My Favorite Movies

It's tough to do politics on film without it losing the audience along the way but Gaghan manages to get a good mix of action and intrigue into Syriana that keeps you hooked right until the end.

Clooney shines of course, well Wright's understated performance is definitely a gem.

It's worth listening to the Creative Screenwriting podcast with Gaghan as some of the stories he has to tell are amazing.

I got the Director's Cut on this on Blu Ray because I wanted to see it in HD since it was shot on HD.

I knew what it was about, and a bit of background on the the murders itself due to the press during the release of the movie, but not too much that it would get it the way of the enjoyment of the film.

What Fincher has done is create a movie that stays true to the idea of a procedural journalistic film (like a lot of other have said before me), and thus he does not go for the typical ending and hence he does not sate your thirst for that conclusive ending and that is likely to explain why it did not do well when it came out.

Repeat viewings are definitely necessary with this movie, as more and more detail can be gleaned from each shot as you spend your time with it.

Also worth catching are the extras on the DVD or Blu Ray as the amount of work that has been put into creating environments and setting within the film are mind-boggling and seamlessly executed.

Peter Berg lends his hand very well to Carnahan's script, directing this movie with poise and precision. The set piece at the end alone is reason enough to catch this film with Danny Elfman pulling off a convincing Explosions In The Sky sounding score.

Never before have I seen a movie since Heat that has nailed every aspect of a film from direction, story, acting,cinematography, sound,SFX,VFX,music I could go on and on.

This movie is truly the closest thing one can get to perfection. Superbly paced and brimming with subtext, Nolan outdoes not just the first movie, but perhaps all of the movies in his canon so far.

It's a damn shame that this movie has not been nominated in the Best Director, Best Picture, Best Screenplay categories as well as Best Score, as it is quite likely one will never see a motion picture of such quality for a very long time.