Charlie Wilson's War (Released in 2007) - About the Afghanistan war - Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Released in 2007, Charlie Wilson’s War is a comedy drama movie directed by Mike Nikolas and based on the real life story of Congressman Charlie Wilson. With Tom Hanks playing the part of Charlie Wilson, Julia Roberts playing Joanne Herring and Phillip Seymour Hoffman playing a CIA agent by the name of Gust Avrakotos, the movie is an entertaining watch, with unforced humor depicting the life and ways of notorious womanizer Charlie Wilson.
In 1980, U.S Representative Charlie Wilson, a bachelor and Democrat from Texas, is more interested in parties, women, cocaine and having a good time in general. His office is shown to be staffed by buxom women, all tripping over each other to please him. When he is finally pulled up for Congressional misconduct, it is his long-time friend and some-times lover Joanne Herring, (whom he has a soft spot for) who convinces him to utilize his time and energy into helping the poor war riddled country of Afghanistan.
Joanne Herring, having been a TV talk show host has contacts she utilizes to arrange a meeting between the Pakistani dictator General Zia and Charlie. They arrange for Charlie to go see the refugee camps which are in horrible condition. Charlie returns to the U.S wanting to do something to help the Afghanis fight off Russia. He meets a CIA agent, Gust Avrakotos who has been hunting for a congressman to help him fund their covert cause against Russia. Having found Charlie, Gust is pleased and together they form a good pair.




Charlie discusses the issue of wanting to supply arms to Afghanistan without the other party knowing that U.S had a hand in this operation. Gust knows just the Israeli who will help them supply Soviet made anti-aircraft missiles. However, with only a meager $5 million being supplied to Afghanistan by the U.S as aid, they can’t do anything. Finally having found some purpose, Charlie starts doing what he does best, i.e. hankering about the Congress for funds. He manages to raise a billion a year to support the Afghanis.
Eventually, because of his efforts, the secret funding, the personal diplomacy and a Texas belly dancer flown to Cairo, they manage to pull off a deal to help provide arms to Afghanistan which in turns makes them able to fight off the Soviet. In history this was later known as the Reagan Doctrine, as it was under Reagan’s Presidency. The U.S had started supporting other anti-communist efforts across the globe.
However, once Charlie decides to announce measures to help a post-soviet Afghanistan with the help of Gust, he finds that there is no response from the Congress. And even though he receives a major commendation from the U.S for his support in clandestine services, he is worried that his secret efforts could in the future have terrible consequences. Which is exactly what happened – the freedom fighters became what we now know and dread as the Taliban.
While Tom Hanks may initially not seem to be the apt choice to play the maverick Charlie Wilson, you soon realize that he is completely appropriate for the role. Tom Hanks can pull off Charlie Wilson’s gradual decline of interest in parties and girls, and as someone looking to do something meaningful which he would actually be good at. With 5 Golden Globe nominations, the movie is interesting with brilliant performances by suitably cast actors.

Ant Bully (Released in 2006) - Animation film - Voices by Julia Roberts, Nicolas Cage, Meryl Streep and Paul Giamatti

Released in 2006, the Ant Bully is a computer animated movie produced by Tom Hanks. It is based on a children’s book of the same name. The movie has some big names who have lent their voice for the characters in the movie. These names include Julia Roberts, Nicholas Cage, Meryl Streep and Paul Giamatti.
The movie is about a 10 year old kid named Lukas Nickle (voice of Zach Tyler), who gets beaten up by his neighborhood bullies all the time. To get his frustration out, he then goes about attacking an anthill in his backyard with a squirt gun. There then follows a close up of the colony of ants. Amongst them is the ant wizard, Zoc (voice given by Nicholas Cage), and his girlfriend Hova who is an ant nurse (voice given by Julia Roberts). The ants along with Zoc and Hova try to fight back, but Hova almost gets killed in the process. Finally, a very unhappy Zoc decides it’s time to teach the ant bully-Lucas a lesson.
He creates a potion which will reduce Lucas’s size to that of an ant’s. Meanwhile, Lukas’s parents head out of town, leaving him with his older sister and a crazy grandmother. Left on his own, Lukas gets convinced into doing a pest control job by Stan Beals (voice of Paul Giamatti), who makes Lukas sign a contract for the same.
Once the potion is made, Zoc and the other ants pour the potion into Lukas’s ear while he is asleep. Lukas wakes up to find that he has shrunk down to size and is inside the ant colony facing the Ant Queen (voice of Meryl Streep). Instead of killing him, she sentences him to hard labour. Much to Zoc’s surprise and mortification, Hova volunteers to help train Lukas. Lukas and Hova both learn a lot from each other.




Lukas grows to like the ants and their way of living. He then remembers that the Pest control guy would come to exterminate the ant hill soon. He tries to help the ants by calling the exterminator to cancel the contract. However, when his plan doesn’t work out and Zoc finds out that Lukas had taken Hova to help him, thereby placing her in danger, he accuses Lukas of treachery and tells him that he would never help him with a potion to get him back to human size.
A dejected Lukas goes away from the ant hill only to be eaten by a frog. Zoc realizes that Lukas wasn’t bad after all and that he misses the little kid. He sets out to help free Lukas and together with all the other ants, Lukas and Zoc manage to stop the attempts of Stan Beals, thus saving the Ant hill. Zoc returns Lukas to normal size, that too just in time, because Lukas’s parents have returned from their trip.
Lukas manages to defeat his neighborhood bully and get all the other guys to become his friends. The movie is an enjoyable watch and is clean family entertainment. An important aspect, in which this animation varies from the other animated movies about ants, is the fact that it places strong emphasis on helping one another in order for the entire society to grow. It focuses on doing things for the greater good rather than for one’s own personal motives.
The movie will seem derivative and lacking imagination to an adult audience. But as far as kids are concerned, it sends across an important message of working together towards collective progress and development.

Larry Crowne (Released in 2011) - Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts - Nothing exceptional

Larry Crowne is a romantic comedy movie which is produced and directed by Tom Hanks. The screenplay is written by Hanks and Nia Vardalos of the “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” fame. However, most if not all of Nia Vardalos’ movies have been downhill since then. In spite of Tom Hanks’ direction, the movie has a total lack of excitement. In spite of a colourful star cast, the movie fails to make an impact.
Larry Crowne starts with the protagonist, the movie’s name sake-Tom Hanks, working at a U-Mart store, after having left the Navy. He finds out that instead of being praised for his work, he has been downsized on account of the fact that he does not have a college degree. Subsequently, Larry finds himself struggling with a lot of things. Having lost his job, he now struggles with mortgage payments and a lot of free time on his hands. He sells the SUV he can no longer afford and buys a scooter from his neighbor, played by Cedric the Entertainer.
Realizing he needs to get a college degree, he goes back to his local community college, and takes up 2 courses. One of them is Economics, which he excels in; and the other is Speech, taught by Mercedes Tainot, played by Julia Robert. Mercedes is shown to be struggling with an unhappy marriage to Dean, who was a writer, now turned self-proclaimed blogger, played by Brian Cranston.




The story timidly moves ahead with Larry now adjusting to college life surrounded by people who would be better suited in a Disney movie. Larry undergoes a life transformation with the help of Talia, played by Gugu Mbatha Raw and accepts her invitation to join her Motor Scooter Club - which is a tamer version of the motorbike gang. He even takes up a job at the local diner.
While enjoying a night out with the scooter club, Larry passes Mercedes waiting at a bus stop after her night with Dean goes horribly. He offers her a ride home, which she eventually accepts. On the way they spot Dean being pulled over for drunk driving. A romantic relationship develops between Larry and Mercedes, whose mood starts to improve as the screenplay makes her move away from her monstrous husband Dean.
The screenplay is predictable from here on, with every box being checked. Mercedes divorces Dean - Check! Mercedes and Larry develop a relationship - Check! Larry gets better in speech class and masters both courses - Check! Larry moving on to next semester, and pursuing a relationship with now divorced Mercedes - Check!
Another negative for this movie, is the rapid decline of importance given to a crucial issue, which is the impact of unemployment on the middle age population. After confronting serious issues of economic crises in the beginning, the movie just abandons any seriousness and progresses to more sugary fluffy stuff.
Overall the movie is not bad. It’s just very tepid, completely lacking conflict and drama. The screenplay is happy go lucky all around and very bland. Larry Crowne is a good decent guy who will have a good decent life overall. Watching this 100 minute movie is like watching a cake being baked, which isn’t exciting. You just want it to be over soon.