Review: ARGO

Every now and then there comes a story so preposterous and incredible that you know it has to be true; no Hollywood screenwriter could have come up with it. Ben Affleck’s new film, in which he stars and directed, is one of those cases. The film opens with an animated intro covering the events that led to the Iranian Revolution; “This is the land of The Persian Empire”, it begins - as if this were going to be a large fantasy epic. But Argo is no fantasy and the film is ten times more gripping because of it. 

Like most average movie goers, I am not particularly fond of modern day political thrillers. They involve a lot of characters sitting around, discussing “stuff” in complex jargon as if they were playing chess. Even the acclaimed Syriana was a bit of a bore. There is some chess playing in Argo but it is mostly for a set characters to pass the time; most of the film is all show business. 

Review: DAZED AND CONFUSED

            

            We haven't done this in a time but it is another of those iTunes rentals reviews. This is a film that came out about fifteen years go and you probably missed. I am recommending it so here is my review:

            By the end of Dazed and Confused one of the kids states the following about his high school experience, “If I ever say these were the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself.” This is one of those rare high school movies that look upon those years not under a romanticized nostalgic lens but as they were in reality: uneasy and agonizing, yet carefree and hopeful. It is a bit of an anthropological study, but mostly just an invitation to come hang out with your high school memories for one day.

 

Review: THE TOWN

Ben Affleck's The Town is just about all you can ask for in a bank robbery crime drama. It's smart, well-written, and it's got its emotion in the right place.

In all the years I've talked about film with people, I've noticed that I tend to linger in a group of people that are severely outnumbered - people that really like Ben Affleck. Affleck often gets badmouthed as being a lousy actor for many different reasons. Sometimes people say he picks terrible movies, sometimes people say he's just reading lines, and sometimes Trey Parker and Matt Stone write songs about how Pearl Harbor sucked, and that Ben Affleck was one of the reasons.

Review: EXTRACT

You know what would be totally sweet?

If Mike Judge made a different movie.

He's a really funny guy with a great take on the world, but it's gotten to the point where I feel like all of his movies are the same. After Idiocracy flopped, I wouldn't be surprised if he went and tried to write something similar to his cult classic, Office Space. In fact, it's so similar that it just irritated me for most of the movie. If it were not for some really good performances, I might have hated it.

Review: STATE OF PLAY

I suppose you need to have a guy like Cal McAffrey for a movie like this to work.

He puts dates, places, people, events and connections together in his mind like it's no more difficult than the box score to a Celtics game. It's a bit ridiculous to have such a computer-brained protagonist, but in a film that is an adaptation from a six-hour BBC political crime thriller, you are just going to have to accept it; Cal McAffrey is the man.

Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) has brought a very well crafted film to the table here. Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) wrote it, along with Billy Ray and Matthew Michael Carnahan, and while it is very clever, suspenseful, and often times funny, it seems to lack the sharpness and originality that was present in Michael Clayton. Don't get me wrong, it's a very solid movie, but I think it wouldn't have hurt to send the script through one more draft, and just get a little more in there. I can't say exactly what it lacked. It was awesome, but I just felt like I wanted a bit more.

As I said Russell Crowe plays Cal McAffrey, a smart and dry reporter for the Washington Tribune. While in the middle of investigation the murder of his good friend Commissioner Stephen Collins' (Ben Affleck) mistress, he stumbles upon clues and leads that send him into an obsessive hunt to expose the conspiracy of a giant corporation in DC. He teams up with a young blogger for the Tribune (Rachel McAdams) to expose the truth. I won't say anymore, because the film is very reliant on the plot, and its many twists. But what political crime thriller isn't?

Again, I can't exactly say why this movie didn't blow me away; it just didn't. We have some very solid performances by all of the actors. Russell Crowe is the best of all. And this is coming from someone who doesn't really like to watch him. His lazy eye always freaked me out. But here his eye is under control, as is his performance. He's a very likable character who really draws you in. Next best is Ben Affleck. Now, really, why does he get so much sh*t? It seems to be the fad to say Affleck is a bad actor. I've always liked him, and I think he's very, very good in this. He has a lot to struggle with as his character, and I think he plays it very well.

Now, on to Rachel McAdams. Anyone who has read my posts should know she is my favorite actress, for more reasons than one (if you catch my drift). And I'm sorry to say, she is not my favorite character here. I feel like her part was very underwritten, and she got excited to play a part in such a fun thriller. She definitely breathes much more life into the role than was written for it, and I honestly feel the character would suck without her. She's very good, I would even go so far as to say great, but she had nothing to work with.

In the end, I really have nothing specifically negative to say about the film, but I also have nothing glowing to say. It's a very good movie, and I recommend you see it, but don't expect to walk out with your world rocked. A 3 might be a bit undeserved, but a 4 suggests I had a lot to think about when I left.

Also, I don't know why it's called State of Play. Maybe that got left in the miniseries.

Teaser for Mike Judge's Next Film Revealed

Here's hoping Extract gets a wider release than Idiocracy...

Upcoming Film: State of Play

Hey all,

Just a quick bit of fun stuff. As far as crime thrillers go, they tend to have something special, in that there are so many good ones.

Here's the trailer for Kevin Macdonald's (The Last King of Scotland, My Enemy's Enemy) State of Play. It's based off of the old BBC Series which I have seen some of, and loved.

It stars Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Robin Wright Penn, and Rachel McAdams*.

Here's the trailer:




*Anyone who has read my posts should know how I feel about Rachel McAdams by this point. If not, get an encyclopedia and look up "example of the most perfect, beautiful, and wonderful piece of stardust that the good lord has ever done us the favor of creating", and you will get a sense of how I feel about her.