This weekend was SOOOO relaxing. On Saturday, after a long day of doing nothing but eating, sleeping, and watching tv, we went out and saw Syriana. I hadn't even heard of it, but Brian, Shannon, and Antoniette all really wanted to see it, so I went along.Yeah, so it sucked. Don't bother. In an effort to be "cutting edge," the moviemakers disregarded everything they learned in film school. They went ahead and gave minor considerations like pacing, timing, and plot development a miss on this one. The dialogue was bad too. It did nothing to propel the story. For the most part, it seemed like a bunch of people talking w/ no particular story aim. I've seen reality shows edited with more purpose than this.
What bothered me the most was the film's big expose' feel, which it totally failed to deliver on. The "big reveal" was nothing special.. nothing inventive.. nothing we hadn't already heard before. The American government sells weapons that are later used against it. Poor kids become terrorists. Corporations are corrupt. The oil business is evil. Yeah yeah, tell me something I don't already know..
The only thing saving this movie from getting a straight-up F- from me is the acting. George-Clooney (who co-produced the film) must've called up all his best boys, cuz this movie had an all-star cast, and everyone did a really good job w/ his/her role. That wasn't enough to save the film from a crappy script and crappy directing job though.
Final grade: I went back and watched the trailer, just to see what all the fuss was about. The trailer gets a B+. The movie itself gets a D- though. I did not enjoy this film, and, if possible, I'd like my 2.5 hours back.
Sunday, we went and saw The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. I enjoyed this movie a lot. It was a little violent for a kid's movie, but that's about the only bad thing I can say about it. I really loved the costumes and the actress who played the white witch. She could be Cate Blanchett's evil twin. Final grade: A-.
10 comments:
Uh-oh, am I going to be the only person that didn't like Syriana?. I haven't read any reviews, but now I'm curious what other people thought. You should go see a matinee so you can tell me what you thought of it. I knew it was the guys that did Traffic before I saw it. I think that's part of why I had high hopes for it. But it tried to replicate the moment-in-the-life feeling of Traffic, only it didn't work out so well in a corporate context. Maybe I'm just not "cutting edge" enough for it..
I just read the Rolling Stone review. I think the guy wrote his review after seeing the preview (which was entertaining and had GREAT pacing and momentum). The movie itself though kept you puzzled and not really entertained for like the first 75% of it. I think the liberal media is just tickled by the idea of this movie alone. Like I discussed w/ Brian and Shannon though, this was probably a good book, but it made for a really flippin' boring movie.
No need to get your East-coast-liberal-lesbian-jew panties in a ruffle... I was talking about Rolling Stone, and any other "liberal" media outlets that blindly praise Syriana. Did Fox give it a good review?
See, I knew the gays would agree w/ me. White-collar thrillers are BORING!! Let's get that Top Model/Quiz Show corruption script written Ally!!
Either Maggie and Shane, or Jeannie and Josh when and way it...either way who ever it was didn't like it. They said it was confusing and they weren't sure why the heck Matt Damon character was even in it. Oh yea, I told on you...
Thank you Allison... I was thinking the same thing about the "liberal media." If you honestly think the media is liberal, read my Bible, Al Franken's "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them." It totally dispells the myth of the "liberal media."
I haven't seen the movie but would like too. There's just been too damn many "big" movies lately.
oh shit, I didn't even think about the fact that Brokebutt mountain will have a mostly gay audience commenting on the film. Now I can't go see it.
Eh, never heard anything about either movie. I did read all the Narnia books though when I was a kid. Good stuff
i really liked narnia...its was awesome!
topic for discussion: is claudia secretly taking marching orders from karl rove to disuade people from watching big oil boo boo syrinado and get them to watch christian yay yay movie narniado?
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