01/02/13….Ben Affleck thriller, Argo – tonight at Thame Cinema

BEN Affleck USA 2012 Starring Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston 120 minutes (15) – ARGO is a thriller based on the true story of a highly volatile international situation from recent history.

In 1979, six American officials managed to scramble out of the US embassy in Tehran, just as it was overrun by a pro-Ayatollah mob who brutally held the remaining personnel hostage: an ordeal for them and for Jimmy Carter, whose presidency bled to death in the ensuing media furore.

The six escapees holed up in secret at the Canadian ambassador?s residence. Back at CIA headquarters, the crisis is handled by Mendez, the agency?s top ?exfil? guy ? an expert in exfiltration, or getting Americans out of enemy territory. He sets up a Hollywood company and pretends that the six fugitives were Canadian film-makers scouting locations for a picture to be shot in Iran. What follows, in the deft script by screenwriter Chris Terrio, resembles an archetypal heist movie.

?A wonderfully lively and engrossing movie? The Observer, Winner of Best Director and Best Drama at the Golden Globes, seven Oscar nominations