― gear (gear), Monday, 12 December 2005 16:20 (eighteen years ago) link
A great movie, I thought. Could have been a bit longer, and I'm still putting certain elements together in an attempt to understand the whole entirely.
None of it was surprising, I imagine that this stuff happens all the time, but I wish there were more mainstream films along these lines.
*SPOILERS*Was anyone else disappointed that we never saw Clooney's son's reaction to what happened at the end?
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 12 December 2005 16:23 (eighteen years ago) link
Thought Bennett back-story cliched, Matt Damon was pretty funny "fuck you (wife)!". In all whole thing could have used injection of humor. Traffic had a bit more and it helped.
― Thea (Thea), Monday, 12 December 2005 17:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 17:10 (eighteen years ago) link
― Thea (Thea), Monday, 12 December 2005 17:15 (eighteen years ago) link
And funny in a great, subtle way - such as when a scene opens on what seems to be a safari in Africa with zebra and antelope and stuff & then the subtitle says "Texas."
― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 18:38 (eighteen years ago) link
The best globe-spanning, ensemble issue-drama is STILL the original Traffik!
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:00 (eighteen years ago) link
Yeah, I know! Pesky characters, always getting in the way!
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:07 (eighteen years ago) link
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:09 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:10 (eighteen years ago) link
roger, that was sarcasm.
when do they have time to be fully-fleshed?
They don't. Which was really frustrating and irritating. That's why I didn't like it.
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:13 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:15 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:17 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:22 (eighteen years ago) link
― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:23 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:32 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:34 (eighteen years ago) link
CLOONEY GIVEN 'SPINAL CAP' SURGERY
Superstar GEORGE CLOONEY is in the last stages of recovery after suffering severe headaches brought on by fluid leaking out of his spinal column.
Clooney injured his back while filming upcoming movie SYRIANA, and started getting agonising headaches after doctors operated on his neck.It then took a while for Clooney's condition to be successfully diagnosed, at which point doctors performed 'spinal cap' surgery. The star, who had to wear a neck brace for a while, has now nearly fully recovered.
Clooney's publicist STAN ROSENFIELD tells website PAGESIX.COM, "He was getting tests and the doctors were saying, 'There's nothing wrong with you,' but he was having horrible headaches. He was in excruciating pain."
And, so bad was Clooney's discomfort, he was forced to pull out of promotional duties for sequel OCEAN'S TWELVE.
Rosenfield adds, "He was supposed to leave for New York on 28 November (04), but he couldn't. And he was supposed to leave for Europe on 8 December (04).
He actually drove to the airport, and said, 'Guys, I can't do it.'"
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 20:36 (eighteen years ago) link
Why do they need time? They have their lives. That the camera eye doesn't focus on them cradle-to-grave doesn't take that away, nor does their failure to endlessly vocalize their motivations.
Esp. given that the story is bigger than any of them, and none of them, in the end, can claim to be innocent.
Whereas GARDENER souls too pure for this world vs. evil corps and bureaucrats FITE!
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Monday, 12 December 2005 21:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Monday, 12 December 2005 21:47 (eighteen years ago) link
I don't know what "fully-fleshed" means, actually. What does that mean?
― dar1a g (daria g), Monday, 12 December 2005 21:48 (eighteen years ago) link
― Raymond Cummings (Raymond Cummings), Monday, 12 December 2005 21:53 (eighteen years ago) link
He seems a little depressed, maybe.
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 23:00 (eighteen years ago) link
Don't hate me.
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 23:03 (eighteen years ago) link
― Mayor of Dutchtown (nordicskilla), Monday, 12 December 2005 23:04 (eighteen years ago) link
― Lukas (lukas), Monday, 12 December 2005 23:29 (eighteen years ago) link
― howell huser (chaki), Monday, 12 December 2005 23:30 (eighteen years ago) link
x-post
― Lukas (lukas), Monday, 12 December 2005 23:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― jaymc (jaymc), Monday, 12 December 2005 23:59 (eighteen years ago) link
Today, it's thanks to jet lag! Namaste, bra.
― rogermexico (rogermexico), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 00:03 (eighteen years ago) link
OMG! Weird!
― FiFi (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 00:18 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 00:21 (eighteen years ago) link
and ****SPOILER**** matt damon's supposedly brilliant pitch to the prince - c'mon, he hadn't thought of that before? puhleeze. i'm pretty sure OPEC buy or self-train some good brains.
but as far as fun things, i thought seeing Matt Damon as a hotshot derivatives trader in Switzerland with hot wife was great lifestyle porn. if, you know, that sort of life appeals to you.
― Lukas (lukas), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 00:46 (eighteen years ago) link
― Wiggy (Wiggy), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 03:58 (eighteen years ago) link
Every character was a cliche (maybe Damon excepted, but that was just because that character didn't exist as such, he was just a sounding board for cliche reformer exposition), they didn't handle the convoluted plot very well and it ultimately didn't have anything to say about the oil situation (covering its bases at every step) or about its characters.
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 04:45 (eighteen years ago) link
isn't the point that the prince HAD thought of that before?
― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 17:29 (eighteen years ago) link
EXACTLY!!!
― FiFi (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 17:31 (eighteen years ago) link
― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 17:32 (eighteen years ago) link
It seemed that most everyone had thought of it & half of what he said (ie what the business world thinks of the country) was kind of the elephant in the room, but anyone expressing it in such blunt terms esp. to the prince was not so typical. There was a brief special on the making of this film on HBO last night & Gaghan said that after Damon's character loses his son he just adopts this go-for-broke attitude in his dealings with people, which he'd never have had otherwise.
― dar1a g (daria g), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 17:41 (eighteen years ago) link
I understood that you meant it that way, s1ocki. It's not like I have this checklist of things I demand from every movie, but when it failed to engage me on the level of story I turned to the characters for some kind of interest.
― FiFi (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 17:44 (eighteen years ago) link
buh? [drools]
but anyone expressing it in such blunt terms esp. to the prince was not so typical
ooooh.
― Lukas (lukas), Tuesday, 13 December 2005 19:00 (eighteen years ago) link
It is, I think, and the payoff to Damon's speech comes much later, when the prince explains it back to him.
― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Saturday, 17 December 2005 05:52 (eighteen years ago) link
I was very impressed with the way the script understood how simple it is to hurt or even kill a lot of people, and how when it happens, your understanding of what has happened falls easily and naturally between total understanding and total incomprehension. Everything is so cut-and-dry from one person to another, and everything is so frighteningly foggy once you put it into a larger context. If anything, that's the theme of the movie, and the sometimes baffling structure of the movie supports it.
I'm still not sure what purpose Jeffrey Wright's father served, but I'm still thinking about it. I'll get back to you.
― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 02:37 (eighteen years ago) link
― Erick Dampier is better than Shaq (miloaukerman), Sunday, 18 December 2005 02:39 (eighteen years ago) link
― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 02:43 (eighteen years ago) link
― Wiggy (Wiggy), Sunday, 18 December 2005 04:49 (eighteen years ago) link
My understanding is that it kinda is. Isn't it a fictionalized (to protect the innocent, assumedly) retelling of a nonfiction book?
I liked the reveal on that in the movie, actually. At the very end, when you're nearly emotionally devastated anyway, they tell you that this is based on a non-fiction book, which lets you know at the last moment that these events aren't as fantastical as you would probably like to leave the theater thinking.
― Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Sunday, 18 December 2005 05:39 (eighteen years ago) link
better than traffic
― omar little, Sunday, 7 October 2007 17:01 (sixteen years ago) link
syriana was great. traffic and the kingdom sucked balls bigtime.
― jhøshea, Sunday, 7 October 2007 17:21 (sixteen years ago) link
traffic is bad but at least made an effort at characterization. it had a complex plot but ideas-wise it wasn't that complicated.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 7 October 2007 17:33 (sixteen years ago) link
it had convenient color-coding
― jhøshea, Sunday, 7 October 2007 17:41 (sixteen years ago) link
in this film the doctor from deep space nine gets blowed up
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 7 October 2007 18:20 (sixteen years ago) link
with a doctor from ER
who previously teamed up with the country singer in a movie about odysseus
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 7 October 2007 18:21 (sixteen years ago) link
while the kid from GWH watches his family implode
― El Tomboto, Sunday, 7 October 2007 18:22 (sixteen years ago) link
and america runs on gas
the end
Syriana has neither Benicio del Toro bargaining with the feds while floating in a pool, nor teenage crackheads - ergo it cannot be superior to Traffic in any way.
The Kingdom would have been a lot better had it been an actual Michael Mann film instead of trying to be intelligent and CSI-y. Jamie Foxx and Chris Cooper runnin' and gunnin' through Saudi Arabia would have been enough.
― milo z, Sunday, 7 October 2007 18:42 (sixteen years ago) link
Chris Cooper is criminally underused, actually. Both of his awesome lines are in the trailer. Fuck that.
― milo z, Sunday, 7 October 2007 18:43 (sixteen years ago) link
if they'd shot 'the kingdom' like 'miami vice' and had more terseness i'd be happy as larry, fuck the politics.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 7 October 2007 19:26 (sixteen years ago) link
the actual investigationy bits were pretty weak. and i couldn't work out if the bad guys at the end were in cahoots with the national guard guy all along etc, which wouldn't have mattered if it'd been more like 'heat'.
― That one guy that hit it and quit it, Sunday, 7 October 2007 19:27 (sixteen years ago) link
i liked syriana more than traffic -- which is a seriously bad film -- but they both pretend to be way smarter and tougher than they are. the dumbest thing in syriana is the very end, where we're still presented with this all-powerful (if, you know, deeply flawed and corrupt) america, in which flinty dudes in washington can nail anyone anywhere with the flick of a switch, and watch the carnage on big-screen tvs. (i also hate movies where they kill off a kid for no good reason except to up the emotional ante.)
― tipsy mothra, Sunday, 7 October 2007 23:40 (sixteen years ago) link
syriana doesn't have a white girl's sleeping with a black guy as being the key "rock bottom moment" so i'm gonna go with my og pick
― omar little, Monday, 8 October 2007 04:24 (sixteen years ago) link
i also hate movies where they kill off a kid for no good reason except to up the emotional ante
the kid's death is a pretty major plot point as it provides a reason for prince nasir to hire matt damon
― max, Monday, 8 October 2007 06:31 (sixteen years ago) link
this movie was all hat and no cattle. at times it felt like it was being shot and edited by a film student -- there were striking shots but then some real clunky ones (i.e. FEET running UP THE STAIRS); even that set-piece speech about corruption was ruined by OCD editing and weirdo jerky off-center framing. when so little is trying to communicate so much, with so little connective expository tissue, please let us just concentrate on the characters and what they're getting across.
anyway i agree that a whole movie about the pakistani kids would have been 1,000,000,000,000,000 times better.
― Tracer Hand, Thursday, 22 November 2007 03:30 (sixteen years ago) link
come on, it wouldn't really have been a quadrillion times better. maybe just a little.
i thought the dude from star trek did a good job.
― mookieproof, Thursday, 22 November 2007 04:11 (sixteen years ago) link
If anything, this is better a decade later.
― with HD lyrics (Eazy), Monday, 23 March 2015 05:46 (nine years ago) link
ISIS, wealth stratification, all here.
― with HD lyrics (Eazy), Monday, 23 March 2015 05:48 (nine years ago) link
found this movie Bad
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Sunday, 7 August 2016 01:56 (seven years ago) link
i liked it much better the second time. more than traffic, anyhow.
― brimstead, Sunday, 7 August 2016 01:58 (seven years ago) link
less racist or trite than Traffic but also less pretty & purposeful. Character arcs in Traffic make sense. motivations here are just confused.
i dont need a film to tell me american imperialism will steamroll the lives of good people, id like to understand how ppl respond to that experience & apparently the answer is like, wave a white shirt & forget about how important your family is for a little while . . . . so many loose ends that dont really relate to anything else & so they just kill half the cast at the end to tie it up idk not into it
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Sunday, 7 August 2016 01:59 (seven years ago) link
I learned one important message from this very shite movie; put an RCBO on the swimming pool lighting circuit dude.
― calzino, Sunday, 7 August 2016 09:51 (seven years ago) link
Thought about watching this tonight, thinking I never saw it. Decided to check ilx to see what folks thought. Evidently, 4.5 years ago I did see it, and hated it! Good to know. A little worried about my brain health
― ILX’s bad boy (D-40), Tuesday, 13 April 2021 08:48 (three years ago) link