Syriana – Starring George Clooney & Matt Damon

Syriana (2005) (DVD) Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan (as writer, Traffic (2000), Rules of Engagement (2000), The Alamo (2004), starring George Clooney (O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), Michael Clayton (2007), Up in the Air (2009), The Ides of March (2011) and many others), Matt Damon (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), The Departed (2006), The Informant! (2009), Invictus (2009), True Grit (2010) and many other films), Jeffrey Wright (W. (2008), Quantum of Solace (2008), The Ides of March (2011)) in an ensemble cast including Chris Cooper, Amanda Peet, William Hurt, Christopher Plummer and others.  An astounding, excellent and truly contemporary global petro-political thriller, Syriana, through multiple parallel story lines and diverse locations, is a thought-provoking, and thoroughly emotionally and intellectually engaging look at devious and dangerous international big oil, mixing politics, terrorism, business, assassination, profit and spies.  The acting is very good (Clooney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as CIA agent Bob Barnes), and Gaghan’s writing and directing are sharp and extremely effective.  Complex and hypnotic, Syriana is a must-see thriller. (PR)

See our posts on Solaris, starring George Clooney, and The Informant! and Invictus, starring Matt Damon.

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In the Valley of Elah – Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Charlize Theron & Susan Sarandon

In the Valley of Elah (2007)(DVD)  Written and directed by Paul Haggis (as screenwriter, Million Dollar Baby (2004), Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008)), starring Tommy Lee Jones (The Fugitive (1993), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), No Country for Old Men (2007) and many others), Charlize Theron (Monster (2003), North Country (2005), Hancock (2008), The Burning Plain (2009), The Road (2009)), Susan Sarandon (The Witches of Eastwick (1987), Thelma & Louise (1991), The Lovely Bones (2009), Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010)), Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men (2007), W. (2008), Milk (2008), True Grit (2010)) and others.  In the Valley of Elah, a somber, complex and powerful film, portrays a veteran and father’s search for the murderers of his soldier son, and deals with issues such as the war in Iraq, post-traumatic stress disorder, racism, misogyny, and violence.  Tommy Lee Jones is excellent, rigid, harsh, cold, determined, Charlize Theron, as a police detective, is equally good, sober, human, perseverant, overwhelmed.  Susan Sarandon, in a smaller role, as the wife of Jones’s character and mother of the murdered soldier is very good, detached, distraught, lost; Josh Brolin, in a very small role as Theron’s character’s police superior, is, if briefly, perfect.  In the Valley of Elah is not an easy film, and includes some graphic, gruesome scenes in its portrait of alienated, morally lost Americans. (PR)

See our posts on the films The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and No Country for Old Men, with Tommy Lee Jones, and Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, with Susan Sarandon.

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The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005)(DVD)  Directed by and starring Tommy Lee Jones (as actor: The Fugitive (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994), Men in Black (1997), Space Cowboys (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), In the Valley of Elah (2007)), with Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan (1998), Seven Pounds (2008), True Grit (2010)), and others; screenplay by Guillermo Arriaga (21 Grams (2004), Babel (2006), The Burning Plain (2009)), ; music by Marco Beltrami (3:10 to Yuma (2007), The Hurt Locker (2008)); cinematography by Chris Menges (The Killing Fields (1984), The Mission (1986), The Reader (2008), Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close (2011)).  A vision of the American West, with a very keen eye for detail, and not too distant from that found in No Country for Old Men, also starring Tommy Lee Jones, looking at honor and morality, friendship and the relations between men and women, and man, his history, and the stark beauty of the vastness of Texas/Mexico border,  The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada can be darkly funny, and say as much without words as with them.  Tommy Lee Jones shows an extraordinarily deft hand in his directing, and his acting is, of course, superb.  Perhaps not for the excessively squeamish, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, is, nevertheless, a must-see film. (PR)

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Seven Pounds

Seven Pounds (2008)(DVD)  Directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), also starring Will Smith), starring  Will Smith (Ali (2001), I, Robot (2004), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006), I Am Legend (2007), Hancock (2008)), Rosario Dawson (Death Proof (2007, by Quentin Tarantino, part of the Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez double feature Grind House)), Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers (1994), The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996), No Country for Old Men (2007), The Messenger (2009)), Barry Pepper (Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (2005), True Grit (2010)), and others.   Imposture, goodness, love, a sizable dose of sadness, morality and even a bit of humour mark Seven Pounds, which, despite a mostly negative critical reception, was a clear box-office success.  It’s true that Will Smith, even as a character carrying a rather overwhelming emotional load, is charming, and Rosario Dawson is not only lovely but wonderful as Emily Posa.  Some quite effective special effects and a good use of fragmented flash-backs add an edge to this sad love story. (PR)

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Miller’s Crossing, by the Coen Brothers

Miller’s Crossing (1990)(DVD)   Written by Joel and Ethan Coen, produced Ethan Coen and directed by Joel Coen, starring Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro, and others.  In Miller’s Crossing, a gangster film set in the 1920s, the Coen brothers (Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), No Country for Old Men (2007), A Serious Man (2009), True Grit (2010), (!!!!)) have created what Time critic Richard Corliss called a “noir with a touch so light, the film seems to float on the breeze like … a fedora sailing through the forest.”   And it’s true.  A tough, violent, and intelligently light and complex film, with very good, wonderfully non-sensational, performances by most all of the cast, Miller’s Crossing offers hard reality and ambiguity in just the right balance.  Watching it more than once is all that more rewarding. (PR)

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