Review - Sicario

Cops and cartels, midnight raids and public shootouts, blood vendettas and hidden agendas, and a whole lot of dead bodies literally walled up in a house of horrors. If you told me all of this sounds like it belongs in a trashy detective novel, I'd probably agree. If told me it all sounds like it belongs in a trashy movie I'd say, “Hold the phone! Who says the movie has to be trashy?”

And of course, it isn't. French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve insinuates and executes all of these familiar genre tropes with hitman-like precision in Sicario, delivering one of the most cringe-inducing, butt-clenching, excruciating films of the year... And I mean every one of those in the best possible way.

Working from a twisty screenplay by actor-turned-writer Taylor Sheridan (Sons of Anarchy), Villeneuve has crafted an excellent thriller that's every bit as refined (if not more so) as the glossy biopics and period pieces that angle for adult dollars at the multiplex every fall. Along with 2012's Prisoners and last year's Enemy, Sicario further embosses his reputation as a filmmaker capable of elevating even the pulpiest story material with his surgical attention to form and construct.

Review - Argo

As though his first two features Gone, Baby, Gone and The Town weren't proof enough, Argo provides further evidence of Ben Affleck's continued maturation as a skillful, no-nonsense director. Falling into the unimpeachable category of “a good story, well told”, Argo is a near perfect Hollywood dramatization of a true story, deftly balancing tight thrills, human drama, and comic relief within a hugely entertaining and satisfying picture.

Starting off with a very brief history of Iran's political turmoil in the mid-to-late 70s, Affleck proceeds to drop us into a riveting opening sequence of a civilian mob storming the American embassy, brilliantly splicing together archived news footage with meticulously recreated shots (this scene alone is enough to justify William Goldenberg walking away with next year's Oscar for Best Film Editing). Intent on taking hostages so that the U.S. will relinquish the detested Shah who is being harboured stateside, the revolutionaries capture all but six embassy employees, who slip out the back and seek shelter at the house of the Canadian ambassador (Victor Garber). To prevent the unaccounted-for six from being hunted down and executed as spies, the CIA rushes to enact and escape plan. Dissatisfied with his colleagues' suggestions, special agent Tony Mendez (Affleck) comes up with an unlikely strategy to smuggle out the fugitives; as a Canadian film crew on a location scout for a sci-fi movie.