Ben Affleck's new movie based on a true story

Today I review the new thriller from director/star Ben Affleck, based on the remarkable true story:
Argo.

Argo:
In 1979, the American government assisted the dictating Shah of Iran by putting him in protective custody. Violent protestors broke into the American Embassy and kidnapped some staff. Six employees escaped and were taken into custody at the Canadian ambassador's home. They avoided capture for months, and were near capture in January 1980. CIA agent Tony Mendez convinced his superiors, such as Jack O'Donnell, to go along with a mission to rescue the hostages. The plan: fly in as a "Canadian movie crew" to rescue the hostages at the ambassador's house, and then fly back to the States altogether as a crew.  The script they chose: "Argo", a Star Wars-rip off, and a possible metaphor for the state of Iran. They made the film have a Middle-Eastern vibe to convince citizens that they needed Iran to film, and the mission was successful. The filmm is loosely based on this event, but is entertaining as hell. Ben Affleck turns in a fantastic perofrmance as Mendez, a man who is currently having troubles with his wife, and is inspired by his son (a huge sci-fi buff) to concieve the Argo operation. He becomes emotionally distruaght and tense, and Affleck captures the tension of possibly being tortured and killed terrifically. Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Larry Crowne, Batman: Year One) turns in a great performance as O'Donnell, Mendez's stern but sympathetic boss, who is as invested in the Argo operation as Mendez, even though he's restricted to the CIA offices. Alan Arkin turns in a great comedic performance as Lester Siegel, a producer who says "If I'm gonna make a fake movie, it's gonna be a fake hit." Surprisingly, the trailers focused more on his character and the "fake movie" thing than the film does. Siegel also coins the catchphrase "ArGo fuck yourself!" John Goodman plays Mendez and Siegel's friend, Oscar-winning makeup artist John Chambers, who assists Mendez in to making the Argo illusion as real as possible. Clea DuVall, Kyle Chandler, Victor Garber, Tate Donovan, and Christopher Stanley all give great perofrmances as some of the "houseguests" of the Canadian ambassador. Also worhty of note, Tom Lenk (The Cabin in the Woods, Buffy) plays Rodd, and Michael Parks makes a cameo as comic artist Jack Kirby. The film was also produced by actor-turned-director George Clooney and Grant Heslov, who had worked together on Clooney's award-winning 2005 biopic Good Night and Good Luck. Affleck really shows his further upgrade as an actor, and a director. his previous two films: the crime capers Gone Baby Gone (starring Affleck's brother Casey.) and The Town, were excellent films, and Affleck has branched out from Boston-based crime movies into historically-based period pieces about political conflicts. Affleck is still able to create an amazing tension, even though you know that the hostages escape, you're always on the edge of your seat. The writing is brilliant, remaining dramatic, but still pretty accurate. The opening scene is a compilation of sci-fi-like sotryboards, and stock footage. The end credits feature a comparison of movie scenes and actual photos, remaining incredibly accurate to the source. Argo is an amazingly entertaining, exhilirating, and gripping drama/thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the credits roll. 5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: The Butterfly Effect

Released in 2004, this blockbuster was a financial success, but a critical failure. I can't image why...

The Butterfly Effect:
Evan, a young college student, is constantly haunted by his horrible past, mainly due to blackouts. He learns from reading his childhood journals, that this is a family curse, where he can focus in on a moment in time, and travel back to fix the past. But due to the "butterfly effect", a hypothesis in chaos theory, the more he changes, the worse his present state becomes. he also discovers those childhood blackouts were in fact caused by his time travel. He begins to try to fix the past to prevent tragedies in his girlfriend Kayleigh's past, causing the destruction of his own... I'm not Ashton Kutcher's biggest fan, but he did a really good job in this film. His character has realistic reactions to what's happening, even though sometimes I felt he was a bit selfish, messing up everyone else's lives because one fucking person had a tragic life. Amy Smart plays Kayleigh, who most play several different characters: a scarred young woman, a sweet prep, a sympathetic best friend, a drug-addled hooker, and a broken woman. Elden Henson plays Lenny, the troubled young man who was scarred by the same events that haunt Evan's past. William Lee Scott plays Tommy, Kayleigh's disturbed, sadistic brother, who was fucked up as a kid, and it carries to his adulthood, he must also play several characters: the criminal, the sadist, and the reformed Christian in one of the alternate realities. Eric Stoltz makes a cameo as Kayleigh's fucked-up, pedo-father. Kevin Durand plays Carlos, Evan's Latino cell-mate in one of the realities, who helps Evan use his journals to travel back. The music is made up of rock music and alternative, which i like. There are few special effects, but after finally seeing this film, I see where the inspiration for the 2011 Mortal Kombat game. The direction and writing is clever, and the editing pretty slick and cool. This is a cool, smart, and slick sci-fi thriller that with entertain. 3/5 stars.



 

New review on mattsmonstermovies tomorrow

I'm doing a zombie review tomorrow on my other blog: mattsmonstermovies.blogspot.com

Halloween reviews: Night of the Living Dead

Today I look at George Romero's classic zombie film that redefined the zombie image in the public eye, and made a strong political statement...

Night of the Living Dead:
The plot follows a woman named Barbara, who visits her father's grave with her brother. When her brother teases her about some creepy corpses haunting them, her brother is killed by a slow-walking and stumbling, mindless man. Barbara narrowly escapes, and takes refuge at a farm house with a white family and Ben, an African-American man whot akes charge of the house. But, when the living dead, or "zombies", start to overrun the place, the survivors begin to expect the apocalypse is coming, and begin to lose hope, as thedead just keep on coming, and with limited resources, will the people survive the night? This film was constorversial due to it's graphic content and raw violence, and this (and Bonnie and Clyde) were responsible for the official introduction of the R-rating, as children ran from the theater screaming, expecting another cheap B-picture, getting a raw and disturbing zombie film. This was shown in a double feature with a Dr. Who film called Doctor Who and the Daleks, and I think most people didn't make it to the sci-fi film. Duane Jones plays Ben, a strong black character who represented the black rights movement, as he slaps around a white woman, and takes over the farmer's house, saying "I'm in charge!"  Judith O'Dea plays Barbara, the typical horror movie woman: can't take care of herself, always needing rescue, etc. She represents the uptight, dependent society, and represents it's crash during the apocalypse. The atmosphere is great, and the lighting amazing in the black and white format. The violence is pretty tame now, but in the 1960's, this was hardcore stuff. Night of the Living Dead is an influential and well-acted horror film, and still holds up today, even if the political statement is a bit 60's. 5/5 stars.

   

Martin McDonagh's new film

Today I review the new film by Martin McDonagh, of In Bruges fame, the new crime-comedy Seven Psychopaths.

Seven Psychopaths:
If you like weird and dark comedy, funny characters, and cool action and violence, you'll love this slick new thriller from Martin McDonagh. When screenwriter Marty, his best friend Billy, and Billy's friend Hans steal a Shih Tzu, they have no idea who they're dealing with. They find out they have stolen from mob boss Charlie Costello, a psycho with an insane love of his dog. The friends go on an action-packed, comic adventure to evade this crazy gangster. Now, that's as far as I can go because I'll run amuck of spoiling the plot, and that's something I don't want to do. The "seven psychos" of the poster and trailer are actually not the psychos in the film. Well, some of them are, but I can't go too much into that without, well, spoiling the film. All I can say wihtout spoiling too much is that Abby Cornish and Olga Kurylenko are not part of the psychos, and do not have nearly as large a role as they appear to have in the trailer. What I can say is the cast and writing are excellent. It's like if a Quentin Tarantino film mixed with a dark comedy from Troy Duffy, and then fused together with a slick film from Guy Ritchie. The film mixes many genres: crime, thriller, dark comedy, and action. The film has many twists that will leave audience members as pleasantly surprised as I was. The trailer doesn't show nearly as many funny lines as the film has. This is a film that will most likely show up on my best films of the year list, because Colin Farrell (in his best movie in years), Sam Rockwell,  Christopher Walken, and Woody Harrelson all give spectacular, weird, and funny perofrmances that play to each actor's strengths, but somehow all feel very similar, and this and the weird and goofy plot and writing, give the film a very surreal and strange flavor that really reminds you of work by Edgar Wright, and really astonishes. With great writing and directing, a brilliant cast, and a plot that feels both strange but not all that insane, I can safely say that Seven Psychopaths will please a lot of people, and may be Oscar-worthy. 4.5/5 stars.

Halloween reviews: Paranormal Activity 4

Last night, I saw Paranormal Activity 4, the fourth in the line of successful "found-footage" films. To be brief, I liked the first film, enjoyed the second one, and was enterained by the third (my favorite one). But this one, meh.... (Also, check out my other blog: mattsmonstermovies.blogspot.com, and check out spill.com, Jeremy Jahns, MrRepzion, and Film Brain's reviews of this movie.)

Paranormal Activity 4:
Teenager Alex and her boyfriend Ben begin noticing strange things about Alex's new neighbors. One night, Robbie, the neighbor's kid, is left alone after his mom (Katie from the other films) is taken to the hospital. Robbie has no other known relatives and must stay with Alex's family for a few days. Strange things begin happening around Robbie, but even after he's gone, the "activity" sticks aorund, and has a focus on Alex's adopted brother Wyatt. The problem with this film is that it treads on old ground. They dig up dirt on a witch cult, which would be interesting, except it was done better in the last movie. And sometimes the characters (as usual) use cameras when no one would use a camera. They only use webcams, which means they carry their laptops everywhere. That's even more implausable. Also, it takes everything good about the brilliant and disturbing horror film Sinister (see my blog mattsmonstermovies.blogspot.com for that review) and flips it on it's head. Instead of having a good main character which the director focuses on, they focus on how much dumb shit they can cram in. Instead of haunting and creepy music, they have no music whatsoever. Instead of a mature, older character that the audience can still relate to, which makes the film more adult; they have two dumb teens that aren't interesting whatsoever, slasher characters at best. Instead of a mysterious and terrifying villain that is used effectively and briefly, they show the demon as much as they can, no matter how gimmicky they do it. Instead of a disturbing ending that rules out a sequel, they leave it open-ended in case they do make a sequel. Just don't see this movie, don't give these hacks any more money, and don't ensure a fifth film. This is a disgrace to Paranormal Activity and the found footage genre in general. Blair Witch 2 was better than this shit! I can't believe Oren Peli produced this film, after directing the original Activity, going through all these motions to make it, including shooting the thing in his own home, has now had his vision shit on. I can't believe this film shares producers with Insidious and Sinister. Damn, Paranormal Activity 4 isn't worth the time, money, or effort. 1/5 stars.

(And the poster's pretty cheap, too.)

Coming up: more retorspectives, more reviews, more horror, going into mid-November.

More horror, monsters, sci-fi, and retrospectives, into mid-November, where I'll transfer to Christmas movies. Good holiday season.