Argo: Based on a Declassified True Story (2012)

In the late 1970s, unrest has hit Iran and threatened the people working in the Iranian embassy. Determined to avoid capture, six American representatives evacuate the building after shredding and destroying classified documents. Learning of their protection by the Canadian ambassador, the CIA tries to come up with a plan to get them out. Generating ideas that seem to implausible to be successful, Tony Mendez eventually puts his trust behind a plan to pretend to be part of a Canadian film crew and use the cover and fake identities to sneak the survivors out through the airport. Though met with resistance, he is able to get the support of the president, CIA and representatives in Hollywood. After developing enough of a background and publicity, he travels to Iran and meets up with the Canadian ambassador. Though they believe the plan will never work, eventually the survivors give in to the plan and work toward their dream of returning home.

Starring: Ben Affleck (Tony Mendez), Bryan Cranston (Jack O’Donnell), Alan Arkin (Lester Siegel), John Goodman (John Chambers), Victor Garber (Ken Taylor), Tate Donovan (Bob Anders), Clea DuVall (Cora Lijek), Scott McNairy (Joe Stafford), Rory Cochrane (Lee Schatz), Christopher Denham (Mark Lijek), Kerry Bishe (Kathy Stafford), Kyle Chandler (Hamilton Jordan), Chris Messina (Malinov)

Continuing to prove his talent for film, Ben Affleck both stars and directs this story. As the extractor, he maintains a calm, thoughtful presence that is indicative of a CIA agent. Bryan Cranston was a great choice as the director of the mission and to serve opposite of Affleck. While he has taken a number of comedic roles in the past, his dramatic ones are actually more impressive. Arkin and Goodman help to add a little levity to the story as they both add that Hollywood flair necessary to make the movie scam believable.

  

Taking the Iran Hostage Crisis as the central theme, Affleck is able to highlight the tension of the time and the unusual method used to extract American survivors. With nowhere else to turn, the American survivors found their way to the Canadian ambassador’s house and had to live in secret for several months. As the Iranians were starting to put together the seemingly shredded documents at the embassy, the pressure was increasing through the manhunt for the six missing hostages. The idea to use a movie crew cover came from a random conversation with Mendez’s son. Mendez then needed to find a script that was going to be believable for needing to be scouted in an environment like Iran, which is where Argo came from.

  

While the film may not be a perfect adaptation of the actual events, it is a gripping telling of the partnership between the CIA and the Canadian embassy to bring the American survivors home. Ambassador Ken Taylor took on the heavy burden of concealing the six Americans and also protecting them from the potential threat of their housekeeper, a native Iranian. Interesting enough (though not highlighted in the film), a reporter had uncovered the truth about the film crew coverup but protected the operation by refusing to let his newspaper publish the story. The six Americans struggled significantly with the idea of learning their temporary identities and sneak through the streets and airport of Iran undetected, but Mendez was able to guide them through the process. Unable to initially release the significant American involvement in the rescue, credit was given to the Canadian government, though they of course provided significant support and partnership that was greater than even the film acknowledged.

Argo is a well done film that pieces together the events that occurred between 1979 and 1980 in a turbulent Iran. Challenges from many critics miss the fact that the film does not do a perfect retelling of the story but instead takes some liberties to tweak some of the elements to better produce the events in Hollywood form.

Dan’s Rating: 4.5/5

Pitch Perfect: Get Pitch Slapped (2012)

As she starts her college career at Barden University, Beca can dream of nothing but leaving everything behind to go out to LA and pursue her career in music production. Refusing to let her miss out on the experience of college, her father pushes her to at least give school one year and she must join a student organization. Scouring the involvement fair, a desperate leader of the Barden Belles a capella group seeks Beca out and has a feeling that she has found a great addition to the group. Looking to recoup from a devastating loss in the previous year’s nationals, Chloe and Aubrey realize that they are going to struggle to even get back to the finals with a group of women who are far different than their usual recruits. As Beca gets sucked into the a capella group, she also finds herself slowly falling for one of the guys of her a capella competition.

Starring: Anna Kendrick (Beca), Skylar Astin (Jesse), Ben Platt (Benji), Brittany Snow (Chloe), Anna Camp (Aubrey), Rebel Wilson (Fat Amy), Alexis Knapp (Stacie), Ester Dean (Cynthia Rose), Hana Mae Lee (Lilly), Kelley Jakle (Jessica), Wanetah Walmsley (Denise), Adam DeVine (Bumper), Nicole Lovince (Kori), Shelley Regner (Ashley), Elizabeth Banks (Gail), John Michael Higgins (John), John Benjamin Hickey (Dr. Mitchell), Jinhee Joung (Kimmy Jin), Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Tommy), Joe Lo Truglio (Clef #1), Har Mar Superstar (Clef #2), Jason Jones (Clef #3), Donald Faison (Clef #4)

Anna Kendrick is one of the rising stars of the business. She projects an indie presence with a hint of sass that makes her an intriguing performer. Brittany Snow manages herself well as the bubbly, lovable supporting character, while Rebel Wilson has taken her strong comedic presence to a level that allows her to stand out of the crowd. Skylar Astin feels like a bit of a safe pick as the male lead, but he also matches well, in terms of his personality, with Kendrick. Including Banks and Higgins as the commentators was a very smart choice as they have a great play back and forth in their dialogue. The Clef quartet was also a great additional cameo to help maintain the humorous energy of the film.

  

Better known for his work with TV shows like Dawson’s Creek and Everwood, Jason Moore jumped at his first chance of a feature film by taking on a coming-of-age story of a young woman looking for a sense of belonging. Beca did not realize that she was all but isolated through her passion for music by the way that she remained so focused on her mixing. Her father may not have had a great relationship with her, but his push to join a student group was going to create more of an impact than she could ever have guessed. The Barden Bellas were coming off an embarrassing defeat at nationals the year before, when Aubrey completely lost in during a solo on stage but also inherited the leadership role. Aubrey and Beca were at odds immediately, as Aubrey was more of a dictator in the way the group performed and Beca was more comfortable with questioning every move Aubrey made. Beca and Fat Amy slowly tried to push the group to break through it’s rigid persona, but a surprise second chance for success and an emotional release of frustration finally allowed the women to identify who they were going to be as an a capella group.

  

The film is overrun with references from other films. The biggest one certainly is the 80s influence of The Breakfast Club, but there is also a strange similarity to Bring It On. Where the high school teen comedy focused on a teams struggles to find itself and win a cheer competition, this film took a similar path but gave it a slightly more mature tone but actually a significantly higher degree of humor. Using The Breakfast Club seems to highlight a trend that has appeared in a lot of films recently. 80s music and film have made a resurgence, and seem to be more successful when blended with today’s ideas. This also gets exhibited with how the Barden Bellas seem to bore people with their attempts at winning by using The Sign by TLC.

This film may be similar to a previous high school-based movie on competition but it also feels like a breath of fresh air in a film industry that has felt a little stale. It re-imagines a film type that is enjoyable for a general audience beyond its projected age group.

Dan’s Rating: 4.5/5

Charlie Bartlett: Popularity is a State of Mind (2007)

With a penchant for getting kicked out of private schools, Marilyn Bartlett decides to send her son to a public school. Charlie arrives on the first day and falls victim to being the new guy. Beaten up and harassed, he stays home the next day and sees the family psychiatrist. Trying to take another attempt at fitting in, he attempts to befriend the bully who beat him up by going into business together. They choose to sell the medication provided to him by his psychiatrist at a school dance. When he realizes there is an opportunity to serve as a help to the other students, he opens up shop in the boys restroom. Giving out advice and prescribing medication he is able to swindle from multiple psychiatrists, he becomes the talk of the school and a pain in the side of Principal Gardner. Charlie only makes their relationship more contentious as he begins to date his daughter, Susan.

Starring: Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett), Robert Downey Jr. (Nathan Gardner), Kat Dennings (Susan Gardner), Hope Davis (Marilyn Bartlett), Tyler Hilton (Murphy Bivens), Mark Rendall (Kip Crombwell), Dylan Taylor (Len Arbuckle), Megan Park (Whitney Drummond), Derek McGrath (Superintendent Sedgewick), Noam Jenkins (Dean West)

In similar types of teen dramas, there is usually a strong-minded lead character. In this case, Anton Yelchin serves in this roles and does well to exude the confidence necessary to make his character memorable. Though at time a little stuffy, he actually matches the description of his character. Downey Jr. has a more subdued personality (at least at the start of the story), but he fills his role perfectly. Hope Davis has a bit of a “head-in-the-clouds” sense throughout the story though she does not seem to be able to assert herself in a way to increase the significance of her character. Dennings was a good fit to partner with Yelchin but her performance does not necessarily stand out in comparison to her other roles.

  

Jon Poll and Gustin Nash put together a rather interesting perspective on a troubled outcast who is trying to find acceptance. Charlie Bartlett has teenage angst that is a little different than most. With his father imprisoned and living a fairly lonely life with his wealthy mother, Charlie had been bouncing from school to school after testing the waters and engaging in behaviors that drew attention to him. When he arrived at his first public school, he quickly found it more difficult to fit in, at least until he came across Murphy. In order to make friends and try to do some good, he decided to take on some risky ventures in drug therapies and throwing parties. Although the methods acquired him more attention from his peers, he continued to neglect the main reason he acted out the way he did. He was forced to grow up faster than he should have and it took an extreme event to force him to reconsider his relationships with others.

  

Behind the whole issue of Charlie having grown up too fast is his tattered relationship with his father. While the viewer never meets his father, this element is far more important than the time it is given in the film. The image is still there that his life of excess and his damaged family structure left him in a precarious position in comparison to his peers, but the incident that caused him to lose respect for his father was rather significant. He avoided going to visit his father in prison until he is confronted with his maturity issues by Nathan Gardner. Once he was able to take that big step, his true path to maturity was able to begin.

This is a rather interesting film and has an element of quirkiness that makes it stand out, even though it was rather ignored by most. It is not an Academy nod-level film but still enjoyable.

Dan’s Rating: 3.5/5

Early Oscar Nod: Les Miserables Featurette

Still a couple of months away from the anticipated release, Les Miserables is looking like a strong frontrunner for the next Oscar season. In this featurette, director Tom Hooper and some of the film’s most significant stars talk about what makes this production unique. Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway, Samantha Barks, Eddie Redmayne, Russell Crowe and Amanda Seyfriend each provide a little perspective into the live vocal performance style over the typical studio recording followed by miming the playback in front of the camera. There is a lot to be excited about between the fanfare of the production and the talented cast. Take a look for yourself.

The Cabin in the Woods: You Think You Know the Story (2012)

Five good friends decide to kick back and take a weekend at a mountain cabin. While on their way, they are warned by an old man that the cabin may not be what they are expecting, but they push forth toward their weekend getaway. Once they arrive and settle in, they each realize that there is something odd about the run-down but choose the loosen up and ignore the strange signals. When a cellar hatch mysteriously opens, the groups travels into the basement and discovers an assortment of strange items. Dana picks up a book that turns out to be a journal and reads a random entry, including the latin. Unaware of what they have unleashed, the group continues to explore the area in their own separate ways but suddenly find themselves face-to-face with a family of zombies that are out to maim and kill the innocent college students. Behind the magic of the zombie curse, a secret organization appears to be engineering the slaughterfest and hoping for all of the students to meet their demise.

Starring: Kristen Connolly (Dana), Chris Hemsworth (Curt), Anna Hutchinson (Jules), Fran Kranz (Marty), Jesse Williams (Holden), Richard Jenkins (Sitterson), Bradley Whitford (Hadley), Brian White (Truman), Amy Acker (Lin), Tim De Zarn (Mordecai), Sigourney Weaver (The Director)

In regards of the five stars playing the college students, their roles meet the needs of the film and play into the stereotypes that are seen in a number of horror films as a way to draw humor to the pattern. The best casting decision was definitely in the pairing of Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford. Their banter makes the comedic side of the story and brings levity to the concept of the traditional horror/slasher genre. Amy Acker also adds an extra connection to writer Joss Whedon and is somewhat reminiscent of her role as Fred in the TV series Angel.

  

In this revitalization of the slasher film, Drew Goddard both takes the classic formula in its stereotypical form but takes a turn toward the odd when he adds some modern twists and influences from Whedon. The five college students have no idea that they are part of something much larger, but the secret facility running the chaos has their eyes set on something both twisted and somewhat beneficial. While not understood until later in the film, sacrifices are needed to keep the evil gods at bay and the other divisions of their organization had failed in their attempts. The five college students represented the symbolic sacrifices needed complete the ritual. When the latin was read and the Buckner zombie family was released, it seemed like everything was on track for a complete ritual. When Marty emerged after having survived his attack, the rules had been broken and chaos was released on the survivors and the entire organizing facility.

  

Unlike the slasher movies of the past two decades, this one seemed to have a much better sense of dialogue and tasteful humor. There were some stereotypical elements, such as the existence of the virgin for the sacrifice, the sexual experience right before the attack and the reemergence of one of the perceived murdered targets, the facility made for a completely different experience. Sitterson and Whitford were quite confident with their arrangement to appease the gods, enough so that they periodically lack focus to ensure a smooth ritual and take bets on the method of death the sacrifices will choose. During the betting process, the viewer learns of all of the different options the group could encounter but only one surfaces as the initial method. To make sure to leave no questions unanswered, Goddard and Whedon allow the viewers a chance to encounter all of the options and see them in action (including that elusive merfolk).

While there is generally only so much one can expect from a slasher picture, this one breaks some conventions to increase the entertainment value and capture people’s worst nightmares coming to life all at the same time (without breaking any copyright issues).

Dan’s Rating: 4.0/5