More Greats of '07 - CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR and INTO THE WILD Reviewed!

Hola amigos, hope everyone is winding down and getting ready for the long weekend. Okay, most of you are actually probably gearing up for Christmas, but hey, as a Jew who traditionally does little for Christmas other than maybe Chinese food and a movie, I'm mostly just glad for a long weekend. And yeah, I also realize that, much to my chagrin, a number of you are headed for weeks of time off, whilst (love that word ...) I have a mere two extra days with which to catch up on sleep, clean my apartment, get my life together, etc. before it's back to the grind. Oh well, at the least next week should be pretty laid back, hopefully with limited hours at the office and some quality time with which to veg out.

Sooo ... at some point soon you'll see my annual Best Of lists. But already, it's clear that this has really been a notheworthy year for film. I mean this weekend alone, there's at least four or five top-shelf flicks coming out in theaters, with a few others that have only been in limited release finally going wide. If you haven't already seen 'em, I can't recommend currently-in-theaters movies like No Country For Old Men, Juno, and Enchanted enough. Then there are a number of bigtime movies coming today - Sweeney Todd (seeing tonight I believe), Walk Hard, Charlie Wilson's War (saw last night, scroll down for the review), and There Will Be Blood. Just thinking about a potential Top 10 list for 2007, it's clear that there are any number of movies that could be named into that top-tier of the year, which really was an embarrasment of riches. You've got kickass prestige movies like No Country and Jesse James, quirky, smaller flicks like Juno and The King of Kong and The TV Set, some hilarious comedies - from Superbad to Hot Fuzz to The Ten - and some badass blockbusters like 300, Pirates of the Carribean, and Beowulf. And what about this year's influx of B-movie-style pulp movies, like Grindhouse and Black Snake Moan? And let's not forget Black Book, Michael Clayton, or Rescue Dawn ... and, oh yeah, as usual, Pixar released a gem in Ratatouille.

So you can see where I'm going here ... there were a ton of A-level movies this year ... it's tough to single out onl a few that were tops.

Anyways, last night my employers at Universal were nice enough to invite me to a free screening of our latest film, CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR, a movie that seemed like it would very much lend itself to the plushy seats and polite crowds of a Universal screening room ... so, here's the review.

CHARLIE WILSON'S WAR Review:

- As you can probably tell if you read my reviews of STUDIO 60, I tend to get annoyed when Aaron Sorkin gets on his high horse and gets all preachy on us. But really, a big part of my problem with Studio 60 was simply that the tone did not fit the premise, and all of the politics and drama seemed shoehorned in to a show that outwardly seemed like it should have been much more lighthearted. Inevitably, the attempts to balance the comedic and dramatic aspects of the program made for some very awkward and grating television. But here, Sorkin has a great story to tell and some great characters with which to tell it. Not only that, but Charlie Wilson's War is a movie with a legitimately fascinating point to make, a point that Sorkin coveys to us, remarkably, in a smart, funny, and tragically disturbing manner that gives us some insight into the looney bin that is American politics. Especially now with all of the ambiguity surrounding the Iraq war, it's pretty fascinating to see some of the events which got us to this point, and how what looks like a great political move one day can really come back to bite you ...

The writing here is sharp and crisp - like A Few Good Men, this is just about Sorkin at his snappiest and most appealing. There is some really well-done humor, which I think is a large part of what makes the film so watchable - in a year that saw a ton of potentially well-made but almost unbearably bleak political thrillers bomb (think Valley of Elah, Lions for Lambs, etc.), what really separates this one from the pack, I think, is that the humor both amplifies and sends-up the relative absurdity of what we're watching. In this age of Colbert and The Daily Show, we have come to see how absurd and crazy politics can be, and the film completely plays into that mindset, making a serious point while at the same time feeling pretty breezy and light.

To sum up, Charlie Wilson's War is the true-life story of how, about 20 years ago, a slightly sleazy but charming congressman from Texas took it upon himself to use his backroom connections to help end the Cold War. By wheeling and dealing his way around the globe, the southern-fired walking scandal that was Charlie Wilson (Tom Hanks) worked with a rich southern-conservative socialite (Julia Roberts), and a jaded CIA spy (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) to supply powerful surface-to-air weapons to Afghan villagers so that they could take the fight to the Soviets who were air-raiding their homes on a daily basis.

Hanks is really good here - in fact, I'd grown kind of weary of Hanks, as the last movie I really remember enjoying him in was probably Catch Me If You Can ... and after he seemed to sleepwalk through The DaVinci Code, well, his name attached to a movie wasn't exactly cause for excitement in 2007. But Hanks brings it here -- all of his usual down-home likability mixed with a genuine sleaze-factor, wehrre, right from the get-go you realize you're dealing with a bit of a shady character. As for Julia Roberts, she is pretty decent here though her Southern accent kind of comes and goes. And it may just be me but she's looking a little odd these days - I probably sound like an old man in saying this , but it wouldn't hurt her to put a little meat on them bones. Still, I enjoyed the relationship between Roberts and Hanks - it was held up by Sorkin as an interesting example of how political and social relationships can mix.

The real standout here though, is undoubtedly the spark-plug that is Philip Seymour Hoffman. He is just kickass in this role as an embittered CIA career guy who likes to express his annoyance with the system by smashing windows and making scenes. Hoffman is just so fun and hilarious in this part, and he is one of those guys who is just perfect for Sorkin's back-and-forth dialogue, because he never seems like he's just firing off lines - he slows things down and makes you hang on every word, every eye blink, every twitch. I also really loved the transformation that his character goes through throughout the movie - he starts out as a guy really on the edge, totally fed up with the lack of respect he gets, like one of those English professors in college who knows they should be a best-selling author. Through is allegiance with Charlie, Hoffman suddenly finds himself making a huge impact and using all of his accumulated knowledge - he's finally made it, and the excitement mixed with "oh crap, is this really happening, and if so there's gotta be a downside." sort of skepticism is a lot of fun to watch. It's Hoffman who eventually becomes the cautionary voice of reason, warning that one victory agaisnt the Soviets is not the endgame, that arming all these fundamentalist with RPG's could lead to some measure of trouble ...

By the way, it's funny to see Amy Adams in the mix as a dutiful assistant to Charlie. After seeing her shine in Enchanted, it's weird to see Adams in such a relatively minor role. Still, her undeniable star-quality shines through, and she really steals a few scenes throughout the movie, as a loyal aide who can't help but get caught up in Charlie Wilson's war, and there's one great little scene between her and Roberts in particular that's pretty memorable.

Overall, this is maybe the one political movie this summer that is 100% worth checking out, because really it's as fun as it is insightful. A true-life Dr. Strangelove, in a way. The pace at times is a bit slow, and the ending a little inconclusive, but I liked that this was a pretty to-the-point, snappy piece of filmmaking - expertly directed by the great Mike Nichols with a smartly satirical eye. Yet another great film of 2007.

My Grade: A -

And, one more for you guys, this one a long time coming ...

INTO THE WILD Review:

- Here's one of those movies that I really liked in a lot of respects, but something about what it was trying to say simply rubbed me the wrong way. In many ways, Into the Wild is one of the year's best -- a film filled with stunning cinematography, and a number of superb performances. This one is a breakthrough film for Emile Hirsch, for one. Regardless of what you think of the character he plays, this is undoubtedly a star-making turn for him - a fine piece of acting tht really shows what the guy can do. Hirsch has shown promise before, but this, for him, is the big one. And acrosss the board, from Catherine Keener to the amazing Hal Holbrook - there are genuine, raw, memorable performances in this one that will stick with you, that will get to you, that will haunt you. But I guess that this was a movie that had a very specific philosophy, as originally documented by writer Jon Krakauer and brough to the screen by Sean Penn. Penn, with this movie, chose to take the true-life story of a guy who ditched his wealth and ran away from his priveleged upbringing and went, literally, into the wild - in some ways for his own peace of mind, in other ways to prove a point. But as interesting as many of the characters in this movie are, I just never bought into the film's central conceit - that our main character was a guy whose story was somehow remarkable and admirable.

Now, at the end of the film, not to spoil anything, but we do get a bit of perspective on the whole adventure. For most of the movie, Hirsch's character is portrayed almost as a Christ-like figure - sure, we see the emotional havoc he wreaks on those he touches then leaves behind - but the movie seems to be firmly on his side - telling us that he is justified in his quest to go off into the wilds of Alaska and live on his own in the wild. And yes, at the film's conclusion, we get a final change of tone, a last reminder that maybe, just maybe, ditching one's friends and family and loved ones, in turn ditching all responsibility and purpose in life, may not exactly be the wisest and most worthy way of living. But for much of the film, Penn seems to have a kind of awe and wonder about this guy - and he has to, or why would he make the film? But ... I just don't buy it. It's one thing to be a writer like Krakauer, to go and do things for the sake of documentation and shared experience. It's one thing to be an explorer, a farmer, a mininmalist, a naturalist - whatever. But what's so great about a rich guy ditching his money and running away from society on his own, never to be heard from again? I see how it's interesting, how it's a potentially cool and thought-provoking story. But the tone of the film is just too reverant for my tastes. It felt like they took a semi-interesting guy who did something unusual but very foolish and pointless with his life, and made him out to be some kind of hero. As much as I enjoyed the movie on a number of levels, I could just never fully get past this basic philisophical issue. And I am a pretty liberal guy, so I don't think it's a political thing, more just an issues, as I said, ith the film's overly reverant tone.

But again, the performances really are great, and there are some completely fascinating little character studies here - from the toked-out hippies that Hirsch comes into contact with (brilliantly played by Keener and a non-actor who is really great - shades of The Big Lebowski to be sure ...), to William Hurt as a grieving father, to Hal Holbrook, who has some genuinely touching scenes with Hirsch , and whose gritty, vulnerable performance makes him in line for a Supporting Actor Oscar nom for sure. Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the pretty great soundtrack by Eddie Vedder, whose trademark wails and bellows are a perfect fit for this contemplative, emotional film. So as I said - in many ways this is a great, great film - certain scenes soar with great character bits, sweeping images of the American wild, or just great emotional build-up that really immerses you in these character's lives. The action and danger can be raw, harrowing, truly scary - nature here is dangerous and untamed - and this is a movie that makes you realize just how easy it is to lose out in the eternal battle of man vs. mother nature. Despite all that heaping praise, something about this movie's emotional core just left me feeling a bit hollow and empty. And those brief moments of perspective at the end just couldn't do enough to make me 100% buy into what this movie was selling.

My Grade: B+

- Alriiiiiiiiight kids, that's it for now. Have a great weekend, Merry Christmas to those who celebrate, and stay tuned for LOTS more coming here on the blog over the next several days.