rubywoo Blog

Under discussion:

W.  (2008)

Oliver Stones W is a weird kettle of fish, it took me a few days after seeing it to get my head together about how I felt about it. My gut reaction was somewhat ambiguous and whenever I thought I had settled on an opinion it was countered by something else in the way the film played out. Stone is getting complex.

First and foremost the cast do an incredible job. Josh Brolin is fan-freakin’-tastic as Dubya himself - mannerisms and motivation are superb. Richard Dreyfuss is perfectly underhand and sinister as Cheney, Condoleezza Rice is played to a T by an almost unrecognizable Thandie Newton, I could go on and on, the casting features no obvious weak link.
I think what it was that confused my morals was the humanization of Bush, yes he is made out to be a giant buffoon, but also just as a man who has no real idea the impact of the **** ups he’s making - his entire motivation being gaining approval from his mean ol’ Dad.

The early part of the film delves (pretty deep it has to be said) into Dubya’s alcoholism and inability to well, do anything. I think this is the part that resonates the loudest, realising that once upon a time - with the exception of the silver spoon thing - he wasn’t all that different from anyone I know, a black sheep, not groomed for success. It’s the journey for patriarchal validation (helped along by a heart attack) that leads him to religion and his presidential quest.

As a biopic it’s pretty impressive, carefully choosing which life shaping events to present to the viewer. The soundtrack is a little clunky and obvious, and seems somewhat out of place in a film far less overplayed and sensational than I think any of us expected (really, the cartoon music as W goes about his day to day tasks - and the Robin Hood music as he gets his cabinet lost on his estate).

This movie isn’t super enjoyable (but then show me a political biopic that is) but it is super watchable, not overly long, pretty coherent, well acted and cleverly directed. It also made me feel slightly better about Oliver Stone and his film making abilities.

Under discussion:

Baby Mama  (2008)

I remember reading ana article on Jezebel when this first came out, about the complete lack of female buddy movies, and when trying to write a list of them for work, realised that jezebel were completely right.

I really wanted to like this movie, and to be able to argue that there were mulitple levels it could be understood on, and hidden complexities and that all in all it was a pretty important event.

Unfortunately, the movie was almost entirely, meh, predictable, not particularly well written, and the same type of bullshit we've all seen tramped out  a million times before.

I like Tina and Amy and think they're both very funny ladies, but this appealing to the lowest common denominator movie is uninspiring.

Under discussion:

Remember the Daze  (2007)

It may just be that I'm feeling incredibly sentimental this saturday night, but this film left me longing to have my whole life ahead of me like nothing has since dazed and confused.

Most of the teen movie stereotypes have been done away with here, and you're left with a pretty accurate portrayal of end of school antics, no-one tried to john hughes it up too much.

It probably wouldn't stand up to repeat viewing, the way dazed did, but I think that's mostly because of the timeframe, it's easier to believe a time you didn't live through.

That being said, I haven't seen anything that has encapsulated being young and wasted , yet still sort of green and innocent the way this movie did, in quite a while.

Particularly the waking up montage, I think we've all woken up as teenagers in fields at one time or another.This was pretty much, exactly how it felt. The ensemble cast was strong and no one came out on top as the protagonist, it definitely had a 90s indie feel to it, and I'm a sucker for that.

Watch it with other adults and wish for the days that were.