I did hear of her injuries on the news, but didn't know that she had died. That is quite sad and tragic. She was quite young and from all indications on the news reports, a kind and charming woman. My heart goes out to her family and friends.

That is certainly tragic news, Gina. I had no idea about this. Heartfelt sympathy to her loved ones. (and thank you for reminding me about the locked thread. I have rectified the situation, as the reason for locking it no longer exists.) :The General:

Yes, that is truly a tragic thing to happen to one so young and beautiful. She played Ann Colter in the film,and was seen asking "The President " a question in a news conference. The news report that I heard said the police think the killer might have gotten into her house through one of those "doggie doors" that people have in their homes. How sad!

I found this quite an interesting review of the film, and in particular this comment..... "The rest of the cast seems to think that they're all guest starring on "Saturday Night Live" and doing a prolonged skit. Stone cast these people, but the makeup department probably has to take some criticism for just how shoddy and uncomfortable Powell, Dreyfuss, Rob Corddry, Scott Glenn and Ioan Gruffudd look. All of the contemporary political scenes play like animatronic exhibitions at some Hall of Presidents or other. " http://fienprint.blogspot.com/2008/10/moviewatch-w-red-period.html

That is an interesting comment, Stevie. I was a little surprised to see Dreyfuss included in that list, because he has been complimented in so many reviews for his performance. I wonder if others have commented on the make-up or if this was just one reviewers pet peeve or effort to come up with a criticism?

Sounds like the latter to me,GG.

Today the movie has been released in Brussels. I hope they will play him in Kortrijk, the place were I was born. I let you know.

I got to see W last night. Don't have much time for a review, but pretty much agree with Shipmate's assessment that the portrayal was more even handed than I expected from Oliver Stone. Like she said, Stone did make you feel sympathetic towards Bush. Brolin and Dreyfus' performances were quite good. Ioan did fine in his small part. No, he doesn't look as much like Tony Blair as Michael Sheen, but Sheen had a longer period of time to make the viewer think of him as Blair. As to whether Ioan captured Blair's mannerisms, I suppose that will be up to our British contingent to let us know. I'm afraid I'm not familiar enough with Blair to presume whether he did or didn't.

I'd appreciate that. Personally, I didn't feel like the roles were characatures from SNL like the earlier reviewer stated. I thought the Condileeza Rice portrayl was a little overdone and the friend I was with thought it was spot on, so who's knows who is right? I did think the other roles were well played for the most part. Ellen Burstyn seemed a bit shrill vs. opinionated which is the way I see Barbara Bush. Not perfect, but overall intriguing and surprisingly balanced for Stone. He did poke fun, but also humanized some of the decisions.

Well, the new Times article (posted in News and Articles) points out that Ioan's part as Tony Blair was originally bigger (which we suspected). Guess that along with his early signing explains why Ioan was mentioned more freqently in early articles than he is in the reviews. Maybe there will be some deleted scenes when the DVD comes out. I hope so.

Mmmme too, GG!

THAT'S what I'm hoping for,GG,and will look forward to see if it happens on the DVD.

Got to say, that this analysis of Ioan's part makes sense to me (trust the good old Morning Star to get the political angle....... :cool: ) "Other notables are Elizabeth Banks as his "educated" wife, Stacey Keach as his born-again pastor and Ioan Gruffudd popping up as stooge Tony Blair. He's seen being asked by Bush and Rice if he'd support invasion without UN agreement, only for the screen to fade before he answers fully. Obviously somebody thought that it might be libellous, especially since Blair could still stand charges for impeachment for lying to constituents. Which is probably why Stanley Weiser's script doesn't elaborate on the inference that they were all just puppets of the military-industrial complex." http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index2.php/free/culture/film/w_12a

Perhaps the pending and possible charges are one of the reasons for cutting the part of Tony Blair, Stevie. Though I guess from a filmmaker's perspective that he was not considered a central character in this drama and there was concern the film would be too long. Sometimes the Editor or Producers have to be more ruthless in eliminating things that are not vital to the story in ways that the Director or Writer can't be. Hopefully, Oliver Stone will provide a commentary on the DVD.