" This is the best bad idea we have "

Argo

Based on the real events in 1979 when the American embassy in Iran was stormed by militants, leaving 52 Americans to be taken hostage. Six Americans in the embassy were able to escape before being captured and subsequently found refuge at the Canadian ambassador's home. With no means to escape and no telling how long it would take for the Iranians to realise they had escaped capture, the six were left to stay in Iran. The CIA desperate for a solution brought in exfiltration expert Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck) who proposes an idea so farfetched that it might just work. Mendez suggests that he flies to Iran as part of a Canadian science fiction film crew planning to film in Iran. Once there he plans to meet up with his production crew (the six Americans) and fly them home. In order to pull off the operation the fake movie known as Argo had to appear authentic, leading to Mendez acquiring the help of certain Hollywood personalities.

Ben Affleck was once the poster boy for Hollywood blockbusters and although he had some notable roles he gained a reputation as a mediocre actor. It wasn't until Affleck decided to take up the camera and direct his first movie: Gone Baby Gone that he really came into his own. Affleck then went on to star in his second film: The Town proving not only that he has a natural talent for direction but also that he can in fact act. There is now no doubt that Affleck is a talented director as Argo is one of the more sophisticated and impressive films of the year.

Affleck also delivers what I believe is his best acting performance in the film as CIA agent Tony Mendez. Mendez is a dedicated and brilliant agent who puts his own life at risk to extract the six American officials. Affleck comes across as a very likeable person who has tragically devoted his life to his job and his country, leaving behind his personal life and family. Affleck is the driving force behind the film and it shows that he can direct himself better than most other directors.

Affleck delivers a really strong performance but it's his supporting cast that steals the show. Bryan Cranston plays fellow agent Jack O'Donnell who supports Mendez' elaborate operation and puts everything on the line to assist him when things don't go as planned. For anyone that has seen Breaking Bad they will know how talented an actor Cranston is and Hollywood is slowly starting to realise as well. Cranston has popped up in countless supporting roles over the past few years mostly for just a few minutes but thankfully his roles are starting to gain more substance such as in this film. Now that Breaking Bad has finished filming its final season it will be good to see Cranston take on some larger roles in the future.

The best performances in the film come from Alan Arkin who plays Hollywood producer Lester Siegel and John Goodman who plays Oscar winning make up artist John Chambers. Chambers is a real life person who helped the CIA with operation Argo however Arkin's character Siegel is a composite of four different characters. Despite that fact both characters are excellent and add some humour to the tense film. The pair set up a fake company in Hollywood as well as find a script, design storyboards, a movie poster, take out a two page magazine advertisement and even hold a launch party to promote the fake movie. It's amazing the lengths they went to in order to make Argo appear authentic and it has been revealed now just how successful their efforts were. It's believed that famous directors such as Steven Spielberg were sucked into the ruse and even sent in scripts to the fake company.

The entire film is excellent but the beginning and ending scenes are without doubt the most compelling. The introduction to film where the 52 Americans are taken hostage and the six escape is a scary and desperate situation that few could relate to. As the Iranians threaten to break down the gates and storm the embassy the officials inside realise they have no where to hide, no where to flee to and no one to come and help them. Affleck manages to capture the perspective from both outside the gates and inside the embassy emphasising the desperation from both sides.

The conclusion is equally as memorable as Mendez' plan is put into action. The captivating montage through the city that lasts for about twenty minutes is thrilling and suspenseful. Although the ending may be dramatised slightly it's clear that Affleck has taken every measure to ensure the film is authentic and accurate.

This is a very intriguing and thrilling movie, with it's events so unbelievable you sometimes forget that they really happened. The real story wasn't declassified until 1997 by President Clinton, prior to that America and the rest of the world were oblivious to the efforts of the CIA and agent Mendez. Argo may shed some light on a well known event, but it makes you wonder what other secrets are classified that will hopefully one day be revealed.

 

" That was a regretable turn of events. "

Dark Shadows

Barnabas Collins (Johnny Depp) is a well liked family man who has the unfortunate luck of breaking the heart of Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green). Angelique turns out to be a very powerful and vengeful witch who punishes Barnabas by turning him into a vampire, killing his parents and true love and imprisoning him in a coffin for 200 years. Barnabas is released in the year 1972 where he finds his beloved family home and the world he once knew changed dramatically. Barnabas takes it upon himself to protect and unite his quirky descendants who now occupy his home.

Dark Shadows once again sees the collaboration of Director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, which has become one of most familiar pairings of modern cinema. On paper Dark Shadows seems to fit the mould of Burton and Depp as it is a quirky, dark comedy, yet the film never really takes off. There is no doubt Burton is a popular filmmaker who has made some genuine classics such as Edward Scissorhands and box office hits such as Alice in Wonderland, but a lot of his films are very disappointing. I respect the vision and style of Burton's film making as they are always very unique and visually beautiful but often Burton just doesn't get it right. Unfortunately Dark Shadows is one such film that leaves you asking the question, what was he thinking.

 Dark Shadows is based on the Gothic soap opera of the same name that ran in the 60s and 70s. It's no secret that Burton was a fan of the show and he seems to be fulfilling his own fantasy by bringing the story back to life. The only problem is Burton hasn't been able to break away from that soap opera style. The film is promoted as a dark comedy but it seems like Burton has restrained himself from going too dark and scary and has only halfheartedly added in comic elements. The result is a film that is not funny, dark or even mysterious, it's just a dull melodrama centred around a 200 year old vampire. I wish Burton had gone all out to make it a comedy or even a musical comedy that he has proven he can do successfully such as with Sweeney Todd.

It's not all grim as Depp is still his charismatic self as he embraces the character of Barnabas Collins completely. The best scene comes when Barnabas hires Alice Cooper to play at a party, whom he believes is a woman. This leads to one of the more memorable lines "Ugliest woman I've ever seen!". Joining Depp is Burton's wife and long time collaborator, Helena Bonham Carter who plays Dr. Hoffman who seems to suffer from a perpetual hangover. Michelle Pfeiffer plays Elizabeth Collins who is struggling to keep her family together, consisting of her useless brother Roger (Jonny Lee Miller), nephew David (Gulliver McGrath) who believes he can see the ghost of his mother and daughter Carolyn (Chloe Grace Moretz) who is continually moody and ultimately fed up with her family. 

Joining the strange family is Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote), a friendly governess who is employed to teach David. Winters is perhaps too likeable and friendly who may be hiding a few secrets of her own. However the only notable performance comes from Eva Green who relishes the opportunity to play the seductress witch Angelique. Despite almost two centuries Angelique looks as youthful and remains as passionate and vindictive as she was 200 years before, as she struggles once again to win the love of Barnabas.  

Most of the characters and their storylines are unnecessary and no character is even attempted to be developed out of fear that Depp would lose a valuable second of screen time. Yet Burton insists on including many different characters that should be quirky and funny but are in fact simply props that are left unexplored. Most of the actors seem uninspired and uninterested in the film which subsequently is how you are left feeling.

The story and cast would appear like a winning combo and with Burton in his element what could go wrong. Unfortunately the film just doesn't work, from the very beginning as you listen to the boring narration you become unengaged in the story and as the film continues you find your interest in the characters and the story declining rapidly. Burton is a hit and miss filmmaker and there is no doubt this is miss, but look forward to seeing more of his unique brand of films in the future, I only hope his next film isn't Dark Shadows 2.

" We were so wrong! "

Prometheus

Scientists Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Charlie Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover cave drawings that predate anything previously uncovered on Earth. Believing that the drawings are a clue as to the origins of mankind Shaw and Holloway join a crew of other scientists to search for answers. The crew travel to a distant planet aboard the ship 'Prometheus' only to discover an unsettling secret that may threaten the very existence of mankind.

Prometheus is director Ridley Scott's long awaited return to the genre of science fiction. The genre which he helped redefine with films such as Alien and Blade Runner. Prometheus was originally meant to be a prequel to Alien but instead the film is merely set in the same universe, adopting an original storyline with a new set of characters. Although the film may not be a direct prequel to Alien there is no denying Prometheus has many connections and references to Scott's original masterpiece. The film itself has an almost identical story arc as Alien: a crew embarks on a mission to explore a distant planet only to discover the inhabitants were not what they expected. Although the two crews have different motives for traveling to their destinations you can't help but notice similarities once they begin to explore the planets.

This film is pretty ambitious film, let's face it a film centred around the origins of mankind was always going to be hard to pull off. Scott has ensured there is a very interesting mythology involved with the film and ultimately created a very intruiging story. Sure there are plot holes but the main issue with this film isn't the daunting task of searching for our beginning, it's the screenplay. Almost all of the characters are underdeveloped and the story itself is very frustrating. There are times where the films flows smoothly and you find yourself getting sucked into the story but for the most part the timing in the film doesn't flow. I wanted to see more suspense in the film and more drama, despite the film running for 2 hours it felt as though there wasn't enough time to tell the story properly. The conclusion itself came very suddenly feeling like an anticlimax to such a promising idea and concept.

The cast for this film is very strong with Charlize Theron playing the bitchy and determined  Meredith Vickers who is the representative from Weyland Corporation of which the mission has been funded. Idris Elba playing Janek the layback pilot and Guy Pearce who plays the elderly Peter Weyland. The actors are given strange roles to work with and although Theron and Elba give good performances there is barely enough provided to build a character on. I have no idea why Pearce was even cast as he is completely unrecognisable under make up and special effects and is only in the film for about 5 minutes. The character was completely unnecessary and just left you feeling disappointed that you never got so really see Pearce on screen. Rapace was fine as the main lead and features in perhaps the most memorable scene involving a surgical operation but overall her performance was pretty disappointing.

The only real stand out performance came form Michael Fassbender who plays android, David. Fassbender seems to be getting all the good roles in Hollywood at the moment and David is no exception as he is definitely the most interesting an most developed character which is ironic as he is a robot. Fassbender's character continues in the alphabetic tradition of androids in the Alien franchise from Ash in Alien, Bishop in Aliens and Alien³, Call in Alien: Resurrection and David in Prometheus. David is a very inquisitive and of course intelligent android who likes to model his behaviour and speech from Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia. David is a very intriguing and at times creepy character who seems to have an agenda of his own.

The one aspect of the film that is fairly undisputed is the quality of the special effects. Scott is famous for using very minimal special effects in his films, instead choosing to use real life approaches and utilising the fear of the unknown. Scott embraces special effects here with many scenes showcasing his impressive vision. Whilst Scott has embraced new technology there are still plenty of memorable moments where fear is brought on from the unknown, highlighting as always that the imagination is the most powerful way to induce fear. 

It was always going to be hard for Prometheus to live up to it's high expectations given that Scott was returning to the genre of science fiction and that the film was a sort of prequel to Alien. Add to the mix a very effective marketing campaign and it was hard not to get swept up in the excitement. Unfortunately like many others I was left disappointed. Despite the disappointment Prometheus still manages to intrigue and thrill and offers some very impressive visuals. Although you can't help but compare it to Alien there is still plenty to admire. Despite the lack of character development and frustrating story fans of the genre and of Scott's work will not doubt still find the film entertaining. In the end Prometheus poses more questions than it answers.