UPDATED:   The good news is that it is not a very good movie and will not gross much at the box office. Matt Damon or Hal Holbrook might get awards, partly from politics, but the movie just just not a very good movie and won't be popular with the mass audience.

But before you read my review can anyone tell me if there is a LIGHTHOUSE near Lafayette Louisiana?  Is Lafayette close enough to the gulf for a lighthouse? There is one in this movie.  A photo of a lighthouse Lafayette That is the key piece of "evidence", dead cows in Lafayette and the lighthouse. I guess the fact checkers missed that piece of the evidence unless someone here has seen it.

(UPDATE: I phoned the Lafayette Chamber of Commerce. There are NO lighthouses near Lafayette, unlike what the movie shows.)

First off, no one likes the "surprise ending" where the environmentalist is working for the same gas company that Matt Damon is working for! This ending helps the movie fall flat for most moviegoers regardless of how they feel about fracking. It just does not work as drama.

And, it's rated R.  For bad language. There is only one punch thrown in the movie and I do not recall any bad language. There are no sex scenes, I don't think anyone even kisses in this movie! But, that R rating is GOOD for us because schools and community groups will simply not show an R rated movie, no matter how good the propaganda. Promised Land even fails on the propaganda level. The R rating limits how widely it can be shown.

The only depiction of drilling is a crude model made by the environmentalist and he spreads the fluid out on top of a model of a farm and sets it on fire. Nothing else about drilling that I can recall at all. There is very little debate about our energy needs. Electricity is just assumed to come from the wires.

Hal Holbrook may get honors for his role as the wise and kindly retired Boeing engineer who now teaches science at the high school as a way to have fun in retirement. Matt Damon's character starts out pro-fracking but becomes anti-fracking near the movie's end. Critics like character growth and Damon does a good job as an actor and he helped write the script. It won't help his career.

Did OPEC or Big Coal help finance this movie? The state of Pennsylvania movie dept was thanked at the end (like films made in LA) But, since "secret financing" is one of the sub plots of this movie I have to wonder who financed it. Almost nothing about coal or alternatives is said. Odd.

(UPDATE: the movie was financed by a Saudi owned company. OPEC monies l financed this movie. Look it up.)

I am not a landman but I would love to read the responses of real landmen to Matt Damon's character and the female land agent.

One reviewer wrote that no one is a "bad guy" in this movie. They managed to make a movie about Big Oil (yeah, I know it's natural gas) and everyone is some shade of concerned citizen and nice fellow. Even the top execs are nothing like you might expect. Most of us would love to deal with these fellows!

But, the weirdest thing is near the end the sight of all these near bankrupt farmers turning down $5,000 an acre to lease. Somehow I just don't see a room full of cash poor-land rich farmers standing up and throwing the landmen out. Has anyone here heard of anything like that?  Maybe if they thought they would get a better offer but not to totally shut down the drilling.

Remember those dead cows from a couple of years ago? They return like zombies. Can anyone tell me if there dead cows by a lighthouse near Lafayette Louisiana? Is that true in the least? Is there even a lighthouse near Lafayette???

Here is a good review of how the movie portrays fracking. It's by Scott Tong. I've found this same review on blogs around the net. Someone is working overtime to spread this around, and that's good news.

http://environmentaljusticetv.wordpress.com/2013/01/04/fact-check-t...

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I suppose Pirate's BS comment was directed to me?  I've been in the oil business over 35 years, possibly longer than Pirate.  My comments may reflect an industry perspective but in fact I own perhaps 2,000 net mineral acres.  Obviously, I have been involved in many lease transactions and have negotiated many more on behalf of clients, as recently as the last week of 2012.  Having said all that, there are bad landmen.  I have no tolerance for anyone who is unfair and/or takes advantage of folks who are uninformed.  Offering terms that seem low, based upon the client's instructions/limits, is not unfair - that is just how landmen do their jobs.  They can only offer what the client specifies.  But, scamming people, misleading, lying, withholding information pertinent to an informed decision, those are tactics that are not acceptable and give our industry a bad name.  When someone brings up those kinds of experiences on this site, I am first to be critical (just as Skip Peel would be).  However, in my opinion those situations are rare - thankfully. 

BS movie.

John,

I am still hoping that some BIG OIL CO.........national or foreign......will drill one of those

VERY EXPENSIVE WELLS on my GOAT PASTURE ACREAGE that will pay me royalty

for many years to come.  I'm just sayin !!!!!!!!!!!

Jim Burgess

Well, there are thousands of people for whom that has been the case . . . all over the country.  The Arbuckle play in SE Oklahoma in the late 1980s was one I was involved in.  Humble folks made hundreds of thousands of dollars, some millions, when their farms where cows grazed became immensely valuable through nothing they did other than own the minerals.  The newspapers are full of similar stories in the Eagle Ford and Baaken.  I am certain we could find the same in the Marcellus and Utica.  With today's technology, it happens every day.

John......I made an attempt at sarcasm in my previous post due to your use

of the words "goat pasture" when referring to the land and minerals owned

by we "humble" folks.   It indicated IMO your attitude as a lease broker to

we mineral owners...who obviously do not appreciate the great opportunity

oil companies provide when they leaase our land and spend millions to

develop it.  If you are a mineral owner rather than a landman then I retract

what I have posted.

Jim

Humble folks includes me and my family.  I am a substantial mineral owner, so your retraction is accepted.  The fact is, I personally know many farmers and ranchers, hard-working, middle class people (humble is a good Christian trait, not a criticism) whose land has become valuable and who made lots of money off royalty.  Yes, it would not have happened unless an oil company spent millions of dollars and assumed lots of risks to drill.  That is the way it works.  Those who condemn "the rich oil companies" or feel envy or subscribe to the class warfare that is so heavily promoted by Washington nowadays have little knowledge about how business works and, sadly, many are not capitalists.  You, on the other hand, sound like a reasonable person.  My only purpose in responding was to make the point that there are many good folks whose goat pasture made millions and yes, it started with a lease and an oil company willing to drill wells.  I have also been a landman in my career.  I don't apologize for that.  I was one of the good guys, and most are.  Skip Peel will agree.

thank you jim and john,

this is the kind of discussion that makes this blog invaluable.

John,

"A man is truly humble when necessity compels him to humble another".

It is true ...I am a reasonable man.  Since you provided insight into your background....I will do the same.  Substantial or small mineral acreage, it matters not to me.  Suffice it to say you are a mineral owner and a landman.  My background in real estate and timberland.  I have no "goat  pastures".  Whenever I receive a lease bonus, I consider it "gravy" or something extra.  I did lease almost 3000 acres to SWN and thought all the landmen were capable and honorable and did an excellent job. I have dealt with landmen and negotiated many leases the last 40 years. 

However, as a reasonable man, I do know that landmen owe their loyalty to the lease brokerage, who in turn, owe their loyalty to the "big oil companies" .  All told, this provides a considerable advantage over the majority of the mineral owners who do not even know how to negotiate.

There is not enough time nor space to have a discussion about class warfare,condemnation of big oil companies, how busines works,or capitalism.........however, one thing for certain big oil is not spending millions developing oil fields to help out the landowners and they have their lobbyists to protect their welfare

Jim Burgess. 

 

 

 

Our family are also involved in real estate and timber.  I reject any suggestion that people who own different kinds of real property are less sophisticated.  I have spent my career on both sides of leasing.  I only come to this site rarely, and usually to help people.  Occasionally I feel compelled to respond to someone when it appears they may have a bias which is unfair.  I am pleased that you have had good experiences with landmen.  I do not understand why you persist in attacking oil companies.  You may not fully appreciate the amounts of technology, risk, and capital that their activities require  Moreover, when they lease someone's minerals and that lessor retains 1/8th-1/4 of the royalty, I contend the "big oil" (which you use in a pejorative sense) IS spending millions that does indeed help out the landowner.  Trust me, if people don't lease their minerals no one is going to drill them a well.  Sorry you don't seem to have any respect for oil companies.  They are just people like you and me; men and women of all ages and backgrounds - highly trained, and yes, well compensated, but honest, hardworking, smart people whose job is to make money for everyone that owns a percentage of the proceeds of the sale of produced hydrocarbons.  They are highly regulated, and 99% of the time conduct their business with integrity.  That is all I will have to say on this subject.  You are entitled to your opinion.

Indeed, you have said enough,...Likewise. Jim

When I use the term "goat pasture" it is when the lessor has another tract near by but  not in my buy area and they want me to lease that tract also.

No Oscar nomination for Promised Land. Not even one for best catalog in the outhouse. YAY !

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