I saw “Argo” over the weekend, on Saturday night.
It was really, really, really, really good. That’s a rating of four “Reallys”. That ain’t chicken feed.
Why was it so good?
Time Machine: The movie gives you a good sense of what life was like in the US the last time one of our Presidents left our diplomats out to dry in an “unexpectedly” hostile country – the hopelessness, the impotence, the craven politicization of the White House’s response (Carter’s chief of staff Hamilton Jordan comes off especially weaselly), and the way this nation responded – good and bad – to the “students'” outrages against decency.
And the clothing and hair styles of the seventies, in all their claustrophobic porn-movie-o-liciousness. Yuck.
It’s an excellently-acted true story that plays like a great suspense thriller.
But perhaps most surprising of all…:
You forget it’s Ben Afflect in the leading role. He isn’t awful!
Totally worth seeing. Before the election, even.
Yeah, I’ve been looking forward to this one too. Affleck has been a pleasant surprise for me on the pop culture front. I used to think of him as your standard issue pretty face Hollywood liberal. One who spouts all the usual platitudes because that’s all they know. Liberals don’t strike me as big on nuance. Tolerance means support the Party or you’re a racist. Diversity means crushing individualism and concentrating power in the State. Fairness means robbing “rich” people so you can keep your little party going and avoid having to face the consequences of your own profligacy. And so on.
But as a director, he’s proven himself to be capable of some depth. The Town and Gone Baby Gone feature settings and characters that feel real, with all the contradictions and emotions you get in human beings trying to deal with reality, and make their way through the world they’re in.
I’d like to be a fly on the wall if and when Affleck discusses the movie with boyhood friend and leftist obamaton Matt Damon. Hope Matt’s head explodes.
But . . . but . . . the shah! Kermit Roosevelt Jr!
I’d like to be a fly on the wall if and when Affleck discusses the movie with boyhood friend and leftist obamaton Matt Damon. Hope Matt’s head explodes
I was actually surprised. While the opening montage, which sets up the crisis going back to the CIA’s toppling Mossadegh and installing the Shah, sounds like pure lefty cant (via the Iranian perspective), it also notes that the Shah’s biggest problem was his attempt to force modernization and secularization (using Soviet-style terror, if necessary).
I was a little surprised.
It was an excellent movie! I did not find it slanted at all. Very truthful. And although I knew the end result, I could hardly breathe. Fantastic suspense.
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