WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUN...
WISHING YOU ALL A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HOPE THE NEW YEAR BRINGS YOU LOTS OF JOY AND GOOD FORTUNE X X
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Charlie Wilson's War is a film which I had been undecided about for a few weeks so I finally took the plunge and bought it. I think the deciding factor was that it stared Tom Hanks and Julie Roberts, both of which I like.
The film features Charlie Wilson, played by Tom Hanks who is a party loving Congress man. He is good friends with Joanne who is a rich Socialite, played by Julia Roberts. Joanne manages to talk Charlie into looking at the troubles in Afghanistan where they are being invaded by the Russians. Charlie goes and sees the troubles first hand and is shocked at what he finds. He does agree to help Joanne by getting the weapons and ammunition which they need to defend their country. To do this Charlie is helped by a CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos and soon finds he needs to persuade the Congress to give them large amounts of money.
Charlie soon comes under attack about his private life but fortunately for
him this takes matters away from his work for Afghanistan and so is to his advantage is a silly sort of way. Will Charlie be able to get the money he needs when the total keeps rising, starting out at $10 million and soon ending up at nearly half a billion and will the weapons be used correctly for the Afghan people to defeat the Russians?
I was very impressed with this film. It is based on true events which makes it much more watch able for me. I will admit that as I was only young when this film was set I was unaware of the troubles which were going on over there so this film brought them to my attention.
I thought that Tom Hanks played the role of Charlie Wilson very well and his character was very believable. I have to say that he has aged somewhat since the last film which I saw him in but he does not seem to have lost any of his ability to portray his character. Julia Roberts was also very good in her role and she came across very well. The on screen chemistry between the two was very good and believable.
Philip Seymour Hoffman who played the part of the CIA agent, Gust was also great in his role as the hard nosed agent who stands for no crap. I though the scene where he is having an argument with his boss was vr3y entertaining but I feel his character did slightly simmer down during the film to a point where he seemed to be a different man from the one we met at the beginning of the film.
The scenes which were shot showing the suffering in Afghan were at some point quite sad as we see children who have lost their arms from bombs which they believed were toys on the ground only to discover they were not when they picked them up. I thought the adults who were spoken to managed to put their suffering across in a very poignant way and at times I did feel extremely sorry for them.
The scenes which show the Afghan people fighting against the Russians were filmed and shot with great detail and they were all believable and did not look altered or computer animated in any way.
The DVD which we have does have some bonus material which includes:-
The Making of Charlie Wilson's War - An inside look at the making of the film featuring interviews with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.
Who is Charlie Wilson? - A Profile of the real Charlie Wilson, featuring interviews with Charlie Wilson, Joanne Herring, Tom Hanks, Aaron Sorkin and Mike Nichols.
I have not got around to watching these bonus features yet but I am keen non watching the interview with the real Charlie Wilson to see if he feels his actions have played a part in the troubles which are going on over there today. I will update this review when I have watched it.
The DVD was Produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman and Directed by Mike Nichols. The film has a running time of 1 hour and 38 minutes which I feel is a great length and I did not find I was loosing interest at any point and willing it to end. The certificate on the film is a 15 which I feel is vary suitable as there is lots of bad language.
I paid £5 for my DVD from Tesco which I feel is a bargain price. I do recommend this film as it has a great story which is based on true events and Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts are at their acting best.
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Production Year: 1999 - Drama - Director: Dick Maas - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: William Hurt, Jennifer Tilly, Denis Leary, Michael Chiklis, Francesca Brown
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Production Year: 1945 - Drama - Director: David Lean - Original Language: English - Classification: Parental Guidance - Starring: Celia Johnson, Trevor Howard, Stanley Holloway, Joyce Carey, Cyril Raymond
Feb 2nd, 2009
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