2013 Oscar Pool - Movies & TV - Forums : Best Ever Albums

Saoirse

Would you be so willing to defend Argo if it completely ignored the CIA involvement, or if it portrayed any part the Iranian populace as something other than the faceless hunters of the trapped Americans, as they were given even less depth than the thinly written American and Canadian characters?

I think the movie Argo is a great example of a really fascinating story and study in recent global-politcial strife that's throughly hollywood-sized into a predictable genre thriller (this being a cross between a spy and prison-break film), which mends a lot of the historical detail unnecessarily and throws out the more ambigious (and much more interesting) questions that arised from this particular event, largely cause it doesn't seem to fit neatly with the genre-movie conventions that this movie often employed.

I do agree fully that it was strange to barely mention Canada's involvement when they in fact did the lion's share of the planning and executing of this particular mission. Why? It seems both like they excessively patronized Hollywood but more so America in general, almost perpetuating the old cowboy stereotype that this was a successful mission based on the country's brilliant bravado when in fact it was a multi-national effort to bring these embassay workers home safely. Use the cop-out "Artistic License", but spending more needed attention to a country's efforts in this event when they, in real life, did most of the work to ensure this mission was brought out successfuly wouldn't really hamper the story, in fact it would help paint a more complete picture. It just seems putting Hollywood and the CIA almost entirely front-and-center made it work "easier" (not better) as a rogue-hero-who-saves-endangered-hostages storyline, rather than the more complicated and much more intriguing mission that was constructed not by one country's or industry's swagger but a coordinated bi-lateral effort that wouldn't have worked without either's support.

In all honesty, while some inaccuracies were really easy to spot, the first personal impression of Argo was just that it was a fairly well done but predictable thriller with little emotional depth or historical perspective. It's actually delving deeper into the fascinating story and historical event where this movie just seems like an utter falsehood, and even less interesting than what initially met the eye.

junodog4
Future Grumpy Old Man

Gender: Male
Location: Calgary

RFNAPLES wrote:

We can't always save the ignorant. Should we stop producing cars because some ignorant people drive drunk? Any adult should know that movies are entertainment, not news or historical fact. Pray for those who don't.

Why all or nothing? I never said Argo should be banned, or never should have been made. I just think it should be criticized for being historically inaccurate. Perhaps a slight revision to reflect history should have been in order.

To adopt your analogy - if cars are built with problems, they catch them before production, or they issue a recall. They don't ban cars.

Just because I think something isn't good, doesn't mean it shouldn't exist. Argo is inaccurate. They could have done it better, and it doesn't deserve best picture.
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RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

There are no problems with the cars that cause ignorant drunk drivers to have accidents. Likewise there is nothing with the movie or its tagline that should cause people to think it is not entertainment, a drama, except their own ignorance. Criticize all you like, perhaps you could do better--then do it.
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RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

A few of the awards won by Argo:

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junodog4
Future Grumpy Old Man

Gender: Male
Location: Calgary

RFNAPLES wrote:

There are no problems with the cars that cause ignorant drunk drivers to have accidents. Likewise there is nothing with the movie or its tagline that should cause people to think it is not entertainment, a drama, except their own ignorance. Criticize all you like, perhaps you could do better--then do it.

...but there is something wrong with Argo. It's inaccurate. And I'm not saying I can do better. I'm saying Ben Affleck and whoever else was behind the film could have done better. Drunk drivers will crash a perfectly good car. Ignorant movie goers will not believe historical inaccuracies if there aren't any major ones in a film. The problem is the errors in the film. Posting a list of awards it's won just convinces me even more how it should have been better.

If there is something wrong with a product, people should critique it, so that standards improve.

I've made my position clear. If you want to argue for the sake of it, knock yourself out - you'll have an opportunity once someone doesn't like one of your 'stimulating' cartoons.
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Finnegan was super bad-ass.

RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

The purpose of Argo is to entertain not educate. The awards convince me of your errors.
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Wombi

RFNAPLES wrote:

Criticize all you like, perhaps you could do better--then do it.

Really? I'd say I expect better of you RF, but I really don't. If this argument is true then why are we even here on this site? It means art shouldn't be evaluated and we should just shut our brains off and view/hear it and applaud every piece of work as great since the artist made it at all. Useless.

Also even just as an entertainment piece Argo was shit.

JMan

Jhereko wrote:

Really? I'd say I expect better of you RF, but I really don't. If this argument is true then why are we even here on this site? It means art shouldn't be evaluated and we should just shut our brains off and view/hear it and applaud every piece of work as great since the artist made it at all. Useless.

Also even just as an entertainment piece Argo was shit.

Is that what people do with Lady Gaga? Mr. Green

RFNAPLES
Level 8

Gender: Male
Age: 75
Location: Durham, NC, USA

Jhereko wrote:

Really? I'd say I expect better of you RF, but I really don't. If this argument is true then why are we even here on this site? It means art shouldn't be evaluated and we should just shut our brains off and view/hear it and applaud every piece of work as great since the artist made it at all. Useless.

Also even just as an entertainment piece Argo was shit.

I said: "Criticize all you like..."
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Top 100 Greatest Music Albums by RFNAPLES
Bubbling Under The Top 100 Greatest Mus...y RFNAPLES

useless

RFNAPLES wrote:

The purpose of Argo is to entertain not educate. The awards convince me of your errors.

Well, if you think awards are given solely on purposes of filmic quality (which is also incredibly subjective and cannot be counted with a calculator) and not because of public relations/promotion of certain films...

Also you're completely ignoring questions directed towards you more than once, like "would you defend Argo if it presented CIA as an evil organization which didn't help at all during the Iran hostage crisis" and giving one-line answers to enormous texts which present you lots of arguments that you never answer to.