Drama

Argo

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Argo
  • IMDb: link

argo-movie-posterSome stories are so unbelievable they must be true. This was the case with Charlie Wilson’s War, one of my favorite films of 2007, which examined the absurd series of events that led a relatively unknown Congressman from Texas to lead the charge to bring down the Soviet Union.

Argo, the latest from director Ben Affleck who also stars in the adaptation of CIA Agent Tony Mendez‘s account of what became known as the “Canadian Caper” involving the extraction of six American diplomats from Iran during the Iran Hostage Crisis, is a similarly astonishing, and certainly well told, tale that’s so crazy it must be true.

Affleck stars as Mendez, a CIA extraction expert who comes up with a plan to safely smuggle out six Americans who escaped the seizure of the American Embassy in Iran on November 4, 1979. His idea is to pose as a film producer scouting locations for a new sci-fi movie in Iran and to pass off the six diplomats (Tate Donovan, Clea DuVall, Christopher Denham, Scoot McNairy, Kerry Bishé, Joe Stafford) as other members of the movie project.

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The Perks of Being a Wallflower

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Perks of Being a Wallflower
  • IMDB: link

“Welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys.”

the-perks-of-being-a-wallflowerStories of loners searching for their place in the world are hardly new, and there are certainly more polished films which tackle the subject, but for its flaws The Perks of Being a Wallflower gets the emotion more right than most.

Taking on teenage suicide, closeted homosexual relationships, drug use, teenage sex, unrequited love, the complex psychological problems of an anxiety-riddled teen, and one or two other major themes I won’t give away here, the movie certainly doesn’t shy away from tackling hard issues and forcing its characters to deal honestly with both their choices and consequences.

Written and directed by Stephen Chbosky, who adapted his own novel of the same name for the film, The Perks of Being a Wallflower centers around Charlie (Logan Lerman), an awkward, introverted high school freshman who has seen too much pain in his young life. The brainy introvert starts high school all too aware old friends have moved into new cliques without him and is ill-equipped to make new ones.

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Phoenix & Hoffman deliver a pair of Masterful performances

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Master
  • IMDB: link

the-master-posterIt’s only September, but it’s quite possible the latest film from writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson may be the best collection of acting seen in theaters this year. The Master, inspired (in part) by L. Ron Hubbard and the rise of Scientology, is a terrifically produced look into the life of a disturbed young man and his relationship with the leader of a cult.

The film is less concerned about the specific inner workings of a cult than what kind of life it’s leader might live and how he might react to those around him and those in need of his help.

When we meet Naval Officer Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) in the final days of WWII it’s obvious there’s something very wrong with the man whose violent and blunt interactions with everyone he meets fail to earn him friends. After the war, Freddie travels around the country in various jobs, including a department store photographer and field hand – both of which he’s forcibly removed from due to his poor judgement.

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Eastwood and Adams have plenty of Trouble with the Curve

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Trouble with the Curve
  • IMDB: link

trouble-with-the-curve-posterTrouble with the Curve, a tale of an old baseball scout (Clint Eastwood) reconnecting with his estranged daughter (Amy Adams) on his final recruiting trip, is exactly what you’d expect. In fact, less than halfway through the film I correctly predicted how every single storyline would end.

The by-the-book tale is an odd mashup cashing in on the success of Moneyball and Grand Torino (with a romantic comedy thrown in for good measure). Sadly, but not surprisingly, Trouble with the Curve is nothing more than blatant Oscar bait and forgettable feelgood pre-holiday fodder.

Clichéd and as subtle as a kick to the groin, the screenplay by first-time screenwriter Randy Brown doesn’t so much foreshadow events as scream loudly from Hollywood playbook exactly what will occur. Overly sentimental, and not ambitious in the least, the film is a crowd pleaser with well-placed grumpy old man jokes that won’t force audiences to think much (or at all).

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We Need to Talk About Kevin

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: We Need to Talk About Kevin
  • IMDb: link

we-need-to-talk-about-kevin-poster

What if your child was responsible for a horrific event that changed not just the lives of your family but scarred entire community? Guilt-ridden and unable to leave and try to start a new life elsewhere, how would you go about your daily life knowing that any sense of normalcy was impossible?

Based on the novel by Lionel Shiver, We Need to Talk About Kevin, brought to the screen by writer/director Lynne Ramsay, focuses on the life of Eva Khatchadourian (Tilda Swinton) following the events of a school massacre caused by her teenage son Kevin (Ezra Miller). We watch as Eva becomes trapped in a series of events that unfold slowly destroying any chance she once had at happiness.

It’s an intriguing take that doesn’t examine the perpetrator of the crime or the specific series of events that led to the massacre, but instead gives us the perspective of the young man’s mother, who despite her love for Kevin, has known there’s something deeply wrong with her son for years.

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