Oliver Stone has cultivated a reputation as the bruiser of modern cinema. He highlighted the moralcomplexities of Vietnam (Platoon, Born on the Fourth of July, Heaven & Earth), savaged his fellow Americans's relentless pursuit of wealth (Wall Street), satirised the glamorisation of violence (Natural Born Killers) and remembered one of the US’s darkest days (World Trade Center).

Stone has focused on the influence of the establishment with memorable portraits of John .F Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

Now, as George W. Bush prepares to bid farewell to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the film-maker offers his most intriguing feature yet. W sketches his rise to power from the mid-1960s to the present day, beginning at Yale where the young George (Josh Brolin) endures the humiliation of the fraternity house initiation. He vociferously rejects one frat member's suggestion that he follow in his father's footsteps, and channels his efforts instead into boozing, invariably ending up drunk in jail. His despairing father George Sr (James Cromwell) pulls strings to keep his son's name out of the papers.

However, George continues to disappoint until he meets his wife Laura (Elizabeth Banks) and unexpectedly gains his first foothold on the ladder of success as Governor of his home state of Texas.

Sweeping to power in controversial fashion, Bush becomes the 42nd US President and faces some of his country's darkest days, including the September 11 attacks.

Political allies on both sides of the Atlantic, including Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright), Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss), Condoleezza Rice (Thandie Newton), Donald Rumsfeld (Scott Glenn) and British Prime Minister Tony Blair (Ioan Gruffudd), guide him as he takes the decision to invade Iraq.

Timed neatly to coincide with the battle for the White House, W is a surprisingly affectionate portrait of a man who changed the course of world events, not necessarily for the better.

Performances are strong across the board, even in the smallest roles. Ultimately, W tells us very little about its subject that we don't already know, glossing over some of his darkest hours, including the drinking. It could and perhaps should have been so much more.Writer-director Stephan Elliott revives Noel Coward's comedy across the class divide with a handsome jaunt into the British countryside. Set at the tail end of the 1920s, Easy Virtue immerses us in a rarefied world of stiff upper lips and lavish stately homes, where the appearance of wealth is paramount to a family's standing.

Chaos erupts when an outsider strays into this microcosm of staunch tradition and etiquette, and dares to challenge the status quo. Jessica Biel is a revelation in her leading role as a glamorous fish out of water.