some thots:

1) syrianna isnt v. good, but i find it intruiging, watching it again last night, the structure has no cohesion, the acting is quiet, the work is underlit, the concentration is on things other then the people, on architechture, on details in stone or rugs on what is behind chairs, on street signs and raquet ball courts. i find the concetration on surface details as signifer of political and personal charachter overdone, and the meandering structure means we have trouble finding one story. but the complexity and refusal towards neatness strikes me as oil works, the spaghetti mess of capital (like those images of the la freeway)
2) matt damon, chris cooper, jeffery wright, tim blake nelson, george clooney are a collection of actors who have refused the method of stainvasky and for it, have decided to disguise themselves, make the work be about how quiet and "natural" they can be, how they evade the cameras in a desire to show that they are above film acting almost, its a neat trick, and i think makes more enjoyable films then actors who decide that near mad ranting is the only way of finding their way thru a script (this is one of the reasons why i want to see the good shepered, b/c it combines the three styles of american film acting that seem dominant right now
a) the suffer for yr craft yell at the heavens work orignated by deniro, etc and perputated by people like sean penn and leo decaprio (as put forth by deniro directing)
b) the fuck me im a star glacial sliding thru scenes, not interacting on a physical level (angelina jolie)
c) the ignore me im an actor digging into scenes, interacting on every level i can find, but not v. loudly (damon)

(i think thats why the depature failed, because the two movies, the one with whalberg/damon/etc fought against the one with nicholson/dicaprio)
(i think maybe damon saying i just want to work, thats all i want to do is work, let me work, which might mean the roles he deserved oscars for, he isnt getting oscars for. (ie in the last 6 years:
departed
syriana
confessions of a dangerous mind
gerry
all the pretty horses)