New Moon is nothing if not an international advertisement for the hungry virtues of virginity and young people can’t get enough of it
The Twilight Saga: New Moon
Theatre
A smart, prickly and rewarding view of sexual and emotional confusion
Cock
Restaurants
Kitchen W8 is a bargain for this area, if such sophistication is what you crave
Kitchen W8
Too long and drawn out but very entertaining with excellent special effects
This is a peculiar play and does not work for me. Some of it is very funny but there are real flaws
Alex has a strong powerful voice and was faultless, she is far better now than she was on the X-Factor
London,
Charlotte O'Sullivan's rating
Reader rating
Dir: Oliver Stone.
Cast: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Thandie Newton, Richard Dreyfuss, Ioan Gruffudd, Scott Glenn, James Cromwell, Ellen Burstyn, Noah Wyle, Jesse Bradford, Jason Ritter, Rob Corddry, Jeffrey Wright, Toby Jones
Description: Oliver Stone's portrait of the 42nd President of the United States sketches the rise to power from the early years when George decides to follow in the footsteps of his powerful father and pursue political office, meeting his wife Laura and gaining his first foothold on the ladder of success as Governor of his home state of Texas. Sweeping to power in controversial fashion, Bush becomes the 43rd President of the United States of the United States and faces some of his country's darkest days including the September 11 attacks and the decision to invade Iraq.
Country: US. 2008. 129mins
Putting the boot in: Josh Brolin as W
First lady: Elizabeth Banks, who plays President Bush’s wife Laura, at the London Film Festival Odeon Leicester Square premiere
It's a staple of American cinema: a son
struggling to impress his dad. Think James Dean in East Of Eden, Paul Newman in Cat On A Hot Tin Roof. And here’s a new one: Josh Brolin in Oliver Stone’s lively, superbly acted biopic about the rise and fall of the 43rd President of the United States.
Stone presents the young, lazy, beer-swilling W as a huge disappointment to his venerable “Poppy” (James Cromwell). George Snr has his hopes pinned on W’s kid brother, Jeb. He pulls strings for “Junior” with a despairing air.
What our hero craves is respect. Age 40, he has a revelation. He’ll get a new father, aka God. Born-again, sober and surprisingly savvy, he helps his dad to be elected President, then becomes governor of Texas. He thinks divine intervention is smoothing his way, although it’s actually Karl Rove (Toby Jones) doing most of the legwork.
Once W becomes president, another figure looms large. Vice President Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) makes clear that what he wants from Iraq is oil. Still, he’s happy to bamboozle W with talk of WMD. All the while, cautious Poppy can see the writing on the wall. As the war escalates, W is haunted in dreams by his father’s sorrowful figure. As the phantom points out: “It took 200 years of work to build the Bush name...” Ol’ Georgie Boy has let the whole clan down.
You don’t have to be “latte-sipping Leftist” to question the portrayal of Bush Snr as a paragon of virtue. And what of the “esteemed” Prescott Bush? W’s grand-daddy was a director of companies that profited from their involvement with the financial backers of Nazi Germany. Whiter-than-white is not the phrase that springs to mind.
In order to make us empathise with the film’s central figure, Stone has turned him into a victim; an insecure but decent child-man, caught between his forbiddingly upstanding relatives and a silkily wicked team of advisers. Poor, mixed-up kid. Thank goodness his adorable wife loves him. “Politics shouldn’t define a human being,” murmurs Laura (Elizabeth Banks).
Stone rarely puts women at the centre of his stories, but as moral cornerstones they come in very handy.
W is sly, old-fashioned melodrama, trussed-up to look messily modern and in-your-face.
It works as entertainment. Graded as history, though, W deserves an F.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
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