W.

Last Saturday H and I saw W at the theater in West Newton.
I expected the movie to evicorate President Bush in a hillarious black comedy. My expectations were way off base.
Instead of making a farce of our parody of a President Stone took the high, and more difficult, road. The movie plays it straight. Brolin plays Bush as an under achiever trying desperately to live up to the family heritage.
Overall, the movie is a solid piece of work. It is not spectacular in any way. No new insights are gained. You will not laugh, or cry, your ass off. You will enjoy a well told story.

The Counterfeiters

The Counterfeiters tells the story of a group of men who survive in a concentration camp by working as counterfeiters for the Nazis. Unsurprisingly, it is not a good date movie. Holocaust movies are rarely uplifting. Even when the protagonists survive, they are broken and their humanity has been stripped away. Even in victory they are defeated.
In The Counterfeiters, the choice of main character adds a twist to the standard narrative. He is a criminal whose humanity is already in question. We know, even before he is interred, that he will do anything to enrich himself. As the story progresses, he seems to gain humanity. In a sense, he becomes the nobel criminal. He uses his talents and questionable morals to help his fellow prisoners. He allows one of his mates maintain his honor and not become dehumanized.
I'd definitely recommend the movie; just not when you are in the mood for something light.

There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day Lewis is an amazing actor. His portray of a megalomaniacal oil man is the best performance I've seen in years. It is up there with Philip Seymore Hoffman's Capote.
The long opening sequence with out dialog sets up the character perfectly.
The foil is well chosen and well played by a young actor.
The ending is brutally perfect.

Just see the movie!!

Charlie Wilson's War

Good movie with solid performances. Not really worthy of multiple nominations however. The performances are what audiences should expect from seasoned veterans - no more no less. Think place kicker hitting an extra point.
The script is disjointed but not fatally. The biggest example I can think of is the scene where Wilson is throwing away all of his booze - there is no explanation about why such a hard drinking womanizer would randomly toss out his booze. The underdeveloped love story between Wilson and the rich lady is also distracting.
The meat of the story - the Afghan War - is done well. I imagine the other stuff was tossed in to maintain some sense of historical accuracy.
It does provide an interesting look at how the Soviets were beaten back and how the Islamic terrorist movement made such a quantum leap. The relationship is not entirely causal - the terrorists may have found another home and eventually developed the skills needed to be a serious global threat without the Afghan War - but the two are tightly bound.
The closing quote is the most profound statement of US policy failure and continued failure - "we fucked up the endgame."