W.

I've just been to see Oliver Stone's W. on the big screen.

I can't say that I would wholeheartedly recommend going out in the autumn cold to see the film.

As entertainment, it was fairly mirthless stuff. I enjoyed the early years of Bush in his fratboy days and his Texan days. But the joy of the film ended, quite rightly, as the Iraq invasion went sour and, really, one was left with a sense of the pointlessness of it all. In that sense the film was an accurate portrayal of the pointless failure of the Bush administration. But one couldn't help thinking that the subject didn't lend itself to a satisfying movie. Because the subject was a pointless failure, the film left you with an empty numb feeling at the end.

Laura Bush came out the film as a bit of a heroine. And Colin Powell came out of it well. Richard Dreyfuss brilliantly played a dark and menacing Dick Cheney.

Josh Brolin, as Bush, was very good, if a little too good looking.

This film certainly gives you a bit of an understanding of why Bush rose to be President. But it all seemed a bit "clippy" for my liking. The whole film is a mix of flashbacks and flash forwards. So you start the film in the present and then go back to 1966. Then you go to 2005 and then to 1972. So the older bits get younger and the newer bits get older until they almost meet in the middle. It gets very confusing. Sometimes you have to concentrate hard to work out whether you are in the past or the "present".

Highlights:

1. The meeting which decided the Iraq invasion. Colin Powell put some very sensible points but was derided and then Cheney won the day by arguing that the States had to invade to save their oil supplies.

2. The press conference when Bush was asked what he thought was his biggest mistake. Stone really does play out Bush's answer, or non answer, for all it's worth - it is a very effective moment.

You are left with the impression that as soon as the Iraq venture failed, Bush's presidency was a waste of time. Now that Obama has been elected, this film seems a bit surreal. As David Letterman recently quipped:

Barack Obama is our new president. I think I speak for everybody when I say, 'Anybody mind if he starts a little early?'