Argo (2012)

4/5

Ben Affleck's Argo recreates the Iran hostage crisis of 1979/1980 with remarkable visual accuracy. After protestors overtake the US Embassy in Iran, 6 would-be hostages escape out a back entrance and hide in the Canadian ambassador's house. Meanwhile the US government is planning a daring "exfiltration" operation led by Tony Mendez (Affleck). Mendez creates a fake movie called Argo, gets Hollywood effects expert John Chambers (Goodman) and producer Lester Siegel (Arkin) to back the ruse, and flies into Iran with fake passports for the fake film crew. As this is going on, the Iranian military within the US Embassy are piecing together shredded documents that contain pictures of the missing employees.

The movie is well-made in terms of its cinematic technique, and Goodman and Arkin deliver knockout performances, but the movie as a whole just doesn't have a clear focus. It starts as a thrilling historical drama, with tense intimate situations and riveting political narratives. But when it turns to the Hollywood scenes, it becomes almost farcical in its tongue-in-cheek joking. It's quite funny, but the humor doesn't seem to fit. The two parts never quite match up, as if they don't belong in the same movie. Argo had no unifying mood to carry us through both halves of the film, and we are left with a jarring disconnect during each transition. Still, the movie is entertaining and exciting, and it's one of those rare movies that allows us a fascinating glimpse into an important piece of history through its storytelling.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/

Conviction (2010)

3/5

Conviction follows the true story of Betty Anne Waters (Swank) and her brother Kenny (Rockwell). After Kenny is sentenced to life without parole for a brutal murder, Betty Anne goes back to school to get her GED, BA, and JD so that she can exonerate him. Although the audience may still have their doubts, Betty Anne is unswaying in her belief of her brother's innocence. As she devotes more and more of her life to this case, we become more and more apprehensive that it may have all just been a waste. The story itself is remarkable and inspiring; we would not be able to suspend our disbelief had this movie been fictitious. But it serves to show us the dedication family members have for each other, no matter how unlikely the odds are. This is true not only in the main plot architecture, but also in the side stories: a number of characters' motivations for doing seemingly despicable acts stem from the fact that they don't want to lose their children.

The acting was exquisite. I truly enjoyed the superb performances by Rockwell, Leo, and Lewis, but I found Swank's character to be extremely similar to that in her previous Oscar winner Million Dollar Baby. Jomarie and I got the chance to listen to a Q&A with the real Betty Anne Waters, and it was a real treat to hear her talk about the experiences and elaborate on a number of items the movie only glossed over. The woman is strong and resilient; it shows in everything she does. Quite frankly, I don't think Hilary Swank did her justice. Other than that, the technical aspects are not particularly noteworthy. The script serves the purpose of telling the story and doesn't attempt anything further. The directing is acceptable, the cinematography is mediocre, and the editing is rather bland. There are rarely any textual descriptors of time and place, despite the fact that the story bounces around in those two dimensions quite frequently. But it works here. It is able to maintain the mood of the piece across all those varying scenes. And the mood is really the movie's strongest aspect. It is able to twist your heartstrings, alternating between repeated injustices and hope for redemption before its ultimate conclusion. This is an incredible story wrapped up in a simple film, but it is definitely worth watching.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1244754/

Zodiac (2007)

4/5

Zodiac is a 2 hour and 40 minute epic about the real-life unsolved case of a serial killer terrorizing the California community in the late 60's and early 70's, the media sensation covering it, and one cartoonist's obsession with it. Fincher's directing was phenomenal throughout; despite the film's running time, I was tense and terrified the entire time. The acting by all was equally stellar and a real pleasure to watch. The music did a great job at setting and maintaining mood. The cinematography and editing were just as amazing, and probably Fincher's best to date. Eye-catching shots were crisp and clean with a glossy sheen; I loved the silky smooth shadows flowing across people's faces, cars, and houses. The beginning had a lot of unique point-of-view and tracking/following shots, but they were gradually replaced with more traditional shots as the bulk of the content began. This film's greatest strengths are the flawlessly-captured time and place and the thoroughly-detailed characters. And the script was witty and fun.

The biggest detractor from the movie was its length. The movie consists of several main stories that could each have their own film, and if you're not interested in one, that's half the movie that's gonna bore you. None of the stories felt tacked on because they were all given a great amount of depth, but perhaps too much for everyone's tastes. Luckily, I loved all the stories and didn't really mind the length because of the great acting and great directing. The movie needs to decide what it wants to tell and tell that; instead it provides a great many details from a great many number of sources with no main driving force. Characters appear and drop off when the details bring them to the forefront. Many subplots seemed forced, as if every lead in the case and new piece of evidence required a thrilling story to go with it. Also, the movie loses a little steam at around the 2/3 mark, when a typical movie would be approaching its end and this one has none in sight. All in all, however, I highly recommend this film if you are at all interested in detective stories or movies about serial killers. This one is fantastic, and it goes past the surface of a simple story and into the real effects on the lives of those following the case.

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0443706/