Steven Soderbergh: Overrated?

Sad Professor

Can some please tell me what's so great about this guy's films? Even in the heyday of his Out of Sight to Traffic period he seemed at best an old pro who did a good job with a good script. Then he started making stinkers while doing the editing, cinematography, and camera operation all by himself. The last film of his I thought I liked was Magic Mike until the (superior) sequel (directed by someone else) made me realise I didn't. I got excited for Logan Lucky, expecting a return to (above average) form, but nope same old boring Soderbergh.

What am I missing?

Decuc500

I’m a big fan. He can vary between crowd pleasing entertainments like the Oceans movies, Traffic and Out of Sight and more obscure, odd films like The Girlfriend Experience. The Good German was filmed in black and white and an out of date aspect ratio to mimic film noir's of the 40's and 50's. It mightn't have fully worked but it was a very interesting attempt.

His films always have a certain breezy style to them with great use of music.

He excels at crime drama’s like The Limey, The Underneath and Side Effects. Out of Sight is my favourite Elmore Leonard adaptation alongside Jackie Brown. The score and cinematography are excellent.

Also The Knick was a compelling period tv drama about the early days of medicine and medical procedures in a New York hospital. A real shame it was cancelled.

p to the e

Behind the Candelabra and Side Effects are two films I remember enjoying thoroughly. Then again, Haywire and Magic Mike were two films I thought had a great premise but fell flat due to bad acting.

Seems to be a lot of unremarkable work alright. But The Knick I thought was excellent work.

TheIrishGrover

I must admit, I enjoyed Out of Sight. But I have not seen it in YEARS. Probably since it came out on DVD. I found the Oceams films a bit grating: Too-cool-for-school. And I suspect that if I rewatched Out of Sight I might feel the same way.

As for his "experiments? I don't think he's as talented as he and his famous buddies think he is (Just personal opinion of course)

Everlong1

No one's mentioned Contagion so far which I thought was an excellent movie which took a real life premise (possible outbreak of a fatal SARS like epidemic) and turned it into a scarily realistic drama. Cracking cast too - Laurence Fishburne, Kate Winslett, Gwyneth Paltrow and Jude Law among others.

Fysh

I don't think I'd say he's great, tbh. He's made some breezily cool and fun films (Out of Sight, Oceans xx) which are I guess the filmic equivalent of George Clooney's public persona, and some other stuff that's not as experimental or clever as some might think. But he does, at least, understand his craft, even if he's not out there pushing boundaries constantly.

Plus, he does fanedits to experiment with different ideas and puts them out into the wild, which makes him a bit more interesting than many similar directors, IMO. (They usually get taken down within a few days, but that's not the point).

Sad Professor

Decuc500 wrote: »

I’m a big fan. He can vary between crowd pleasing entertainments like the Oceans movies, Traffic and Out of Sight and more obscure, odd films like The Girlfriend Experience. The Good German was filmed in black and white and an out of date aspect ratio to mimic film noir's of the 40's and 50's. It mightn't have fully worked but it was a very interesting attempt.

His films always have a certain breezy style to them with great use of music.

He excels at crime drama’s like The Limey, The Underneath and Side Effects. Out of Sight is my favourite Elmore Leonard adaptation alongside Jackie Brown. The score and cinematography are excellent.

Also The Knick was a compelling period tv drama about the early days of medicine and medical procedures in a New York hospital. A real shame it was cancelled.

I agree that crime dramas, in particular heist films, are his forte and perhaps my own indifference to that genre and its influences (Richard Lester etc) is why I find even Soderbergh's good films to be quite bland.

Stylistically I really admired Traffic at the time, but every time I revisit it (usually with a greater knowledge of the far superior films he was drawing on) the weaker it seems. There's something very slapdash about Soderbergh's filmmaking, which is very evident in Che, Haywire, and Contagion. There's a chilliness to his films that I find very hard to get onboard with.

I have heard good things about The Knick alright.

buried

I don't know much of this guys work except that he made Traffic which I did not enjoy at all, I remember falling asleep watching it at the cinema around 20 years ago. I liked 'The Limey' although I wasn't aware he was the director until I read this. I see he did a remake of 'Solaris' which I do not see or understand why there was any point to do so. It's not like western audiences wouldn't enjoy that brilliant film unless it was in English.

Sad Professor

Every time I try to rewatch his Solaris remake I make it about 20 minutes before I turn it off and put on the Tarkovsky film instead. The soundtrack is great though.

TheIrishGrover

Oh, I forgot "The Limey" and "Solaris" I actually liked them. But, I still think he's a wee bit too-cool-for-school