favorite soderburgh film?

[afgrijselijkheid]

on the wings of my tragic best coen brothers film thread... here we have it - vote for yor favorite steven soderburgh flick and please feel free to tell us why it's so great

i think his movies fly so smoothly for 2 reasons... 1)he clearly creates very relaxed working enviroments and relationships for his actors - just a guess: soderburgh listens to his cast well more than most directors -&- 2)he isn't afraid to use the camera, the light and shade, the colors necessary to get a different look... yet he seems to know when to pull it back to simple - this skill of nuance adds that little boost of dynamics, of pop to his scenes and the flow between them

i also love how he can make inanimate objects into intriguing charcters in their own right; a box of videotapes, the cab of a truck, brad pitt's clothes (and snacks)

i also understand that he brings projects in on time or early and often under budget so i'm sure hollywood loves him as much as moviegoers do

the last time i took the barrage for leaving out a certain movie so this time i'm using all of the spaces whether i think somebody might vote for it or not

for my money though, this goes between sex lies and videotape and ocean's eleven (which shows how versatile he has become) - hmmm... tough to choose, but i'll go for O11 due to the sheer volume of it all

[TheSlipperyOne]

I, myself, am quite the fan of Steven Soderbergh.

[champmanager]

What about Kafka? I, for one, think its the finest movie abou Kafka ever made.

[Ghost]

If I had to name my favorite film of this decade, much less my favorite Soderbergh film, it would likely be the enormously overlooked Solaris. Melodramatic? yes. But it's melodrama as it should be done -- in the interest of a higher art. At first blush, its plot may rip off Ghost, and you're welcome to stop there. But that's just the point. This is a film where what you get out of it is largely determined by what you put into it. In a film world where technological advancement and directorial grandiosity increasingly act upon the viewer rather than in concert with her/him, Solaris realizes that the real film takes place not on the screen, not in the vision of a solitary director, but in the minds of the audience. It is a film that understands it is being watched. That fits with the themes of the film -- the relationship of subjectivity, memory, identity and the construction of reality. We watch the film with the wonder and the uncertainty with which the characters watch the gas-blue planet at its center --- drawing from our experiences, imparting them upon the images, trying to work out some interpretation. We create a Solaris in our heads that is part it and part us. As we do a god. Or a wife. Or a film.

Anyway, I am passionate about this film. As reviewer Walter Chaw at filmfreakcentral.net says, Solaris is deserving of the eventual popular and critical reappraisal blessed upon Blade Runner. Hopefully so.

If I cast the sole vote in favor of Solaris, I'll be more than honored to do so. .

[Foosinho]

Originally posted by Ghost
If I cast the sole vote in favor of Solaris, I'll be more than honored to do so. .

Count me in.

This was a difficult decision, but ultimately I chose Solaris because it was the only film that really impacted me. O11 was fun, Traffic has an important message, but Solaris was engrossing and effective in a way neither of those other films were.

[Mr. Bandwagon]

Solaris is awesome! I'm psyched not to be the first vote.

Definitely as good as BladeRunner.

[skipshady]

Huge fan of Sodebergh. Not for any single film, but his body of work and the versatility.

That said, I enjoyed "Out of Sight" the most - underrated because it's not as "important" as "Traffic", a blockbuster like "Ocean's 11" or arthouse like "Solaris". He uses Clooney to the max and it was my first time watching Don Cheadle. Plus, any director that can make J.Lo look like a decent actress deserves some sort of special Oscar.

Question - when was the last time Sodebergh has directed a film without one of the following: George Clooney, Luis Guzman, Julia Roberts or Don Cheadle?

[bojendyk]

I went with O11, which was pretty fun. (I also have a weak spot for heist films.)

Personally, I think the guy is pretty overrated. He's made a lot of good movies, but I don't think any of them are great.

SS's Solaris is nowhere near as good as the Tarkovsky version from the 70s.

[TheSlipperyOne]

Originally posted by skipshady

Question - when was the last time Sodebergh has directed a film without one of the following: George Clooney, Luis Guzman, Julia Roberts or Don Cheadle?

Schizopolis (which I would have put on this poll, along with King Of The Hill).

[skipshady]

Originally posted by bojendyk
Personally, I think the guy is pretty overrated. He's made a lot of good movies, but I don't think any of them are great.I would argue that Soderbergh is underrated precisely because he doesn't try to make "great" films. He's skilled enough that he could make groundbreaking films if he so chose, but prefers to make films that he wants to make. But that's just my guess.

And I agree with his taste in women.

[Ghost]

Originally posted by bojendyk
SS's Solaris is nowhere near as good as the Tarkovsky version from the 70s.

While Tarkovsky's version has deeper philosophical bearings, Soderbergh's version wins out for me because of its inventive structure and its integration with the thematics of the film. It's not just the subject of the telling but also the way it's being told.

I don't think Soderbergh is a great brain, in the way of past great filmmakers, but he is a superb storyteller who knows how to use film to relate ideas.

[afgrijselijkheid]

Originally posted by TheSlipperyOne
Schizopolis (which I would have put on this poll, along with King Of The Hill).


there's always gotta be SlipperyOne in the bunch!

:D

[GringoTex]

Soderburgh is our Billy Wilder. His only genius is his consistency and versatility.

[Ferris]

Originally posted by Mr. Bandwagon
Solaris is awesome! I'm psyched not to be the first vote.

Definitely as good as BladeRunner. Eh. I did like Solaris, but it was not as good as Bladerunner.

[Ghost]

Soderbergh, at his best, deals with the question "What is it like to live inside a human consciousness?" in which the basis for your decisions are clouded in the future by uncertainty and in the past by memory and time; and how to use film, particularly editing, to best represent this dilemma
The editing of his films is his true strength; he knows how to give and hide information in a way that advances the film. His cuts have bite.

I don't know if that's enough to qualify for genius, but it certainly makes for some very good films. .

[TheSlipperyOne]

Originally posted by bluedaddy19
there's always gotta be SlipperyOne in the bunch!

:D

:p