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

"getting away with it" covers exactly that out of sight timing thing, but as a diary as it happened. recommended.

"But an alarming thing I learned during Contagion is that the people who pay to make the movies and the audiences who see them are actually very much in sync. I remember during previews how upset the audience was by the Jude Law character. The fact that he created a sort of mixed reaction was viewed as a flaw in the filmmaking. Not, 'Oh, that’s interesting, I’m not sure if this guy is an asshole or a hero.' People were really annoyed by that. And I thought, Wow, so ambiguity is not on the table anymore. They were angry."

great interview!

apparently I've seen 18 of his features and only actively disliked The Informant! But that was certainly a gutsy attempt at, well, something.

I enjoyed it, because I had read the book and appreciated the fact that Soderbergh transformed what was a metaphorical farce into an actual farce. Also, Matt Damon's mustache.

Dr. Larry Brilliant?

it helps when farce is funny.

Lawrence "Larry" Brilliant is an American physician, epidemiologist, technologist, author, and the former director of Google's philanthropic arm Google.org.

Loved the informant

Helps when farce is funny, but I'll take simply silly in a pinch.

prefer Schizopolis and The Girlfriend Experience.

Co-sign on the former, but the latter is "Bubble"-level lark.

Bubble's a good one too -- but a lark?

I do like how Soderbergh clearly flips channels, surfs the web, etc., finds some neo-actor who intrigues him and builds a movie around her. Oh, look at this extreme porn star! I'll make a movie around her. Hey, check out this extreme fighter? I'll make a movie around her. Hey, check out this host of some E! show! I'll date her!

Lark in the sense that it was at least partly an experiment - can I whip together this ultra-low budget film with no stars and then find an alternative distribution method?

Wait, he married Jules Asner? Good for him.

comedian friend's FB status: "Saw SIDE EFFECTS tonight -- outside of some rectal bleeding, I loved it!"

Whose rectum was bleeding? Your friend's?

He should see a doctor, and be sure to tell the theatre to throw a towel over that seat.

The Girlfriend Experience and MM my favorites of the last ten years.

I preferred Haywire to MM, in fact I generally prefer his smaller 'experiments', such as The Girlfriend Experience, to the likes of Contagion and The Informant!. sex, lies and videotape and Out of Sight are still his best work, though, I'd say.

GFE directors cut is much better than the original

wow http://www.latimes.com/features/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-steven-soderbergh-12-hour-john-barth-adaptation-james-greer-20130402,0,3573297.story

Soderberg can't be worse than Gus van Sant, who seems to have no particular aptitude towards movie-making.

The adaptation was done, at least in part, by James Greer, the novelist and former Guided by Voices bassist who lives in Los Angeles when not on tour with his band Détective.

Surely one of the most impressive rock critic to film tales since Crowe. Spin mag, Kim Deal fiance, bassist in GBV, novelist, screenwriter ...

Interesting - I read that for a class in college.

He actually came to meet with my freshman writing class, it was kinda cool (Barth, that is).

psyched for this (i mean, if it actually materializes ever)

love that book

Finally caught up with Magic Mike. Surprisingly well made and good looking (not just taking about the cast here); he actually seems invested in this film rather than seeming, as he so often does to me, like he's tossing it all together so he can get on to the next thing. Saying this is Tatum's best performance probably sounds like faint praise, but he's really good in this film. His scenes with the sister and especially the one in the bank are terrific.

https://vimeo.com/65060864

Transcript:
http://www.deadline.com/2013/04/steven-soderbergh-state-of-cinema-address/

thank you so much eazy. no way i was gonna watch a 40-minute lecture, but 10 minutes of text i can handle (take that, cinema). a wonderful read. <3 soderbergh. this was particularly interesting, and i'm half surprised he didn't go on to make the obvious comparison. would have been gauche, i suppose:

But let’s sex this up with some more numbers. In 2003, 455 films were released. 275 of those were independent, 180 were studio films. Last year 677 films were released. So you’re not imagining things, there are a lot of movies that open every weekend. 549 of those were independent, 128 were studio films. So, a 100% increase in independent films, and a 28% drop in studio films, and yet, ten years ago: Studio market share 69%, last year 76%. You’ve got fewer studio movies now taking up a bigger piece of the pie and you’ve got twice as many independent films scrambling for a smaller piece of the pie. That’s hard. That’s really hard.

He's started tweeting a novel, but the tweets before the novel (when his account was probably private or anonymous) are more fun:

https://twitter.com/Bitchuation

@Bitchuation 1 Apr
Does Stanley Crouch? Did Edith Sitwell? What will Joyce Cary? Is Conrad Aiken? Did Gene Fowler? Was Anita Loos? Was Arthur Freed?

Transcript:
http://www.deadline.com/2013/04/steven-soderbergh-state-of-cinema-address/

that was great

Soderbergh re-edits Psycho, combining the original and the Van Sant remake:

http://extension765.com/sdr/15-psychos

I like a lot of his movies and always appreciate his comments, etc. but I get the feeling that he would hate me.

it's just that so often he says something like "you know who's really the worst? these guys!"

and i think, "i'm totally one of those guys"

:(

interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4H2rbxgbQo

yeah he's admitted this several times -- this was his turning point, he says, but really not much has changed

I suspect Traffic will be unwatchable in a few decades. It's like Stanley Kramer + Alan Pakula.

― Amateurist (amateurist), Tuesday, March 11, 2003 11:29 AM (11 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if by "decades" you meant within 10 years of coming out, then you are OTM.

it's like crash with cartels and freebasing white girls. I liked it when I saw it but I think I was mostly impressed by the attempt box the execution of the attempt isn't that interesting. the directing is better than the script but neither are as good as a few of the performances, which aren't given much to work with so aren't THAT good. it's funny how it plays now be soderbergh strikes me as a director of fairly breezy and confident films whereas this just trudges along. I'd probably watch any of the Ocean's movies before this now.

not to mention Erin Brockovich

attempt box? *attempt because

He has an Off-Broadway show opening at the Public, written by Scott Z. Burns (The Informant!).

http://www.newyorker.com/arts/reviews/2014/04/07/140407goli_GOAT_theatre_als

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOXbU8TOZVM

^^Trailer for new Cinemax miniseries.

so has anyone seen it?

http://www.vulture.com/2014/07/review-the-knick-soderbergh-cinemax.html

It debuts on friday night and has garnered some early doors hyperbole, one critic comparing it to Deadwood!

deadwood wasn't so great.

just watched che. a great film, i thought, within the limitations of the style.

Deadwood was p damn good, Che a bit less than that