Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Syriana

This is topic Syriana in forum Film Handlers' Movie Reviews at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Daryl C. W. O'Shea (Member # 1303) on 12-09-2005, 08:30 PM:

Good film. I recommend it if you like films that are actually about stuff. [thumbsup]

[Cineplex Odeon Varsity - Aud#8 / 20051207 9:55pm]

The two anti-piracy encodings during reel 4 or 5 were annoying as hell though. Quite a bit of negative dirt throughout and light fogging at the end of a number reels. [thumbsdown]

Saw it in a THX certified (current) auditorium for the benefit of everyone in this thread.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 12-11-2005, 05:24 PM:

Today 11:45AM Regal Cinema World 8 in Eugene, House #4, maybe 25 in attendance.

During a couple of the ads, there was a horrible static-popping sound, so loud I thought a speaker was gonna blow. The popping stopped right around the time a bunch of people went to report it, but then at every dropout to analog there was a loud hissing out of one channel. Luckily there were no dropouts during the feature, which looked and sounded very good. But if that popping is happening before every show, they really ought to fix it before something goes blooey.

Great movie. Not for viewers who want everything nicely explained. Lots of complicated intersecting plotlines. I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Nice touch: The ticket taker stands at the end of a short corridor leading from the lobby to the hall connecting the auditorums. They framed the end of that corridor (top and both sides) with a hand-painted Narnia-inspired mural, on large sheets of plywood, very intricate and detailed, looked professional. It kind of used forced-perspective to give the appearance of a passageway. People were commenting on how cool it looks. Someone who works there named "Jody" or "Jodie" made it. Give that person a bonus. [beer]

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 12-14-2005, 12:55 AM:

This is one thought-provoking film, with dense plotting (I had a hard time digesting a couple of plot threads). But it avoided any kind of flashy action scenes and featured some low-key but rich performances.

(Screening: Mann Bruin, Westwood, Sunday 4pm. Presentation was just about perfect. Actual curtains used between video pre-show and previews, and then again between previews and main feature. Incredible steadiness, corner-to-corner focus, very bright, clean image, and beautifully-tuned sound.

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 12-18-2005, 08:46 PM:

CINEMA: Century 20 at Jordan Creek, West Des Moines, IA
AUDITORIUM: 17
PRESENTATION: Dolby Digital/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Two and one half stars (out of four)

I agree with Paul...Dense plotting. About all I could figure out was "Oil business: Bad". It can be hard to follow and it seems to go on forever. Actually, I got a little bored with it.

It's nicely shot, though, and the music soundtrack compliments the visuals well.