Promised Land movie is out - reviews?

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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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Hopeful About Natural Gas on January 10, 2013 at 18:32

Ditto for YAY for no Oscars!! It does not deserve one as a movie even if you hate fracking, it's not a great movie.

However, Landmen come off very well in promised land. Two are shown, one is a woman who wants a good life for her son. She is great with a couple of other women. She also makes alliances with the men in town who help put on an event.

Matt Damon's character is a good character. There are men on this board much like him - grew up in a rural area and a big employer closed and the area dried up. He is great in this character because he sincerely wants to help people and in the early part of the movie he sees helping them as helping them benefit from their minerals.

The portrayal of landmen would be appreciated here if the politics were not so distasteful. This movie was financed by OPEC oil. There is no getting around that fact and that it is propaganda to keep us dependent on the mid east for oil. Matt Damon and others should learn who they are accepting money from, unless that is also his goal. I don't think it really is. But, he has not really thought this whole issue through. Too bad for all of US (meaning United States)

Permalink Reply by robert minton on January 11, 2013 at 13:38

Written, produced and directed by a mental cripple, based on faulty,,erroneous information due to inadequate research, and released AFTER Matt Damon KNEW that the premise waS false and erroneous!  Why should any consideration be given him?

d

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on January 11, 2013 at 15:03

Robert, this movie is the same story line that has been done thousands of times in the past. Opec figured that they had to use the resource that they have the most of, money, to do anything they can to stop or slow down  domestic production in the USA. I really hope that Damon and the Boys put it to OPEC in their screwing them out of millions to make this movie. OPEC has damaged our econony and put many a mom and pop operation out of the biz. Think back to the late 90's when they opened the valves. I don't think they have capicity to do the same thing now. They do have money and just think back at all the politicians that have been busted in the past for selling their vote for a dollar or worst yet.

Permalink Reply by Mmcf/d on January 13, 2013 at 7:23

Are we so sure that OPEC is that concerned if we reduce our imports from them, or do they have another consumer lined up?

Permalink Reply by Two Dogs, Pirate on January 13, 2013 at 7:58

If the government outlaws fracking in the USA, watch where the price of gasoline goes to. OPEC likes money and they like having control of the price of oil.

Permalink Reply by Hopeful About Natural Gas on January 13, 2013 at 16:09

I wonder if we all revealed our ages if that would change the discussion?  I am 61 and I clearly remember the Arab/OPEC oil embargo in the early 70's. Everything changed then for gas stations and drivers - for all of us. I wonder if there would be a split between those who saw the long lines for gas and those who were not yet born or too young?

Yes, OPEC does want control over us. It's about money and influence over us. I am mad that they have financed a movie called Promised Land with oil dollars intended to keep us dependent on OPEC. However, I am glad it's a poor drama and is rated R. Both are likely to reduce viewership.

Permalink Reply by blackjackjackson on January 17, 2013 at 6:28

Politico review:  http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/promised-land-offers-a-false-...

 

By STEVE EVERLEY  | 1/11/13 4:43 AM EST

News outlets across the country have focused a great deal of attention on the  movie “Promised Land,” which is supposed to be everything from a dialogue on  developing natural gas from shale to the “American identity” (according to the  film’s star, Matt Damon). For the sake of the film’s producers, it’s probably  good that the media has focused so much on the film: based on universally poor  reviews and a lackluster opening weekend, it’s likely the hype around the film  will far exceed its actual performance.

All that aside, the fundamental problem with the movie – and perhaps one  reason for its less than stellar reception – is that it sets up a false choice:  the environment or the economy.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/promised-land-offers-a-false-...

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