Badmovies.org Forum

With the release of "Side Effects" Soderburgh is apparently retired from making theatrical films. I plan to see his new film this week but in the meantime I have been catching up with one of the most prolific directors of the 90's and 00's. Here are his feature films.

2013 Side Effects
2012 Magic Mike
2011 Haywire
2011 Contagion
2011 The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg
2009 The Informant!
2009 The Girlfriend Experience
2008 Che: Part One
2008 Che: Part Two
2007 Ocean's Thirteen
2006 The Good German
2006 Building No. 7 (short)
2005/I Bubble
2004 Ocean's Twelve
2004 Eros (segment "Equilibrium")
2003 K Street (TV series)
2002 Solaris
2002 Full Frontal
2001 Ocean's Eleven
2000 Traffic
2000 Erin Brockovich
1999 The Limey
1998 Out of Sight
1996 Schizopolis (uncredited)
1996 Gray's Anatomy
1995 Underneath
1993 King of the Hill
1991 Kafka
1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape

Clearly a significant filmmaker I have a hard time figuring out this guy. Some films of his have left me absolutely cold such as "The Informer!" and "The Girlfriend Experience". But for every dud in my eyes there is an excellent film like "Out of Sight" and the incredible "Traffic". Despite being director/editor/cinematographer/camera operator on the majority of films his films seem to have little to do with each other. Look no further than him doing "Traffic" and "Ocean's Eleven" in succession. While both great films they have almost nothing in common in terms of cinematic approach and the fact that he can do so many different kind's of films is quite impressive.

 I am still ignorant of many of his filmography and would love to hear what you guy's think about this guy and his many creations. Favorite films, least favorite, and if anybody checks out his new film 'Side Effects" I would like to know you're reaction as well.

 :thumbdown: :thumbdown: Unfortunately. I say that because he is a talented director but I say  :thumbdown: due to the fact that when Kafka was released, he said that he despised South Africa and did not want his films released there.

Well, he is not the only film director that despises South Africa. Film director Sir Richard Attenborough also comes to mind. While his films have gotten alot of praise over the years, especially his last one, which seems to indicate he is going out on a high note, I must admit I have never seen any of his films. And I don't know whether I will, as the subject of his films just do not attract me. And I guess this means there will be no "Ocean's Fourteen."

I can think of Jonathan Demme, Euzhan Palcy, John Avildsen and Chris Menges too.

Evidently there's not a lot of love for Soderbergh on these boards. I will put full reviews up in this thread in a couple days, but for now I give you this. One of the best films I have ever seen directed by the forum topic.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLmu32GKyh0

I haven't really seen much Soderburgh.

I'd like to watch KAFKA again because I haven't seen it since it came out; I remember being slightly disappointed.

OUT OF SIGHT and HAYWIRE were both OK, not exceptionally good or bad.

SCHIZOPOLIS was a very interesting experiment; not 100% successful, I don't think, but easily my favorite of the ones I've seen. Soderberg's DVD commentary is actually better than the movie. He's hilarious parodying himself as a pretentious, arrogant hack.

I would give King of the Hill chance it's really great. Traffic takes on the drug war with an all star cast and hold up quite well IMO. Other movies I would put of his in the excellent category would be The Limey, Sex Lies and Videotape, and for the most part Side Effects.

He is definitely not afraid to take risks and change styles nearly every film so there are some movies of his that I really didn't care for. I found Ocean's Eleven to be pretty underwhelming and don't really know whether I will bother with the sequels. The Informant I really didn't care for and felt it was a waste of Matt Damon and some great supporting actors. His film The Girlfriend Experience consists mostly of porn star Sasha Grey wandering around so I'm not about to recommend. 

I liked Kafka. Surreal movie that one although I haven't seen it since the 90s so I'm not entirely sure I'd like it as well nowadays (still it's very much the kind of movie I enjoy). Haven't seen a whole lot else. Enjoyed The Good German too but was slightly disappointed with that one.

It's a testament to Soderburgh's versatility that I did not know that so many of these films were his creations.  My favourite Soderburgh movie is Solaris.  Incredibly stylish and atmospheric without being pretentious, knowing that it was a Soderburgh movie gave me great hopes for others he had made.  The Ocean's movies are super, and a far cry from the drifting, almost high-budget indie feel of Solaris.

So I had great hopes for Haywire, and was quite disappointed.  I wondered how someone with such great dramatic style could make something so dead!  And what a waste of a great cast, like Ewan McGregor, not to mention what would have been the mainstream breakout role for the incredibly hot and talented Gina Carano.

I need to make time to watch more of his filmography.  I've studied Solaris endlessly but not so much of any of his others.