The All-Encapsulating Movie Thread

[A Black Falcon]

I finally got around to seeing Charlie Wilson's War, which was better than a lot of people gave it credit for. It was an interesting look at how a man in the right position can drive American policy. It doesn't really delve into the implications of America's actions on the future until the end, which was the complaint most people had, but I thought the movie was good regardless.

I also quite liked Charlie Wilson’s War. The director made a good choice by showing tits right at the start. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was also great, as per usual. He may have won Best Actor for playing Truman Capote, but his finest work has always been in supporting roles.

I liked it, as I said a few months ago.

http://www.tcforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4804

Quite good. Interesting film... Charlie Wilson, in the House of Representatives and on a committee that sets the military budget (for secret operations), is the "hero" despite being a totally morally corrupt person (he's constantly drinking hard liquor, it's stated that he uses cocaine (though this is not shown), he goes to strip clubs in Vegas and isn't married or exactly sticking to one partner... (so of course he gets put on the House Ethics Commitee.

Despite what that might sound, it is a tough, serious film. It is, after all, about the Russian-Afghan War, which was essentially Russia's Vietnam. You leave the theater feeling down... it ends with Wilson trying to get money for rebuilding Afghanistan after Russia pulled out in the late '80s, but no one is interested in even a million dollars to build schools. We've won, who cares now? Well, they don't go out and say it, but everyone in the theater knows why we should have cared... (see: the rise of the Taliban shortly afterwards, the creation of Al Quaida, etc) Fascinating film though. The way that this one guy is pretty much all on his own able to get the money to arm the Afghan rebels to fight the Soviets is pretty interesting. It started with just $5 milliion dollars but reached $500 million by the end of the war...
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