Yup another I want to see. It looks like a movie that will make you think. Oh how we love Oscar season. The only time the big studios decide maybe the moviegoing audiences might not want their brain cells sucked out to the abyss. lol

Young adults, who are informative and want to be aware of what's happening around them, does not surprise me.

Older kids...free screening... they'll see anything! :lol

I'm not sure how this correlates to a fictional movie ...

Because much of what goes on in real life might as well be fiction?

I liked how Gaghan was able to weave seemingly unrelated characters threads in this film, which depicts how powerful forces like the oil industry, political factions of different countries, intelligence agencies, and terrorists converge, to show that even in ever-changing political/economic climates, the resultant mixture in flux may seem like oil and water, but it still provides economic and political benefit to the players, but not without getting their hands dirty or producing undesirable by-products.

It's a very subdued film, not much background music to intrude on the events as they unfold, and while it seems calm on the surface of things, it's constantly boiling underneath the calm facade.

I give it 3 stars, or a grade of B.

It doesnt look very good to me but Munich does.

I really liked it. Definitely one of the better films of this year. I thought the direction was fine and it manages to weave about 7 different story lines together nicely. I'm curious about the book now.

I just returned from seeing this film.One of the few recent films where you actually need to pay attention to the story line.One of the better recent adult dramas.It had a very similar movie style as "Traffic".Recommend.

Going to peep this tomorrow......and Harry Potter again.

Just got back from it and frankly I'm torn on my opinion of it. From an purely intellectual point of view I found it a satisfying film. The ideas being presented and the way the stories were told, definitely interesting. And yet, the whole movie left me cold. I had no emotional attachment to anything that happened in the film. I was not once 'moved' by anything (okay, maybe It was like a dry reading of an interesting news story.

And maybe that's intentional. I don't know. But I do know that similar films (Traffic and The Insider to name two) managed to present their topics in a way that was both intellectually AND emotionally stimulating.

I agree DRG, very unemotional, but very well made film overall and a good watch. I found Traffic to be painful in most regards and don't understand the praise, apart from Bencio's performance and the great "write two letters" bit. This is challenging and won't be for everyone, but if you want to be engaged by a movie, this is it. But, not very moving.

Quite similar to "Good Night and Good Luck" for me. Movies with politcal lean and agenda(not that I mind agendas by anyone if its a good watch) that are well made but overall not something I feel the need to rush back to and see again in the theater or on video. But I would recommend them to any "thinking" movie goer.

I agree completely. I don't think I could have described my own opinion of it any differently. It's too bad because I was so psyched for this movie.

edit: Syriana and Good Night and Good Luck will go down as the 2 biggest let downs this year, for me.

Just got back from this......

Decent movie, a little slow at times, I felt it was dragging at times during the movie. I agree with the others that the film felt dry. I felt most of the characters were in this "i am going to be soooo serious in this role, hoping to get an oscar nod" type mood throughout the movie, the characters just felt wooden and lifeless. I was expecting a little life from maybe Peet or Plummer, but no go.

I did like Damon, Coopers and Alexander Siddig performances though.

IMO It was very well written and directed. I liked a lot of the cineamatogophry, shots of the oil fields, and refineries.

I don't see this raking in the big bucks, my theater only had about 50 people in at at a 4:00 showing, maybe everybody is shopping. I don't see many Oscar nods either, maybe Alexander Siddig though.

Clooney's beard kicked ass

Off subject rant about Traffic....
I liked traffic, except Douglas character ruined the entire movie for me, he was an absolute PUSSY, with no balls, come on man you are the drug Czar, step it up man. Right there ruined the movie for me.

***/***** for Syriana

Animal

I thought this was a fantastic film.

I can't agree with the criticism of the performances, or lack of overt attempts to emotionally affect the viewer.

I think by design, it is driven much more so by the plot(s) and concepts of the film than the characters. There is not a lot of drama, and thus not a lot of dramatic performances. Not to say it wasn't well acted- it most definitely was. I'd say they were trying to make it realistic; trying to make what most people would consider not-so-every day events seem like every day events. Which is pretty much the whole point of the movie.

They even spent a lot of time weaving completely unconnected details of some character's lives into the film, though not into the story. I don't think this was to add dimension to the characters, so that we could see (for example) a dramatic scene where a man struggles to deal with his alcoholic father and wins an oscar. It was clearly meant to give the impression that the film was pulling back the curtain a bit and showing how the world really works, complete with real people in real situations, and with true-to-life solutions.

Whether it really gives a better representation, who knows. I do know that things are never as black and white as understood by the conventional wisdom, and this film did a good job of conveying that.

Me too. Don't know how well this is going to do with the young movie going public though. i went to see it and most of the audience was full of 50+ year olds.

And I just have to rant about the two old ladies behind me. One was captain obvious the whole time repeating what was being show on the screen. The other had a flash brilliance that could solve the entire Palestinian/Israeli conflict. When the scene came of the Islamic school and the students were wearing the white skull caps (looked it up, it's called a Kufi), lady two blurts out - "I just never have understood why the they hate the Jews so much, they wear the same type of hats!" Yes lady, it all comes down to hats.

At the end of the film they were complaining how they didn't understand anything. Ah well . . . that's Plano, Texas for you.

Not to go off topic, but the world could use more logic like that woman's simple one than the logic that causes either side its a good thing to kill each other. And I'm not a peace love and dope dove, but don't look down your nose so much, because when peace comes, it's generally something like that which puts the weapons down.

Going to catch this in a few minutes, will report back.

** / *****
A mess but not as much as a mess that Jarhead was.

I give it ***/**** (when did we switch to a five star system?) It was good, but not great. I think I need to see it again to know how I truly feel about though, as there was a whole lot of information to process and I can only do so much with my meager mind. I could tell it was written as a follow-up to Traffic, and was most likely going to be directed by Steven Soderbergh at one point, but he wound up taking Exex. Producer credit instead.

I saw it this afternoon, and thought it was a very good movie. I didnt find it hard to follow. But I love political intrigue/spy movies, so following double cross, interconnecting stuff is not a problem. I think it showed enough of the character's background, so you would feel something, but not too much so that you forget the greater picture of the effects of politics and greed on nations and people the characters represent.

It was the pretty good sized audience for the theatre's matinee showing. Its hard to tell if the older crowd was because of the neighborhood or the movie's draw.

I saw this last night and loved it! I was so absorbed in the interlocking storylines that I simply didn't want it to end. When it did I fully appreciated it as a whole -- even though I did not follow every thread 100%. Great performances too (powerful speech by Tim Blake Nelson). ***1/2 stars (out of four).

Saw Syriana over the weekend and had mixed feelings about it. I may be stupid cause I had no idea what was going on. Once I got home from the screening, I had to go to IMDB and read the plot synopsis. Things are much clear now. I think a lot of people were feeling the same way as me cause I heard lots of people asking questions about the plot as everyone was leaving the auditorium. Also during the movie, I got distracted with many people getting up and leaving and not coming back. I guess people got bored and confused. Overall, I'm glad I saw the film and give it a B-. I must say that tortue scene was brutal to watch.

I saw this movie on friday afternoon and the theater was pretty full. I must say I really enjoyed this movie. Syriana, Jarhead, and Good Luck and Good Night all had a similar feeling to them. I really loved them all and are probably 3 of the top movies of the year for me. The movie had a somewhat anti-climatic ending but I dont mind that so much. I left the movie somewhat emotionless but I think it was from thinking so much throughouth the movie. ***1/2 / **** from me

By the way, what does Syriana even mean? And did they ever mention the meaning in the film? Thanks.

Saw it today
although for someone that pays attention to politics it's easy to see the anti big oil, anti texas cowboy lifestyle, and based on those two anti bush, and anti cia themes, it wasn't in your face like a moore thing
it was more just a subtle implication

it got a bit boring and had some things that were totally not explained or needed, but any bias on the part of those that made it did not come into play enough to be a reason to not like it