New DVDs: 'Charlie Wilson's War,' 'Savages'

It's Philip Seymour Hoffman week in the DVD world, as two highly watchable movies featuring the disheveled actor make their debuts.

The loopy war-and-politics movie "Charlie Wilson's War" is out from Universal Studios Home Entertainment, while the slow-speed emotional roller coaster "The Savages" checks in from Fox Home Entertainment. Critics praised both films, especially "The Savages," directed by Tamara Jenkins.

Hoffman, an Oscar winner for "Capote," plays his typical whip-smart but slovenly characters in both films. He was nominated for a supporting Oscar for "Charlie." In Hoffman's breakout year of 2007, he also starred in "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead," for Sidney Lumet. ("Devil" came out last week.)

Hoffman is "so brilliant at playing complicated people," says "Charlie" director Mike Nichols. Amy Adams, Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts all line up to echo his praises.

In "Charlie Wilson's War" the actor plays a what-the-fuck CIA agent who teams up with a playboy Texas congressman (Tom Hanks) to jump-start the mujahideen war effort against the Soviets. The strings are pulled by Lone Star state socialite Joanne Herring (Julia Roberts) who uses her riches and sex appeal in order to further her right-wing agenda -- in this case running the Ruskies out of Afghanistan.

Sounds like a Hollywood fabrication, but most of the story is true. The single-disc DVD's extras show how the real-life Charlie Wilson and Joanne Herring participated in the production, and we hear from them in the extras. Wilson is really tall and Herring still looks kinda hot at 70-something.

Of all of the boozing, womanizing and slip-sliding portrayed in the movie, the real Wilson says, "I plead guilty. ... I've cleaned up my act but I don't regret anything. It was a great 10 years (that ended with the Soviets retreating in 1989). Herring says she and Wilson shared a "teenage crush" but "the only thing we had in common was war."

"Charlie" plays as a smart popcorn movie, perfect for the Christmas season in which it was released. Still, the film won't be confused with any of the great cold war movies. "Charlie" moves along quickly, almost cartoon-like at times.

Nothing subtle here -- except, perhaps, the film's underplayed indictment of U.S. policymakers who dumped Afghanistan after the battle was won. We leave Hanks/Wilson cloaked in the American flag, all of the usual unearned emotions churned up by the moist-eyed cheering. A text quote from Wilson about the abandonment ends the film, a tag that probably has a story behind it.

Hanks, who had never heard of Wilson, was excited about telling this oddball story: "We have something that has never been discussed before," he recalls thinking as the project began. Unless you count "60 Minutes" and the source book by a veteran CBS News reporter.

Aaron Sorkin (of "West Wing" fame) says this was "the only writing assignment I've ever gone after." The film is crisply written. But the lines in "Charlie" sometimes feel a bit too perfect, too witty, too smart throughout -- just like "West Wing."

The "Charlie" extras are basic but OK -- there's a making-of with all of the talent and creatives, as well as a hurried profile, "Who is Charlie Wilson?" The extras repeat some content. Unfortunately, there's no commentary from Nichols.

* * *

In "The Savages," Hoffman shares the stage with another greatly respected but somewhat under-the-radar actor, Laura Linney. They're brother and sister, reunited in a rush as they discover their father needs immediate placement in a nursing home, where he's sure to die.

Director Tamara Jenkins based the film on her own family experiences -- "personal reporting," she calls it.

"There's not been a movie about (caring for a dying relative) without schmaltz and sentimentality," she says. Hoffman adds: "The feelings are crazy."

Of Hoffman, the writer-director says: "He's just an astounding artist.

"He has this kind of peripheral vision about the big picture (of a film's dynamics). It's like a third eye." Jenkins suspects this ability comes in part from Hoffman's side gig as a theatrical director.

Hoffman portrays Jon Savage, a middle-aged professor lost in the process of writing a book about fellow downbeat guy Bertolt Brecht. The prof doesn't suffer fools gladly, sometimes among them his sister (Linney).

It's an actor's movie, in the best sense. As you'd expect, the dream combo of Hoffman and Linney delivers the goods. Nothing stuffy or overwrought, just portrayals of real people trying to cope and look out for each other.

The Fox DVD's extras include expanded versions of two fun but curious musical numbers that don't have much to do with the movie. Jenkins and her cast do the usual round robin of praisery.

Also circling the DVD blog's players this week are Criterion's "Death of a Cyclist," from Spain; the Korean suspense/horror/murder mystery "Black House"; and the Spanish horror movie "The Orphanage."

Pick of the week: The Savages
Dog of the week: Cloverfield

New and notable:

Black House (Genius Products)
Charlie Wilson's War (Universal)
Death of a Cyclist (The Criterion Collection)
Flashpoint (Dragon Dynasty)
Friday Night Lights: The Second Season (Universal)
Hannah Takes the Stairs (Genius Products)
Merrill's Marauders (Warner)
The Orphanage (New Line)
Romulus, My Father (Magnolia Home Entertainment)
The Savages (Fox)
Shirley Temple Collection, Vol. 6 (Fox)

Complete list of this week's releases on my pal Harley's site, onvideo.org