Seattle publicity is out to make my head spin lately as I am currently faced with the predicament of seeing Charlie Wilson’s War or Sweeney Todd this Tuesday night. As of right now it is the only screening of Charlie I have been told of while there are at least two other screenings of Sweeney, but even the two other Sweeney screenings battle other films; one being The Bucket List and the other being Walk Hard… What’s a guy like me to do with that Sweeney Cox Bucket War?
Anyway, my screening issues aren’t the topic here. The topic is Charlie Wilson, his war and the six clips I just added in relation to said Charlie and said war.
I still remain relatively uninterested in this film, and the luke warm reviews it has received thus far aren’t getting me any more interested. However, there are still a few things going for it.
- It was written by Aaron Sorkin and I am a rabid fan of “The West Wing”
- Tom Hanks stars in films and they turn to gold
- Mike Nichols is a great director and I enjoyed his last political-comedy, Primary Colors, which also served as a timely commentary on politics based on a “true” story.*
The six clips linked below give me a little bit of added interest in this flick, but I think they also prove this thing has no chance at the box-office as it looks to be a talky film that will service the over-40 crowd well, but will never do well in the big dollar teen driven box-office crowd.
Charlie Wilson’s War is set to hit theaters on Friday, December 21, 2007, for more information, pics and cast information click here, but for now get started with the clips with any of the links below. Might I suggest “If this were a real war…” as a quality starter for some Roberts flare followed by “Charlie tells Joanne to dial down the religion”?
Why is Congress saying one thing and doing nothing
The drama centers on a rogue Texas congressman (Hanks) whose penchant for booze and women earned him the nickname Good Time Charlie. He watched his political career almost go down the drain in the early 1980s when he was caught in a hot tub tryst with two cocaine-sniffing showgirls in Las Vegas.
He survived the scandal and ended up overseeing the largest and most successful covert CIA operation in history; his efforts to fund resistance fighters in Afghanistan hastened the fall of the Iron Curtain.
