RECOMMENDED Alcoholic whoremonger congressman (as if there were any other kind in his part of Texas) Charlie Wilson got it in mind in the 1980s to dip a toe in the politics of Afghanistan, then under the siege of the Soviets. Urged on by a meddling conservative socialite (played by Julia Roberts), Wilson (Tom Hanks) detoured from his usual dissolution, and in this terse telling of a script by Aaron Sorkin, from a book by George Crile, Wilson manages to go out and do good; incessant banter ensues, and much of it’s compelling. Sadly, it comes to a whimper of a conclusion instead of a momentous ending that would explain the “end game” the U. S. Government failed at in enabling the Taliban. (The reported scripted ending on 9/11 would have been horrifying, on the nose, and perhaps perfect. DVD extra, Mr. Peschkowsky?) Eighty-two and forty-four one-hundredths percent good, 76-year-old Mike Nichols’ twenty-second feature is a genial, cosmopolitan oddity most memorable for the passages where Philip Seymour Hoffman’s gruff CIA undercover guy Gust Avrakotos gets to ventilate. (Hoffman’s pass at Roberts is priceless in its perfunctory deadpan.) Hanks is swell and the thing moves like the wind. 97m. (Ray Pride)
Heart: A Review of Soul The real world is soulful, too, in Pixar's bountiful life of the mind.
Seeing The Elephant: A Review Of Babylon The boisterous, brawling yet melancholy "Babylon," is a variation on film history, but more drawing for drama. It's gaudy and mean, celebratory and sorrowful.
Uncanny Ally: A Review Of M3GAN "M3GAN" sells itself in its first handful of seconds in how it introduces the handiwork of roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams, "Get Out") and her present product, PurrPetual Petz from Funki.
