See This...

This time of year, it seems there is never enough time to see all the movies I want to see. This past weekend I caught two worth seeing at some point...even if you wait for the DVD.


First, Charlie Wilson's War, a true story about a U.S. Senator who covertly helps expel the Soviet government from Afghanistan (sounds like a ton of laughs, right?). It's actually really entertaining and pretty funny, thanks to a smart script from Aaron Sorkin and great performances by Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Tom Hanks. It's nice and short (Mike Nichols' Editing Tips should be a required class for all Hollywood directors) and an interesting history lesson. I don't think it's award worthy (maybe Sorkin's script, but the competition is steep this year), but it's a good time at the movies (and seriously, PSH is hilarious).


Next, I saw The Great Debaters. I was kinda on the fence going into Denzel Washington's film about a highly successful debate team from a small black college in the 1930's (I mean, from the preview it looked like all the other "underdogs make good with a racial twist" movies we've seen over the past few years), but I really enjoyed it. Denzel is, as always, great (seriously, does anyone do what he does as well as he does it?) and the three young actors on the debate team are really terrific and fun to watch. It made me laugh and cry and I enjoyed it more then I expected (maybe it was what Liz and I like to call Mr. and Mrs. Smith Syndrome - when your expectations are low and you inevitably end up pleasantly surprised).

Needless to say, there are a ton of great movies out and I'd recommend catching about 5 others before I'd recommend catching these two, but if you are a movie freak (like I am) and have seen everything else, I could think of worse ways to spend 12 bucks.