- God, good writing can make all the difference in a movie. This seems really obvious, I suppose, but there’s a world of difference between the average movie and something written by Aaron Sorkin. I don’t pray at the altar of Sorkin but his involvement in the screenplay brought his still-refreshing clever and quippy West Wing-style of humour to a relatively grave situation. The trailer has some pretty funny lines and those are only a hint of what else lies in the rest of the film. Good stuff.
- I’m very fond of Tom Hanks. I feel like there aren’t a lot of wholesome, everyman actors around anymore and he really fills that void. Like Jimmy Stewart, only… not dead.
- Philip Seymour Hoffman was freaking fantastic in this. Maybe it’s easy to play an off-the-cuff asshole character when you get really great lines like the ones he was fed scene after scene, but I was in hysterics every time he came on screen. Any character whose first line is “WHAT THE FUCK” is a good character in my book. Also, that flushing sound you hear? That’s the sound of Casey Affleck’s chances at winning Best Supporting Actor going down the toilet. You’re still my boy, Casey!
- Tom Hanks + Philip Seymour Hoffman = OTP. All their scenes together were brilliant, especially the scene where Wilson’s many assistants kept interrupting their meeting to update him on a quickly brewing scandal. The scene could have been really hokey with all the entry-and-exit humour using the multiple doors in the office, but I think they played it nicely.
- I imagine that the unnecessary shot of Julia Roberts emerging from a pool in a bikini is to demonstrate that you can have given birth to twins, be in your forties, and still look smokin’ hot. What this has to do with this movie, I have no idea.
- Emily Blunt’s character didn’t need to be Emily Blunt, considering she was on screen for five minutes. I imagine she must have some scenes on the cutting room floor.
- They didn’t end up using “All Along The Watchtower” on the soundtrack, thank god.
- The politics in the movie are kind of a Cole’s Notes version of Middle Eastern politics in the last three decades and summarise in a very basic way how the events depicted in the movie lead us to where we are today. I imagine the more politically savvy might find this boring and possibly too elementary, but since huge numbers of people still believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the attacks on September 11th, maybe this checklist approach to history is warranted. Then again, I’m not sure if those people are going to see this movie anyway.
- This movie could do well come award season because it’s smart and funny and makes light criticism of U.S. foreign policy and whatnot without actually being terribly subversive. It’s the edgy choice for the septuagenarians in the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences!
Charlie Wilson’s War
The edgy choice for the septuagenarians in the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences!
IMDB Plot Synopsis A drama based on a Texas congressman Charlie Wilson's covert dealings in Afghanistan, where his efforts to assist rebels in their war with the Soviets have some unforeseen and long-reaching effects.