In 1979, when the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, Islamic militants led by the Ayatollah storm the US embassy in Tehran taking 52 Americans hostages. Unbeknownst to the Iranians, six are able to escape and take shelter at the Canadian ambassador’s home. The Central Intelligence Agency decides that they can’t stay there because if they are found, they along with the ambassador will be publicly executed in the streets. With the CIA at a loss to figure out how to smuggle the hostages safely out of Iran, exfiltration specialist, Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck), hatches a plan to extract them under the guise that they are a Canadian film crew scouting out locations for a made up science-fiction movie, set in space, called Argo. Where, after having established their covers, they’ll then be able to walk right past the Revolutionary Guard using their new fake identities with no one the wiser. As Mendez’s boss, Jack O’Donnell (Bryan Cranston) puts it, “This is the best bad idea we have.”
Rex Reed of The New York Observer writes, “Gifted, intelligent and full of cogent ideas, Mr. Affleck can almost always be depended on to come up with something fascinating, coherent and thoroughly cinematic. Argo, his third feature film as a director after Gone Baby Gone (2007) and The Town (2010), is no exception. It grabbed me by the lapels and held my attention for two solid hours without a sideward glance, and I can’t wait to see it again.” HSX predicts that Argo will open at $18.8M. From the raving reviews we’ve seen thus far, we think the film will crush those expectations.
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Rating: R // Genre: Drama, Thriller // Runtime: 2 hr. 0 min. // Starring: Ben Affleck, Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman // Directed by: Ben Affleck // Written by: Chris Terrio, Joshuah Bearman // Produced by: GK Films, Smoke House, Warner Bros. Pictures // Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
In Here Comes the Boom, Scott Voss (Kevin James) is a 40-something burned out high school biology teacher about a decade past his “teacher of the year prime” who is stirred to action when one of his colleagues (Henry Winkler), a teacher who is still inspiring children well into his career, faces the chopping block due to cutbacks in extracurricular activities at his school. In an effort to raise money, Voss picks up a side job moonlighting as a competitive mixed martial arts fighter. Lucky for him, and the school, Voss was formerly a collegiate wrestler. But despite the fact that he’s pretty well over the hump, and everyone thinks he’s crazy, Voss becomes a sensation when he rallies the entire school.
Roger Moore writes, “Kid-friendly funnyman Kevin James is at his cuddliest in Here Comes the Boom. He’s developed a comfortable screen presence that takes away the impression that he was working too hard for laughs. James, [Henry] Winkler, [Salma] Hayek and [Bas] Rutten make an amusing ensemble and click together.” HSX is predicting that this film opens at around $15M.
Rating: PG // Genre: Action, Comedy // Runtime: 1 hr. 45 min. // Starring: Kevin James, Salma Hayek and Henry Winkler // Directed by: Frank Coraci // Written by: Kevin James, Allan Loeb, Rock Reuben // Produced by: Broken Road Productions, Columbia Pictures, Happy Madison Productions, Hey Eddie, Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) // Distributed by: Sony Pictures, Columbia Pictures