Ben Affleck's snubbing for Best Director is the single greatest Oscar travesty in history

Rating: 10/10 (16 April 2016)

1. This movie is completely irresistible. In time this will rightfully become known as one of the best Best Picture winners of the 21st century.
2. Start with the premise. What a premise! You couldn't write a fictional movie half as entertaining as this one. In less competent hands, this film would have been a complete disaster of tone, but Affleck manages to walk the line with the deftness of Philippe Petit. Whenever the film threatens to become too fun or light, there's a stoic reminder of the stakes we are in, and that Affleck, Goodman and Arkin are doing their job for serious purpose.
3. The best example of this is a beautifully shot and edited sequence where the Argo team begin a table read for the film. Goodman and team sit down to read, Affleck seizes a wine glass, and then there's a tracking shot that follows the waiter into the kitchen, away from all the light and noise. In that quiet, the somber TV reporter relays updates on the hostage situation. Then William Goldenberg splices Iran scenes in with the preposterous table read. At the end, we feel exactly how we should - this is ludicrous, but we have to make it work.
4. My God the screenplay of this movie is delightful. There's the biting cynicism of Hollywood ("you're worried about the Ayatollah? Try the WGA", "you want to come to Hollywood and act like a big shot without doing anything? You'll fit right in). There's the wildly hilarious quips, such as a hysterical monologue that Alan Arkin delivers to the screenwriter of Argo. But most of all there's the tension-packed, terse dialogue that takes place in CIA headquarters or the Canadian ambassador's house. For whatever occasion, Chris Terrio is the guy.
5. This movie runs two hours but feels like five minutes. There is not a single wasted second in the entire film.
6. Affleck's direction is perfect with a capital P. He directs tension like no other director working today. The confrontation in the bazaar, the protest outside the bus, the delays in boarding their flight - Affleck's film leaps nimbly from one tension-packed set piece to another. His decision not to have the payoff until the quiet and innocuous announcement after takeoff makes the release of that tension all the better and more realistic. It is the single biggest Oscar travesty in history that Ben Affleck was not nominated (and did not win) Best Director for Argo.
7. Andre Desplat's score, especially the main theme that plays over the celebrations on the plane, is so soaring and beautiful it could have been placed over the celebrations of The Return of the King. It is such an emotional triumph that it plays so perfectly once the tension is gone. His minimalist work throughout the film makes that music swell all the better.
8. In addition to the main story, there are two critically important but tiny subplots. They amount to little more than two scenes to set up and then one scene pay off. The first relates to Joe Stafford (Scoot McNairy) and his doubt of Mendez's plan, but then saves the whole group by going along with the story and using his Farsi fluency to smooth things over with the guards. The other relates to the Taylor's housekeeper Sahar, who quickly deduces the hostage's identities. When confronted to confirm that information, Sahar makes a decision that many would make in that same position. It does much to show the resistance of the people of Iran to the violent Revolutionary Guard, and that not everyone is the same.
9. The acting in this film is wonderful. Bryan Cranston adds gravitas to every film not called Trumbo, with his slightly desperate but veteran persona. John Goodman is superb as the CIA- linked Hollywood makeup artist. Ben Affleck himself is fantastic in a guarded and subtle performance, every bit believable as an intelligence officer. Alan Arkin steals the show as the cantankerous producer Lester Siegel, who blusters along and drops curse words whenever he gets impatient with having to explain things to people.
10. The final frame of the movie is all the proof you need that this movie is something really special - absorb what is actually on the storyboard that Mendez brings home for his son and it's the perfect way to fade out.