Jack and I loved it. Ben Affleck directs and stars in this dramatization of an operation to get six hostages out of Iran in 1980. This one truly is both a drama and a comedy--there are plenty of laughs, a lot of action, and some nail-biting suspense. Be sure to see it, as it is a "
best bet" for multiple Oscar nominations. As my friend Mike advised me, the scenes with Alan Arkin (profiled in
The Private Lives of Pippa Lee) and John Goodman (covered in
The Artist) are priceless. Affleck's last picture was
The Town, which he directed, starred in, and co-wrote. He's terrific in this as Tony Mendez, the mastermind behind "the best bad idea we've got" to return the hostages safely home, showing us bravado, fear, resourcefulness, and even humor. The fast-paced screenplay is written by Chris Terrio in his debut (after a credit for "additional screenplay material" on something he directed 7 years ago) and based on an article by Joshuah Bearman, which was then optioned by George Clooney (one of the producers). Good supporting work from the hostages: Kerry Bishé (she looked familiar to me because she was in the final season of Scrubs), Rory Cochrane (with the biggest mustache), Christopher Denham (first and most recently in these pages in
Sound of My Voice), Tate Donovan (he works a lot, most recently in 39 episodes of Damages), Clea DuVall (she does, too--here's a
picture from Girl Interrupted (1999), but in this her hair is brown and her eyeglasses big, like everyone's), and Scoot McNairy (star of
In Search of a Midnight Kiss); as well as Bryan Cranston (last mentioned in
Contagion), Victor Garber (6 Emmy supporting nominations, SAG ensemble nominations for Titanic (1997) and
Milk, other work on screens big and small), and many more.
So far this has won Hollywood Film Festival Ensemble of the Year and nominated for a People's Choice Award for Favorite Dramatic Movie (my
list of winners and nominations is a work in progress with much progress yet ahead, but check back in case I get caught up after I write about all the actual movies).
We enjoyed the close-ups of old telephones and great picture cars of the period, among many aspects of the beautiful cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto (last discussed in
We Bought a Zoo).
Imdb has given us a list of the
songs, mostly of the period, that accompany the appropriate (suspenseful and middle Eastern-tinged) soundtrack by the prolific Alexandre Desplat (I mentioned him most recently for his soundtrack for
Moonrise Kingdom). While writing I called up the movie's
website and let it play in another window to get me back in in the mood 16 days after seeing it. Do make a point of catching this one. Oh yeah, it has been rated 95% by both critics and audiences on
rottentomatoes.
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