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Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen) | 
| Director: Mike Nichols
Actors: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty
Studio: Universal Studios
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $4.50
You Save: $25.48 (85%)
New (63) Used (45) Collectible (2) from $4.50
Rating:  120 reviews
Sales Rank: 969
Format: Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: Arabic (Original Language), English (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 102 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: 61100566
UPC: 025195004848
EAN: 0025195004848
ASIN: B0013XZ2QK
Theatrical Release Date: December 21, 2007
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Academy Award winners Tom Hanks Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman star in this compelling and witty film from Oscar-winning director Mike Nichols and Primetime Emmy-winning writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). Based on the outrageous true story Charlie Wilson's War shows how one congressman who loved a good time one Houston socialite who loved a good cause and one renegade CIA agent who loved a good fight conspired to bring about the largest covert operation in history.System Requirements:Running Time: 102 minutes Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY Rating: R UPC: 025195004848 Manufacturer No: 61100566
Amazon.com
Political movies about backroom negotiations need not be dry or heavy-handed, as Charlie Wilson's War delightfully proves. Based on the true story of playboy congressman Wilson's efforts to fund Afghanistan's defense against the Soviet invasion of the 1980s, the film is borne along on breezy attitude and a peppery script by West Wing scribe Aaron Sorkin. Wilson, played by Tom Hanks (who also produced), is the perfect hero for this kind of tale, because there's nothing perfect or heroic about him: He's a highball-swilling, fanny-pinching gadabout who becomes radicalized on the issue of helping the Afghans against their mighty aggressor. He has help in the form of a right-wing Texas anti-Communist (Julia Roberts) with a genius for raising money, and a sardonic CIA operative (Philip Seymour Hoffman, stealing the show) who lacks all the social skills Wilson has in abundance. Sorkin's syncopated speech is just the ticket for director Mike Nichols, who understands exactly how to keep this kind of political comedy popping (the complicated story comes in at a hair over 90 minutes, amazingly). Some scoundrels are on the right side of the angels, and the movie's Charlie Wilson is one of them. --Robert Horton
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Stills from Charlie Wilson's War (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews: Read 45 more reviews...
Its a great story and Phillip Seymour Hoffman is VERY entertaining in it August 25, 2008
Morimoto (Greenwich, CT, United States)
This would be a 3.5* movie, except that Phillip Seymoour Hoffman absolutely nails his character and has some outstanding dialogue which is just hilarious. My favorite PSH character since Boggie Nights.
 Annoyed and insulted after watching this film. August 22, 2008
Jane Taylor Jacobs (Leesburg, VA)
With this cast - how could it be bad? Oh, what a disappointment. This film could've used a large dose of subtlety in many ways while taking the large effort it spent on unimportant BS and using it to drive home more meaningful points.
This was a wasted opportunity to tell an important story of our time no matter on which side of the aisle your politics reside.
I don't know exactly where to place the blame for this collosal load of crap, but here are a few brief observations:
- As for the characters, Hoffman's was very believable while Hanks and Roberts came across like caricatures - annoying and fake.
- Superfluous innuendo. Public butt-grabbing, nude hot tub parties, Congressman Wilson staffing his office with a brood of 25 year old hotties in tight skirts and sweaters, a constituent's daughter who can't keep her clothes on around him.... o-v-e-r-k-i-l-l. Distracting and unnecessary.
- The characters are quickly thrown together without enough background as to how and why. It's never clear, for instance, why Robert's excruciatingly wealthy Houston-based philathropist/glamorous b*tch character was so motivated to get deeply involved in equipping the Afghan people w/arms to fight the Soviets.
- Totally irrelevant side-scenes are thrown in, adding nothing at all - some random constituent visits his office to complain about being sued for displaying a nativity scene in front of a firehouse. Whatever - we get that Wilson is an elected representative. Why waste that time on some meaningless, trivial thing when much more important scenes could've been created that added depth and meaning to this film?
- Not nearly enough about the real politics and struggles surrounding this story. Big, gaping holes are left wide open while the viewer is distracted by the ridiculous triviality of Wilson's libido and drinking habits.
I gave 2 stars because Hoffman is really good and Hanks and Roberts do try - not sure how the dynamics got all screwed up but it can't be blamed wholly on their performances. It baffles me that movies like this get so much hype, and so undeservingly.
Whose War Is It Really? August 21, 2008
M. Swinney (Flower Mound, TX)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
If my dear Amazonian, you read no further than this sentence, know this: Charlie Wilson's War starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Tom Hanks, and Julia Roberts (in order of best performances turned in mind you) as real world characters in what was really a war is a good flick...get it, watch it.
This movie, which is a very excellent movie, raises several important questions and issues. The first of which is that Tom Hanks sure looks better with a fuller head of hair than the one he sported in Da Vinci's Code and plays a much better Texas politician run morally playboy amuck trying to oust the Soviets from a little country called Afghanistan than he plays a crazy religious cryptologist that cracks the secrets of King Arthur's chalice or was it Jesus' last supper cup? Either way, Jesus, that Da Vinci code movie was not quite right and this little flick is a highly recommended view. Jesus, go get it now. Well not Jesus because like he would have to rent the movie from Blockbuster or some place like that, through someone infused with the Holy Ghost and he probably wouldn't buy it from Amazon since Jesus saves and all, saves when he shops you know. So you...Amazonian...you're the one who should get this movie.
Evidently what I learned from the movie is that there is this real country called Afghanistan somewhere on the other side of the world and wars happen there all the time. The British tried to occupy the place and they got rousted by the tribal locals in a bad bad way. The Soviets also tried to occupy the place and then this religious nut job rich socialite from Houston up and decided Jesus told her to get the Mujahedeen some shoulder launched SAMS to knock those Hinds out of the sky and that was the way God needed to win the cold war. What? That sounds crazy but then so was the cold war and so are religious nut jobs from Texas.
So, evidently Charlie Wilson from Texas' fifth district, a congressman largely ran his office and his life like a scene out of Howard Stern's "Private Parts," and got converted to the cause of humanity by viewing a refugee camp in the largely unregulated border area in Pakistan called Waziristan and witnessed the lovely things mines can do. Granted the Soviets were probably a little harsher than most modern armys in the way they conducted their war but war is hell or so they say and yet it goes on day by day. I don't think it would be a spoiler for this movie to tell you that the Soviets eventually got kicked out of Afghanistan and this Houston rich lady was largely responsible. Now those Mujahedeen have re-named themselves the Taliban and Al Qaeda and are doing the same thing they've done for the last 100 years or so, trying to kick a foreign presence out of their country so they can get back to growing poppy fields and keeping their country pristine of roads and pavement and McDonald's and Starbucks. Oh, the tangled webs we weave. Someone should write a book on it, eh?
So Phillip Seymour Hoffman as this renegade CIA agent is the real treat here. The man is a brilliant actor, let's face it. The scene of how he tries to manage-up with his CIA supervisor is a classic but unless you have really good job security in the place where you work, I'd recommend steering clear of giving your supervisor like feedback.
What are you waiting for? Stop reading this. Stop really. Just click on that helpful vote button because this review was written in an entertaining and informative style and then buy this DVD, you must really. It's the rage and what everyone will be talking about at Janet Reno's next dance party. ...mmw
 Excellent movie! August 17, 2008
Netzahualcoyotl (San Diego, CA, USA)
This is a great movie. The acting is very good. I appreciated the insight into politics, showing a variety of deals and connections, both domestic and international. It is fascinating that the movie is based on a true story. It is not a war movie but a movie about the specifics, the nuts and bolts of politics influencing the outcome of a war in a very concrete way.
entertaining and illuminating August 14, 2008
Alan A. Elsner (Washington DC)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
It's ironic that I watched this movie about the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan at a time when a resurgent and newly aggressive Russia is crushing a fledgling democracy in Georgia. It made the experience all the more poignant.
Just taken as entertainment, and leaving aside the politics, I enjoyed this story of how an obscure Texas congressman known mostly for his womanizing managed to fund the Islamic resistance to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The performances were great with the one exception of the heavily-Botoxed Robert. The pace was also quite brilliant -- this movie flashed by.
Of course, the consequences for the United States are well-known and the movie alludes to this in its final few minutes. We defeated the Soviets, won the Cold War but our victory helped give birth to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
I wonder if there's a new Charlie Wilson out there to deal with today's Russian threat. Or have we lost so much in the past five years in Iraq that we no longer have the means, the will or the energy?
Recommended: entertaining and educational.
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