with all manner of re-enactment and artistic license.

For those much more inclined than I, there are over eighty pages to delve into regarding where dialogue was lifted from actual quotes and where inference was otherwise made, like an exhaustive scene-by-scene commentary or (I'm guessing) a similar supplement for the eventual DVD release.

To quote Stone off his MySpace profile: "I am not trying to be a historian; I'm a dramatist -- and sometimes one who does a dramatic interpretation of history." Even those who enjoyed the film can't deny that statement as being just as accurate -- if not more so -- than anything in the film, and as for those who didn't, they might now struggle to say it was for lack of research.

Well, what do you know: I was right, sort of! Oliver Stone's W. didn't remotely flop. Its $10.6 million opening weekend on just over 2,000 screens is very respectable for a political, current-events-themed drama. In case you're just joining us, those have not been doing well. W. was a couple million away from matching the first weekend gross of the Scott-DiCaprio-Crowe offering Body of Lies (which fell to sixth place this week). Of course, conservative blogs are already spinning its (completely unsurprising) slip from second place on Friday to fourth for the weekend as some sort of referendum on Oliver Stone's politics. Fat chance.

There were other winners this weekend. $18 million is a good number for an inexpensive actioner like Max Payne, though if you think it underperformed a bit you're probably right. $11.1 million in semi-wide release for The Secret Life of Bees is gold. Beverly Hills Chihuahua continues to do well, approaching $70 million. Even Eagle Eye is still kicking down in fifth place; it'll just miss the $100 million mark.

The weekend's only flop was such a foregone conclusion it can hardly be called a flop. Summit's Sex Drive opened to 9th place with $3.6 million. With no stars and no real marketing hook (choosing a picture of the protagonist in a donut suit as the film's main piece of branding probably wasn't the best thing), it could have been worse, and the thing will break even eventually.

The full estimates after the jump.

Welcome back to another edition of Insert Caption -- the game that promises to abduct your grouchy mood and never bring it back. (Oy, my jokes are getting lamer by the minute.) Last week we asked you to dig deep down into your most sarcastic of places for a photo from the new Oliver Stone film, W. And might I add that we received some of the funniest captions yet, which, according to some, probably makes you eligible to become president of the United States. Or not. Congrats to our three winning delegates ...

1. "Karl Rove runs his spell checker just in time before George launched his War on Terrier." -- Mike H

2. "I'm picking you to be my ambassador to Scotland, cuz you're a scotty dog." -- Stephen M.

3. "Didn't I tell both of you not to make 'exit strategies' on the White House lawn?" -- Ryan N.

See full image and all captions


This week we're on a mission to help a woman find her son (or make that the right son), as we take a look at a photo from Clint Eastwood's new film, Changeling, starring those big, bold and beautiful Oscar-buzzed pair of lips, Angelina Jolie. The three folks behind our favorite captions this week will scurry away with one very cool Changeling poster. Now say it like you mean it in the comments section below ...



Read the official rules for this contest

We've got two portrayals of U.S. Presidents vying for Oscars this year: Josh Brolin as W in W. and Frank Langella as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon. I've yet to see either one, though I did see Langella in the Broadway play, which I hear the movie faithfully replicates. On the eve of W.'s release, it seemed like a good time to get a discussion going on Best Screen Presidents, real or fictional. Here's my list, which is surely missing some obvious choices -- but that's part of the fun.

1. President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) - The Contender
For the past couple of elections, pollsters have asked people which of the two presidential candidates they would rather "have a beer with." Inevitably it is pointed out that the person you would rather have a beer with is frequently not the person you would want to run the country. Jeff Bridges's President Jackson Evans, though, wins at life: he's the guy I'd want to have a beer with, and the guy I'd want running the country. Seriously, I would vote for Jackson Evans over either John McCain or Barack Obama. He's charming, and funny, and a bit of a jerk when called for, but he stands up for what's right and gives the best Rod Lurie Speech to date. My favorite movie president -- though for the record, I think The Contender is only pretty good.

After seeing Oliver Stone's W., I found myself wishing I had a little more time to think it over before writing a review; then again, I'm sure there are some involved with the film who found themselves wishing they had a little more time to think over the Bush administration before making it. Distance grants perspective, or so we're told; what could a film about the life and presidency of George W. Bush released while he's still in office really have to say about his life and times? If distance grants perspective, though, you could also argue that proximity grants immediacy, and argue that Stone's W. is not meant as a somber, serious look back but rather a cautious, nervy attempt to peer into the recent past, a film with, in the words another Presidential candidate recently borrowed, "the fierce urgency of now."

But W. has plenty of urgency; you could argue that what it lacks is a point of view, or rather a point of view other than Freudian family psychodrama, with George W. Bush (Josh Brolin) fighting for the presidency and fighting in Iraq as a way to earn the respect and love of his distant, driven father George H. W. Bush (James Cromwell). But to many, examining the inner life of George W. Bush is like asking yourself about the source of the lumber when you're being hit in the head with a baseball bat. We get a lot of dialogue in W. about the difference between the external and the internal, between ideology and identity; Laura Bush (Elizabeth Banks) offers that "I don't think politics should define a human being ..." while George H.W. notes that "I've always believed in leaving personal feelings out of politics." But in W., it feels like Stone doesn't even want to let politics define politics, and leaving the politics out of the personal feelings he's exploring.