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Product Description Syriana: noun a geographical term referring to those Middle East hot spots that have proven volatile with regard to the security of the United States; a place in the Middle East where trouble is always breaking out. Based on the best-selling book See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism by Robert Baer, this timely political thriller takes a penetrating look at the efforts of the U.S. intelligence-gathering community in the Middle East, weaving together several storylines ranging from American foreign policy and the CIA's role in it to the oil industry and terrorism. Welcome to Syriana. Amazon.com Syriana is an oil-based soap opera set against the world of global oil cartels. It is to the oil industry as Traffic was to the drug trade (no surprise, since writer/director Stephen Gaghan wrote the screenplay to Traffic): a sprawling attempt to portray the vast political, business, social, and personal implications of a societal addiction, in this case, oil. A major merger between two of the world’s largest oil companies reveals ethical dilemmas for the lawyer charged with making the deal (Jeffrey Wright), and major global implications beyond the obvious; a CIA operative (George Clooney) discovers the truth about his work, and the people he works for; a young oil broker (Matt Damon) encounters personal tragedy, then partners with an idealistic Gulf prince (Alexander Siddig) attempting to build a new economy for his people, only to find he’s opposed by powers far beyond his control. Meanwhile, disenfranchised Pakistani youths are lured into terrorism by a radical Islamic cleric. And that’s just the start. As in Traffic, in one way or another all of the characters’ fates are tied to each other, whether they realize it or not, though the connections are sometimes tenuous. While Syriana is basically a good film with timely resonance, it can’t quite seem to measure up to Gaghan’s ambitious vision and it very nearly collapses under the weight of its many storylines. Fortunately they are resolved skillfully enough to keep the film from going under in the end. To some viewers, Syriana will seem like an unfocused and over-loaded film that goes, all at once, everywhere and nowhere. Others will find it to be an important work earnestly exploring major issues. In either case, it’s a film that deserves to be taken seriously, and it’s likely to be one that will be talked about for a long time to come. --Dan Vancini

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Set in a mining town in the 1880s, Thousand Pieces of Gold tells the real-life story of Lalu (Rosalind Chao, The Laundromat, The Joy Luck Club), a young Chinese woman whose desperately poor parents sell her into slavery. She is trafficked to a nefarious saloonkeeper in Idaho’s gold country. Eventually Charlie, a man of a different ilk, played by Chris Cooper (Adaptation, American Beauty), wins her in a poker game and slowly gains her trust. Way ahead of its time, the film resonates even more powerfully in the #MeToo era. But director Nancy Kelly became a victim of prejudice against women directors within the American film industry and was never offered another movie to direct in spite of extraordinary reviews, some of which compared her talent to that of John Ford. Based on the classic novel by Ruthanne Lum McCunn, and written for the screen by awardwinning filmmaker Anne Makepeace (Tribal Justice), Thousand Pieces of Gold is a breathtaking feminist Western just waiting to be rediscovered, and is presented here in a new 4K restoration. Special Features: Radio interview with director Nancy Kelly (courtesy of Chinamerica Radio) | Audio commentary with Nancy Kelly and producer Kenji Yamamoto | Booklet essay by screenwriter and filmmaker Anne Makepeace | Trailer

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That Dirty Black Bag - Season 1 A story over eight long days describes the encounter and clash between two men: McCoy, an apparently incorruptible sheriff with a dark past, and Red Bill, a dirty, taciturn bounty killer trapped in a desire for vengeance that cannot be fulfilled. Starring: Douglas Booth, Dominic Cooper, Niv Sultan “What ultimately makes That Dirty Black Bag both entertaining and intriguing isn’t its adherence to westerns past, but its own tweaks on the genre.” – Wall Street Journal “darkly funny” – Slant Magazine