Argo (Dir - Ben Affleck. 2012)

Summary: Argo is a 2012 American thriller film, based loosely on an account published in 2007 of the "Canadian Caper", in which Tony Mendez, a CIA operative, led the rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Tehran, Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis.

Dear Ben Affleck,  

Having just seen Argo I felt I had to write you this letter to apologise for the horrible comments I have made regarding your past work. In the past I may have referred to you as a hack, described your acting skills as wooden and your emotional range as goldfish-like. I have also, in the past at every opportunity, compared your inadequate acting skills to the greatly underrated & vast talent your brother Casey has consistently demonstrated throughout his career. Dear Ben Affleck I am sorry and I promise this bad mouthing of you will not continue. 

I have to admit the turning point in my opinion of you was your directorial début Gone Baby Gone, it was brilliant. It was such a beautiful film noir I think I told everyone I know to watch it. The came The Town which, to be honest was not as good as Gone Baby Gone but it did show stylistic versatility. The Town was good and I think the most interesting element about it was seeing just how much your acting had changed for the positive with you self directing. 

So lets gets finally talk about Argo, it is excellent, I really cannot remember the last time a film had me on the edge of my seat so much. The casting was inspired, the comic relief of John Goodman and Alan Arkin, the doubt and tension created by Scoot McNairy and there was you with all your brooding quiet intelligence. The tone this political thriller was fantastic and I really believed I was in the early 80s. I had been worried going into the cinema that it would be too dramatic, over the top and fast paced but Argo slowly builds, drawing you into the character developments and the subtle suspense.

Overall: I think I've done enough ass kissing and Argo is a masterpiece 10/10

Yours Sincerely,

Rachel Durance

Prometheus (Dir - Ridley Scott. 2012)

Summary: Prometheus is set in the late 21st century and centers on the crew of the spaceship Prometheus as they follow a star map discovered among the remnants of several ancient Earth cultures. The crew, seeking the origins of humanity, arrive on a distant world and discover an advanced civilization and a threat that could cause the extinction of the human race.

Well I somehow managed to watch this twice at the cinema, once in 3D IMAX and once in 2D. Firstly I just want to say that the 3D was a massive waste of time, 30% colour loss, horrible focus issues (I missed out on all the lovely Giger-esque background art) and messy jerky action sequences made watching in 3D jarring to say the least. Needless to say I enjoyed the 2D much more.

I love the feel of this film all gloomy, stark and post-apocalyptic, I expected it to be Alien and there is just a strong nod to what is to come (this is after all a prequel), but isn’t too over the top. I feel like it’s hard to talk about this film without giving too much away, it is beautifully shot, the sets and scenery are gorgeous and I thought the casting was wonderfully done.

From the opening sequence Scott has the audience asking ‘Why are we here?’ and ‘Where did we come from?’ and continues to escalate these themes as the film continues. I felt throughout that the script intelligently held back information, it doesn’t answer every question raised but it has the perfect level of mystery and guidance to let your mind wander to create your own answers.

As I’ve said above the casting was brilliant and I was (as always) particularly impressed with Scott’s strong female leads Noomi Rapace and Charlize Theron but as much as I hate to gloss over the lead actresses, the real standout performance was Michael Fassbender as a replicant obsessed with Laurence Olivier. Fassbender effectively balances the role between evil mastermind and minion/servant that I didn’t know if I wanted him to succeed or fail. Everything from Fassbender’s mannerisms, speech and eye contact get under your skin bringing a consistent sense of anxiousness into the mix which offsets the other characters beautifully.

Overall: If Fassbender doesn’t get a nomination for Best Supporting Actor I will be very disappointed but Prometheus just needed something more to make it truly excellent 7/10.

So it's been a while.....

So my Film Awards Season blog re-opens for business and is undergoing a few changes this year. Firstly I will no longer be focused on the Oscars and instead looking more towards the BAFTAs, the reason for this is that based on the past few years the BAFTAs have included what I honestly believe to be a better, well rounded selection of films in their nominations, BAFTA include more 1st time directors, more independent films, have British film awards and in my opinion, buy less into the Hollywood studio marketing campaigns.

Secondly I have changed my film scoring system to being out of 10, the reason for this is that I think the score out of 5 system didn’t effectively reflect what was a good film and what was a great film. Take for example The Idles of March that I gave 4/5 to last year; while comes across as a strong score it could also be interpreted as an amazing score. The fact is that if I had reviewed The Idles of March with the out of 10 system I probably would have only given it a 7/10, it was good don’t get me wrong, but it just wasn’t unique, touching or special enough to justify a higher score.

Thirdly I am going to try, I mean really try this year to cover more films then in my previous 2 years, which is why I’m starting to review films in November instead of after Christmas.

Lastly if you disagree with anything, agree with anything or just want to nag me to review something I haven’t got round to yet, leave a comment. I know my opinions are not the be all and end all of reviews and I would love to hear what you think. Who knows maybe I’ve missed something or interpreted a moment in a different way, if you think this is the case let me know.