W., the movie: Oliver Stone's October surprise (link to extended Preview)

LAT: W., the movie: Oliver Stone gets ready to uncork his October surprise

It isn't that director Oliver Stone is trying to influence the Nov. 4 election. Really. It's just that his biopic on George W. Bush is due to be released Oct. 17, about three weeks before voters head to the polls.

In an interview last week with the Times of London, Stone said in advance of the release that his new movie portrays President Bush as, well, a character.

It's a comedy only in the sense of tragic comedy. You laugh in your mind because Bush is a goof-ball, because he's awkward, but at the same time he has a stubbornness, a John Wayne ethos, an anger, an impatience, that make him fascinating. You may hate Wayne's politics, but you may well enjoy his company on screen.

The movie, starring Josh Brolin as George W. Bush and Richard Dreyfuss as Dick Cheney, is "a human portrait of a man, not meant to insult people who believe in what Bush believes in," said Stone, whose earlier works on "JFK" and "Nixon" stirred controversy. Brolin, he said, portrays Bush as "charming, which I think he is." Stone also compared Bush to his father, George H.W. Bush:

"I think he (W.) is a wonderful salesman, charismatic to many people and he has a politician's ability to touch and reach, which his father never had. So he did outdo his father -- as a salesman."

Stone told The Times he's not sure the public will rush to the theaters to see a movie about an unpopular president, even though he tried to walk in the president's shoes. He explained: It's my job ... if I'm dramatizing his life ... to step above my hate....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/presidentbush/2008/10/w-the-movie.html

Link to Preview video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weELpc3pYMs

In that case, one could argue that Satan is a great salesman..

Now it looks like kind of a yawner.

it will harm the Obama brand of standing tall and refusing to go negative. I won't be seeing it until after the election.

No more than Waiting for Godot, or Mother Courage.

Dumbya is anything but funny.

to die and be gone from the theaters in about a week.

money to go see it in a theater.

experienced clapping in a preview. I sensed disapproval of Bush. I felt like clapping. Then, some guy that I was observing because he seemed pushy, loud, and arrogant appeared to dislike the clapping and said out loud - "It's ONLY a movie".

I've registered an average of 250 people for three hours standing outside the movie theater where W is playing. I think if we do this to EVERY movie theater that W plays in, we can get anywhere from 50 to 100,000 new democratic registrations!

Of COURSE these movies are about the election... let's MAKE IT SO!!