If you haven't seen it or heard about it,
Argo is a Must-See Film!
I found myself reading the LA Times review, in the Calendar section, of the film
Argo. I had already seen the trailer and it was catching my interest. Being an aspiring actress and filmmaker of shorts, I wanted to know how
Ben Affleck would pull this off and work from both sides of the camera to create this story based on true events. So without further delay I decided to go see a Saturday matinee of the film.
From the very beginning of
Argo I was hooked! I really enjoyed the illustrated, historical, element in the beginning and then the historical footage that was captured from past sources to bring me into the main meat of the story. The characters were then introduced, including Ben Affleck's character, Tony Mendez, who executed the plan to get the Americans out of Iran. I really enjoyed the complicated energy of the film from Tony Mendez's character as a father and husband to his uncut perspectives during the round-table on how to recover the Americans. I suddenly began to wonder how political decisions are made today when urgent demands are put on our country. It has to be just as interesting, jaw-dropping, and sometimes ridiculous before the ultimate decisions are made.
Also, the comedic timing was brilliant and not overpowering to the mission of the film, throughout. They appeared as flyaways while the action of the film continued moving right along. I was in the
Laemmle Theater with a lot of older adults and the comedic jabs were met with laughs. I seriously felt like I took a journey back into the 80s when movies were being made and negotiated in Hollywood, but not without the charm and sense of humors of
Alan Arkin and
John Goodman. I took a backseat and watched the operation unfold before my eyes. There were some really funny one-liners in the film, for example:
"A town where everyone lies for a living." referencing Hollywood
"If I'm doing a fake movie, I'm doing a fake hit!"
This film was 2 hours long, but I couldn't feel it at all! I never wanted to reach for my IPhone to see the time. The editing was really great too! Kudos to the editing team.
Since I am not an intentional Spoiler-type, all I will say about the end is: I was in the moment with this film so deep that I felt a headache coming on because even though the ending was obvious, my mind was following along in every moment. All I can say is when the plane was gearing up for take-off, that was a seriously long moment of anticipation and holding of my breath as I stared into the movie screen. WOW!
Argo is definitely a film worth every minute and Oscar-worthy.
What a nice afternoon at the movies.
If you happen to go see it, tell me what you thought about it in a comment below!