Is the work of Steven Soderbergh the most overrated thing ever?

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I don't blame anyone for hating Ocean's Eleven. It was, after all, about a bunch of guys having fun taking our money.

― Pete Scholtes, Wednesday, 17 September 2003 02:00 (twenty years ago) link

[[rimshot!]]

(Pete Scholtes can regularly be seen at www.complicatedfun.com.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 17 September 2003 02:02 (twenty years ago) link

seven months pass...

I'm reconsidering my opinions on Soderbergh based solely on the strength of Schizopolis and also slightly on the portrayal of his career as written in Biskind's new book Down and Dirty Pictures (however spurious said book's sources may be).

That said, I stand by my previous statement that Soderbergh 89-99 was better than 00-onwards, but I've decided to try to go through the entire oeuvre and see if a closer look yields anything worth reconsidering.

There.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Sunday, 18 April 2004 04:13 (twenty years ago) link

nine months pass...

trailer for oceans 12 is better than oceans 11.

― Miles Finch, Monday, 31 January 2005 15:09 (nineteen years ago) link

I really liked Kafka. I thought he did a good job bringing ideas from many of his books into one movie. Jeremy Irons was great as Franz.

Other than Sex, Lies and Videotape, which I also liked, I have not seen any of Soderbergh's other films.

― earlnash, Monday, 31 January 2005 16:17 (nineteen years ago) link

Ocean's 12 was good, more fun and easygoing than the first one. I can't decide if his complete violation of the heist-movie/detective-movie rule (the scheme has to be something the audience could have figured out) is laziness or a formal experiment.

― milozauckerman (miloaukerman), Monday, 31 January 2005 16:27 (nineteen years ago) link

i like erin brokovich, traffic, sex lies and videotape, out of sight, and the limey. the others I don't care about at all. I remember really disliking schizopolis, which seemed like more of a phoney attempt at being taken seriously by cult-loving filmies than his other work.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:13 (nineteen years ago) link

anyway he's better than Alan Rudolph who I used to think of as kind of a similar director. they've definitely gone down seperate paths.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:27 (nineteen years ago) link

I loved The Limey, Oceans 11, and Gray's Anatomy. I liked Erin Brokovich, the Solaris remake, and Out of Sight. I was mostly ambivalent about Traffic, Kafka, and Sex Lies & Videotape. I greatly disliked Schizopolis.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:31 (nineteen years ago) link

i forgot about gray's anatomy. that was good also.

― kyle (akmonday), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:34 (nineteen years ago) link

I loved Schizopolis. It was what made me first take note of Mr.Soderbergh.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Monday, 31 January 2005 17:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Sarah and Carey OTM, two years ago.

I haven't seen Out of Sight in a very, very long time, mainly because I have it on VHS and not on DVD, but I plan to rectify this very soon.

― Allyzay Highlights The Fallacy of Radiohead (allyzay), Monday, 31 January 2005 20:17 (nineteen years ago) link

two weeks pass...

I saw Schizopolis last night. It was good! It made both more and less sense than I expected it to.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 15:58 (nineteen years ago) link

What I liked about Schizopolis is that in the process of telling a pretty simple core story (husband and wife grown apart emotionally, etc.) it throws out so many neat little ideas with such terrifying speed that it doesn't really matter that none of them really stick. Its wild and uneven, and fails over and over again, but the film as a whole still feels satisfying, conhesive in its own way.

― Augustine (Augustine Bearse), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 17:35 (nineteen years ago) link

not looking forward to his che movie

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:36 (nineteen years ago) link

I still stand by my original assertion!

― adam.r.l. (nordicskilla), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:37 (nineteen years ago) link

He's doing a Che movie?!?!? That's so not a good idea.

― Leon the Fatboy (Ex Leon), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:38 (nineteen years ago) link

fuck a biopic!!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:51 (nineteen years ago) link

This will only work if they use the Che character from Evita.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:54 (nineteen years ago) link

will it be a remake of "The Motorcycle Diaries" i wonder? he's the remake king.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:57 (nineteen years ago) link

an evil king, i mean.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 18:58 (nineteen years ago) link

what, no one liked his shot-for-shot Psycho remake? He's totally a hack, but even hacks make good movies on occasion (in this case I'd rate the Limey, Traffic. Out of Sight and Ocean's 11 were okay, but totally fluff, throwaway material. And I say this as someone who hates Elmore Leonard with a burning passion)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:00 (nineteen years ago) link

what, no one liked his shot-for-shot Psycho remake?

Yeah, what was that guy thinking ripping off Gus Van Sant like that!

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:01 (nineteen years ago) link

the thought of soderbergh doing a shot-for-shot remake of van sant's shot-for-shot remake is cracking me up.

― jed_ (jed), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:03 (nineteen years ago) link

what, no one liked his shot-for-shot remake of The Out of Towners?

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:11 (nineteen years ago) link

I wonder - if enough people make shot-for-shot remakes of a shot-for-shot remake of a shot-for-shot remake of etc etc etc, will the Nth person down the line end up with just 90+ minutes' worth of blank film?

― David R. (popshots75`), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:17 (nineteen years ago) link

if they go the van sant route, it will be 90+ minutes of flying cows.

― jones (actual), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:19 (nineteen years ago) link

Solaris is the Kid A of films. make of that what you will.

-- Nordicskillz (t1nym1n...), March 11th, 2003.

solaris is one of my favorite films of all time. yes this version. you may now excuse whatever paltry credibility i have earned over the last five months.

kafka is great too.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:28 (nineteen years ago) link

I've really never understood the love for *either* Solaris (in fact, I think I mailed hstencil my VHS copy several years ago...) As far as I'm concerned both versions are tedious and pointless. The BOOK, however, is typical Lem (ie, fantastic)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:33 (nineteen years ago) link

Yup.

― n/a (Nick A.), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:34 (nineteen years ago) link

shakey what does the word "hack" mean to you?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:46 (nineteen years ago) link

actually for some reason i kind of wish he would remake the talking heads movie 'true stories'... i must be retarded.

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:52 (nineteen years ago) link

Soderbergh hasn't made a great film yet, but he might.

I like all 3 Solarises, tho in Lem-Tarkovsky-SS order.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:53 (nineteen years ago) link

"Soderbergh hasn't made a great film yet, but he might."

I would agree, but he has made some good films (King of the Hill is probably my early favorite, but I like Schizopolis and The Underneath and most of Hollywood fare too.)

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:55 (nineteen years ago) link

Oh wait and The Limey is really quite good, but I am a sucker for Point Blank-style revenge flicks.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 19:56 (nineteen years ago) link

Traffic with the exception of Del Toro's great performance is really weak though as is Erin Brockovich and Full Frontal is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:00 (nineteen years ago) link

hack = quantity over quality, with a penchant for remaining faithful to genre conventions and canonized sources

― Shakey Mo Collier, Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:14 (nineteen years ago) link

re:Che biopic

SS steped in on this after Terence Malick (?!?) backed out.

― Doobie Keebler (Charles McCain), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:29 (nineteen years ago) link

screw the 'genre conventions' argument, Shakey, but I buy you on the 'quantity over quality' argument w/o any comment. Also -

Soderbergh:Malick::Spielberg:Huston

― Remy (x Jeremy), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 20:31 (nineteen years ago) link

canonized sources?

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:29 (nineteen years ago) link

dude wtf is james spader thinking these days.

― Aaron A., Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:41 (nineteen years ago) link

i haven't seen that show he's on... but he was awesome in secretary!

― firstworldman (firstworldman), Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:43 (nineteen years ago) link

he maintained a certain mystique throughout his career until this putrid Boston Legal (I think that's it).

― Aaron A., Tuesday, 15 February 2005 22:47 (nineteen years ago) link

eleven months pass...

Soderbergh talks 'video mash-ups' and more

― Sororah T Massacre (blueski), Monday, 30 January 2006 13:18 (eighteen years ago) link

I recently rescreened Erin Brockovich. Man, is it a better movie than Traffic.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:06 (eighteen years ago) link

Not in the last couple reels, when it's mostly about Julia Roberts' teeth.

So Bob Pollard has scored most of Bubble. If only it was still the '90s.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:11 (eighteen years ago) link

is 'bubble' any good? why is mark romanek the commentator on the dvd? i'm intrigued.

― The Man Without Shadow (Enrique), Monday, 30 January 2006 14:16 (eighteen years ago) link

Erin Brockovich was good!

― Abbadavid Berman (Hurting), Monday, 30 January 2006 15:30 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, if any movie deserves the Howard Hawks comparisons lobbed in Soderbergh's court it's Erin Brockovich.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Monday, 30 January 2006 15:34 (eighteen years ago) link

Is the work of Steven Soderbergh the most overrated thing ever?

No, the work of Lars von Trier is

― Dadaismus (Dada), Monday, 30 January 2006 15:37 (eighteen years ago) link

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