W. [Blu-ray]

Everything as advertised by vendor

Love this film so much I bought a copy. "miss me yet?" sure do 43. All the things that Oliver Stone mocked about W - mock on. After eight years of having an anti-American socialist for President, we are now back on track with Trump. The liberal elite in Hollywood don't get it. What you mock about W in this film, most of us in the flyer over states, or with flyer over states state of mind, love. Great cast. Love Thandie Newton as Condie Rice and Toby Jones as Carl Rove. Ignored the mischaracterization of the relationship between 41 and 43. An ugly lie by Olive Stone.

This film is a mixture of political commentary and character analysis, making it far more interesting that I expected. However, as character study and as political commentary it only goes so deep before turning back, as if the Oliver Stone doesn't totally trust the viewing public with all the details. The film actually paints a sympathetic picture of President George W Bush. This is due to the tension depicted between the cool Episcopalian statesman George Bush and his born-again evangelical son, George W Bush. In some regards, George W Bush follows the policies and ideology of Ronald Reagan rather then the realist approach of his father. The issue of the President's alcoholism was handled very well as we see the President move beyond his alcoholism through his religious faith and the support of his pastor, played by Stacey Keach. There were four events that are missing from the film that are highly significant and I certainly would have been willing to watch 1 more hour of film to see how Stone would interpret the events around the Gore vs. Bush 2000 election struggles in Florida, the response to September 11th, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, and the Joe Wilson - Valerie Plame incident that revealed so much about the power of the Vice President in framing the war effort with Iraq. However since the film is not really meant to be comprehensive history, and only comments on policy indirectly, it is the character of George W Bush that is the true subject of the film. Josh Brolin is excellent as George W Bush as is Richard Dreyfuss in the role of Vice President Dick Cheney. George and Barbara Bush are played by James Cromwell and Ellen Burstyn. They do an excellent job of creating the family of origin tensions that drive much of George W Bush's motivations and actions, at least in this interpretation. Elizabeth Banks plays Laura Bush, the most likeable character in the film. Her support for her husband and faith that he will eventually muddle through appears to be one of his greatest assets. I wish the role of Dick Cheney had been larger since we now know the pivotal role in played in the decision to invade Iraq and the growing distance between the President and Vice President during the last 18 months of his second term when President Bush distanced himself from Cheney, the architect of many of the failures of the Bush Presidency. Jeffrey Wright plays the reflective far-seeing Secretary of State, Colin Powell, who must constantly defend his position against Cheney, Rove, and Rumsfeld. Toby Jones plays Karl Rove and is not given as much emphasis as I would have expected. As far as I can tell, Karen Hughes was completely left out of the film. I was not as impressed with the performance of Thandie Newton as Condoleezza Rice. She seemed stiff and insignificant. The film does a very good job of revealing how the failure to find any weapons of mass destruction destroyed the credibility of the Bush presidency. At some point George W Bush recognizes that he will go down in history as one of the greatest Presidential failures for taking the United States into a war on false fabricated evidence. The film had to show that President George W Bush was a man who rarely reflected upon his own performance as evidenced by the press conference where he is asked if he made any mistakes in his Presidency, and he responds that he can't think of one. In a presidency that was full of mistakes, this is one of the most fascinating aspects of the film and of the character of George W Bush.

After having watched this film, I have concluded that it is not Anti-Bush nor is it Pro-Bush. The film depicted the former President as a very compassionate individual with the ability to connect to people all across the nation. Also, the film does display moments of where the Former President has his doubts and encounters situations that puts him in a position of uncertainty, such as the ongoing war with Iraq. Iraq was primarily the main focus of the film as it displays how the Bush Administration had dug themselves in a hole with false reports of WMDs being possessed in the middle-east and how they have managed to lose the public opinion on the the war itself. Overall, I've enjoyed this film as I have always been fascinated of just how the now-former-President, had ever came to be the President in the first place. Hindsight, sure has a way with a tragic comedy.

Brolin is fine and sympathetic in his portrayal of Bush, and Richard Dreyfuss is terrific as Dick Cheney. But this is disappointing compared to JFK and Nixon. The film could have used another hour of material focusing on the shadowy covert side of the Bush family network. I don't remember any mention of GHWB's stint as CIA director. Stone accepts the official story of 9/11 - which many on the left do - but even events like the 2000 election fraud get little attention.

Josh Brolin, of all people, did a spectacular job of playing George W. Bush for starters. Lots of conjecture here, but it's a damn fine flick as to covering the life of George "W" to say the least. Shows his father as a person who looked down on his oldest son with no respect or god forbid build his son up with a compliment... Appears to me that Jeb Bush was to be the chosen one..... George Sr. comes across as thin skinned in a big way..... Very, very interesting movie, whether you're a liberal or a conservative. My wife and I originally saw this at the movies....

i saw nixon the day prior and to say i was let down by this one is an understatement... brolin was decent, whoever played the part of rice was horrible... it just seemed like a really poorly acted, scripted movie... no insights, no real life portrayals of the struggles in the white house, especially between bush and cheney in the later years... turned those 8 horrible years into a joke... a horrible joke most of us have suffered through...

its likely going to make anyone who voted for him a little defensive, but the movie gives real insight to the life and especially the cabinet of george w bush as well as the relationship with his father it likely presents an accurate portrayal of certain parts of his life and presidency, but also goes out of the way -unnecessarily- at times to paint GW in a negative light. the film had decent acting, but much of the dialogue and sound track was geared to really make Bush look inept and unqualified, which he very well may have been. I would recommend watching as many people struggled to historically understand the reason we went to war with Iraq after 911, and it paints a very accurate image of the rationale and spin that was used to try to accomplish the bush administration goals.