Thompson On Hollywood

Hail Fredonia! Hollywood Depression Economics

2008-10-12T16:10:52-07:00

"We're in the money," sang Ginger Rogers in the Depression era escapist musical Gold Diggers of 1933. Luxurious Busby Berkeley musical comedies were big hits during the Depression.

It will be interesting to see how Hollywood calibrates the current economic crisis in terms of the movies they will be making. Warners' CIA thriller $100-million Body of Lies proved to be too downbeat and Iraq-centric to lure mass audiences? The opening was decidedly weaker than it should have been. (Here's Variety's weekend boxoffice wrap.) As a counter-example, the escapist musical Mamma Mia! scored all over the world. If I were a studio head I'd be making a bunch of light escapist movies--fantasies, musicals, comedies, romances--going forward.

It's no longer a given that people will flock to the movies during an economic downturn. (Business was up 18% this weekend, btw.) Back in the Depression there was no entertainment competition and movies were cheap. Will people still buy $20 DVDs when they're worrying about their frivolous spending? Or rent instead. I argue that given the chance to laugh their heads off and escape into another magical world, they will go out to a movie theater and join in that communal experience. But they won't go there to be depressed further. In Sullivan's Travels, Preston Sturges took a sincere Hollywood filmmaker (Joel McCrae) and put him on the road with hobos where he learned how much laughing at cartoons means to people. Who's going to be this decade's Marx Brothers or Busby Berkeley? NPR's Bob Mondello looks at Duck Soup.

Here are some more examples of what played during the Depression:

We're in the Money:

Jimmy Cagney sings and dances Shanghai Lil in another Busby Berkeley pre-Code classic, Footlight Parade:

And Groucho Marx is Rufus T. Firefly in Duck Soup:

On AMC's Shootout, Peter Guber and Peter Bart address the issue of whether audiences will support the crop of political movies coming up, including W. They talk to Oliver Stone and James Cromwell:

DreamWorks/Universal Union Disruptive?

2008-10-12T15:17:47-07:00

This New York Times story by Brooks Barnes about how a Universal/DreamWorks deal could disrupt the studio is one of those speculative pieces from afar that doesn't entirely get the picture.

In other words, yes DreamWorks' Stacey Snider used to run Universal. And yes, the DreamWorks people were pissed when Universal waited until the last minute to tell them that they didn't want to make their Tintin deal--and then described the project as uncommercial. Luckily, other studios called in the meantime, and if the Dreamworks/Universal distribution deal goes through, Universal could still be in the Tintin mix---with another partner and a revised deal. But Spielberg was forced to put off the start of his next picture, even losing his Tintin, Thomas Sangster, in the process.

Here's my latest column on the current DreamWorks/Paramount situation.

Certainly, Snider is a respected, experienced exec who has strong ideas about how things should be done. She helped to train the people currently running her former studio. That actually brings a certain comfort level between the two companies. I don't foresee the instability that Barnes describes. First, Universal chief Ron Meyer is a sane and sober manager. Universal can certainly use six high-quality movies a year. This is only a distribution deal; studio execs will not be involved in managing DreamWorks' development and production.

True, Imagine producer Brian Grazer, who is used to being the 500-pound gorilla on the Universal lot, won't be thrilled to have a powerful rival competing for release slots. That could be a key issue. But the two companies co-existed on the Uni lot before. This time it would be DreamWorks at a disadvantage, because Universal wouldn't be invested in all their films, so the studio's own projects would have favored status. But many Dreamworks movies will be made in partnership with Paramount, and some would be handled only internationally by Universal. And that's another reason the studio will likely make this deal---because their international pipeline needs product.

Reel Geezers Make DVD Picks on NPR

2008-10-11T10:11:13-07:00

Reel Geezers Marcia Nasatir and Lorenzo Semple, Jr. were interviewed on NPR yesterday about their favorite DVDs to rent.

Nasatir's Must-See Picks

Yankee Doodle Dandy
Talk of the Town
Hail the Conquering Hero
The Third Man
Some Like It Hot
Heat of the Night

Semple's Must-See Picks

Gattopardo, Il (The Leopard)
Sweet Smell of Success
The Harder They Come
The Third Man
Once
Dr. Strangelove
A Clockwork Orange

Here's a clip from Jimmy Cliff's reggae musical The Harder They Come.

Here's the latest Reel Geezers post about their fave political films:

Google's Schmidt Wants Quality Online Zines

2008-10-10T18:17:00-07:00

Google CEO Eric Schmidt sees a future for online magazines amid all the Internet clutter, reports Jack Myers, if media cxompanies are willing to invest resources. I agree with his take:

“Narrative sustains the [media] business,” said Schmidt, “…but the future of high quality journalism is a huge problem. A reasonable prediction is that there will be fewer voices. More money is needed to fund high quality work.” Schmidt rhetorically asked if “young audiences will want a more interactive experience in print.” Print, he suggested, “will be a smaller component of a much larger online business, serving an audience that consumes in a different way.”

Schmidt suggested that publishers work with Google on “joint projects focused around website dwell time. Google sends people to magazine sites but they spend limited time there.” There is a danger, Schmidt exclaimed, of the Internet “becoming a cesspool,” adding it is in need of high quality content of the type provided by magazines. “In a world of disinformation, which is the future,” he said, “brands are the solution. Brand affinity is hard wired and fundamental to the human condition – who you trust and who you don’t. People want real value, real information, real leadership and messages of hope.” Schmidt’s recommendations resonated not only as a business model but as an appropriate foundation for political campaigns.

Economic Woes Hit Hollywood

2008-10-10T18:03:00-07:00

As the Dow Industrials continue to plummet, Hollywood speculation centers on the fiscal health of the studios, whose owners have been suffering huge losses in stock value. While most of the majors seem stable, many wonder if MGM, the only studio carrying huge debt, will be able to roll over its 3.7 billion loan by the time it comes due in 2012. Even if the MGM/Sony release Quantum of Solace kicks ass at the boxoffice this fall, can MGM afford to finance another James Bond movie? For now, they have production funds to greenlight a slate of movies, including $500 million in UA money, reports Marc Graser.

"Even if they make ten James Bond movies they won't make enough money," warns one Hollywood insider. "Who will they find to lend them $3 1/2 billion? There's no credit out there at all. It's astounding."

Observers were waiting to see how General Electric would fare in its quarterly report; standout NBC Universal, which doesn't fit neatly into the GE family, continues to perform strongly.

Viacom and CBS lowered their third quarter earnings outlook on Friday. While some Wall Street analysts think that Viacom should sell Paramount, as long as one-time exhibitor Sumner Redstone is in charge of his studio trophy (hard-won in a duel of the titans with Barry Diller), it's unlikely that he would let it go. He is, however, planning to sell some $400 million shares of National Amusements non-voting stock to pay down debt. Here's the LAT.

Weekend Boxoffice: Body of Lies, Happy-Go-Lucky

2008-10-10T16:54:00-07:00

While it's a crowded weekend at the boxoffice, there isn't that much worth seeing. Body of Lies should score: the power combo of Ridley Scott, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe in a commercial thriller will trump mixed reviews.

While I am a big fan of animator Gil Kenan (Monster House), advance footage of the family fantasy City of Ember led me to expect a movie that was more visually exciting than narratively compelling. This young director is gifted; he admits that he missed the freedom of working in a CG environment, so I hope he goes back to that. Ember rates 59% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The must-see this weekend is Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky. Leigh's unique brand of cinema verite works its charms yet again, as he and Brit actress Sally Hawkins create an unforgettable character, Poppy, who remains perky and cheery no matter what horrors are going on around her. Here's my interview with Leigh from Telluride, in which he talks about his remarkable method, as well as a passion project he has not been able to get financed: a biopic of the great landscape painter Turner. Happy-Go-Lucky's rave reviews (82 on metacritic, the same score as The Dark Knight) will help Miramax launch an Oscar campaign.

If you haven't caught up with them yet, other must-sees are the critically-hailed Appaloosa, Ballast, Choke, Frozen River, Trouble the Water and Man on Wire.

Superman Update

2008-10-10T16:02:26-07:00

Latinoreview cornered a DC Comics exec and tried to advance the status of the next Superman installment, but we still don't know where Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh and the writers are...

Meanwhile, how are Brandon Routh/Superman fans going to feel about their boy's role in Kevin Smith's potty-mouthed Zack and Miri make A Porno as a one-time high school jock star returning to his high school reunion with his gay porn star boyfriend Justin Long?

McCain Speechwriter White Talks to Ferguson

2008-10-10T15:03:21-07:00

Give Betty White a good writer and nobody beats her. In this hilarious exchange between her---as John McCain's speechwriter--and Craig Ferguson, she calls Sarah Palin "one crazy bitch" and Barack Obama "incredibly sexy." You call it, Betty.

[Hat Tip the Dish Rag]

Twilight Trailer Goes Male

2008-10-10T13:08:04-07:00

The new Twilight trailer hits hard as an action thriller---the Romeo + Juliet vampire/human romance between Rob Pattinson and Kristin Stewart is still front and center, but this one also targets the male action demo. Summit wants the whole pie on this one. They spent extra bucks for reshoots. And they want to score when the pic opens November 21.

Twilight

Rudin Abandons The Reader

2008-10-09T19:52:49-07:00

After a long and bruising battle with Harvey Weinstein over Stephen Daldry’s The Reader, producer Scott Rudin is walking off the picture and taking his name off of it. As reported by Patrick Goldstein on his blog, my sources confirm, Rudin finally couldn't take it anymore.

While Daldry isn't happy and feels terribly that he committed to deliver the movie to Weinstein if it tested well in previews, the production will proceed more smoothly with Rudin gone. As an example, one recent tussle involved Weinstein showing the movie to press agent Ken Sunshine, who handles Revolutionary Road star Leonardo DiCaprio, after telling Rudin that he wouldn't.

Weinstein and Rudin have never gotten along. They clashed over Daldry’s 2002 The Hours, also written by David Hare, and again over the post-production schedule of The Reader. Rudin, the winner of the best picture Oscar for last year’s No Country for Old Men, had first tried to push the World War II romance starring Kate Winslet back to 2009, because he didn’t want to campaign for an Oscar along with Doubt and Revolutionary Road, which also stars Winslet.

Rudin fought hard to get more post-production time and support for his director, who is prepping the November 13 opening of the musical Billy Elliot on Broadway. When Weinstein insisted on holding Daldry to his promise, Rudin and Daldry finally agreed to deliver the film for a December 12 release. Daldry cares deeply about the film's German subject matter, and to that end, will honor that.

The battle over getting Daldry more weeks of editing time and moving scoring sessions to New York grew so intense that both sides hired top-notch legal counsel, who sent a series of high-pitched letters that were leaked to the press, along with Daldry’s heartfelt pleas to Weinstein for more editing time. Both sides invoked the post-mortem support of late producers Sydney Pollack and Anthony Minghella.

It’s unclear what impact Rudin’s withdrawal will have on the film’s completion and marketing, as Rudin tends to be a micromanager. After Cannes this May, Weinstein added Shakespeare in Love producer Donna Gigliotti to the mix. She has also been working with Daldry, who with editor Claire Simpson is 20 weeks into editing and finishing the movie. "Let's get on with it," Gigliotti says. "It's a piece of cake. I've been in tougher straits than this."

Michelle Obama on Jon Stewart

2008-10-09T17:10:53-07:00

"I'm not soft on Barack," said "tough critic" Michelle Obama on the Jon Stewart Show.

Garces Seeks Help with My Princess Blues

2008-10-09T16:47:03-07:00

Paula Garces (Harold & Kumar 2) is inviting audiences to participate in the creation of her new feature film, Red Princess Blues, via her interactive website myProducer.tv, which launches next week.

The ad-based site boasts social networking, video streaming, and micro-financing fundraising. Garces wants filmmakers to start a free profile and ask other site members for feedback on fundraising, casting, script, editing, promotion and release. She posits that if a filmmaker engages other experts on the site, he or she will not only raise money but will gain the insight to produce a better and potentially more popular film. (Really?)

Filmmakers can also create a "private collaboration area" on the site which permits access only to crew members.

It sounds like a good idea, but more established indie filmmaker sites like Withoutabox, iKlipz and Spout have already built a community of filmmakers. It's hard to imagine that this will compete.

Slacker Streams on Hulu

2008-10-09T13:22:59-07:00

Cinetic Rights Management has arranged the digital premiere of Richard Linklater's Slacker on Hulu.

The film is available for free streaming here. And Slacker fan Kevin Smith supplied an intro to the film for the Hulu blog.

Hulk Write Review

2008-10-09T12:19:58-07:00

The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw channels the Hulk to write his The Incredible Hulk review:

Hulk not scary. Hulk look like Shrek. Wait. Critic have ... second thought. Hulk look like Shrek when Shrek turn handsome, in Shrek 2. Like Gordon Brown. Hulk rubbish. Hulk not look powerful. Especially when Hulk do jumpy bouncy floaty thing. Over New York buildings. Then Hulk look wussy. Big. Yet wussy. Not good combination.

Funny.

DreamWorks Moves Forward

2008-10-09T08:57:00-07:00

Freedom from a toxic atmosphere at Paramount was key to retiring David Geffen and ongoing DreamWorks chieftans Steven Spielberg and Stacey Snider's decision to divorce from the studio. Clearly, the negotiations that took place last weekend wound up more congenial and mutually beneficial than they might have, given all the antagonistic Brad Grey vs. Geffen posturing that had gone on before. The principals stayed out of the press. They behaved themselves. But it was lawyer Skip Brittenham and Paramount vice chairman Rob Moore who nailed down the agreement.

Peter Bart weighs in.

Body of Lies: Yes, DiCaprio is a Movie Star

2008-10-08T15:03:30-07:00

Body of Lies is a movie that a major studio greenlit because two stars and a star director--all proven commercial commodities--wanted to make it. Ridley Scott and Warners producer Donald DeLine corralled Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe (overweight and middle-aged, with a southern drawl) to star in this anti-CIA Middle East intrigue.

Yes, it's a thriller, with guns and explosions and helicopters and cutting edge gadgetry. It pits a tough honorable man against other equally tough not-so-honorable men. Nothing new there. Unfortunately, it is set in Iraq, which makes me want to run out of the theater. So why did I go to the screening last night? Because Scott and DiCaprio and Crowe are irresistable. And while I was often wishing I were somewhere else, the movie delivers. (Critics are giving it 50 % on Rotten Tomatoes so far.)

DiCaprio is a movie star: I have to see whatever movie he does. Crowe is always fun. And Scott knows how to keep things moving. Todd McCarthy liked it less than I did:

Neither the location-based verisimilitude of Ridley Scott's shooting style nor the estimable Middle East expertise of source-material author David Ignatius can disguise "Body of Lies" as anything other than the contrived phony-baloney it is. Coming on like an inside account of CIA operations against jihad-minded terrorists, pic shows its true colors by featuring a shootout, chase or big explosion every 10 minutes or so, on its way to a climax so conventional it would have been at home in a 1940s Warner Bros. melodrama. Despite the Iraq War hovering in the background, Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe leading the charge in a high-octane would-be thriller should produce solid mainstream B.O. worldwide.

The movie looks to open big this week. But I'm not the only one resisting the Iraq subject matter. One third of moviegoers asked by Movietickets.com if "the backdrop of Body of Lies would impact your decision to see it" answered yes:

31% - Yes 69% - No Total votes on MovieTickets.com: 1,985

Here's the trailer:

SNL: Wahlberg Talks to Animals

2008-10-08T14:44:31-07:00

Tina Fey isn't the only comedian who can nail a public figure. Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg captures Mark Wahlberg in this talking to animals sketch.

Critics Watch: 36 Down

2008-10-08T14:12:20-07:00

The ranks of newspaper movie critics are continuing their inexorable decline. Craig Outhier of the East Valley Tribune of Mesa, Ariz. is the 36th critic to lose their job since January, 2006, according to Salt Lake Tribune critic Sean Means' count.

The disappearing economy isn't going to help matters any going forward, as the LAT registers 75 more layoffs, and even the blogosphere is seeing a contraction.

Daily Beast Update: Carr and Rourke

2008-10-08T11:12:11-07:00

NYT columnist David Carr looks over Tina Brown's Daily Beast and finds much to admire:

The Daily Beast, backed by Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActiveCorp, is an aggregation of the trivial and the momentous, the original and the borrowed. With a slogan splashed across its home page promising rigorous editing of the culture for complicated times — “Read This Skip That” — the Beast is aiming to be a smaller, less chaotic version of the World Wide Web itself.

There's plenty there. That's not the issue. It's more about the question of who has time? What do you give up to read this instead of something else? This morning, I did enjoy this interview with Wrestler star Mickey Rourke from Beast blogger Tom Tapp. I must add, however, that I took the time to post a photo...

Hulu Streaming Bush Doc Crawford

2008-10-07T15:53:06-07:00

In the ramp-up to the election and the release of Oliver Stone's George W. Bush biopic, Hulu is streaming the Bush doc Crawford.

QED's Bill Block Makes Big Bet on Oliver Stone's W

2008-10-07T13:55:21-07:00

Bill Block has grown up … and grown into a new role.

Once known as an attention-seeking, gun-collecting, hotshot InterTalent and ICM agent and onetime head of Artisan Entertainment, Block is now co-chief of QED Intl., the 2-year-old financing, sales and production company backed by $10 million in private equity and whose riskiest play to date is the complete financing of Oliver Stone’s $30 million W.

The George W. Bush biopic and pseudo-satire launches on 2,100 screens Oct. 17 — two weeks ahead of the presidential election. It’s going out via Lionsgate, backed by another $25 million from print-and-ad fund Omnilab.

The politically charged pic was unable to land a studio or a specialty distrib, not even Paramount, which released Stone’s last picture, World Trade Center.
But Block believed W was too big an opportunity to pass up. “It was relevant and the right moment to get this movie out before the election,” he says.

While he still has a lean and hungry look and can talk the talk as glibly as any Hollywood player, Block has morphed into a fiftyish family man in charge of his own destiny. Now that Summit and Mandate have moved into bigger arenas, QED occupies the same space as Myriad, Essential, Voltage and Lakeshore. (QED shares Beverly Hills offices with Block’s former ICM colleague Ken Kamins’ Key Creatives.)
Block approached producer Moritz Borman and Stone as they were shopping for backing. QED financed W with its own equity plus key presales in France, Germany, the U.K. and Australia, all lined up before the start of production.

Lionsgate came in last as production was under way in Louisiana. The distrib (which has taken on other divisive pics such as Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11) was confident enough in the film’s commerciality that it did not showcase the pic at any fall film fests. “It’s not arthouse,” Block says. “The festivals wanted it. We tested it and it came back with high awareness.”

As Block suspected it might, the media has helped to boost the hot-button movie, from full-court treatment in the Los Angeles Times to the cover of Entertainment Weekly months in advance of the pic’s release. The arrest of W stars Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright after they resisted leaving a Shreveport bar at the request of local police unexpectedly turned out to be a boon, attracting an avalanche of global coverage.

Block very much needs W to succeed, as QED’s first few releases have been strictly low-profile.

The Hunting Party, starring Richard Gere, was a casualty of the Weinsteins’ transition from Miramax to their new company. And Neil Burger’s The Lucky Ones,”starring Tim Robbins and Rachel McAdams and released by Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions, was dead on arrival in its Sept. 28 bow, another example of audience disinterest in Iraq War movies.

Next up for QED: the Peter Jackson-produced alien thriller District 9, which is in the can and will be released next August by Sony.

The lessons learned so far at Artisan and QED, Block says: “Don’t make anything under $10 million, and go for commercial movies with a wide release.”

Anxiously scanning W’s tracking numbers, Block says: “The big spend starts now.”

[Illustration courtesy of GQ]

Disney Uses IMDB Quotes as Blurbs

2008-10-07T13:47:27-07:00

I am shocked, shocked! Disney U.K. actually used IMDB fan comments in newspaper quote ads for the holocaust drama The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, a movie that has positive enough advance buzz to warrant earning some decent professional reviews. U.K. critics are in a tizzy over this and I don't blame them.

One fashionable theory about the younger generation holds that they don't care what critics and people in authority think, and prefer to hear from their own peers about what is cool. In my researches into young moviegoer behavior, I have determined that while they do learn about movies from browsing on the Internet, many of them also check Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic to see what crickets think.

It's one thing to hear WOM from your pals on Facebook and another from complete strangers blogging at IMDB. And this from a culture where newspapers--and critics-- are still alive and well!

UPDATE: According to Daniel Battsek of Miramax Films, which is Disney's specialty distrib releasing The Boy in the Striped Pajamas stateside, in the movie's fourth week of release in the U.K., the pic went up 12 % (which rarely happens), and inspired the ad people to include some IMDB quotes to showcase some of the positive Web chatter. We said, "Let's get the WOM to speak for itself," says Battsek. Disney U.K. started out with conventional review quotes, of which there was no shortage.

Well, I guess that makes more sense.

Facebook Loses Top Talent

2008-10-07T13:04:17-07:00

This insider Silicon Valley report says that Facebook's future is in jeopardy because founder and Facebook face Mark Zuckerberg is driving his most talented execs away. Well, whoever came up with New Facebook should be fired, if you ask me.

Bardot Calls Palin Disgrace to Women; Halloween Costume Tips

2008-10-07T10:48:24-07:00

French actress and animal activist Brigitte Bardot attacked vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin on many fronts in an open letter to the Alaska governor:

"I hope you lose these elections because that would be a victory for the world. By denying the responsibility of man in global warming, by advocating gun rights and making statements that are disconcertingly stupid, you are a disgrace to women and you alone represent a terrible threat, a true environmental catastrophe."

UPDATE: And Gawker has some helpful tips for putting together that Sarah Palin Halloween costume.

W Poised to Hit Zeitgeist, But Will It?

2008-10-07T08:21:03-07:00

Lionsgate threw a party at the Landmark in Westwood Monday night for Oliver Stone's W, which was basically an intimate L.A. premiere for Stone and his cast; the movie will also premiere in New York and the Austin Film Fest. Josh Brolin soaked up the applause, flanked by his father and uncle; everyone agreed that he did a helluva job as George W. Bush, from Yale frat-party boy to reformed drunk and born-again Christian and one of the worst presidents in United States history. James Cromwell also scored big as Bush, Sr. in the father-son drama. Cast members Richard Dreyfuss, Scott Glenn, Ioan Gruffudd, and Noah Wyle were also on hand, along with producers Bill Block and Moritz Borman.

Stone is rushing the $30 million movie (distributed by Lionsgate and financed by Block's foreign sales firm QED International, with $25-million in P & A backing from Omnilab Media) into the marketplace October 17, less than three weeks before the presidential election, betting that audiences are hankering for a sharp psychological profile of their departing president. More than ever though, as the world teeters on the brink of financial disaster, it's hard not to be very angry with Bush. And Stone's movie focuses on Bush's failures in Iraq, which are not center stage right now.

The movie is utterly plausible, well-acted by a top-notch ensemble (except for a too-broad Thandy Newton as Condoleeza Rice) and surprisingly balanced, compassionate and even-handed. Somehow the film lacks the urgency of its own making.

"We started it in May and finished it this week, so we're pretty much on edge here," Stone told the crowd, which included Ellen Barkin, Casey Affleck, Phil Noyce, Jonah Hill, Maria Bello, Patrick Wachsberger, Andy Vajna, Jake Bloom, Irving Kershner, Bob Cooper, Jay Roach, CAA's Bryan Lourd, Doc O'Connor and Dan Aloney, James Woods, Al Pacino, Paul Haggis, and Bill Maher. "This is based on a true story. We actually did a lot of research to bring to life these murky things." Stone cited his reliance on the "raw body of material" of a dozen journalists, from Barton Gellman and Bob Woodward to James Risen, Michael Isikoff, Jane Mayer and Frank Rich. "There's more to come out," he said, "but enough here to start. Why make this movie? Where are we now as a country, and and where are we going? A large part of of that answer lies with this character, George Bush."

At the after-party, Stone admitted that he was walking a "tightrope" with W, because these are all well-known, real people. It's not satire, like Dr. Strangelove, which is "fiction, beautifully done," he said. "We couldn't go to Strangelove. We have Saturday Night Live and Comedy Central. They have done that. We have to find credibility, we have to eventually care about him--not sympathize. I didn't like Nixon, but I was able to empathize with him. Bush is the Wizard of Oz behind the curtain now. All his policies are in place. We'll be dealing with this stuff for 20 years."

Maher's own Religulous is playing well to left-skewing audiences, write Pamela McClintock and Tatiana Siegel, who report on how polarizing political films are faring at the box office. Here's Todd McCarthy's review, and Peter Bart's take on the political film landscape.

Jeff Wells muses about W. So does David Poland. Stone opens up in GQ, talked in June to the LA Times, gave EW a cover story, and talked yesterday to Larry King on CNN:

Here's the trailer: