"Argo"

When I saw the movie "Gone Baby Gone" I told my husband that Ben Affleck was going to be an amazing director. More than that, I said that he was going to be the "one to watch". With "Argo" he made my prediction come true, and I cannot wait to see what he comes up with next.
If you don't know that Ben Affleck directed "Argo" then I'd like to know what the weather was like under that rock where you've been. This amazing film was written by Chris Terrio, and was based on the book by Tony Mendez. Even knowing that license was taken with this "based on a true story" flick didn't make the suspense any less real. I loved that Affleck didn't resort to over-dramatising a story that was dramatic enough all by itself. He just let the story tell itself, and if you were a teenager during the late 70's as I was, the reliving of that particular hostage crisis was very charged. We followed it every day in our History class, and I remember trying to imagine the powerlessness of those circumstances. This movie brought it all to life.
Affleck bolstered his cause with fine actors like Bryan Cranston, John Goodman (who was in five films this year, two of which were nominated for best picture!), and my personal favorite, Alan Arkin. Arkin plays a real Hollywood producer who is asked to produce a fake Hollywood film. As far as I am concerned he did everything spot-on.
Just go to the video store, already.

Don't you have enough ideas yet?

"The Master"

Ever since Joaquin Phoenix made a very public point of saying he was leaving acting forever, I've been anxiously awaiting his return. I was definitely not disappointed by this new debut.
Joaquin, as Freddy Sutton, is a completely loose alcoholic cannon. He is unpredictable, unlikable, and abrasive. And still I rooted for him to get his shit together. The layers of pain and hard knocks that Freddie so obviously carried with him was palpable. One could only imagine that if watching this was uncomfortable, how must it have been to inhabit this being for even a short period of time, much less the months it takes to make a motion picture.Let me just say I believe that Phoenix absolutely deserved his Oscar nomination, and has this movie happened in a year without "Lincoln" in it, he may have won that golden guy.
Phoenix, of course, did not accomplish this feat by himself.
The screenplay was written and directed by  Paul Thomas Anderson. Also cast were the Philip Seymour Hoffman as the title character, and Amy Adams as Hoffman's wife. The fact that they both also received Oscar nods speaks to the strength of their performances as well as to the strength of the film.

This is not an easy movie to watch. It is full of manipulation and harsh realities. It is also full of real characters that speak in loud, unrelenting voices. Do yourself a favor and listen.

"Moonrise Kingdom"

I didn't rent this Wes Anderson film for a long time because my younger son had said it was "weird'. It was. It was weird, and wonderful and a flight back to a simpler time. I loved that that children were children, the adults were adults,  the parents were parents, and everyone was human.
It is a fantastical story about a boy who doesn't fit into a mold and a girl who doesn't fit into a mold, and how they fit perfectly with each other. The boy has no parents and has been in Foster Care. The girl has parents who don't understand her, but do love her and, with all their faults and foibles are doing the very best they can.
This film is full of color and light. It was the most beautiful movie I've seen in a very long time.
The movie was written by Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola, (yes, THAT Coppola family). It was beautifully directed by Wes Anderson, and the chosen cast was perfect. Jared Gilman plays the boy, and Kara Hayward plays the girl. They were exactly who they should have been--children on the cusp of puberty with more questions about life than answers, and yet an unwavering commitment to be exactly who they were.
The supporting cast was made of of acting veterans such as Edward Norton as the boyscout troop leader, Bruce Willis as the local law enforcement, Frances McDormand as the girls mother, and Bill Murray as the girls father. Everyone was delightfully quirky and sincere.

This is not a chick flick, but a human film. You will be touched.