Glen Gary Glenross

This week I watch the film Glen Gary Glenross which was originally a play written by famed playwright David Mamet. The film adaptation features a cast of legendary proportions. It stars Al Pachino, Kevin Spacey, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Jack Lemmon, and Alec Baldwin who perhaps delivers one of the most intimidating monologues that I have seen.  The film takes place in urban Chicago where it is centered on the sales office of vacation real estate property. Four salesmen are forced to participate in a sales competition where the man who made most sales would receive a brand new car. The man coming in second place received a set of steak knifes and the remaining two would be fired. Baldwin plays a successful businessman who is sent by the owners of the company to weave out all the unsuccessful workers out of their firm. His seven-minute speech is chilling, yet magnificent. I highly recommend youtube-ing it.

The film does a great job of using 180-degree turns on their shots. When the conversation was being transitioned from one character to the next the shot would swivel while staying in focus, which I thought was a cool effect. I recommend the film to all.

Argo Review

Last night, instead of seeing yet another Die Hard movie, my date and I spent Valentines day seeing one of this year's Oscar contenders, Argo.  My date despises Ben Affleck, and went into the movie not expecting to like it, where I on the other hand am a fan of Mr. Affleck and expected only to love this movie.  Surly Argo did not disappoint and brought a fascinating story that I know nothing about, to the big screen with amazing direction and a thrilling plot.  Argo has won almost every major award this season and of course is nominated for 7 Oscar nominations for next weekend's celebration.

The biggest surprise surrounding the movie; however, is Ben Affleck's snub for best director.  I could not agree more.  The directing of this movie is what I think is strongest in this film.  Although the 7 other nominations are well deserved, I think Ben Affleck's directing is brilliant, connecting such a secretive, complicated story into a 2 hour film.  The only thing I did not like about his directing was the multitude of close-up's on Affleck's face. (He also stared in the movie as Tony Mendez.)  Although Affleck is a handsome man, no one looks good in the 70's and the close ups on his face were ridiculous and unnecessary.

The plot was complicated and detailed, but this is something I can not complain about because it's not just a script it is in fact real life.  The story follows Affleck's character Mendez using a faux Hollywood movie made my Canadian filmmakers to enter Iran and help 6 hostages escape.  The story is amazing and I can not believe this is based on a real event.  It absolutely blows my mind, and the use of found footage from the time was incredibly well planned and used to the best of it's ability.  I really felt like I was in 1979 / 1980.

The film is also up for best picture at the Oscars, which is no surprise after it won best picture for the BAFTAS, Critics Choice, and Golden Globes.  However looking at the other nominees this year I would not give Argo the oscar.  I believe it is a wonderful film and Affleck should be nominated; but I don't think it can even compare to a film like Zero Dark Thirty.  Alan Arkin is also nominated for his role in the film as a big shot Hollywood producer.  His story arch is absolutely hilarious, but won't win him the award.  John Goodman, Victor Garber, Brian Craynston, and Kyle Chandler also do a phenomenal job in the film, but this was really not an acting piece.  It was all about the plot and the history and I am happy how it turned out.  They added in a story line about Affleck's character Mendez and his family, which I found extremely irrelevant to the plot and hurt it more than helped.  You did not need to humanize his character it was not a strong enough relationship with the audience that we cared about his character or his family, and if that sub-plot was eliminated I think it would have overall been a much stronger film.

However I still give it an A and loved watching it and would love to know more about the Iranian hostage situation.  Argo does not disappoint.

Best Director?

The nominations for the 2013 Academy Awards came out earlier this month and as always there quite a few movies that were left out. I think the biggest snub of all the nominations was that Ben Affleck was not even nominated for the Best Director category. I found it shocking that Affleck, who won Best Director at the Golden Globes and his movie Argo won Best Picture, was not even nominated for the Oscars. He seemed like the front runner to win the Best Director award but I guess the Academy saw it differently. Argo is a brillant and excellent film about a CIA agent who helps six American fugitives in Iran escape the country during a revolution. It stars Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman. I think Affleck did an incredible job and him not being nominated is a shame. Personally, I think Argo was the best movie of the year I'm rooting for it to win Best Picture at the Oscar's.

Argo