Peak Oil movie

October 11, 2005 9:40 PM

Syriana is a new "peak oil" movie (following in the tradition of The Deal and Oil Storm). However unlike those movies it is a big budget Warner Brothers film, starring George Clooney. But perhaps even more interesting is the production company behind it called Participant Productions whose goal is to create films not just for passive entertainment but that inspire viewers to get involved in the issues.via The Oil Drum
posted by stbalbach (15 comments total)

Doesn't look all that bad. I'll add it to my Netflix queue when it comes out on DVD.

As for the idea about films that get people involved. I dunno. It's so easy to lapse into propaganda, that makes me uneasy. Often there are fundamental, questionable assumptions made in such films, and not everyone realizes that.
posted by teece at 9:47 PM on October 11, 2005

It's really more like Traffic. The same guy wrote both and is directing this one. Same general style with lots of different stories.

We'll see if it's actually a good movie. Maybe they'll use green filters this time.

(OT: There's a peak oil blog? That explains a lot.)
posted by smackfu at 9:59 PM on October 11, 2005

"Netflix queue" - before it's even released?

Could one be more bourgeois?

Try this:

Decomissioned CIA Agent comments on the book - by a similar agent - that the film is based on.

Thank god the mass media is finally taking responsibility where the public...isn't.

We've got bills to pay, after all.

(Baudrillard is rolling in his grave - before the fact.)
posted by objet at 10:21 PM on October 11, 2005

Is there a bittorrent yet?
posted by wfrgms at 10:59 PM on October 11, 2005

I'm glad the Fox movie had a happy ending. Good for them.
posted by sourwookie at 11:42 PM on October 11, 2005

The FX movie (Oil Storm, if you didn't hit the link) was really rather unfortunate. It's like a really shoddy Spielberg movie, in that things get pretty dark (hello, massive riots in the cities and people dying of frostbite because there's no heating oil) but everything returns to normal at the end, with America's supremacy assured once again.
posted by chrominance at 11:55 PM on October 11, 2005

> Could one be more bourgeois?

Sure. One could use up some gasoline to drive all the way to a theater, and then pay $7+ only to sit through 15 minutes of irrelevant advertisements before the movie finally begins.

In fact, I might just do exactly that.

Maybe my blurry, early-morning eyes have misread this comment as a slam, but I still fail to see the point of it. What were you trying to achieve?
posted by SteelyDuran at 3:07 AM on October 12, 2005

Does this mean Hollywood starlets and B list rock stars will now have positions on the peak oil question? And tell People all about them?
posted by jfuller at 4:03 AM on October 12, 2005

B list rock stars

What would Scott Stapp do?
posted by psmealey at 4:20 AM on October 12, 2005

you know stuff like this happens every day...
posted by stilgar at 4:40 AM on October 12, 2005

Participant Productions is also responsible for Good Night, and Good Luck, which opens this Friday.

(Saw it last night, by the way ... incredible.)
posted by grabbingsand at 4:55 AM on October 12, 2005

It's so easy to lapse into propaganda, that makes me uneasy.

Rest easy, teece; it would only propaganda if a bunch of conservatives formed a production company, m'kay?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 12:47 PM on October 12, 2005

"It would only be..." Damn, kinda takes all the wind out of my snark, dunnit?
posted by ZenMasterThis at 1:01 PM on October 12, 2005

ZenMaster: I don't get your attempted snark. Are conservatives supposed to be famous for propaganda or something? More than, say, communists?

I'm waiting patiently for Current Account Deficit: The Movie.
posted by sfenders at 3:43 PM on October 12, 2005

I confidently expect it to have the same sort of profound impact on the public conversation about energy that Traffic had on the war on drugs.
posted by nanojath at 8:12 PM on October 12, 2005