Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center"

I first saw the trailer for Oliver Stone's upcoming film, "World Trade Center" on a video iPod during the Cuba Nostalgia convention in Miami. I couldn't hear any sound, but even on the tiny screen, I could tell that Stone had created a visual epic of one the darkest days in U.S. history. I had already seen "United 93" and felt that Stone's film, which is set at the World Trade Center after the buildings collapsed, would tell another part of the story.

My anticipation has only grown, as I've now seen two different trailers, at the movies and on television. The movie opens Aug. 9.

Watch the trailer here.

I am not one of those who say it is "too soon" to make and/or watch a movie like this. In fact, it probably should have been made earlier, considering how it seems like so many Americans have forgotten or shoved aside that day. Whether you see the movie is your choice alone, but to suggest the movie should never have been made because of the wounds it may reopen or the memories it might revive, is wrong.

I have my suspicions of Oliver Stone, both his politics and his view of what history is suppose to be about. But there is no denying that he is a genius filmmaker and storyteller. "JFK" is nothing but fiction, but once you start watching, I dare you to walk away.

On "World Trade Center," if the early reviews are correct — and many of them come from conservative writers with previous disdain for Stone — he has set aside his previous bad habits and personal biases to just tell a story, one of millions from which he could have chosen, from that day.

Michelle Malkin has a roundup of some of the early reviews, including one from Cal Thomas.

The money quote from Thomas:

"Whatever one thinks of Oliver Stone, the man knows how to make movies. This is one of his best. It deserves an Oscar in so many categories. It also deserves the thanks of a grateful nation. Go and see it beginning Aug. 9 and make him a large profit so he might consider inspiring us again, as his predecessors so often did during Hollywood's Golden Age."

Malkin concludes that the positive press is a result of studio campaign to sway conservative pundits.

So what?

That type of marketing is no different than what we previously saw with films like "The Passion of the Christ."

Oliver Stone's Top 10 Films (as a writer and/or director)

10. Born on the Fourth of July
9. Nixon
8. Midnight Express
7. Talk Radio
6. Any Given Sunday
5. Salvador
4. JFK
3. Scarface
2. Platoon
1. Wall Street