Argo is kind of like The King’s Speech. Everybody likes it. Maybe not a lot. But it’s hard to hate. Even when it fumbles, you’ll feel disappointment more than anything else. It’s the perfect Academy movie in some ways. It’s about politics but not too much. There’s funny cursing but not too much. It’s boring enough to keep the kids out but not boring enough to confuse or upset stupid adults. And it involves Hollywood! If the Oscars don’t at least nominate John Goodman for playing another Academy Award winner (named John) I will be gobsmacked. There are a few moments that I think speak to the transcendent nature of film (airport guards mesmerized by fake concept art, or a young boy’s shelves full of Star Wars toys) and elevate the film above docudrama level.
Looper is fun and inventive and we don’t really get as many time travel movies as you might think so its not only nice to get another one but to get a good one. The movie is bursting with ideas, and although some of them may be wickedly underdeveloped or otherwise hokey, they are outnumbered by clever and interesting ideas that enhance the storytelling. The 2nd half is almost another movie entirely (wise marketing people kept that out of the trailers) but it still works. Good performances all around, although I wonder if the makeup on Joseph Gordon-Levitt was necessary. The movie tells us who is who, Old Joe, Young Joe, and all that, so it’s not like the audience needed more convincing that they are the same person.
Ted is better than a movie-length version of a Family Guy episode should be.
Brave feels the most Disney of the Pixar movies. The short film that precedes it, La Luna, is really cool.
~ Zeljko Ivanek can be seen in Argo and Seven Psychopaths if you are skilled at spotting hard working character actors.
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