Syriana

[modage]

Release Date: November 23rd, 2005 (limited)

Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures

Production Company: Section Eight (Ocean's Twelve, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), Participant Productions

Cast: George Clooney (Robert Baer), Matt Damon (Bryan Woodman), Amanda Peet (Julie Woodman), Max Minghella (Robby Baer), Christopher McDonald, Chris Cooper, Greta Scacchi, Michelle Monaghan, Dagmara Dominczyk, Tim Blake Nelson, Jeffrey Wright, Gina Gershon

Director: Stephen Gaghan (Abandon)

Screenwriter: Stephen Gaghan (The Alamo, Traffic)

Based Upon: Based on the book "See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism" written by Robert Baer.

Premise: Robert Baer (Clooney), a 21-year veteran of the CIA, spent his entire career investigating terrorists around the globe. As the dangers of terrorism increased, Baer watched as the CIA's funding was cut, politics overtook judgment, and warning signs were ignored. But the struggle becomes personal when and oil executive (Damon) and his wife (Peet) are faced with a family tragedy.

Genre: Thriller, Based on a True Story

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

[Ghostboy]

After watching that trailer, I have no idea what that movie is about (aside from oil), but it looks pretty good. On the plus side, the cast is great and the score is by Alexandre Desplat. On the down side, Abandon was unbelievably bad.

[Pubrick]

On the down side, Abandon was Amanda Peet is always unbelievably bad.

fixed.

[Ghostboy]

Actually, you know, I love Amanda Peet. I think it's just her movies that are unbelievably bad.

[Pubrick]

Actually, you know, I love Amanda Peet. I think it's just her movies that are unbelievably bad.

yeah true, i should've added "except on letterman".

cos, unscripted, she appears to be very amicable, sweet, and entertaining. her movies just sap the life out of her.

[Gold Trumpet]

After watching that trailer, I have no idea what that movie is about (aside from oil), but it looks pretty good.

Same here and I've read the book they are "adapting" this movie into. No worries, here's a proper synopsis:

Plot: From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy Award for Traffic, comes Syriana, a political thriller that unfolds against the intrigue of the global oil industry. >From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, the film's multiple storylines weave together to illuminate the human consequences of the fierce pursuit of wealth and power. As a career CIA operative (George Clooney) begins to uncover the disturbing truth about the work he has devoted his life to, an up-and-coming oil broker (Matt Damon) faces an unimaginable family tragedy and finds redemption in his partnership with an idealistic Gulf prince (Alexander Siddig). A corporate lawyer (Jeffrey Wright) faces a moral dilemma as he finesses the questionable merger of two powerful U.S. oil companies, while across the globe, a disenfranchised Pakistani teenager (Mazhar Munir) falls prey to the recruiting efforts of a charismatic cleric. Each plays their small part in the vast and complex system that powers the industry, unaware of the explosive impact their lives will have upon the world.

[cowboykurtis]

Warner Borthers Production Notes:

"Corruption charges...corruption?  Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulation.  That's Milton Friedman. He got a Nobel Prize.  We have laws against it precisely so we can get away with it.  Corruption is our protection.  Corruption keeps us safe and warm.  Corruption is why you and I are prancing around in here instead of fighting over scraps of meat out in the street.  Corruption...is why we win." - Tim Blake Nelson as Danny Dalton to Jeffrey Wright as Bennett Holiday

From writer/director Stephen Gaghan, winner of the Best Screenplay Academy Award for Traffic, comes Syriana, a political thriller that unfolds against the intrigues and corruption of the global oil industry. From the players brokering back-room deals in Washington to the men toiling in the oil fields of the Persian Gulf, the film's multiple storylines weave together to illuminate the human consequences of the fierce pursuit of wealth and power.

The intrigue takes place against the backdrop of an oil-producing Gulf country, where young, charismatic and reform-minded Prince Nasir (Alexander Siddig) is seeking to change long-established relationships with U.S. business interests. Nasir, the apparent heir to the throne, has just granted natural gas drilling rights – long held by Connex, a Texas energy giant – to a higher Chinese bid. This is a huge blow to Connex and American business interests in the region. Killen, a smaller Texas oil company owned by Jimmy Pope (Chris Cooper), has just won the very competitive drilling rights to coveted fields in Kazakhstan. This makes Killen very attractive to Connex, who now needs new territory to maintain its production capacity. When the two companies merge, the pending deal attracts the scrutiny of the Justice Dept., and Sloan Whiting, a powerful white-shoe Washington law firm, is brought in to perform due diligence.

Bob Barnes (George Clooney) is a veteran CIA agent nearing the end of a long and respectable career, with a son headed for college (Max Minghella) and the possibility of spending the latter days of his service in a cushy desk job. A devoted company man, Bob's always been a true believer that his work benefits his government and makes his country a safer place.

In Bob's last assignment, an assassination of two arms dealers in Tehran, a Stinger missile falls into the hands of a mysterious blue-eyed Egyptian. On his return to Washington, Bob is promised a promotion after one last undercover mission – assassinating Prince Nasir. But when one of his field contacts turns on him and the assassination attempt goes terribly awry, Bob is scapegoated by the CIA, betrayed by the organization to which he has devoted his life. As he searches to understand what has happened, he begins to realize that he has been lied to – used as a pawn and never privy to the real motivation for the assignments he has blindly carried out for years.

Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) is an ambitious Washington attorney at Sloan Whiting, in charge of the delicate task of guiding the Connex-Killen merger through the deep waters of D.C. He needs to give the Justice Department enough material to make their case against Killen for its shady dealings in Kazakhstan without jeopardizing the entire deal. It's in the company and the country's interest that the merger go through. It also serves Bennett's ambitions – ambitions fueled by a father (William C. Mitchell) he is constantly at odds with.

Energy analyst Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) is a rising star at an Energy Trading Company, living with his wife Julie (Amanda {Peet) and their two young sons in Geneva. When he attends a party thrown by Prince Nasir's family, a tragic accident results in the death of Bryan's young son. Nasir attempts to make amends for what happened, offering Bryan a business opportunity to help the young leader realize his reformist ideas – an opportunity Bryan embraces, to the dismay of his grieving wife.

Dean Whiting (Christopher Plummer), Bennett's boss, the head of Sloan Whiting and one of the most powerful men in Washington, is trying to undo Nasir's deal with the Chinese. He knows that Nasir's younger, more callow brother, Prince Meshal (Akbar Kurtha), will be more amenable to American business interests and he pressures the aging Emir to choose his younger son to succeed him, effectively engineering Nasir's political demise.

At the other end of the wage scale in Nasir's country are the migrant laborers toiling in its energy fields, whose lives are directly and drastically affected by the royal family's policies and the vagaries of the industry. Connex workers Saleem Ahmed Kahn (Shahid Ahmed) and his son Wasim (Mazhar Munir) have just been laid off from their jobs in the fields when the Chinese take them over, and their future becomes increasingly uncertain as they search in vain for work before their visas run out. Saleem dreams of someday returning to Pakistan; his son hopes for a better life but quickly becomes disillusioned and angry at the way he and his father are treated as immigrant workers in the Gulf. Wasim and his friend Farooq (Sonnell Dadral) find solace at the local madrassa, a place where they are treated with dignity in an otherwise bleak and unfamiliar world. At the madrassa, Wasim and Farooq are taken under the wing of a charismatic and dangerous recruiter – the blue-eyed Egyptian with the missing Stinger missile.

Sheiks and field workers, government inspectors and international spies, rich and poor, the famous and infamous – each plays their small part in the vast and complex system that powers the industry, none realizing the true extent of the explosive impact their lives will have upon the world.

[polkablues]

I can tell you right now that this will be my favorite movie of the year.  I don't even need to see it; just put my vote down for the 2006 Xixax awards for "Syriana".

Stephen Gaghan can do no wrong.  I even loved "Abandon", that's how gay I am for Stephen Gaghan.  When I watched the scene in "Alfie" where Jude Law sees Marisa Tomei with her new boyfriend, I literally yelped, "That's Stephen Gaghan!"  The girl I was watching it with had no idea what I was talking about.  But I still got lucky that night.  Never underestimate the power of that movie.  But I digress.

And that cast... Clooney, Damon, Nelson, Wright, Peet, Cooper, Plummer, SIDDIG?!!?!??!?

I hope it's four hours long.  I want to be able to spend a whole day watching this movie.

[NEON MERCURY]

yeah, i think this Will own.  i havent seen abandon.  i didnt want to.  that is that cheesy movie w/ holmes right?  but traffic is the shit ...and i am down w/ gaghan and political intrigue.  and i havent seen Gretta sacchi since the player.. but shes cute and has a decent rack.  and gershon is hot w/ a great rack

[Pozer]

The girl Stephen Gaghan look-a-like I was watching it with had no idea what I was talking about.  But I still got lucky that night.

[polkablues]

The girl Stephen Gaghan look-a-like I was watching it with had no idea what I was talking about.  But I still got lucky that night.

Sigh... if only.   

and i havent seen Gretta sacchi since the player.. but shes cute and has a decent rack. and gershon is hot w/ a great rack

If that's your primary concern regarding this movie, wait'll you get a view of Michelle Monaghan and (  ) Dagmara Dominczyk.  They're no Stephen Gaghan, but they would do in an emergency.

[Pozer]

Tell me this doesn't turn you on, Polky.

[MacGuffin]

For polka (who I'm sure would love to be the meat in a Imbruglia/Gaghan sandwich):

Uni jumps to conclusion for 'Blink'
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Universal Pictures has picked up "Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking," the nonfiction best-seller by Malcolm Gladwell, with Stephen Gaghan adapting and directing and Leonardo DiCaprio attached to star. Gaghan will also produce the film along with DiCaprio and Brad Simpson for their Appian Way banner. At the same time, the studio has entered into a first-look, two-year overall production agreement with Gaghan, who is generating Oscar heat with his upcoming film "Syriana." "Blink," published in January, is a story about rapid cognition, about the kind of thinking that happens in a blink of an eye. Gladwell posited that when you meet someone for the first time, or walk into a house you are thinking of buying, or read the first few sentences of a book, your mind takes about two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions. "Blink" is a story about those two seconds when instant conclusions reached by people are really powerful, really important and, occasionally, really good.

[private witt]

My instant conclusion upon seeing the poster for Syriana was that Warner Bros. is banking on Oscar to sell this film, since they covered the stars face with duct tape and a blindfold (negative space) and a Santa Clause beard.  The analogous color scheme is also rare in Hollywood these days.  I find I can tell a lot more about a film from the poster than from the previews (which aren't that hard to see through either) and this Syriana's gonna blow some minds open.  Even though the Micheal Moores out there are right, they fail at getting every one on their side because there is a certain percent of the population that will take the other side just to spite you.  If they feel they've learned of the corruption in the world on their own, then they are often more likely to side with progressive thought.  Call it cognitive dissonance.  The best thing about I Heart Huckabees is how seemlessly it weaves its anti-globalization rant into the fabric of the comedy.  The protagonists are right about oil, but they are so flawed, they just come across as angry liberals.  It's a joke most identify with, since we all feel this way sometimes.  Entertaining the masses is the easiest way to get them to come around to your point of view.  When are they gonna make a film about Bill Hicks, by the way?