At the Cinema - October 2012

Argo – 9
You’ll like this movie if you like
a.  Low key Suspense
b.  A Slow build 

c.  Middle Eastern Intrigue

Ben Affleck stars in and directs this straightforward telling of a top secret rescue during the Iranian Hostage Crisis.  This movie does a slow build to a very effective climax.

During the 444 day crisis, one of the things that sunk the Jimmy Carter Presidency, several American Consulate workers snuck out a back door and hid in the Canadian Ambassador's house until a CIA rescue plan was hatched.  The rescuer, played by Affleck, extracts them as a phony film crew scouting locations.  Gutsy to say the least.  This rescue was kept classified until the Clinton administration.

It’s all very entertaining, but it suffered just a little from the oddest thing for me.  Homeland.  The Showtime hit series shows middle eastern intrigue in such dynamic fashion that I found this movie to be a little distant. Check this out if you haven’t heard about Homeland:  http://www.metacritic.com/tv/homeland/season-2

Nevertheless, this is a well-made movie, and Affleck’s attention to detail and lack of embellishment is commendable.  Affleck’s made three strong movies now, but here’s one more plug for the one I think is his best – Gone Baby Gone.  I bought the Blu Ray and have picked the movie over and I think it is a masterpiece.  Watching how movies like “Vertigo” have gained favor over the decades gives me hope that GBG will get more recognition as the years go by.  If you’re a movie renter – check it out.  It packs a wallop.

Seven Psychopaths – 0
You’ll like this movie if you like
a.  fingers on a blackboard
b.  self-torture
c.  nonsense

In other words, if you like this movie, you are on a completely different planet from me.
This is the first movie I’ve ever rated a zero, and is by far the worst big budget movie I’ve ever seen.  I sat there in total agony trying to make it to the end of the useless carnage.  It is built around bad acting and a script I can’t believe someone saw as having any potential.  I don’t believe in asking for my money back, but I sure missed my chance here.  I felt violated.  I was also astonished at the reviews it got.  As bad as it gets.

Sinister – 6

You’ll like this movie if you like
a.  ghost stories
b.  the guy who was married to Uma Thurman
c.  drunk writers

This is The Shining in suburbia, as writer Ellison Oswald, yes that’s right Oswald, played by Ethan Hawke is investigating a horrible mass murder by doing the only natural thing, moving his family into the house that was the scene of the crime.  He stays there about a movie too long.  He gets plenty of help learning that it’s not just a mass murder, it’s a serial murder.  He seems to be getting this help from ghosts.  If being driven to drink, which most writers seem to be, can be considered help.  So while there’s nothing new here, what I enjoyed about the movie was it didn’t cop out. No snappy explanation at the end, just a solid story of one more thing, besides alcohol, that a writer should refrain from.