My own ratings for the movies of his I've seen:
Sex, Lies and Videotape: *** 1/2
Out of Sight: *** 1/2
The Limey: ***
Erin Brockovich: **
Traffic: ****
Ocean's Eleven: ***
Full Frontal: **
Solaris: ***
For me, like some people have said, he seems to be scratching surfaces more than bringing anything really great from them and is holding himself up as making more good films than great ones though someone like Paul Thomas Anderson has made only 1 really good movie (Hard Eight) along with 3 great films and he has done just four. For Anderson, there seems like an evolution to higher material as he progresses and bigger chances taken then Soderbergh, who thinks it is a risky idea to remake material without being able to bring anything really new from the previous one (Solaris). Honestly, I hear he has certain projects in the future but I am already bored and not looking forward to any of them. It's a dependence on previous material and the belief things can pass without any great touch of mastery to it to bring it to new life. Paul Thomas Anderson took the idea of the pudding guy, a true story, and brought it to life in a completely different way. If Soderbergh was at the helm, I think he would have focused very intently of getting the feeling of this guy's life to the screen and what his reasoning on doing the pudding thing meant to him. I couldn't see room for really anything else there and nothing to put the material over the top.
~rougerum
I pretty much agree with you, and I have trouble looking forward to 'The Informant' or even 'Ocean's 12.' I do think there is a progression in his work...however, I also think he needs to do something completely different now. Maybe another period piece. I imagine The Informant and Ocean's 12 will both be good, but familiar.
My own ratings for his films:
Sex, Lies and Videotape: *** 1/2
Kafka: ***
King Of The Hill: **1/2
Out of Sight: *** 1/2
The Limey: ****
Erin Brockovich: ** 1/2
Traffic: ***1/2
Ocean's Eleven: ***
Full Frontal: *1/2
Solaris: ****
I thought Erin Brockovich was a great movie, very touching, funny, smart, well written and acted. Why only 2 stars?
The story is an old one, though not necessarily doomed, but Soderbergh does little in refreshing that oldness to keep pace with previous films on similiar subjects made in the same structure. And in light of how common the movie is, Soderbergh's failure at competing only makes it that more dismal.
~rougerum
I understand what you're saying. Part of his "not bringing anything new to the table" might have to do with him usually not writing the scripts he directs. I know he has written scripts before (Sex, Lies, Solaris) but not as a general rule. It is hard to argue with PTA's track record so far (sometimes I wonder if he'll ever make a piece of shit) and I think a lot of his greatness comes through because of his writing. He cares about his characters which translates to he cares about his actors portrayal of his characters (granted, that's not all directing is, but it helps). Maybe this is Soderberg's problem, maybe it isn't, I don't know. Maybe he wants to be the 'indie expirementer' or churn out as many films as he can before he dies, again, I don't know. What I do know is that, for me, Soderberg is not a director where I can place all confidence in the greatness of his next work, he's more of a 'wait and see' director (even though I like all of his films that I've seen, I still enter the next Soderberg film with a little trepidation).
Sex, Lies, & Videotape *** 1/2
Out of Sight: ****
The Limey: ***
Erin Brockovich: *** 1/2
Traffic: ****
Ocean's Eleven: ***
Solaris: *** 1/2
Quote from: The Gold TrumpetThe story is an old one, though not necessarily doomed, but Soderbergh does little in refreshing that oldness to keep pace with previous films on similiar subjects made in the same structure. And in light of how common the movie is, Soderbergh's failure at competing only makes it that more dismal.
~rougerum
In an interview of Total Film, when asked why he did Erin Brockovich;
SS: ... it was a conscious choice to do, say,
Erin Brockovich because I wanted to make a movie dominated by a female protagonist.
TF: Is that the only reason you took it?SS: Well, the other reason was the aggressive linear structure, which coming off
The Limey appealed to me. That and the fact that there was absolutely nothing cool about it whatsoever. I mean, it was the least hip thing a filmmaker in my position could do. There was no film-school shit in it.
- Total respect for the man in that choice. Why are you criticizing Soderbergh for not reinventing every genre he tries? Who says you have to? I remember reading a Coen Bros. interview in Playboy and they said that being 'original' isn't necessarily good, that they had no interest in it. Hitchcock did the same thing over and over, did he do little in refreshing the genre?
Quote from: The Gold TrumpetMy own ratings for the movies of his I've seen:
Sex, Lies and Videotape: *** 1/2
Out of Sight: *** 1/2
The Limey: ***
Erin Brockovich: **
Traffic: ****
Ocean's Eleven: ***
Full Frontal: **
Solaris: ***
Ugh. Looking at that list reminded me of that stupid message board on Rottentomatoes.com
That place is a sewer for film fans. I'll even say it's worse than AintItCoolNews.
I get headaches when I read stuff over at aintitcoolnews. They need to redesign their shit bad. All the !'s and LARGE CAPS fonts and what not, who the fuck cares.
sex lies: 4/5
out of sight: 4/5
erin: 3/5
limey: 4/5
traffic: 2.5/5
oceans 11: 3/5
full frontal: 2/5
solaris: 4/5
Quote from: cbrad4dI get headaches when I read stuff over at aintitcoolnews. They need to redesign their shit bad. All the !'s and LARGE CAPS fonts and what not, who the fuck cares.
Uh oh, cbrad4d. You've awoken the beast!
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2FSHOWBIZ%2FMovies%2F9911%2F18%2Fweb.secrets%2Fknowles.jpg&hash=32b9a6f1cd3e3c1a3121605c6f5f8060b54cd161)
Arrgh! Who speaks against my website? Harry smash!
ahhh shit here we go.
Out of Sight 5/5
The Limey 3½/5
Traffic 4½/5
Ocean's 11 3½/5
Solaris 4/5
Mee tink his mighty good...
Did Harry Knowles eat anyone's balls?
Funny cbr, in that responce he says nothing about the quality of the story. He mentions how it is different it was but nothing about the quality. Also, I was amused when he said he wanted a female protaganist because it reminded me of Jennifer Garner's reasoning for taking the role of whatever super hero girl in daredevil. Also, it doesn't matter if a project is hip or not, it just needs to be good, and John Sayles has made a career of following a path not neccessarily hip and he has made some good films with it and some bad films too. I don't care about revolutionary, but it should be good when compared to movies similiar to it. That just seemed like a no brainer to me when wanting to make a more know story kind of movie.
sadly Pawbloe, you are right. I'll never do it again.
~rougerum
Quote from: XixaxDid Harry Knowles eat anyone's balls?
No! Diesel eats balls! Knowles eats Diesel's turds!
BTW:
Out of Sight: 5/5
Erin Brockovich: 4/5
Traffic: 5/5
Ocean's 11: 4.5/5
Solaris: 4/5
Fucking love Soderbergh.
Quote from: The Gold TrumpetFunny cbr, in that responce he says nothing about the quality of the story. He mentions how it is different it was but nothing about the quality. Also, I was amused when he said he wanted a female protaganist because it reminded me of Jennifer Garner's reasoning for taking the role of whatever super hero girl in daredevil. Also, it doesn't matter if a project is hip or not, it just needs to be good, and John Sayles has made a career of following a path not neccessarily hip and he has made some good films with it and some bad films too. I don't care about revolutionary, but it should be good when compared to movies similiar to it. That just seemed like a no brainer to me when wanting to make a more know story kind of movie.
sadly Pawbloe, you are right. I'll never do it again.
~rougerum
Yeah but Erin Brockovich
is good when compared to films in a similar genre. You still haven't given any reasons why you think its not. You've just bashed it because it's not revolutionary.
Well, if you want me to go into detail, I think there are stronger examples of a story where someone is going up against a large corporation like Silkwood and A Civil Action. My belief is just that both of these films are much stronger examples of a story. The only thing I saw that was memorable or worth noting in Erin Brockovich is the plunging neck line Julia Roberts had and the small hope her tits would pop out sometime during the movie. It's just that both these movies came first and would be in comparision to this movie automatically for similiarity on storyline and Erin Brockovich, for me, did nothing to prove it as going farther than both those movies. I remember I was greatly involved with the sudden car crash in the movie, but felt nothing else as the movie progressed into the expected storyline and felt no insight than previous movies or humanity so i was not impressed.
~rougerum
Quote from: The Gold TrumpetThe only thing I saw that was memorable or worth noting in Erin Brockovich is the plunging neck line Julia Roberts had and the small hope her tits would pop out sometime during the movie.
GT is getting nastier and nastier every day...
Nice.
I swore to myself I wouldn't do it, but the opportunity to let the world know how I rank Steven Soderbergh's movies is just too once in a lifetime to pass up. :roll:
sex, lies, etc.: 3/5
Kafka: 3.5/5
King of the Hill: 4/5
Out of Sight: 4.5/5
The Limey: 5/5
Erin Brockovich: 3/5
Traffic: 10/5
Ocean's Eleven: 4/5
Solaris: 4/5
I haven't seen Full Frontal yet (sorry JB). Lackluster Video only got one copy of it, and I haven't seen it in yet. Here's my prediction: 3.5/5
Traffic was great!! and Oceans Eleven was fun.....but i agree there is a lot of hype sorrounding him!
Quote from: Phil MarloweQuote from: The Gold TrumpetThe only thing I saw that was memorable or worth noting in Erin Brockovich is the plunging neck line Julia Roberts had and the small hope her tits would pop out sometime during the movie.
GT is getting nastier and nastier every day...
Yeah he is getting nastier
Quote from: XixaxDid Harry Knowles eat anyone's balls?
(https://xixax.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2FSHOWBIZ%2FMovies%2F9911%2F18%2Fweb.secrets%2Fknowles.jpg&hash=32b9a6f1cd3e3c1a3121605c6f5f8060b54cd161)
that i can not verify, this much i do know, the day pizza hut came out with its stuffed crust style pizza, he got so excited he accidentally bite off his moustache leaving him with that Abraham Lincoln style beard he sports .
i never even thought about what he looked like.
that snl parody was disturbingly accurate