Argo - 2012

"Argo"

I was in grade school when the Iran Hostage crisis happened.   I remember hearing about it on the news, mostly about Kathryn Koob, an Iowan who was one of the hostages.  Going to Catholic school, my teachers/nuns had us praying for their release. 

A few months after the hostages were released, Kathryn Koob visited our school.  I remember thinking she just looked like a normal woman.  I wasn't sure what I thought she'd be like but she just seemed normal, like someone's mom. 

Until this movie, I didn't know about the six people that had hidden out in the Canadian Embassy under danger of death. 




Ben Affleck does a great job as Tony Mendes, a CIA operative who heads the rescue mission.  There are so many actors in this movie. 

John Goodman and Alan Arkin steal all their scenes as Hollywood insiders who help get a fake movie off the ground for Tony's cover.

 

There were a bunch of "hey, that dude looks familiar" people in this movie.  They came and went so fast, I had to check out IMDB to be sure. 

The movie is taut and intense.  Even though I knew going in that it was going to turn out alright, I was still on the edge of my seat.  The performances were really good. 

I do have one issue though.  The movie theater is doing something kind of sneaky and wrong.  I had the day off so I went to a matinee.  I love going to the theater and the first show of the day is an early bird.  I stepped up to the ticket counter and was told it was $9.25. 

"Is that right?"  I asked.  "Isn't it a matinee?"
"It's in XD."  Says little theater boy.
"Really?" 

It was another hour and a half until the non-XD show so I went.  But I don't think this movie needed to be in XD.  It stands for Xtreme Digital.   This movie was made in old seventies style.  There was nothing that needed to be extreme. 

It was a good movie.  I imagine we will see it in the upcoming awards season.