Movies

Argo

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ArgoThis was an enjoyable movie that really communicated an eighties feel along with a gritty excitement.  Ben Affleck directed, produced and starred – bravo!

In poking around, this fun quote emerged:

The six diplomats were privy to the screenplay. One scene at the airport has the diplomats pulled aside for questioning and the outcome looks bleak. Joe Stafford, a diplomat whose prominence was exaggerated by Anders’ account, saves the crew by convincingly explaining Argo’s storyboards in Farsi. When the diplomats asked about this fictionalized scene, the producers replied, “We have to set up conflict.”

“It was much more difficult coming up here through Washington,” quipped Anders on Wednesday. Source

The Master

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The Master movie posterThe Master has generated some buzz around the performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, and that seems understandable for both.  Phoenix is a sort of twisted Freddy Quell ready to explode at a moment’s notice, with dark shadows in his face and a darkness within.  Hoffman is the charismatic “Master”, and he exudes calm, and smooth talking, with every now and then a minor explosion.  Supposedly he sees in Freddy some kind kindred spirit, with a deep connection from the Franco-Prussion war (so a previous life in the 1870’s).  But one that seems inexplicable to his family and followers, and seemed inexplicable to me too.

The movie seems to jump from episode to episode, a lot of it not making any sense.  One moment, the Master is singing “Here we go a roving” for a group of friends, and a moment later, all the women are nude, and he is still singing.  Is this Freddy’s madness or part of the “story”?  The final scenes seemed strange and irrelevant.

This is supposedly about Scientology, the baffle-gab pseudo-religion that L. Ron Hubbard created in the early 50’s, just like in the movie. Perhaps there are some parallels: the boat, the legal troubles, the jargon, etc.  But it doesn’t get at the heart of the matter, I don’t think, of knowingly perpetuating a fraud on oneself, one’s family and one’s friends.