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Oliver Stone - 2008

What was most disturbing about this movie was that Stone makes you root for Bush. Subversive. James Cromwell is absolutely disturbing as "41" and makes you really feel for "43". The character players were all very good, and Brolin is excellent as Bush.

It seems that one of Stone's hypotheses is that had Bush been able to just play baseball for a living, he never would have bothered to work so hard to become president. Fascinating.

the doors

Oliver Stone - 1991

Let's start with the cast - Val Kilmer, Meg Ryan, Frank Whaley, Kevin Dillon, Kyle McLachlan, Michael Madsen, Billy Idol, Kathleen Quinlan - seriously. It was interesting, I haven't watched this in a few years and some of the dialogue was pretty weak. But the film is saved by the imagery. Stone feels his way through the story, folding on top of itself. The Native American motif - which exists in many Stone films - is dominant and intense.

I don't watch as many Stone films now as I used to, the complexity of what he's doing on the screen is fascinating. This man clearly does not think in linear fashions.