Lary Bloom
Writer, Editor, Teacher
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Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Haven't Got A Clooney
As we walked out of the cineplex friends walked in. "Oh, what did you see?" they asked. "Syriana," I said. "How was it?" they inquired. I thought a moment, then said, "I'll know in a couple of days."A couple of days have passed and I know. I'm pleased that movies like Syriana are being made -- big, tough, intelligent, political movies. Somebody has to take on arrogant politics, runaway corporate interests, the CIA, and diminishing natural resources. But I do wish that Syriana would have been a better film, one that allowed its audiences to root for one of its characters. It had a chance to be the Silkwood of its age -- speaking in a tough and eloquent way on critical subjects that escape eloquent political debate. Hollywood, at its best, can say it straight and convincingly. This is Hollywood at its decent.
The problem is digital, reflective of the collective loss of attention span -- or at least the appearance of it. We are not allowed as viewers to invest properly in any character's story sufficiently, so that what we have here is an "important" hodgepodge of clever scenes, not a movie that can move an audience to tears or action.
Given that, I suppose George Clooney still plays an interesting character, one that I'll actually get when I see this again on DVD.
Posted by:Lary Bloom at 2:50 AM
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