Best movie of this year hands down!

Good concept, poorly executed.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

Early 1980s. Charlie Wilson is a relatively unimportant and unproductive Texas congressman. He does have one advantage - he is on two important committees, covering foreign and military policy. He learns of the situation in Afghanistan and how the Russians are treating the Afghanis and is determined to help, through providing the Mujahideen with weapons. This sets in motion an unlikely sequence of deals and alliances. Excellent movie. Covers an important series of events in world history, the short-term consequences of which were positive, the long term less so. Does so in very light, funny fashion. This highlights the farcicalness of some of the events, and helps the story move along. It would have been a very dry movie if it was entirely serious.Despite the non-seriousness of much of the movie, has a very powerful and profound final message.Great acting by Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts and, especially, Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Aaron Sorkin has had back to back big screen hits with 'The Social Network', 'Moneyball' and 'Steve Jobs' but here is his earlier effort.It boasts a big name cast (including the much missed Philip Seymour Hoffman) and with Sorkin penning the script it should be a good film, right? Wrong! This film is Sorkin very much in his comfort zone. The world of politics. Lots of people walking around, being important, spouting write-me-down one liners.But all this hides the fact that the characters aren't that likable, the story isn't the great and lacks all of the fizz and sparkle that makes Sorkin's other (more successful work!) like 'The West Wing' accessible for people who don't care about politics.I find Sorkin to be hit and miss. Guess which column this gets filed in?

Charlie Wilson's War is based off true events which led to the downfall of the Soviet Union and perhaps the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan. But instead of making the film a complete political drama, I liked the boldness of the filmmakers by changing the film to more of a political satire. The movie was often funny and it consists of witty, explosive dialogue tanks to the genius writing of Aaron Sorkin. However, I feel that the movie is just way too talkative and the narrative tends to drag on at points.Mike Nichol's film is about a U.S Representative named Charlie Wilson who has been investigated for his party habits. But he pulls his act together by befriending a CIA man in charge of the happenings between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan named Gus. Together along with the help of a rich romantic interest of Charlie, Joanne Herring, they work together to participate in the downfall of the Soviet Union.The acting is really good, as one could expect with this sort of cast. It's weird to see Tom Hanks play a party person, but he pulls it off very well. Julia Roberts is excellent as his cold, rich love interest. Philip Seymour Hoffman, as always, is a great pleasure to watch. Finally, Amy Adams is magnificent as Charlie's assistant, always eager to live up to Charlie.Overall, Charlie Wilson's War is an engaging political satire about the events surrounding the Soviet Union's defeat and it shows how this was truly the beginning of the long drawn-out affair between the Taliban and the United States which would culminate during the 9/11 attacks. But it was funny and the jokes are spot on. The script is unusually clever and it was well-directed by a very well-respected director. Other than some blandness at times, this was a good film. I rate this film 8/10.

This movie doesn't need another well-thought-out, well-written review. There are plenty of those here already. However, in reading these reviews, I found that there are also a good number that portray the film as being the exact opposite of what it is. This seems more than merely not helpful, but outright unhelpful.Perhaps it would be useful to clarify that this is not a movie for people who need dots connected for them. It is a movie that lays the dots out for you and leaves it to you to connect them. If you can do that, you will easily understand that this movie has no illusions regarding the ultimate results of Charlie's efforts, and it is most definitely not a movie about America saving the world again.It is also useful to remember that "connect the dots" is a reference to cheesy "art" projects designed for those who have no artistic ability. This is a movie for people who can think, rather than those who must rely on others to do the thinking and then spell everything out for them.