A great victory for America.

Rating: 10/10 (12 June 2013)

Every summer, I review Oscar nominees that I haven't reviewed before. To kick if off, I will start with last year's best picture winner, Argo. I meant to review it back when I saw it, but i forgot. Argo is a fantastic movie that really shows us Ben Affleck's true talent: directing. I'm not saying he's a bad actor, but directing seems to be his true calling.
The film takes place in the 70's. Seven American tourists are currently quarantined in Iran. Enter Affleck, who plays a C.I.A. agent named Mendez. Mendez hatches a seemingly impossible plot to get them out of there. The plan: disguise them as a film crew working on a big budget sci-fi film. Alan Arkin and John Goodman also star as two Hollywood experts who show him just how to prepare this movie.
Argo is a great movie for a lot of reasons. It's smart, it's funny, and there isn't a boring second in the entire thing. It also has a great story and the pace is consistent. The acting is pretty good too. Affleck is overlooked here, mainly because he has to keep up with the scene-stealing Alan Arkin. What I admire about Argo most is how Affleck pulls it off. It feels as if you're watching an Ocean's movie.
With a lot of fact-based Oscar winners, we are sort of left bored or trying to look for historical inaccuracies. Here, we just can't take our eyes away from it. It's the rare true story that is ingeniously entertaining. I loved Argo. I understand why it won Best Picture (though I don't quite agree with it). I don't understand why Ben Affleck was snubbed for Best director (probably because of Affleck's past, including Surviving Christmas, Daredevil, Gigli, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, and Chasing Amy). But to make up for those, Argo is good enough. It is a great victory for America.
A+