Charlie Wilson's War
2007 Directed by Mike Nichols
Synopsis
Based on a true story. You think we could make all this up?
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.
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Good film, a fascinating example of how the destiny of the world can be changed - according to this film - by just a couple of guys. I enjoyed this film but I think the cover rather lets it down, the quote of it being "brilliantly funny" rather puts rather unreasonable expectations of it, the film does have a few good lines in it but it IMHO is clearly not a comedy and the first 20 minutes or so is full of rather attractive semi-naked, very attractive ladies again changes the expectations as well. Very good but just don't expect Life of Brian!
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An interesting view on the start of the American war of terror in the middle east and the way they manipulated Afghanistan into taking out the "commies" to make money from the third world. Tom Hanks is Great, Philip Seymour Hoffman is a god and Julia Roberts is a dirty skank!
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Released on Dec. 21, 2007, just shy of exactly 28 years after the Soviet Union stormed the Afghan frontier and murdered her government, Charlie Wilson's War tells a story of Representative Charles Wilson of Texas (Tom Hanks), a conservative Democrat, who links up Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts), a Right-wing Christian socialite in Houston who has taken the Afghans to her bosom because of her hatred of Communism, and Gust Avrakotos (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a blue collar case officer at the CIA who is the epitome of the adage that one can get anything done in Washington so long as one does not care who gets the credit, and between them they cajole Congress into moving its appropriations from $5m to…
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Julia's hairdon't says it all: cheap and ill-advised.
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“Der Krieg des Charlie Wilson” präsentiert sich starbesetzt. Mit Tom Hanks (The Ladykillers, The Green Mile), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Capote, Magnolia), Amy Adams (Verwünscht, Sunshine Cleaning) und Julia Roberts (Notting Hill, Hook) findet man gleich vier große Namen auf der Besetzungsliste und gerade das Zusammenspiel von Hanks und Philip Seymour Hoffman ist unglaublich gut. Wenn diese beiden Schauspieler im echten Leben so auf “Werbetour” gehen würden, würde dies wahrscheinlich genau gut funktionieren wie im Film.
Und auch die Beziehung zwischen Charlie Wilson und seiner Ex-Freundin Joanne Herring kommt dank der guten schauspielerischen Leistung von Julia Roberts gut zum Tragen.
Schade nur, dass Regisseur Mike Nichols (Silkwood, Closer) dafür in anderen Bereichen patzt. Zwar gelingt es ihm die Geschichte spannend zu…
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Surprised how much I disliked this film on rewatch, this was either a really lazy effort by Sorkin or his script was rewritten by someone, because it barely even seems like he wrote it. Everything is just sort of competent, nothing is special.
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Absolutely amazing. An awesome film about a wonderful, yet frustrating story. There should be more films like this.
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This movie disappointed me, not because it was bad, but because it wasn't great. I didn't care how it was directed, but the acting is what I wanted the most from. Tom Hanks was fine, Amy Adams was fine, Julia Roberts (who I usually don't care for) was good, Sorkin's writing was good, and everything just felt exactly how I expected it would (I expect a lot from these folks). Philip Seymour Hoffman, on the other hand, was fantastic. If I ever watch this movie again, it will be to re-watch Hoffman in all of his subtle brilliance.
A good-enough movie that is made better by PSH. That man is a legend.
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With the hysterical dry humor from Tom Hanks, and the added humor remarks of Hoffman, CWW makes for a great film and a great plot, and yet still gets across a political message. Wonderful.
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While rewatching it I found myself thinking “Sh*t, this script is positively awesome, even more than I remembered!
It almost feels... sorkian„Now guess who wrote it.
Now guess who feels stupid. -
At first I was a bit lost. The fast paced dialog, the political environment, all trademarks of Aaron Sorkin, the writer of the screenplay. He is also the creator of West Wing, a series that I liked.
As the film went on I realized that much of what was said in the first few minutes can be discarded, and the main plot of the movie would be clear.
This movie felt like a "political procedural", where we see in detail what a politician goes through to achieve his goals. In Charlie Wilson's case, his goal was to help Afghanistan win the war against the Soviets. I found this aspect interesting, but not sufficient for the whole movie.
The tone of…
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Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) is a good-‘ol-boy from Texas with a love of booze and an insatiable appetite for women. In addition to that, however, he happens to have a brilliant political mind. When he discovers the plight of the Afghan people, who are battling against the Soviets, he sets out to get them all the support he can. With the help of two unlikely allies, a gruff CIA operative (Oscar nominated Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and a right-wing socialite (Julia Roberts), Wilson begins providing the Afghans with the arms that will eventually provide them the means to attack us. The script by Aaron Sorkin provides plenty of laughs along the way, but also gives just enough tragedy and pathos to remind us that Wilson’s victories will in fact come back to bite us 20 years later.