Anyone see the new Steven Soderberg (Ocean's Eleven, Traffic, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Solaris) film??

Its fairly effective, definitely very "realist" cinema in terms of acting, location, etc. Most of the dialogue was improvised and the actors were a random assortment of local people. Its not a "masterpiece" which Roger Ebert claims, but it certainly has some value as an American art film and I'd recommend it just for its short length (73 minutes, it makes its point fairly clear). Also worthy of note is the release: its screening in select theaters, available on DVD, and was already shown on HD cable TV. With this movie Soderberg has become one of my favorite contemporary directors unquestionably.

It's in my queue. I've been extremely curious since I first heard about it.

If it's anything like Full Frontal then I am going to stay away. That pretentious piece of shit sucked.

I thought this thread was about Bubble Bobble.

I looooooooobe that game!!

wait, whats the movie about?

Normal life.

I haven't seen it yet, but Soderberg bugs me in the same way that Gus Van Sant bugs me. They are both exceptional directors, but they spend half their time on doing experimental/ "art" films. That isn't exactly a bad thing, but if you are going to go that route, it should at least be interesting. Kubrick arguably spent his entire career on art films, and there is a big difference between 2001 and the Psycho remake, or the other numerous Sant and Soderberg low budget jerk off films. I dunno why it bugs me so much, but it does. It is like they both decide to start thinking straight out of their ass, instead of actually attempting to make something exciting. "Hey, what if I made a 12 hour epic about puppets fucking, and then we showed a real life suicide in the middle of it, and then we will do a shot by shot remake of Dr. Strangelove, followed by Damon and the brother of his best friend starving in the desert?" With all that talent, it annoys me.

I like Soderberg because he's found a compromise between the mainstream and the underground. He's been strongly influenced by French New Wave (and now apparently Neo-Realism), but he knows that he has to stick to mainstream tastes to get his films the exposure they need. I don't particularly care much for Van Sant, and I haven't seen all of Soderberg's films either but those that I have were not all that "pretentious" or masturbatory. Comparing contemporary directors to Kubrick is a bit extreme considering the man's career, everyone has their own particular way of going about things. Aside from that, the era is remarkably different...Kubrick made the majority of his films during the Cold War so his films are cut from a certain mold. Most of the work of contemporary directors only dates back from the last several decades and if you take into account our preoccupation with technology and portraying reality, then I think the work of a director like Soderberg succeeds on some levels.