'W' Trailer Makes 'W' Movie Look Intriguing

At one time I would have listed myself a fan of Oliver Stone. I loved the movie "Platoon" and his "Talk Radio" is still one of my all-time favorite movies. Lately, though, he has been very hit and miss and, sadly, mostly miss. I mean, really, "Alexander?"

But now he has done something no one has ever done before. He is making and releasing a movie about a still-sitting president and it is called "W." and the trailer already has people talking.

Starring Josh Brolin (you remember him from "No Country for Old Men") as the titular president and other celebrities you are likely to recognize such as James Cromwell as G.W. Bush and Scott Glen as Donald Rumsfeld, the trailer leaves a lot of questions. We have scenes of a young W getting drunk. We have his father yelling at him. Then we have lots of quick cuts of the various actors playing people who still hold office today while W himself jogs down a path.

Whether or not this will be remotely fair and balanced is anybody's guess, but this is Ollie Stone we are talking about here, so you make your own guess on that. Will it be any good? Well, Ollie has done at least one movie about a president that I think is exceptional.

If you want to view a movie about a president, you really should check out Oliver Stone's "Nixon." Anthony Hopkins portrays the most-villified president (until now?) but he does so not by adding tons of make up to make him look like Trickie Dickie. Instead, he gets the mannerisms down such as the weird smile and the awkward body language. He does a bit of an impersonation, but it is hardly spot on. Still, it manages to completely capture the man, his way of doing things, his mental state. It is a powerful performance about a man who may be misunderstood and may have had too many demons that we realized.

Some other great president movies are found on cable. You could do no wrong checking out the HBO mini-series "John Adams" which recently ran. Paul Giamatti plays one of the creators of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and the man who had to follow George Washington. Again, powerful performances with an emphasis on realism are evident throughout this series. Take a look at John Adams' teeth as he gets older, for example.

Gary Sinise was also in a made-for-cable movie about Harry Truman. The movie is called, appropriately enough "Truman." They use make up this time around, and Sinise does an amazing job of sounding just like the former president as he deals with the end of World War II, the start of the Korean War and the start of the Cold War in general.

At the same time, if you are looking for comedy in your presidential movies, I would suggest "Dave" starring Kevin Klein or "Dick" with another take on Richard Nixon by Dan Hedaya.

Only time will tell what Stone's take on W will be. More than likely, it will be controversial and if the buzz over the trailer is any indication, Ollie could have a hit on his hands.