"Argo" see this movie!

Ben Affleck has had an interesting career in Hollywood. After "writing" Good Will Hunting with best pal Matt Damon and winning an Oscar for said screenplay Affleck went the movie star route starring in big blockbusters such as "Armageddon" and "Pearl Harbor" among a slew of forgettable rom-coms, (Gigli, anyone?)  With his movie career on life support Affleck directed the small film "Gone Baby Gone" which itself is an adaptation of a Dennis Lehane (Mystic River) novel, the movie got good reviews, but did poorly at the box office, in fact the biggest thing to come out of "Gone Baby Gone" was the surprise Oscar nomination for supporting actress Amy Ryan. Next up for Affleck was the heist/thriller "The Town" for which he starred in as well as directed. "The Town" made many top 10 lists towards the end of the year but due to competition from "The Social Network" and "The Kings Speech" it was again left out of the major Oscar categories sans a best supporting actor nomination for Jeremy Renner. The major difference between GBG and The Town is that while GBG was a box office non factor, The Town opened at #1 and ended its domestic run with over 92 million dollars

With "Argo" Affleck's third film as a director he has reached the top of the mountain, who was once looked upon as a forgettable B movie actor Affleck has substantiated himself as this generations Warren Beatty, or  even Clint Eastwood. Affleck makes movies he wants to make, the way he wants to make them.

"Argo" is a true story set between 1979 and 1981 during the Iran hostage crisis and tells the story of the rescue of six fugitive American diplomatic personnel out of revolutionary Iran.Affleck plays CIA agent Tony Mendez who is tasked with leading the rescue. With the help of the Canadian Prime Minister the 6 would be hostages are put up to be a Canadian film crew in Iran to scout movie locations for a would be Star Wars rip off known as "Argo". All the bells and whistles are put on for this "hoax", a production company is set up, storyboards are made, the hostages are set up to be cameramen, screenwriter, director, among others. The film is so well made and paced that even though I've just told you that they are eventually rescued I promise that by the end you'll be gripping the armrests of your seat as this pot boiler of a thriller comes to its dramatic conclusion.

The acting again is top notch, Affleck himself is the only true blue "star".in the whole thing, John Goodman, Bryan Cranston and a scene stealing Alan Arkin are the other recognizable names in an othewise nameless cast which effectively makes the movie better for doing so.

This again is Affleck's baby and he deserves all the credit in the world. One scene in particular set during a script reading plays like something Scorsese would make during his hey day, and even uses Van Halen's "Dance the Night Away" to set the tone of Hollywood in the late 70's/early 80's. This film reeks of this time period and is all the better for it, the clothes, the music, the drinking and of course the smoking all make it feel like this was something left on the cutting room floor from 1980. For a story based around such a dark time its surprising how funny "Argo" actually is, as well as it being a true Hollywood movie about "Hollywood". "Argo" itself is defining Hollywood expectations, when it opened in October it actually grossed less than "The Town" but thanks to word of mouth people are finding this movie and its set to cross 100 million dollars domestic any day now with more to come with the expected multiple Oscar nominations coming its way. Its nice that someone like Ben Affleck can repent for the errors of his previous ways and I look forward to what he has to offer in the future