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Dec. 31st, 2007 05:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cwfilmbuff60. Charlie Wilson’s War
Funnier than most political movies, and it doesn’t really get heavy-handed until the last few minutes. Mostly because it doesn’t need to - it would be difficult to find a member of this film’s target audience who wasn’t aware of what training and arming Afghani freedom forces eventually led to. So instead the movie concentrates on how that happened and the reasons behind it, letting the audience draw their own connections to more recent history (at least until the movie ends with a quote from Wilson hammering in the point). The only time the filmmakers falter is when they try to match archival footage with their own special effects shots, even though the two bear little to no resemblance to each other. It makes a couple scenes stand out as poorly-executed in a movie that works much better when it concentrates on the plot and dialog.
Well, that wraps it up for 2007. 60 movies, which is less than I expected but still more than one a week, which is not too shabby. Plus, looking back, only a handful that made me regret the loss of two hours. It’s been a good year, movie-wise, and I’m looking forward to catching up on some of the 07 releases I didn’t make it to.
Starting next year (i.e. tomorrow) I’m going to track DVDs in addition to theatrical viewings, to see how it all adds up. Should mean a lot more posts about movies in 2008. Happy New Year.
Funnier than most political movies, and it doesn’t really get heavy-handed until the last few minutes. Mostly because it doesn’t need to - it would be difficult to find a member of this film’s target audience who wasn’t aware of what training and arming Afghani freedom forces eventually led to. So instead the movie concentrates on how that happened and the reasons behind it, letting the audience draw their own connections to more recent history (at least until the movie ends with a quote from Wilson hammering in the point). The only time the filmmakers falter is when they try to match archival footage with their own special effects shots, even though the two bear little to no resemblance to each other. It makes a couple scenes stand out as poorly-executed in a movie that works much better when it concentrates on the plot and dialog.
Well, that wraps it up for 2007. 60 movies, which is less than I expected but still more than one a week, which is not too shabby. Plus, looking back, only a handful that made me regret the loss of two hours. It’s been a good year, movie-wise, and I’m looking forward to catching up on some of the 07 releases I didn’t make it to.
Starting next year (i.e. tomorrow) I’m going to track DVDs in addition to theatrical viewings, to see how it all adds up. Should mean a lot more posts about movies in 2008. Happy New Year.
