January is turning out to be chocker with magic movies - it is Oscar season after all.
Charlie Wilson's War was last Sunday's viewing and is a witty and entertaining film. Based on a true story it tells how senator Charles Wilson facilitates the US's covert war with Russia in Afghanistan leading to them being overthrown. Tom Hanks is convincing as the womanising Wilson which surprised me because 'Tom Hanks' and 'womaniser' are not words that usually sit comfortably in the same sentence. And Julia Roberts who plays the socialite who essentially brings the plight of the Afghan's to Wilson's attention and nudges him the right direction, well, I just can't get excited about her as she is just Julia Roberts.
Now I digress slightly, but I've always said certain actors have wandered into the realm of celebrity too far to be believable in character. I read recently a comment that Leonardo diCaprio made:
"The more people know too much about who you really are, and it's a fundamental thing, the more the mystery is taken away from the artist, and the harder it is for people to believe that person in a particular role."
It is why I think I struggle with certain actors and Roberts is one of them. But anyway back to the film, Roberts is OK but Philip Seymour Hoffman is excellent, as the straight talking CIA agent.
There was a little niggle at the back of my mind throughout the movie thought and that was the more recent events in Afghanistan's history. In the film America trains, arms and funds the Afghan rebels so that they can fight the Russians and it is policy that, to put it flippantly, has come back to bite it on the bum.
There is a little nod to this fact right at the end of the film but it did taint the experience a little.