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Poll

Your Favorite Steven Soderbergh Film Is:

sex, lies, and videotape
10 (8.2%)
Kafka
0 (0%)
King of the Hill
3 (2.5%)
Underneath
1 (0.8%)
Gray's Anatomy
0 (0%)
Schizopolis
2 (1.6%)
Out of Sight
26 (21.3%)
The Limey
6 (4.9%)
Erin Brockovich
5 (4.1%)
Traffic
27 (22.1%)
Ocean's Eleven
21 (17.2%)
Full Frontal
1 (0.8%)
Solaris
2 (1.6%)
Ocean's Twelve
0 (0%)
Bubble
2 (1.6%)
The Good German
0 (0%)
Ocean's Thirteen
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
1 (0.8%)
don't like any
7 (5.7%)
Che
1 (0.8%)
The Girlfriend Experience
2 (1.6%)
The Informant!
3 (2.5%)
And Everything Is Going Fine
1 (0.8%)
Contagion
1 (0.8%)
Haywire
0 (0%)
Magic Mike
0 (0%)
Behind the Candelabra
0 (0%)
Side Effects
0 (0%)
Logan Lucky
0 (0%)
Unsane
0 (0%)
High Flying Bird
0 (0%)
The Laundromat
0 (0%)
Let Them All Talk
0 (0%)
No Sudden Move
0 (0%)
Kimi
0 (0%)
Magic Mike's Last Dance
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 119

Author Topic: Soderbergh, Steven  (Read 22263 times)

Bondo

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #90 on: June 27, 2012, 05:22:42 PM »
I'm boycotting this poll until Soderbergh's best film is added as an option.

Also, I was confused when Matt Singer talked about Haywire being able to have long takes because of Gina Carano's skill as my main complaint about the film is how much Soderbergh chops up the action scenes.

ˇKeith!

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #91 on: June 27, 2012, 06:30:57 PM »
I'm boycotting this poll until Soderbergh's best film is added as an option.

Also, I was confused when Matt Singer talked about Haywire being able to have long takes because of Gina Carano's skill as my main complaint about the film is how much Soderbergh chops up the action scenes.

you are the first person I've ever heard make that complaint Bondo. One of the reasons I love it is because of how chop-free it is.

spoko

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #92 on: June 27, 2012, 07:31:51 PM »
I'm boycotting this poll until Soderbergh's best film is added as an option.

Also, I was confused when Matt Singer talked about Haywire being able to have long takes because of Gina Carano's skill as my main complaint about the film is how much Soderbergh chops up the action scenes.

you are the first person I've ever heard make that complaint Bondo. One of the reasons I love it is because of how chop-free it is.

That's also the first time I've heard that complaint. One of the reasons I dislike it is because of how chop-free it is. The cuts aren't just there to allow actors to redo the moves a dozen times. They're also there to heighten the energy. If I want to watch a kickboxing competition, I'll watch a CINECAST!ing kickboxing competition.

Bondo

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #93 on: June 27, 2012, 09:28:07 PM »
When you say "a combination of ranges" you are talking about cutting between different shots, no? Maybe it's done in a single take, but he's cutting like mad between the different cameras.

From my review:
Quote
The high point of the film are a couple of the fight sequences where Carano gets to show off her skills. It doesn’t have the sheer craft of a Jackie Chan but is impressive all the same. If nothing else, the thing that breaks the illusion are that the men she is fighting are putting up too good a fight against her to be believed. The direction here actually holds the scenes back as Soderbergh uses insanely frequent, quick cuts to all manner of odd camera angles in a way that breaks up the flow of the scene. While I’m sure the synchronization of all these cuts was impressive, breaking the fights into a bunch of individual moves makes it much less dynamic. Compare this to the subway fight in Hanna, done in one long take, and it just doesn’t hold up as a piece of filmmaking.

ˇKeith!

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #94 on: June 28, 2012, 12:11:19 AM »
sure, there is editing but it's in a very measured fashion which allows for the highlighting of Carano's moves.

look at this, you will not find a more stayed hand in the editing bay for a studio fight scene in the last 5 years.

compare that to this:

http://youtu.be/uLt7lXDCHQ0?t=1m12s

and it's night and day. The I saw maybe two dutch angles without motivation, the majority of the edits are typical shot-resverse shot. That fight is filmed like its a pleasant conversation!
« Last Edit: February 18, 2020, 11:08:55 PM by 1SO »

shuabert

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #95 on: June 28, 2012, 12:42:24 AM »
My Soderbergh knowledge is admittedly lacking. Most of his films I have seen I've only seen once, and there are several I haven't seen at all.



Solaris (4)
Contagion (4)
Erin Brockovich (4)

Haywire (3)
Ocean's Thirteen (2.5)


Haven't Seen:
Sex, Lies, and Videotape
 Kafka
 King of the Hill
 Underneath
 Gray's Anatomy
 Schizopolis
 Out of Sight
 The Limey
 Traffic
 Ocean's Eleven
 Full Frontal
 Ocean's Twelve
 Bubble
 The Good German
Che: Part I
Che: Part II
The Girlfriend Experience
The Informant!
And Everything Is Going Fine
The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg
Magic Mike
The Bitter Pill

Timbzy

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #96 on: June 28, 2012, 03:07:14 AM »
His 98-01 work was probably his most commercially successful, but since when do the masses know what is good?

Wow is that a snobby statement. Where do you stand that allows you to speak of "the masses" rather than the exceptionally high quality of the work and those of us who recognize and appreciate it?

By masses, I meant the regular film goers that spent millions of dollars on those films, not the people who chose films from that time on this poll.

I stand as someone who wasn't a huge fan of those films? I'm not sure what you're trying to get at, other than perhaps trying to knock me off my high horse, which won't work.

I think you're all arguing about the wrong thing. His latest work has been very spotty and average. His 98-01 work was probably his most commercially successful, but since when do the masses know what is good? His first feature film was the clearly the winner here. Everything since pales pails in comparison.

You're the only one even talking about the commercial success, so I'm not sure how you can accuse anyone else of arguing about that. I'm not aware that The Limey or even Out of Sight were all that successful, and artistically they are leagues above the pile of pretentious crap that is Sex Lies and Videotape. Personally I don't much care how commercially successful it is. Like you, I don't assume it's the best just because it makes the most money. Unlike you, I don't assume it's the worst based on the same evidence.

I wasn't accusing anyone else of arguing about commercial success.

I don't assume it is the worst based on the large sums of money made. I never said that. I saw the films from that period and it is my personal opinion that the masses had it wrong. That isn't to say that the masses don't sometimes get it right.

spoko

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #97 on: June 28, 2012, 06:04:41 AM »
That fight is filmed like its a pleasant conversation!

Yeah, it was. Which is every bit as silly as filming a pleasant conversation like it's a fistfight.

Bondo

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #98 on: June 28, 2012, 06:37:08 AM »
Hmm, certainly Haywire isn't as hyper as the Bourne films (a franchise I'm far less fond of than most), but it feels more a difference in degree than philosophy. This is what I'd call a different philosophy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIaUqIucp5E

ˇKeith!

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Re: Directors Best Poll #11 - Steven Soderbergh
« Reply #99 on: June 28, 2012, 08:53:46 AM »
See to me that seems totally contrived and pulls me out of the film - the choreography of the fight and the camera are so showy, they call attention to themselves. And its not nearly as fluid as a scene like that should be, you can see the stunt men pause to get their timing right for the next assault. I actually hate Wright's philosophy of egotistical DIRECTION as opposed to Soderbergh's zen like attempts at clinical observation, though it certainly worked better in the milieu of a sci-fi actioner than it did in the completely mis-directed Atonement.

I think the reason Soderbergh’s films have been so great recently is that he’s found the proper material for his style. Carano’s a fighter… he simply films her fighting. There’s an organic quality to the fights – fighting, is not ballet as Wright would have you believe with his scene, nor is it as frenetic as Greengrass seems to think. It’s a sloppy, messy affair and transpires much like a conversation (at least terms of visually communication). Soderbergh is looking to capture the actuality of that in his film. Not to discount other styles - wire-fu is awesome to behold, but its a hightened, unrealistic style.