Steven Soderbergh

[ie]

This thread was missing.





The only (yes) movie I've seen by Steven Soderbergh is Schizopolis, which was quite good. I own the non-Criterion Collection version of ye ole Traffic, and have yet to watch it, so perhaps I should. And, you know, soon.


Anyways, since I've only seen one of his movies, I can't comment too much on his directorial style or anything (without, you know, doing more research). You can comment on what you think of his other movies, though. I know you can, you just gotta believe in yourself!

However, I did like Steven Soderbergh's work in Schizopolis, which I borrowed completely at random because it was on the Criterion Collection, so perhaps I should check out some of his other work.

[PTAhole]

Check out Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Traffic, those are his two best.

[ie]

Well, I do own Traffic, so I'll be much more likely to check that one out.

Honestly, though, I have passed on sex, lies and videotape, if only because it didn't sound that interesting to me. Yeah, yeah, I know. But now, I'll probably be more interested, so all is well in the world.

[criterionmaster]

I don't really find him all that great. While I haven't seen Sex, Lies, and Videotape and Schizopolis, I have seen Ocean's 11 & 12, which are two of the worst films I have ever seen. Just so new, flashy, and cliché. All the buzz on the films is because the casts are all big name, the film has nothing to add to the original or to film in general and should have never been made. And I personally think sequels to a remake are ridiculous!

I have also seen Solaris, and guess what; the only thing I remember about it is how bad it sucks. What balls, what balls indeed, to go and remake a Tarkovsky film. The whole film bored me to tears, and while I haven't seen the original I can tell it will be better than that shit fest.

Also I have seen Erin Brockovich which is one of my most hated films. Julia Roberts should be killed; just her face makes me want to stop watching film forever. The whole film is blown up to be some great film, trying to have a message but it fails to do anything for me.

But now we come to Traffic, what a masterpiece. Just everything about the style and look of this film is mind-blowing. Definitely Soderbergh's directorial masterwork. Looking at how they changed the contrast or color as the stories go between each other is just beautiful. You may not even realize that it's happening but I just love it. Each color works with the story line and adds a feel to it; even though it had been added in, it actually gives scenes realism to them. The performances are outstanding. The film is actually haunting and has a way to get at me. SEMI-SPOILER* like with the girl just being thrown around like laundry, constantly on drugs and constantly being raped, just not caring or feeling anything. It is just heartbreaking and haunting. *END SEMI-SPOILER

So even though I hate all his films but one, I still don't dismiss his work. Since I am hoping the masterful directing I saw in Traffic was not a fluke.

[captainofbeef]

Yea, I liked Oceans 11 and 12 and Sex, Lies and Videotape. I loved Traffic and I HATED Solaris. Overall, I think Soderbergh is a very talented director and I want to see Bubble.

[ie]

I've heard great things about most of his movies. Including Solaris.

[ie]

So, Traffic.

Excellent movie.


Andruini told me he had some thoughts about the accuracy of Traffic, so this is a bit of a reminder for him to write down his thoughts on this really good movie. (Sorry to put you on the spot there... You can respond when you have the time.)

[criterionmaster]

Please respond in the Traffic thread. I think it is good to have some discussion in the threads for the films, but I am not going to flip if someone doesn't feel like it.

[ie]

There's the Traffic thread?


edit: I invented one, using my mind. If there's another one, I might want to hear about it over in that thread, but I guess this thread is more for thoughts on the director in general.

[criterionmaster]

Well it doesn't matter really, say you wanted to post your thoughts on the pile of crap Ocean's Eleven, you could do it in here since there isn't an existing thread. I see you made a thread for it in the reviews section, that is fine. Same happened for Ikiru. I only said to use the thread since there was already one in the Criterion section, but the new one is fine.

[kiddo]

Hehe. The only film I've seen from Soderbergh is Oceans Eleven, and yes, it sucks. Anything more constructive should wait till I see more of him...

[ie]

Well, for just small talk on movies, I think these threads are fine. But if we're going to have an amazing talk about Traffic, it should get its own thread. Then after we're done talking about Traffic, we can talk about traffic, then, the weather.

[criterionmaster]

Soderbergh and Clooney on Ocean's 13
Source: Edward Douglas
December 2, 2006

This year, there were a lot of high profile threequels (AKA sequels to sequels) but one of the big ones for next summer is likely to be Ocean's 13, the second sequel to director Steven Soderbergh's 2001 remake of Ocean's 11. He's reunited the entire cast including his long-time leading man George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Matt Damon et al for one last fling. At the junket for Soderbergh's next film The Good German, Soderbergh and Clooney talked about what to expect from next summer's threequel.

"'13' happened because we thought we could do it better than '12' and we didn't want to go out getting socked in the chin on one," Clooney admitted when asked why he decided to return to reprise the role of Danny Ocean. "We were both like, 'We both know how to do this.' And we found a really good reason to do it, which is revenge, which I think is just such a good motivator after you've had these guys make a lot of money. What are you going to do? 'Let's make some more money'? This was just about getting somebody who wasn't one of our guys. I always love films like that. That made sense to us and that seemed like a good reason to do it. There doesn't seem to be any other reason to come back. And it's back to '11' in terms of spending more time with the guys."

When asked whether he was taking any risks on the third movie, Soderbergh responded, somewhat facetiously, that they were very risky, though he looked at the third movie a bit more poignantly. "I'm really happy with it, but it was kind of sad near the end of it to go, 'Well, this is the last time I'm going to see these people in a room. I really like them all and they really like each other, and there was a very strong sense that we were really lucky that these movies came about and we were able to do them and this was it. At the end of it, there was a real sense of passage and wondering for me whether I'll ever find another commercial movie to make. But also just those people, I won't be hanging out with those people anymore."

When another person suggested that Ocean's 13 didn't have to be the last one, Soderbergh disagreed, "Yeah, it does."

Clooney wasn't so closed-minded about ever doing another one, saying with his usual charm, "Listen, Rocky 17, who knows? Maybe ten years from now I need a job again, I'll take it, but right now, we don't plan on it."

Ocean's 13 is scheduled to come out on June 8, 2007, but before then, you can catch Clooney in Soderbergh's next film The Good German, out in limited release on December 15.[/

[ie]

So in my Sociology class today, my teacher was talking about how to rate movies, and she was going on and on about how cultures are different; namely how you can tell the difference between Mexican and French movies, and how Super 8 was different than... Video. Mostly obvious stuff for me, too esoteric for everyone else.

Then she said that Traffic was a Mexican movie.

Took me just a couple seconds to realize the situation, and by then, the subject was already focused on to something else, and I was going to bring up "hey, Steven Soderbergh isn't Mexican," and I was going to briefly mention how andruini (just would've said a friend of mine) said that the Mexican aspects of the movie were inaccurate. But I was distracted after class, so I didn't say it.

Plus, andruini never fully explained why Traffic was inaccurate! Come on!