“W.”

At the risk of getting political, I’d like to say that this was a pretty good movie. It doesn’t really offer any new insight into what helped shape the 43rd President of the United States. But “W.” does a good job of stringing together the story of a party boy who wanders aimlessly through life, reaches the land’s highest office yet still can’t get his father’s approval. Director Oliver Stone walks a fine line between biopic and satire and at time it’s difficult to tell which side he's on. Josh Brolin gives a credible performance as George W. Bush from his days at Yale to the post-Iraq period. But for me, the show is really in the side characters. Thandie Newton plays an obsequious Condoleezza Rice who spends most of her screen time wearing an expression that looks as if she swallowed a lemon. Scott Glenn’s Donald Rumsfeld is completely lost, has no respect for the President, or both. In one particular meeting, he seems more interested in the pie than the policy. And Jeffrey Wright portrays Colin Powell as the only man of principle in the room. The one false note is Richard Dreyfuss, who might bear a faint resemblance to Dick Cheney, but doesn’t have the former VP’s scowl or his growl. (It was difficult to picture “Mr. Holland” bullying the CIA into fudging the yellow cake reports.) With fact-based dramas like this I often find myself wondering how much is fact and how much is drama. With “W.” I also wondered how much is “Oliver Stone?”— this is the man who directed the conspiracy-theorist’s favorite “J.F.K.” Regardless, there’s one thing about “W.” I have absolutely no doubt about: It would have been a lot more entertaining if it weren’t true. My Tweet: W.-Oliver Stone biopic makes the case that while anyone can become President of the United States, not everyone should. 7.5 (out of 10)

“W.”

Released: 2008

Rating: PG-13

Length: 129 minutes

Cast: Josh Brolin, Elizabeth Banks, Ellen Burstyn, James Cromwell, Richard Dreyfuss

Director: Oliver Stone

Genre(s): Drama, Biopic, Satire

“The Shootist”

I’m not a huge fan of westerns, but “The Shootist” is one I popped to the top of my queue because of its star, John Wayne. This was the last film he made before finally succumbing to lung cancer. I haven’t seen a lot of Wayne’s work, so I don’t know if it’s one of his best. But it’s certainly a good film. As my tweet says, The Shootist-In an unfortunate case of typecasting, an aging John Wayne dying of cancer plays an aging gunslinger dying of cancer. 8 (out of 10), Wayne’s character, J.B. Books, is dying of cancer. He returns to Carson City, has his doctor, E.W. Hostetler (James Stewart) confirm the diagnosis then takes a room in a boarding house owned by the widow Rogers (Lauren Bacall). While it’s Books’ intention to live out his final days quietly, Dr. Hostetler, the Carson City Marshal (Harry Morgan) and the widow’s son, (Ron Howard) who is fascinated by Books’ life as a gunfighter, coax him into going out in the proper fashion. Fans of the John Woo school of shoot-outs with their atmospheric lighting, slow-motion photography of unloading ammo magazines and an aviary-load of flying doves – may be a little disappointed by the simplicity of this film’s climatic scene. But it’s a fitting ending for a man of action and few words, just as “The Shootist” is for the career of John Wayne.

“The Shootist”

Released: 1976

Rating: PG

Length: 99 minutes

Cast: John Wayne, James Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard

Director: Don Siegel

Genre(s): Drama, Western

“The Visitor”

“The Visitor” is a quiet, thoughtful drama about the difference between living and “living.” In it, Richard Jenkins from HBO's “Six Feet Under” gives a beautifully subtle (and Oscar-nominated) performance as Walter Vale, a college professor who's emotionally dead ever since his wife passed away. But Walter is shaken out of this numbness when he’s pretty much ordered by his boss to deliver a paper at a conference in New York City. Walter returns to the apartment he still keeps in the city, and finds an illegal immigrant couple – the victims of a subletting scam – living there. At first, he puts them out on the street, but has second thoughts and asks them to stay until their living situation is sorted out. During their stay, Walter slowly develops a friendship with Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian drummer, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend, who sells handmade jewelry at street markets. You can see Walter start to come alive when Tarek starts to give him drumming lessons. And all seems to be going well for the three of them until Tarek is arrested and threatened with deportation. Tarek’s mother, Mouna (Hiam Abbass), comes to the city and Walter offers her a place to stay. Their mutual concern for Tarek’s well-being and feelings about the injustice of it all serves as the seeds for a growing relationship between them. And even though things don’t go exactly how any of the characters in this film would have wanted, seeing Walter at the end of this film made me smile. So while “The Visitor” isn't a “feel-good” movie per se, I did feel good watching it. My Tweet: The Visitor-Uptight widowed college professor befriends an illegal immigrant couple and gets his world groove on. I give it 8 green cards. 8 (out of 10)

“The Visitor”

Released: 2007

Rating: PG-13

Length: 103 minutes

Cast: Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira, Hiam Abbass

Director: Thomas McCarthy

Genre(s): Drama, Comedy