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Movies / On DVD / Charlie Wilson's War
Charlie Wilson's War

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Charlie Wilson's War (2007)

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81 %
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Reviews Counted: 188

Fresh: 153

Rotten:35

Average Rating: 7/10

Consensus: Charlie Wilson's War manages to entertain and inform audiences, thanks to its witty script and talented cast of power players.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong language, nudity/sexual content and some drug use.

Runtime: 1 hr 42 mins

Genre: Comedies

Theatrical Release:Dec 21, 2007 Wide

Box Office: $66,636,385

Synopsis: Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in... Charlie Wilson's War is the true story of how a playboy congressman, a renegade CIA agent and a beautiful Houston socialite joined forces to lead the largest and most successful covert operation in history. Their efforts contributed to the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, with consequences that reverberate throughout the world today. Oscar® winners Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and Philip Seymour Hoffman team with Academy Award®-winning director Mike Nichols and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin to bring George Crile's best-selling book to the screen.

Charlie Wilson (Hanks) was a bachelor congressman from Texas who had a habit of showing up in hot tubs with strippers and cocaine. His "Good Time Charlie" exterior, however, masked an extraordinary mind, a deep sense of patriotism and a passion for the underdog, and in the early 1980s the underdog was Afghanistan--which had just been brutally invaded by the Russians.

Charlie's longtime friend and patron and sometime lover was Joanne Herring (Roberts), one of the wealthiest women in Texas and a virulent anti-communist. Believing the American response to the Russian invasion was anemic at best, she prods Charlie into doing more for the Mujahideen (Afghan freedom fighters).

Charlie's partner in this uphill endeavor is CIA Agent Gust Avrakotos (Hoffman), a blue-collar operative in a company of Ivy League blue bloods. Together, the three of them--Charlie, Joanne and Gust--travel the world to form unlikely alliances among the Pakistanis, Israelis, Egyptians, arms dealers, law makers and a belly dancer.

Their success was remarkable. Funding for covert operations against the Soviets went from $5 million to $1 billion annually. The Red Army retreated out of Afghanistan. When asked how a group of peasants was able to deliver such a decisive blow to the army of a superpower, Pakistani President Mohammad Zia ul-Haq responded simply, "Charlie did it."--© Universal Pictures
[More]

Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams

Starring: Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Ned Beatty, Emily Blunt, Shiri Appleby, Om Puri, Ken Stott, Denis O'Hare, Rachel Nichols

Director: Mike Nichols

Director: Mike Nichols
Screenwriter: Aaron Sorkin
Producer: Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman
Composer: James Newton Howard
Studio: Universal Pictures

[See More Credits]

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    A Real War
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    Doing Nothing
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    Belly Dancer
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  • Dial Down The Religion
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    Charlie And Gust Share A Drink
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    Two Olives
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Release:

Jun 14, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Snap Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English, French, Spanish
  • Subtitles - English (SDH), French, Spanish - Optional

Additional Release Material:

  • Making Of: The Making of CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR
  • Featurette: WHO IS CHARLIE WILSON?
 
 
 
 

Reviews for Charlie Wilson's War

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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The international intrigue becomes strained satire -- what’s needed is the comic touch of a Billy Wilder.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Gerald Peary
Boston Phoenix

Charlie Wilson's War features two characters who know how government is supposed to work. They also know it doesn't work as it is supposed to, so they have to subvert the system and go beyond it.

Full Review Source: Fayetteville Free Weekly | comment Comment
02/02/09
Tony Macklin
Fayetteville Free Weekly

Hanks may at first seem like an unlikely choice to play a seasoned Texas playboy bachelor, but he's so ingratiating that he almost pulls it off.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
10/18/08
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor

Hanks' performance as Wilson is tone-perfect, capturing both the public-servant seriousness and playboy rakishness of his character. And he does it without breaking a sweat.

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

At a short 93 minutes, it feels as though Charlie Wilson's War was hacked up in the editing room, leaving the bare bones of the structure but little of the really juicy meat.

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
10/18/08
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

Charlie Wilson's War is both funny and entertaining. In fact, as far as making political points, you kind of have to look for them.

Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | comment Comment
10/18/08
Scott Nash
Three Movie Buffs

Hanks does a great job, brimming with the sort of charisma and charm that the real Charlie Wilson presumably had in spades.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/18/08
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

All of the actors clearly relish the film's fast and busy pace, smart dialog and vivid characterisations.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
10/18/08
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

...succumbs to an overly and relentlessly talky vibe that prevents the viewer from connecting to the film's story or characters.

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
10/18/08
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

The movie never addresses the pressing questions raised in Crile's nonfiction page-turner. It also never encourages the viewer to consider that a solitary congressman appropriated more than $40 million of taxpayer money for his cause.

Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
10/18/08
Susan Tavernetti
Palo Alto Weekly

[Philip Seymour Hoffman's] rumpled, cranky spy is hilarious--George Smiley by way of Jack Black--but with an edge of quiet ferocity that makes every scene he's in play a little sharper.

Full Review Source: New Republic | comment Comment
09/22/08
Christopher Orr
New Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This film may be based on real events but it plays out like a sharp and often absurd political satire.

Full Review Source: KPBS.org | comment Comment
06/08/08
Beth Accomando
KPBS.org

A hot yarn about a cold war.

Full Review Source: Mansized | comment Comment
05/14/08
Chris Laverty
Mansized

Charlie Wilson's War" is intelligence to be savored appreciatively.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
05/06/08
Rory L. Aronsky
Film Threat

[A]nyone who's seen, say, Michael Winterbottom's Welcome to Sarajevo or even one of those late-night "Save the Children" TV spots has seen much more gut-punching stuff.

Full Review Source: MSNBC | comment Comment
05/01/08
Alonso Duralde
MSNBC

The dialogue zings and pops whether you are trying to keep up with Hanks and Hoffman as they exchange one-liners or trying to fully understand the foreign affairs...

Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | comment Comment
03/04/08
Jeff Bayer
The Scorecard Review

Suficientemente interessante para figurar entre os diversos trabalhos que fizeram de 2007 um ano tão forte para o Cinema norte-americano.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
03/01/08
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Two vaguely amoral do-gooders do their part to fight Commies in a secret hot war during a cold one%u2026you know, the one that installed the Taliban in Afghanistan and turned it into a place armed to the teeth and crazy pissed at us. Then Sorkin and Nich

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
02/16/08
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina

Smart, sophisticated and stylish, "Charlie Wilson's War" is a victory for thinking adults.

Full Review Source: Quad City Times (Davenport, IA) | comment Comment
02/09/08
Linda Cook
Quad City Times (Davenport, IA)

Una inteligente sátira política, que se queda corta como crítica a la intervención de EEUU en Medio Oriente pero funciona muy bien como comedia. Tom Hanks y Philip Seymour Hoffman están formidables.

Full Review Source: Uruguay Total | comment Comment
01/31/08
Enrique Buchichio
Uruguay Total
 
 
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