L to R: Director Audiard, screenwriter Thomas Bidegain, and stars Matthias Schoenaerts & Cotillard
L to R: Director Berman, Wiig, screenwriter Morgan, and Criss
Argo (Click here for the trailer) Two years ago, after seeing The Town at Tiff ’10, I wrote that Ben Affleck was well on his way to becoming one of Hollywood’s best directors. Now, I’m pleased to report that he’s there. Argo is fantastic. The film tells the true story of a now-declassified CIA rescue operation that successfully extracted six American’s from Iran in 1980 by posing them as a Canadian film crew on a location scout to make a schlock sci-fi film. If it sounds ridiculous, it was supposed to. As Bryan Cranston, playing a CIA operations director, puts it in the film, “This is the best bad idea we have. By far.” The cast is uniformly wonderful. In addition to Cranston, who gets several of the best lines, Alan Arkin and John Goodman are great playing the Hollywood executives who help concoct the lie. Affleck stars as the CIA agent who conceives of the mission and pulls it off, but it’s his directing that’s the real star of the show. It’s not easy to pull off great suspense in any context, but it’s especially difficult when the audience already knows how the story ends. The fact that the stakes and the tension Affleck builds had me actually doubting a conclusion that I knew was coming should tell you how palpable the drama was. And the big emotional payoff isn’t delivered in a sappy way, but feels totally earned and genuine. Argo is by turns funny, suspenseful, moving, entertaining, and life affirming. It’s no secret that traditional Hollywood films have fallen on tough times, and everything seems to either be a 200 million dollar franchise movie or a low-budget indie-dramedy, but with the right script and the right talent, Argo represents the best of what Hollywood is still capable of. The Grade: AAffleck introducing his Argo cast
Frances Ha When writer/director Noah Baumbach made 2010’s Greenberg, he must have found something he liked in co-star Greta Gerwig, because now he’s back with an entire movie tailored for her, and they even co-wrote the screenplay together. Frances Ha, about Gerwig’s titular character’s life in Manhattan, her dating scene, her roommates, and her sis-mance with her best friend plays kind of like an entire season of HBO’s Girls condensed to 86 minutes. And it’s shot in glorious black and white, romanticizing the city in similar ways as Woody Allen’s Manhattan, except Baumbach eschews the Gershwin music in favor of a classic rock soundtrack filled with the Stones, Bowie, and others. Unfortunately, Baumbach is not at his The Squid & the Whale best here, and Frances Ha never quite mines the same emotional depth that he’s capable of, or that Girls is regularly hitting over on HBO. But Frances Ha is still well worth your time for it’s visuals and sense of humor, and Gerwig is a radiant revelation in her first starring role. The Grade: BL to R: Director Baumbach, Gerwig, and co-star Mickey Sumner (Sting's daughter)
Seven Psychopaths (Click here for the trailer) I’m an ardent believer that Pulp Fiction is the best film of the last 20 years and Boondock Saints is the worst film of the last 20 years (and maybe ever). Given that, it’s difficult to figure out what to make of Seven Psychopaths, which manages to straddle the exact middle ground between those two films. Writer/director Martin McDonagh’s follow-up to the secretly wonderful In Bruges, Psychopaths is a twisty, violent comedy about groups of killers at odds with each other over a kidnapped Shih Tzu. Honestly, it’s even more ridiculous than it sounds. The movie is highly stylized, creative, and funny, and the great cast lives up to its billing. But it’s also an incredibly nihilistic film that offers little to think about and no lessons or messages beyond its façade of violent cool. It’s simultaneously both the best and worst of what the post-Tarantino generation has brought to contemporary film culture. And you can’t help but be a little disappointed in McDonagh for following up a complex character piece like In Bruges with something that’s not that. But even still, it’s hard to really dislike a film like this, because it’s just too much fun to watch. Even as some elements fall flat, like a burning monk tie-in that seems to come from nowhere, the cast is consistently up to the challenge of giving the film whatever it needs, and amidst several bigger names, Sam Rockwell absolutely steals the show. Well, besides Bonnie the Shih Tzu, that is. The Grade: BYou better believe they brought out the Shih Tzu for the Q & A: Co-star Abbie Cornish with Bonnie
Four psychopaths: (L to R) Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Colin Farrell, and Christopher Walken
And that concludes one hell of a day that began at 7:00am, and I'm rather impressed with myself for not falling asleep in any of the five movies. Tomorrow: We'll see if my luck repeats itself.
Daniel Joyaux is a film and pop culture critic living in Ann Arbor. You can read more of his work at thirdmanmovies.blogspot.com and follow him on Twitter @thirdmanmovies.We welcome readers to submit letters regarding articles and content in Detroit Metro Times. Letters should be a minimum of 150 words, refer to content that has appeared on Detroit Metro Times, and must include the writer's full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes. No attachments will be considered. Writers of letters selected for publication will be notified via email. Letters may be edited and shortened for space.
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