Argo (2012) Warner Bros. Pictures 📢 Director: Ben Affleck. 💰 Producer: Ben Affleck, George Clooney, Grant Heslov, David Klawans. 👫 Cast: Ben Affleck, Victor Garber, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin, John Goodman. 🏆 Awards ceremony: -85th Academy Awards: February 24, 2013. Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. 🎭 Other films nominated for Best Picture this year: -Beasts Of The Southern Wild. -Django Unchained. -Les Misérables. -Life Of Pi. -Lincoln. -Silver Linings Playbook. -Zero Dark Thirty. 📕 Plot summary: Set in 1979-1980, and based on a true story; 66 staff members from the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran are captured and held hostage when it is stormed by angry Iranian Islamists following President Carter's decision to give safe sanctuary to their former leader. However, six members of staff manage to escape the building and take refuge at the home of the Canadian ambassador to wait it out until their rescue arrives. C.I.A. specialist (BEN AFFLECK) consults a special make-up movie artist (JOHN GOODMAN) and proposes going to Iran to scout locations for a fake movie ('Argo') as a cover story for rescuing the escapees. 💥 Standout scene(s): -The sequence as the six staff members are taken to the airport to be rescued and get out of the country, intercut with the soldiers who are trying desperately to piece the plot together has some great editing and builds the drama to a really good point. 🔑 Facts: -The 85th Academy Awards. -Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, it won 3: Best Picture, Adapted screenplay, Editing. -This was Ben Affleck's second Best Picture appearance (Shakespeare In Love). -This was Victor Garber's second Best Picture appearance (Titanic). -This was John Goodman's second (consecutive) Best Picture appearance (The Artist). 🙂 Personal opinion: Ben Affleck. I mean, what can you say about Ben Affleck? As a director he seemed to be pretty competent here and is even tolerable to watch on screen. Alan Arkin was great but Bryan Cranston was a big let down if I am honest. The sets, art direction and clothing really looked of its period and believable. The film starts well then sort of goes sideways after a while but picks up again with some genuinely good directing and suspense-building editing towards the end. Watchable but not the type of film you would want to watch more than once. Did it deserve the Oscar? ✅YES. 6/10

Review date: 12 July 2025