M34 This film opposed to the US Natural Gas production was 100% financed by state owned "media production company" of the largest competing Natural gas producer in the world -- UAE.Before you down vote me that fact go to the wikipeia page for this film. It is fully sourced and footnoted, backed up by CNN, which did an investigation. the producer pairing includes companies that produced this also produced "inconvenient truth" and several films where UAE has a direct competitive interest.And the film is wrong on a huge number of facts. For example the scene where we see Damon/Butler negotiating with a landowner, signing him to a lease for $2,000 per acre and an "8% share of the profits. The minimum given ever in Pennsylvania is 12.5% and that is 12.5% of the gross, which is more like 30% of the net. In other words the landowner puts nothing toward expenses and takes at least 12.5 of the gross, not the much smaller net. 12.5% of gross is about 35% of net. So 35% not "8%"And franking has been done in MILLIONs of well since the mid 1940's. Obama's own EPA head said there has never been one case of contamination of groundwater.

juneebuggy This was okay, it didn't leave as much of an impression on me as it was probably meant to with its controversial subject matter but it is a quality film. Beautifully shot, with a fantastic cast and involving story. Its also funny at times and for the most part involving if a little dry.Matt Damon is Steve Butler, a salesman for a natural gas company who along with his partner Sue(Frances McDormand) arrive in a small Pennsylvania town to secure drilling rights for a natural-gas company. Steve goes door to door and promises millions to the financially suffering farmers, holds a town meeting in the gym, where he gets shut down by a retired science teacher (the awesome Hal Holbrook) and then proceeds to get drunk in the local bar where he meets a schoolteacher who he repeatedly lets know, "I'm a good guy". Obviously Steve is doubting himself since he's sold out to the man. Steve's conscience plays heavily into this story, whereas to Sue, she tells us its just a job.Before long the leader of an environmental group (John Krasinski) shows up and works the townsfolk against Steve so that despite the economic down turn the townspeople are no longer willing to just accept whatever deal is laid before them. Seems like this sure thing deal isn't going to be so easy.Both Matt Damon and John Kransinski do a great job in conveying their character's qualities and aspirations and I also enjoyed the relationship between Matt and Frances, you do get to know all these characters and in that respect this film shines. A bit of a twist towards the end just in case you felt pulled in one direction or the other ethically but all in not a film I'm going to remember for long. 5/3/16

Nick Holland Promised Land is directed by Gus Van Sant, written by Matt Damon, and stars Matt Damon. The story is about a worker for the natural gas fracking company, "Global," and his attempts to try and persuade a small, poor, farming town to buy into this fracking technology. He is conflicted in his endeavors by an environmentalist, a local school teacher, and his feeling for a local woman. This was originally going to be Matt Damon's directorial debut, but he ended up giving the job to Van Sant, due to them working together in the ever so successful movie, Good Will Hunting. This film has ups and downs, but is altogether pretty good.To start with the positives, the directing is very nice. Gus Van Sant did very well, yet again, and made the movie look very clean. Although there were no scenes of "action," suspenseful scenes were filmed well, with minimal cuts and some nice, wide shots. The cinematography was also very good. Some of the wide takes of the farmland look truly beautiful. A lot of far off camera angles of Damon's car driving on backroads look very nice, and gives off the simplistic tone to the small town.The other main positive is the acting. Matt Damon, as always, does well. His co stars, John Krasinski, and Frances McDormand do really well also. The combination of the actors really adds a lot to the film. However, there are quite a few negatives. It's not a bad movie, but it isn't exactly great.The biggest negative is the love triangle that happens in the movie. This may be a spoiler for some, so spoiler alert. Damon's character, Steve, takes interest in a character named Alice. They both seem to have good chemistry, and get along well, but Alice all of a sudden jumps to another character's side, and takes interest in him. She then finds out a certain thing, and immediately flips back to Steve's side. This confused the heck out of me. Yes, some people can change their mind, but so quickly, and without reason? It really dragged the film down.The other main problem is the plot. The plot can keep up, but I only counted a few moments in which I actually cared. There was even a point where I was questioning is Steve was the good guy. Many, many things confused me, and I'm not easily confused. The plot dragged on at spots, and I got somewhat bored. I watched the whole thing, and the story would always pick back up, but only after a certain while.Overall, Promised Land was a decent movie. I'll probably watch it again every once in awhile, but it's really not great. I think Promised Land deserves a B-, or a 7 out of 10.

Floated2 Promised Land starring Matt Damon (Steve Butler) isn't the bad guy. Howver as the son of a grower himself, he's personable, and—for good measure—he makes sure to say, "I'm not a bad guy" to many of the people he meets. Gus Van Sant's didactic drama, by contrast, is quite a bad movie, though it takes a little while for that to become evident. When Steve and his business partner, Frances McDormand (Sue), arrive in the rural Pennsylvania community that is their company's latest target, the film revels in atmosphere more than plot. There's a real feel for small-town dynamics: The local watering holes seem populated by genuinely weathered homesteaders as opposed to central-casting extras. And you get a vivid sense of who's running the show. Running at only 106 minutes, Promised Land ultimately becomes and feels more of a run time over of 120 minutes.