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| Charlie Wilson's War (Widescreen) | 
 enlarge | 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 New: $4.35
You Save: $25.63 (85%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $4.35
Avg. Customer Rating:  (121 reviews)
Sales Rank: 702
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)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 102 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.1 x 0.6
MPN: 61100566
UPC: 025195004848
EAN: 0025195004848
ASIN: B0013XZ2QK
Release Date: April 22, 2008
Theatrical Release Date: December 21, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Whose War Is It Really? August 21, 2008
5 out of 5 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 you Jesus because you'd probably rent the movie from Blockbuster or some place like that, because you know like you save and all, Jesus. But you Amazonian reading this...you're the one who should get this movie. It's good, really it is.
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 and now from Pakistan or Saudi or Afghanistan for that matter.
So, evidently Charlie Wilson is from Texas' fifth district, a congressman who 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 playing a 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
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
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
4 out of 4 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.
 History better than Hollywood August 11, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It really is a fascinating story ... One man sees the opportunity to do what his government won't... arm/train a group of militants to fight an enemy who did the same to us for more than a decade in South East Asia. And in doing so handed the U.S.S.R its worst military defeat.
Why we needed so much sex to sell this story, I don't know.
 15 minutes are missing from this DVD August 10, 2008
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
Having seen this film in the theater, I was very disappointed to discover several scenes were cut from the DVD version, including one crucial one. The most crucial cut concerned the fact that President Reagan's approval was what released the Stinger missile to the Afghans.
Also cut were scenes: Charlie Wilson was sick in the Hospital; his re-elction effort; testing an ineffective missile in Egypt; any more? Anybody know why?
(I also suspect that The Princess Bride now currently shown is missing an early scene that was in the theater version, but I can't confirm this.)
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