GI Bill was passed into law this morning by the President/ Our very dear friends at the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) have lead the fight for the new GI Bill.  Over 20,000 people called representatives in Congress, spread the word to friends and signed the petition at www.GIBill2008.org

We were honored to work with the IAVA throughout our Charlie Wilson’s War social action campaign. They are a remarkable organization and played a tremendous role in today’s victory.

Paul Rieckhoff, the Executive Director of the IAVA, sent this message earlier today:

Generations of veterans to come will benefit from this bill. Your support in this fight has been overwhelming- very few bills in recent history have received such an outpouring of public support. Together, we can be extremely proud of this victory.

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Just before the GI Bill passed in both the Congress and the Senate, Charlie Wilson spoke with Paul Rieckhoff of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and best-selling author and veteran Nate Fick.

We invited the TakePart and IAVA community to submit questions for Charlie and we even got a lovely introductory message from Tom Hanks.

Below is an audio recording of the fabulous conversation. Have a listen and let us know what you think!

takepart and urge the President to pass the GI Bill.

We all remember the Cary Grants, George Clooneys, Al Pacinos, Robert DeNiros and Brad Pitts - and as wonderful as they all are, a great film they do not make - at least not on their own. Likewise, when it comes to making a difference, or working on an action, not everyone can get the glory. And a solid team is always stronger than one person working alone.

In honor of this, I give you - the Top 10 Actors Consistently in Supporting Roles. Often called character actors, the men below all did their part in smaller roles to make many films much more memorable.

Of course there a ton I didn’t mention - contribute to the discussion and leave your vote in the comments section. And if you want to learn how you can be a team player and TakePart, and sign up here at TakePart.com to join actions and meet folks you can work with and support in making the world a better place.

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1. Ned Beatty : His first role, in Deliverance (1972), set the stage for Ned Beatty to become someone that would entertain us quite frequently. With smaller roles in films that include Network, Superman, All the President’s Men, He Got Game and most recently Charlie Wilson’s War, Ned Beatty is one of the best examples of how being a team player can make the team (in this case “the movie”) something truly amazing. Below is a clip from his great performance in Network.

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As you can probably tell just by scanning through the Takepart Blog, the Oscars are super soon. Even though they usually leave out the films I love and are actually just another way for the studios to promote their films, I always have a few favorites among the nominees and this year some of them have to do with making the world a better place (no doubt a good omen for the future of both cinema and activism). Today and tomorrow I’ll share a few of my favorites with you all.

Three performances that I loved and haven’t got their fair share of buzz are in the Best Supporting Actor category. So read and watch below and be sure to to help support a great theatre company in New York City that shares theatre with the community in hopes of giving people a voice.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson’s War : Watching Hoffman is always a treat, but his portrayal of CIA agent Gust Avrakotos, is particularly amazing. Gust is a man caught in the system and is unable to do work that means something, that is until he meets Charlie Wilson, a charming Congressman from Texas. Hoffman’s Gust is rough around the edges and doesn’t have a lot of tact, but he’s smart as a whip and driven to use his skills to help the world. Hoffman truly embodies his character and acts as a very effective foil to the charming Congressman. It’s a performance not to be missed. Watch below:

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On Christmas day my family and I went out to theaters to see Charlie Wilson’s War. The movie follows the story of a Congressman, socialite and CIA agent that create their own covert war against the Russians in Afghanistan. But really, the film deals with how the US uses its money and power to “help” other countries.We arrived at the theater 20 or so minutes early, got our seats and talked/looked at the various ads on the screen. At some point I looked up and saw a music video was playing, but after just a few seconds I realized it wasn’t just a music video.It’s one thing to put up ads for things folks can buy before a movie, but to play a video like the one I saw doesn’t encourage people just to forfeit their money but their lives - and with most ads, the forfeiture is for something not worth the money and certainly not worth the life. Is this what the government should be spending their money on - and who is the video targeted to? I think those answers are obvious.Watch below and let me know what you think about what you see… 

Christmas is a pretty important time for a lot of folks : for Christians it is the day their savior was born, for many, it is one of, if not the only time that they will be able to visit their family, for retailers it’s the time of year that they are expected to pull in the majority of their profits and for the movie studios it marks the last few days they have to get potential award winners into the theaters along with a chance to release more family friendly fare:

Family-friendly films saw a spike the day after Christmas as kids and parents looked for something to do, while Paramount Vantage scored one of the best recent per-location averages with the bow of “There Will Be Blood” in two theaters in New York and Los Angeles.“Blood,” directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day Lewis, grossed an estimated $67,951 in its bow, according to Rentrak, for a per-location average of $33,976. Film is among the last three specialty titles to unspool before the year ends.The domestic box office remains ahead of 2006 by 5%, according to Nielsen EDI. That’s a relief for studios, who saw the box office take a surprise stumble this fall after a record-breaking summer. The holiday sesh thus far has rallied the B.O. back to good health, posting some of the best numbers on record for an extended holiday frame. [Variety]

For this brings up an especially frustrating thing - ever since I moved to New York, each Christmas has meant that the one movie I want to see more than any other and have likely been waiting all year to see, opens on Christmas day or the day after - the catch is that it always opens only in New York and LA, and I spend Christmas in Ohio with my family.

This year that film is Paul Thomas Andersen’s There Will Be Blood. So while all my friends in NYC got to go on opening day to see what promises to be an amazing film, (something happening less and less these days where American film is concerned) I got to go see Charlie Wilson’s War. This isn’t to put Charlie down, it’s a really good film that everyone should see, if only for Philip Seymour Hoffman’s outstanding performance and the last title card at the very end of the movie, that has a quote that is more relevant to our political situation than anything I have seen in some time. (Also Tom Hanks steps up his game here, giving a performance reminiscent of the days when every movie he made turned to gold - everything before the extremely over-rated Saving Private Ryan).But back to the point - I should have had the option to see There Will Be Blood! For a while now I have been wondering why there is no longer a fervor among young folks for the cinema, for good cinema, for political cinema, for the cinema that could and should define us. And more and more I am realizing that the studios formula for box office success, for taking a movie like There Will Be Blood and making it as profitable as possible, is really representative of the state of cinema today.Paul Thomas Andersen (the director of TWBB) is in many ways the closest thing we have to an American auteur and he hasn’t made a film since 2002 - this should be more than enough to get people flocking to the theater. But in today’s blockbuster climate, the studio has to release the film in stages, it has to in a sense fool people into going to the theater.This makes me sad…So as not to feel completely hopeless, I am going to leave you with a link to learn more about The Cleveland Film Society - cinephiles are everywhere, even in Ohio, and maybe we just need a little help finding each other to fight the good fight.Go here for more info on the Cleveland Film Society.And because I am still angry, watch the trailer for There Will Be Blood below and think about heading out to see it when it opens in your town, and also, watch the trailer for Charlie Wilson’s War, a good choice if you don’t live in NY or LA: