Argo - Worst Best Picture since Crash

Distorted Humor

At least Crash had the excuse of being a weak year in movies. Argo was at best the fifth best movie this year.


1. Zero Dark thirty
2. Django unchained
3. Life of Pi
4. Silver linings playbook
5. Toss up between Les Mis and Argo.

Just shaking my head on this poor selection.

Mr Martini

I haven't seen it. But when it wins Best Picture at the Golden Globes, The Oscars, The BAFTAs, The SAGs and other smaller film association best picture awards, that says a lot. I could understand if it one only one award out of all the awards show. I made a promise to co-workers that if it won Best Picture at the Oscars, I'd see it (my money was on Lincoln). Now I have to hold to my end of the promise and I'm looking forward to it.

Napoleon Plural

I enjoyed it a lot - but it was when movies were picking up a bit at last. Most of those films were in the last three months, most of this year was a drought for cinema.

But Argo let me down as the ending was all made up, I guess that's expected and you can say the same about The Sound of Music too! But some of the Hollywood stuff was a bit cute, a bit sub Boogie Nights and oddly never very convincing, dunno why Arkin gets a nod, he's just doing his irascible schtick, nothing special there.

NeverSayDie

First rule if filmmaking:
The movie always comes first even if it means changing the true story.

I really enjoyed Argo. I knew nothing about until I saw it and I was on the edge of my seat.
Life of Pi- was boring. Zero emotional engament. It was Cast Away but on a boat and the football was a tiger.
Les Miz- badly shot and overly long. Russel Crowe was terrible.
Silver Lining Playbook- really enjoyed it. Did she deserve an Oscar for it, no.

Skyfall- without any bias a superb movie. Real tension. Beautiful cinematography. Dench and Craig were superb.

Brosnan_fan

It is a superior film to The Departed, The Hurt Locker and The King's Speech.

Out of the 10 candidates for Best Picture, I have only been inclined to pay my money to see Argo and Django. (I'll probably catch ZDT sometime later this week.)

In all honesty, I haven't watched the Oscars for the past 4 years; I've really just followed my own viewing interests when it comes to film-going. Most of the time the Academy makes the most questionable decisions ever.

NeverSayDie

Django deserved more Oscars. QT's finest.

Thunderpussy

I agree Django Deserved much more, a brilliant film. Although
I enjoyed Argo and thought it was great, very suspenseful.

Mr Beech

It is common for Best Picture nominees to release in the 4-5 months before the awards, hence it often being called Award Season. People mistake this as a drought in the rest of the year, but its an intentional release window.

Distorted Humor

Argo a competent movie, but that is the best that you can say for it.

1. Zero Dark Thirty was a great film, but it politics where wrong for hollywood.
2. Django Should of been the selection if Zero Dark thirty was person non-grata, as its QT best work in a long while.
3. LIfe of Pi is not a great film, but its a "movie magic" type of movie. And people will remember that movie for years, it is also a unique, risky movie.
4. Silver linings playbook is a Rom- com, which I hate normally, but it filled with great acting and is funny at times.
5. Argo, which by all accounts I should love, was boring. No great acting jobs (I like Arkin a lot, but the as the poster said, it not him doing anything new.) and it was boring.
6. Les mis - Has a lot of good points, but a lot of flaws. I didn't think Crowe was as bad as people make it out him to be, but the filming of the movie was lacking.

(Have not seen Lincoln yet. Nor Amour)

Who I feel most bad for is Chastain, who lost a deserved Oscar for her role in ZDT due to the blackballing. I love Lawrence and thought she did a amazing job in Winters Bone and Playbook, but she wasn't as good as the masterful work that Chastain did in ZDT.

Barry Nelson

I saw Argo and enjoyed it a lot, any time a film can create tension when you know the outcome the filmmakers have done a good job.

I would have voted for Lincoln, but that is why they vote. I also saw Les Miz, enjoyed it, but it was too long. Zero Dark Thirty was excellent.

I thought this was a great year for movies, the summer action movies were good, with The Avengers and Dark Knight Rises, the fall/winter dramas were good and Skyfall was IMO the best Bond film in quite a while.

While I am at it, will mention I am really looking forward to Oz, looks quite entertaining.

Sir Hillary Bray

I have no problem with Argo winning, although I have not seen Zero Dark Thirty. I find it humorous that there is so much hand-wringing about films like Argo, ZDT and Lincoln not being 100% historically accurate. These are not documentaries! Whether ZDT was the best movie of the year, I can't say, but I totally agree that it was hurt by bogus allegations that it glorified the use of torture. Hollywood can really be a joke sometimes.

The Domino Effect

Sir Hillary Bray wrote:

I have no problem with Argo winning, although I have not seen Zero Dark Thirty. I find it humorous that there is so much hand-wringing about films like Argo, ZDT and Lincoln not being 100% historically accurate. These are not documentaries!

No, they're not documentaries but they certainly don't present themselves merely as entertainment either. There is a distinct and overt effort made by the studios with films like these that they are accurate historical portrayals. If you are going to take that route then you have a moral responsibility to be accurate. You can certainly use some artistic licence, but when it comes to the integral facts, you'd better be 99% accurate if you're going to use the sort of trailers, previews and catch-lines that these films do. I'm no expert on Lincoln so can't comment on its authenticity. ZDT was probably as accurate as it could be given the information that was available when it was made (Mark Owen's book etc hadn't come out then), but Argo is just woefully wrong and wilfully so. Yes it's great entertainment (I thoroughly enjoyed it), but when it presents itself as an accurate telling of the events, that's precisely what it should be. In this day and age where people are stretched to read the back of a receipt never mind an actual book or newspaper, film makers are well aware that 99% of the audience will take their productions as gospel...and therefore to re-write history for the sake of entertainment is just wrong yet we see this over and over again.

Mr Beech

My film teacher said Argo was almost impossible to direct badly, so he didn't thing Ben Affleck deserved a Best Director nod anyways and thought it shouldn't have won. He said that there was so much in that film that was already written and designed by others with thousands on the crew and a lot of people in charge that it is unlikely any director could have strayed far from what was greenlit and guided to production.

I haven't seen it, but my parents just did and said they didn't find it to be outstanding beyond some good actors.

Number24

I haven't seen Life of Pi or Silver Linings Playbook. I found Django Unchained stylish and inventive, but the story was somehow weak and confused with a rushed ending ( You could sense Tarantiono sitting by his PC, thinking: What happens now? .... Oh, that would be cool, I'll put it in here!). ZDT was very good, but it establishes a link between bin Laden's capture that is controverisal and maybe even wrong. I think Argo was very good, but I think it would have been even better without the fictious car-chase at the end. Le Miserable was also good, but I found the on-set singing went a step too far. The idea of making the singing more emotional with more acting was a good one, but you can do that and still hold a clear note once in a while

To me it would be a coin-toss between Argo and ZDT.