ARGO

Just saw this pic today.  Ben Affleck is pleasantly surprising us all (or maybe just me) with his mad directing skills (which are superior to his acting skills, oy). Cinemascore gave ARGO an A+, a rare occurence. I highly recommend going to see this film since it is based on an incredible true story involving a 1979 US Embassy attack in Iran; oddly relevant to current events today. Because of the difficulty of detail and weight of exposition, this film has been unsuccessfully developed over and over again through the Hollywood years. Today, Affleck delivers an extremely well-balanced, well-edited, fairly well-acted piece with great structure and emotion without losing important information. Some of his choices are rather predictable, but that doesn't lessen the feeling of arrest that rises and falls so musically throughout the film.

Also, I never noticed how short Ben's arms were before. Maybe its the cut of the blazer, but I think there's some reveal in the costuming.

Something else that's refreshing - casting. The six hostages are working actors, but still relatively unknown despite their previous work - with the exception of Clea DuVall and Tate Donovan.  But what do I know? I try to know as many actors as possible, I really like that Kerry Bishe gal, let's see what she does. Most comforting was to see John Goodman onscreen as the bright-eyed, bushy tailed John Chambers.  I love John Goodman. Seeing him is like seeing an old friend and I've missed his on-screen presence. FYI, Alan Arkin is, as usual, a hilariously foul character too.

Here's a trailer. Go, grip your armrest, enjoy...