"High Road To China" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 1983 Brian Hutton Film Now Reissued Onto BLU RAY In 2012

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"…You Dirty Rotten Rat!" – High Road To China on BLU RAY

Before there was George Clooney - there was Tom Selleck - as personable an actor as you could get. Women loved him and guys admired him.

And I can remember seeing "High Road To China" at the cinema on release in 1983 and the audience warming wholeheartedly to its old-fashioned story of daring-do - a ripping yarn set in the 1920's with a handsome/rugged male lead (Tom Selleck) and a ballsy/brainy moll in distress (the lovely Bess Armstrong). All that and a score from John Barry that made the flying sequences feel lush and huge. I vividly recall Brian Hutton's movie being great 'fun' - a sort of poor man's Raiders/Indiana Jones and re-watching it on BLU RAY only confirms that. And remarkably it hasn't really aged a jot either...

Miss Eve Tozer is a pretty society brat (Bess Armstrong) - the headstrong daughter of Bradley Tozer (Wilford Brimley). She spends money like water and her evenings doing the Charleston in the men's clubs with adoring officers waiting to light her cigarette. But then her faithful manservant Charlie Shane advises her that Mister Bentik (Robert Morley) - the partner in her absent fathers company - will be able to get all the assets (and therefore all the money) if he can legally declare her Dad dead in 12 days. But her father is in Afghanistan and Eve will need a plane to get there...possibly even a reliable hand at the throttle...

Enter war-hero and ace fighter pilot Patrick O'Malley who just so happens to own two biplanes (Lorraine and Dorothy) and is both drunk and broke. O'Malley not only needs the hair of the dog to wake him up - but money to keep him and his trusty mechanic Struts (Jack Weston) in the liquid lunches they've become accustomed to. So after much haggling and brat refusal - Eve hires them for $60,000 - and off the motley crew set for Fort Kipling inside Afghanistan to seek her father.

Along the way - they almost get Eve sold into slavery to a Sheik who keeps telling women to shut-up (a very funny Brian Blessed) - pick up a sultry lady passenger who helps them escape a war on the British (the gorgeous Cassandra Gava as Alessa) while the headstrong duo of Eve and O'Malley continue to have shouting matches on the ground and in the air everywhere they go. Until the gang has to finally fly into Xinjiang in China where they find her Dad setting explosives in a small but worthy battle (he's become a General to lowly Chinese peasants defending their hillside town against a merciless warlord)...

The will-they won't-they fighting between Selleck and the pint-sized Armstrong is done well (title above) - and not only do they have chemistry on screen - there's a very genuine likeability about both of them. Jack Weston, Brian Blessed, Robert Morley and Wilford Brimley (as Eve's father) provide a lot of the laughs in-between the set pieces. And there's convincing battle sequences, aerial photography and battle-of-the-sexes jokes galore. Great fun really...

The BLU RAY picture quality is a very mixed bag - from gorgeous to awful and back again almost all of the time. It's defaulted to Full Aspect so it fills the entire scene (no lines top or bottom) and overall - I'd still have to say that it looks great despite its age. There's a slight haze on many scenes to give it that oldie look - and when it gets to the Robert Morley sequences back in his English Mansion as Bentik - the grain and fuzz swells are many (even if the humour is great). But then you're hit with a shot beside the two planes in a field where it looks absolutely gorgeous. Even in the tents at night when Eve is being sold as a slave to Suleman Khan (Brian Blessed) - the picture is very, very clean. But when they finally do get to China - there's a scene where Eve looks over at a sleeping O'Malley - it's awful one moment - uber clean the next - back to middling. The picture quality flits all over the place. But again (and I must stress this) 'overall' the BLU RAY is a very a worthy upgrade if you love the film. It's just that with a bit of a clean up - a bit of digital TLC - it could have been fabulous.

I found the AUDIO to be most disappointing of all - it's rubbish frankly. Right from the clean opening credits - the soundtrack feels like its been tagged on - or recorded in a very small bucket. There's no real oomph of any kind - which is a shame because John Barry's work here is typically beautiful and panoramic too. English is the lone subtitle and there are no extras - slim pickings I'm afraid.

Is "High Road To China" worth buying on BLU RAY - overall - I'd still say yes. It's unlikely that we'll see the film look any better.

Sure it's a shame they didn't get the Lewis Guns out for a full-on restoration - but it's still a cracker of a movie and worth taking a punt on...

“American Friends” on DVD – A Review Of The 1991 Tristram Powell Film Now Reissued By The BBC In 2012

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"…I Pleaded We Were Americans…But That Only Seemed To Make Matters Worse…" 

– American Friends on DVD

It's 1866 - and crusty old Reverend Francis Ashby (a Fellow Of Oxford University in England) is 46, unmarried and about to depart on his annual holiday to the Swiss Alps to partake of the bracing air and spirit rejuvenating views. His man servant Haskell (a very witty turn by Bryan Pringle) has packed his guide book, boots and other manly things - and breathes a sign of relief because thankfully there'll be no 'dirty women' as he refers to them on this trip. Like Ashby - Haskell is British you see - and the very thought of such things is an anathema to him...

But once there - two American ladies Miss Caroline (40) and Miss Elinor Hartley (20) are out on the mountains - when through her binoculars - young Elinor (Trini Alvarado) sees a naked Ashby (Michael Palin) taking a dip in a mountain stream. Something is lit in her heart. And as time passes both in the UK and in Switzerland - his kindness towards her grows ("How else should one behave?") - and an unlikely but very real love blossoms between them.

A young Irish-born girl sent to the USA when she was 5 and adopted by Aunt Caroline - Elinor has been educated, clothed and raised a lady in the best company. But while she's pretty - Elinor is essentially pure and hugely innocent to the world. And her genuinely caring Aunt worries about the headstrong girl wanting a life and love of her own. And at times Aunt Caroline (a superb Connie Booth as a woman of a certain age in a time of uber restraint) even dares to dream of love too with the decent man of learning and classics - Ashby.

But despite his best dismissive efforts to repel the ladies and a party of British hikers who spot an opportunity to place their son in Oxford by buttering up the Fellow - soon Ashby is engaged in reluctant walks with the two women - then a dance one Summer evening - and even a brief but beautiful kiss with Elinor. He too it seems is taken by love and suddenly his eyes are opened to a life beyond the confines of dead books and dead languages. But old habits die hard - and conflicted - he heads back to the safety of Founder's Port, Latin Essays and the stuffy rules and regulations of Oxford - where the changing of a Soup Tureen requires a committee meeting.

But back home he finds that Rushden - the very elderly President of Oxford is on his last legs ("The Visigoths are at the gates!" he cries out) and a new President will be elected soon. But vying for the position with Ashby is the cunning and morally lecherous Oliver Syme who beds every girl he can in the cottage he owns by the river. Ashby is perceived by all at the famous college to have 'no known moral blemish' and is therefore a front-runner. But then the American ladies come calling to visit Ashby - and needing a place to lodge - Syme lets the cottage by the river to the unsuspecting duo. But as Aunt Caroline and Ashby become closer (walks, dinner and indepth conversation) - young Elinor becomes impatient with Ashby - and in a rash night with Syme involving wet clothes - her virtue is sullied. Ashby now knows he has to make a choice - go for the college prize - or save the girl's reputation...

Based on the journals of his real uncle Edward Palin who resigned as an Oxford Fellow in 1866 and raised 7 children with an American woman he met on holidays in Switzerland - Michael Palin's script is co-written with Director Tristram Powell - and is a slow boiler and an utter delight for it. I've always loved this small but perfect film and owned a Region 4 Australian DVD of it to have a copy I could watch. George Delerue's string score is beautifully complimentary too in so many scenes.

This November 2012 BBC DVD reissue (Barcode 5051561037252) is not without its problems though. It's defaulted to 16 x 9 Anamorphic so it fills the entire screen (no lines to or bottom) and the print from a distance is lovely throughout - it is. But there are times when shimmer and shocking grain and dirt flicks appear (Molina's character giving a lesson to students) - only momentarily though. Overall it's in great shape. It's just that I would have dearly loved to see this gorgeous little movie be given the full restoration makeover - but alas.

Subtitles are English for the Hard of Hearing and there are no Extras.

The core of the 4 actors - Palin, Alvarado, Booth and Molina are all superb in their parts - as are Alun Armstrong and Bryan Pringle (now sadly lost to us). But it's the gentility of the story that stays. "Her eyes catch mine...I adore her..." a young student tells Ashby who can't concentrate on his studies because he longs for an older woman in the choir he attends. 46-year old Ashby looks out his Oxford window at the courtyard below where the two American ladies are being ushered away by a stuffy college stickler for rules - and knows for the first time in a very long time - what his young student feels so deeply.

"American Friends" has always been a minor masterpiece to me - a lovely piece of British cinema.
And decent - like the country itself...

"The Dukes Of September – Live At Lincoln Centre" on BLU RAY – A Review by Mark Barry Of The 2012 Michael McDonald, Donald Fagen and Boz Scaggs In Concert Release

"…Hey Nineteen…" 

The Dukes Of September Live At Lincoln Centre on BLU RAY

Looking perhaps a bit more portly around the old midriff than one would like – our three ageing heroes take centre stage after the band has warmed up the crowd with a funky James Brown instrumental. And were off…

Filmed November 2012 in Hi Def and from multiple angles (UK released March 2014) – “The Dukes Of September” looks glorious - with the Lincoln Centre surely being one of the most beautiful venues in the world (and ideally sized too). You also begin to notice as the camera pans around the stunning band that the paint on the bass guitar is knackered, the sax is a bit rusted around the gills and the keyboards ‘White Lightning’ McDonald uses has been teleported from 1976 to 2012. In other words – these are real instruments played by real musicians - and it feels like your very own “Aja” band 'live' – a complaint I’ll gladly put up with any day of the week.

First up is a truly classy cover of The Isley Brothers “Who’s That Lady” with Boz Scaggs taking lead vocals and long-time Steely Dan guitarist Jon Herington putting in blistering axework. In fact he becomes one of the heroes of the night – playing all those Jay Graydon, Larry Carlton and Elliott Randall solos we’ve known and loved all these years – not just note for note – but with an added fluidity – like he in fact played them in the first place.

The first real clunker for me is an ill-advised cover of Sam and Dave’s “Sweet Soul Music” (more cod Blues Brothers than a tribute to a classic) and a slightly underwhelming “I Keep Forgettin” also follows. But things explode when Donald Fagen goes into the funky keyboard opening of “Kid Charlemange” from 1976’s “The Royal Scam” - and you can literally hear the entire audience thinking two words – STEELY DAN! The place erupts – because they’ve waited a lifetime to hear this – the real deal – live and in your living room.

It’s followed by a fabulous bluesy cover of “The Same Thing” - a Muddy Waters Chess nugget from 1964 written by the mighty Willie Dixon. It’s followed by another genius choice – Chuck Berry’s infectious “You Never Can Tell” with McDonald playing an Accordion out front to superb effect (uses it instead of a piano for the solo giving the song a slight Cajun feel).

But after crowd-pleasing versions of “What A Fool Believes”, “Hey Nineteen” and a suave take on Teddy Pendergrass’ “Love TKO” – they hit the audience with a lethal triple whammy that slays them in the aisles. We get “Peg” (Fagen on Vocals), “Lowdown” (Scaggs on Vocals) and “Takin’ It To The Streets” (McDonald On Vocals) in a row. To hear Michael McDonald harmonize with Donald Fagen on “Peg” as he did on the 1977 “Aja” original is magical – then Boz gets fabulous and funky with “Lowdown” (people up dancing at this stage) – then a Soulful keyboard solo before McDonald goes into that “Takin’ It To The Streets” opening - and I’m bawling my eyes out like a big girl’s blouse. And as if that isn’t bad enough – Jon Herington then launches into the blistering guitar of Steely Dan’s “Reelin’ In The Years” – and resistance is quite literally futile.

There’s also a couple of tasty surprises thrown in: Fagen in the encore doing a fabulously slinky version of “Pretzel Logic” with Boz Scaggs taking the second verse - while midway through the set Scaggs does his own “Miss Sun” – a gorgeous yet forgotten gem from 1980. Boz cleverly duets the lovely melody with Monet Owens (one of the sassy backing vocalists) – she scatting vocals off his guitar licks towards the end. It’s brilliant and more than a pleasant addition. And the band are just brilliant – all of them.

I’m 56 this year and would have given a small gonad to have seen and felt this dream band for real. The music still feels fresh to me – like it was yesterday. But in lieu - this fab BLU RAY will have to do.

And as the camera pans across the senior citizen crowd – like me - you can see that its way past their bedtime. But man – what dreams to savour…

“I have never met Napoleon…but I plan to find the time…yes I do…”

I know what you mean mate.

Set List:

1.         People Get Up And Dance Your Funky Stuff – James Brown cover

2.         Who’s That Lady – Isley Brothers cover

3.         Sweet Soul Music – Sam And Dave cover

4.         I Keep Forgettin’ – Michael McDonald song

5.         Kid Charlemagne – Steely Dan song

6.         The Same Thing – Muddy Waters cover (Willie Dixon song)

7.         Miss Sun – Boz Scaggs song (sings duet with Monet Owens)

8.         You Never Can Tell – Chuck Berry cover

9.         What A Fool Believes – Doobie Brothers song

10.       Hey Nineteen – Steely Dan song

11.       Love TKO – Teddy Pendergrass cover

12.       Peg – Steely Dan song

13.       Lowdown – Boz Scaggs song

14.       Takin’ It To The Streets – Doobie Brothers song

15.       Reelin’ In The Years – Steely Dan song

16.       Lido Shuffle – Boz Scaggs song

17.       Pretzel Logic – Steely Dan song

18.       Them Changes – Buddy Miles cover

19.       People Get Up And Dance Your Funky Stuff/Credits – The Band

THE GROUP

Michael McDonald – Electric Keyboards, Accordion and Vocals

Donald Fagen – Steinway Piano, Vocals

Boz Scaggs – Guitar and Vocals

Jon Herington – Lead Guitar

Michael Leonheart – Trumpet

Walt Weiskopt – Tenor Sax and Flute

Jay Collins – Baritone Sax and Flute

Freddie Washington – Bass

Shannon Forest – Drums

Carolyn Leonheart and Monet Lewis – Backing Vocals

AUDIO SET UP:

Dolby Digital Stereo

Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround

Dolby DTS Master Audio

"Chocolat" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2000 Lasse Hallstrom Film

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"…Live A Little!" – Chocolat on BLU RAY

Every one of the dry-as-a-leaf townsfolk in Mayor Comte De Reynaud's sleepy French hamlet "...knows their place in the scheme of things..." And if they forget their Christian values preached to them weekly in the stone cold church - the good Mayor is there to give the new young priest of 5 weeks (Hugh O'Connor) a helping hand with his sermons - and thereby get 'their' obedient flock back on the moral straight and narrow. Reynaud also waits patently and penitently for his wife to return from one of her interminable 'trips' - watched over his devoted secretary Caroline (the beautiful Carrie Anne Moss). But perhaps the hard-working and essentially decent Mayor (a fabulous turn by England's Alfred Molina) should just chill out and "measure goodness by what we embrace" - or maybe even recognize the lovely Caroline's devotion as genuine and worthy. But the Comte is too busy being pious and upright for the entire town - to engage in something that life-enhancing and delicious...

Besides that's the least of his carnal worries - because a sly wind is blowing in from the North - bringing with it a voluptuous woman of independent-mind (Juliette Binoche) who is going to open a decadent nay sinful chocolate parlour in Lent - a time of abstinence, reflection and tranquillity. And when this shop "Choclataire Maya" opens - Mayor Reynaud knows deep down in his starched flannel trousers that it will seduce the town - especially the women. And the next thing you know - they'll be shagging their husbands senseless again - leaving the drunken abusive ones behind (Peter Stormare as Serge) - cavorting with travelling river people who play guitars and talk in odd Irish accents (Johnny Depp as Roux) and generally enjoying all manner of lurid sensory pleasure. "It's important to now one's enemy..." the Mayor muses ominously.

Adapted from Joanne Harris' beloved novel by Robert Nelson Jacobs - Lasse Hallstrom's feature film (he also did "The Cider House Rules" - see separate review) garnished five Academy Award nominations - including one for Best Movie. And it's easy to see why. It has a magical and very visual story with fantastically strong parts for women. And it has chocolate - lots and lots of sweets, biscuits, cake and chocolate. You can get fat just looking at this film.

The cast is varied and uniformly superb: French acting and dancing legend Leslie Caron is an elderly town lady admired and longed for by Monsieur Bierot (a lovely show by England's John Wood). There's Judy Dench in full-on spiky mode as the ballsy old biddy Armande (nominated for Supporting Actress - her dialogue titles this review) who rents out the former patisserie to Mademoiselle Vianne (Juliet Binoche in luminous form). Vianne's dreamy daughter Anouk (a delightful Victoire Thivisol) plays with an imaginary kangaroo - but is tired of wandering from town to town with her rootless mother - prone to leaving in an instant when the wind tells her to go.

But as mum's culinary skills with South American cocoa and the dark evil liquid begins to affect the town folk in positive ways - especially a broken lady called Josephine (Lena Olin - who is Lasse Hallstrom's wife in real life) - the wandering Vianne senses that perhaps this hamlet is where her roots should be planted. In fact perhaps the town and its earnest but lost Mayor need her. And there's also the added enticement of that handsome rogue the Deppster to deal with - all gypsy and sexy shirts and dishevelled hair and guitars and good with fixing doors and making her daughter happy. Easy to resist that...eh...

Defaulted to Aspect ratio 1.78:1 - the BLU RAY picture fills the entire screen (no bars bottom or top) - but is a strange mixture of the ordinary and exceptional. I suspect in order to give the movie that slightly dreamy feel - there is a soft focus on a lot of it - and subtle grain is ever present. But there are also moments that are truly beautiful when you least expect it - down by the river at night, the feast to celebrate a 70th birthday in the garden, Alfred Molina trying to turn Serge into a gentleman in his home. It doesn't ever look bad - it's just not as stunning as you'd expect such a sensuous film to be.

Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio Surround 5.1 and Subtitles are in English and English For The Hearing Impaired (a poor showing fro such an International film frankly). The Extras feature all the principal actors as well as legendary Hollywood Producer David Brown (Jaws, The Verdict, A Few Good Men).

"Chocolat" is a classy piece of filmmaking - a sensory uplifting watch with passion truffles, cups of chilli-flavoured hot chocolate and Nipples of Venus.

Give it a nibble you sinners...

“Everything Must Change / Miss Randy Crawford” by RANDY CRAWFORD – A Review Of Her 1976 and 1977 Warner Brothers Albums - Now Reissued And Remastered Onto 2CDs By Edsel Of The UK In 2013…

This review is part of my "SOUNDS GOOD: Exceptional CD Remasters Soul, Funk & Jazz Fusion" Download Book available to buy on Amazon to either your PC or Mac (it will download the Kindle software to read the book for free to your toolbar). Click on the link below to go my Author's Page for this and other related publications:

                       http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00LQKMC6I

"…Sun Lights Up The Sky…" – Everything Must Change and Miss Randy Crawford by RANDY CRAWFORD

When I worked for Reckless Records in Berwick Street in Central London – Randy Crawford albums were pretty much a no-no – they had little value – and few wanted them. But in the last decade or so - as Soul Boys of all colours have started to look back to those heady days of the Seventies and early Eighties – albums by artists like Patrice Rushen and Candi Staton are getting revaluated all the time. Fans are veering away from the obvious hits and seeking out those tunes hidden in the grooves (both funk and ballad) - and Randy Crawford’s Warner Brothers output is the same.

For years her albums have languished unloved by digital reissue companies – well comes Edsel of the UK doing the job with real class and style. This is the first of four 2CD sets covering her entire output with the monster label (Volume 1 has her 1976 debut and its 1977 follow up).

Released October 2013 - here are the Smooth Soul details for Edsel EDSK 7041 (Barcode: 740155704131)…

Disc 1 (38:19 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 10 are her debut album “Everything Must Change” – released 1976 on Warner Brothers BS 2975 in the USA. It wasn’t released until November 1980 in the UK on Warner Brothers K 56328.

Disc 2 (31:37 minutes):
Tracks 1 to 10 are her 2nd album “Miss Randy Crawford” – released 1977 on Warner Brothers BS 3083 in the USA  - unreleased in the UK until February 1981 on Warner Brothers K 56882.

The outer card wrap gives the whole reissue a quality feel – as does the 20-page booklet which pictures the albums, publicity photos, track by track recording info and exceptionally detailed liner notes by Soul Expert and long-time Edsel Associate TONY ROUNCE.

The remasters by PHIL KINRADE at Alchemy are exceptionally good – but then the original production values of Stewart Levine (Everything) and Bob Montgomery (Miss) were top notch. Both records also used high-class session players like Joe Sample, Larry Carlton, Dean Parks, Jay Graydon, Eric Gale, Ralph McDonald, Don Grusin and Rick Marotta. There’s even a Flugelhorn guest spot for Hugh Masekela on "Only Your Love Lasts".

Her debut opens with a destroyer – one of two ‘live’ tracks done in front of a wildly appreciative Jazz audience and featuring The World Jazz All Star Band. First up is the gorgeous Bernard Ighner ballad “Everything Must Change” which is practically royalty when it comes to cover versions you must do for Soul singers. It’s the kind of hurting haunting melody that virtually screams the word Soul. It first turned up on a Quincy Jones album in 1974 – so Crawford was fast off the mark. The production values are fabulous - warm and tender – and it opens the whole proceedings on a real high (Lyrics from it title this review).

The other live cut is actually the album finisher - a lovely take on Nat Adderley’s “Gonna Give Lovin’ A Try”. In between are a plethora of covers – some like the funked up “Don’t Let Me Down” by The Beatles sort of work - but her take on Paul Simon’s “Something So Right” looses the delicacy that made the CBS original so special. Best of all however is the mid-tempo ballad “I Had To See You One More Time” with lyrics like "Start all your sweet talk...you do so well…" - nice.

The second album is infused with the writing talent of Paul Kelly on “I’m Under The Influence Of You” and “Take It Away From Her (Put It On Me)”. It also features its fair share of covers – Fleetwood Mac’s “Over My Head”, The Eagles’ “Desperado” and best of all – Randy’s gorgeous version of the Harry Warren/Mack Gordon standard “At Last” – spiritually owned by Etta James.

Things went stellar fro Crawford with “Now We May Begin” because The Crusaders came on board after she guested on the huge “Street Life” track in 1979. Then it was onwards to “Secret Combination” - but here is where her success story really started.

I was more than pleasantly surprised at the sheer Soulfulness of these now forgotten albums – which highlight her vocals so well.

A sweet lady – take a punt on this classy reissue…

"Charlie Wilson's War" on BLU RAY – A Review Of The 2007 Mike Nichols Film

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"…Three Years Learning Finnish!" – Charlie Wilson's War on BLU RAY

It's 6 April 1980 and Charles Nesbitt Wilson is pruning in the bubbling water of a Las Vegas Hotel Jacuzzi with some naked strippers, cocaine and glasses of champagne (standard procedure for an American Congressmen at the time). But something else other than wet areolas catches Charlie's eagle eye. Up on the mounted television set behind the bar is an unshaven Dan Rather of CBS Evening News reporting from the deserts of Afghanistan. A local woman who speaks English tells a turbaned Dan that "America is asleep..." and that if the Russians invade her country - the Gulf is next - and after that - the USA itself. Charlie (Tom Hanks) politely declines an offer to make a tasteful TV Movie with Playboy of the Month and her naked agent for $29,000 and bids them all farewell...

Back at his office in Texas (which oddly enough is peopled with three large-chested women sporting buttons in their blouses that can't seem to be closed) - Charlie makes enquiries with his assistant Bonnie (Amy McAdams) into the covert ops budget for the dirt-country in the Middle East with no real political friends (America included). He doesn't like what he hears and as a Congressman for the House of Representatives - he determines to change all that nonsense by doubling its budget from five million dollars to ten. And so it begins...

Along the way Charlie meets with the 6th wealthiest woman in Texas - the wildly patriotic and determined sexpot Joanne Herring (a stunning Julia Roberts eating up a proper role) and a Greek CIA operative Gust Avrakotos (another genius portrayal from the greatly missed Philip Seymour Hoffman) who has anger issues with his bosses and hasn't been killed across 4 continents in 24 years by people who know how to (dialogue above). So far so funny...

But then it all changes when Charlie visits Afghanistan itself - and sees up close and personal what the Russian war machine is doing to defenceless Muslims. Men are being stacked in human piles and then run over by tanks as their wives are made to watch - children are dismembered with toy mines - and starving people rush grain trucks ripping open sacks in desperation. And as he walks up a hill and looks back at a Biblical scene of refugee tents with huge expanses of humanity being hammered by bullyboys - Charlie sheds a tear. And then a steely look enters his angry gaze...

What makes "Charlie Wilson's War" so good is a trio of things - the alarming and often ridiculous nature of this true modern-war story - a wickedly funny and yet touching Aaron Sorkin script - and a huge posse of Grade-A actors capable of making you chuckle one moment then shed a tear the next. The three principal leads are exceptional - especially Hanks and Hoffman - but there's also quality support from Emily Blunt, Om Puri, John Slattery, Ned Beatty, Ken Stott and Peter Gerety in small but significant roles.

The characters they portray may at times seem utterly ridiculous, meddlesome and even arrogant - but their convictions and above all their love of democracy and freedom knows no bounds. And anything that threatens that (i.e.: murderous Russians slaughtering easy pickings like peasants with pitchforks and old rifles) - is going to get short shift - and high-tech weaponry if that doesn't work.

The problem with all this 'movie entertainment' is that it clouds an obvious and stinging question - why did the CIA arm the Afghans? To give them their country back  - or out of pure self-interest - they get to defeat the Soviets using another country and another people to do it? The film doesn't shirk this thorn to its credit - offering up the plausible response that it was probably a bit of both. And it also points out that in the mid Nineties the American Government lost interest once the war was won and shamefully left with the goal achieved but the 'people' stranded - not investing - not rebuilding - and thereby giving rise to massive Islamic hated towards the West - which of course has had global consequences ever since.

The BLU RAY picture quality is gorgeous throughout - a major production - and filmed in Full Aspect (1.85:1)  - you get that punch of quality across the whole screen and in every shot. Audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Spanish Surround 5.1. Subtitles are in English SDH, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Brazilian Portuguese, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Greek, Korean, Latin American Spanish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Thai, Turkish and Traditional Mandarin.

Directed by Mike Nichols and adapted from George Crile's book by Aaron Sorkin - "Charlie Wilson's War" seems slight at first - but then bites into your heart - and leaves you mightily impressed.

Did Texas Mascara and a Congressman with etched leather boots (elected to the Ethics Committee when he was clearly a dubious choice for the job) actually bring the Soviet Empire to its knees and defeat Communism? Check out this superb movie and find out...