Low Approval Ratings Greet W.

Portrait of the president is for the 60% of folks with an 'open mind'

(NEWSER) - Oliver Stone is looking to attract the political center with his new movie, W., about the life our 43rd president, USA Today reports. The film, a satirical biopic starring Josh Brolin as George W. Bush, is neither hagiography or damning indictment. “I'm not interested in that radical 15% that hate Bush or the 15% to 20% who love Bush,” Stone said. More»

Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones return for alien flick

(NEWSER) - Sure, no one was that desperate for a Men in Black 3—but it's actually a pretty good summer movie. Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones are back defending the planet from aliens, and this time, Josh Brolin's along for the ride as a young Jones.

• The movie "turns out to be so much fun," writes AO Scott in the New York Times . While it "carefully fulfills its blockbuster imperatives—with chases and explosions and elaborately contrived plot twists—it swerves into some marvelously silly, unexpectedly witty, and genuinely fresh territory."

Josh Brolin and Megan Fox are stuck in a badly executed flop

(NEWSER) - Critics pretty much hate Jonah Hex, the new Westernish flick with Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, and John Malkovich.

• Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times : A "smoldering ash heap. ... Brolin's intermittent voice-over narration proves to be the most powerful stuff, with the rest curiously sputtering."
• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune : "Industrially processed entertainment at it cheapest, nastiest and greasiest."

Dakota Fanning-Kristen Stewart vehicle divides critics

(NEWSER) - Critics praise the performances in The Runaways, about Joan Jett's seminal '70s band, but whether the flick succeeds is up for debate. Some takes:

• "Say what you will about the Runaways," Peter Travers writes in Rolling Stone , but "they never played it safe. The movie does." He wants more out of the verboten relationship between Dakota Fanning's Cherie Currie and Kristen Stewart's Jett. Still, "Fanning scores a knockout."

But feisty actor still has fightin' words for Russell Crowe, critics

(NEWSER) - Louisiana prosecutors have agreed to drop all charges against Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright for a July barroom brawl the two allegedly got into while filming Oliver Stone’s W. Brolin and Wright, along with five members of the film’s crew, faced misdemeanor charges from the fight, People reports. More»