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In the remote sands of the Moroccan desert, a rifle shot rings out--detonating a chain of events that will link an American tourist couple’s frantic struggle to survive, two Moroccan boys involved in an accidental crime, a nanny illegally crossing into Mexico with two American children and a Japanese teen rebel whose father is sought by the police in Tokyo.

This is a movie I've heard a lot about, Oscar winner and various nominations up the wazoo, I wasn't really sure what it was about though. It's got a very strong 7.8 on IMDB (BTW as a side note, IMDB has gone all web2.0 and I couldn't even find the score on the new page, took me a while to spot it, I think partially because I've blocked the ads it ends up in a weird place).

From the name, Babel, I implied it might be something to do with language, or at least some kind of divides between humans.

I was right in a way, it's more about cultural divides though.

To surmise I would say the movie is about other people's stupid mistakes can effect your life so much..one small mistake or one oversight or one bad decision can totally change your life.

The examples in the movie are of course exaggerated and dramatised.

From the tag-lines, the movie is more about being lost, lost in the desert, lost to yourself or lost the world.

It an interesting concept though and bridges English, Moroccan, Japanese, Mexican and I think even a bit of French.

Must be a nightmare for the translator!

It's a beautifully directed movie with excellent cinematography, the composition of the shots are excellent, like perfectly taken photographs.

Brad Pitt put in a good performance, to be fair Cate Blanchett really didn't have to do anything except look pale, which she does just fine without the help of makeup.

The Japanese part of the story was a bit more confusing and I don't really see how it was linked to the other two parts (the whole gun thing with a bit spurious).

It would have made a good stand alone story though and was a strong part of the movie.

Somehow the movie reminds me of Crash as it deals with race, family issues and other hard hitting topics.

Anyway if you haven't watch Babel I highly recommend it, it's a pretty intense movie though so don't watch it if you feel like something light.

I'd give it a strong 8/10.

Syriana is a thriller of corruption and power related to the oil industry that tells four parallel stories: the CIA agent Bob Barnes (George Clooney) with great experience in Middle East that falls in disgrace after an unsuccessful mission dealing missiles in Lebanese Republic; the investigation of the attorney Bennett Holiday (Jeffrey Wright) related to the merge of two American oil companies, Connex and Killen; the traumatic association of the energy analyst Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon) with the son of a powerful emir of Iran; and the social drama of the Pakistani immigrant worker Wasim Khan (Mazhar Munir) that is fired by the oil company.

Well it's a long time since I've done a movie review, so here you are! It's been quite a long time since I watched any movies, so there you go..

I've got a LOT of movies to catch up, so I'll bore you with some of the reviews.

Syriana was one of those big hyped movies from 2005, Oscar nominations, these awards, those awards etc etc. I was expecting a lot from it.

It got a solid 7.2 on IMDB, if not for the boring part it'd easily be a high 8.

Frankly the first 20 mins was a complete yawn-fest, I almost turned it off, I know someone that did fall asleep and someone else that did actually turn if off half way through.

It's a shame as it does get very much better after that.

It's an intricately woven tale showing the picture from the ground level with Pakistani workers being laid off in the oil fields, the political level, and the level of normal people like you and I with George Clooney and Matt Damon getting involved for vastly different reasons.

It's a deeply political film and very nicely linked together but slow in parts, it's definately thinkers film and is closely related to many of the things that have happened in recent times..

I believe it was banned in Malaysia due to some of the sensitive issues it addressed.

The acting was top notch, it's good to see Clooney taking a meaty role and once again Matt Damon showing his versatility.

It's an interesting enough movie, just don't expect any action, chicks, explosions or humour.

Serious and tense it is, light-hearted it is not.

You have to give it some time and get into the plot, the twists, the power struggles and the back-stabbing. It was based on a book which was apparently based on a real conflict, I have yet to look up who the prince was..but it's certainly interesting.

I'd give it a worth watching 6.5/10.