[evollove]

2013 Behind the Candelabra

2013 Side Effects

2012 Magic Mike

2011 Haywire

2011 Contagion

2011 The Last Time I Saw Michael Gregg

2010 And Everything Is Going Fine (documentary)

2009 The Informant!

2009 The Girlfriend Experience

2008 Che: Part One

2008 Che: Part Two

2007 Ocean's Thirteen

2006 The Good German

2005 Bubble

2004 Ocean's Twelve

2002 Solaris

2002 Full Frontal

2001 Ocean's Eleven

2000 Traffic

2000 Erin Brockovich

1999 The Limey

1998 Out of Sight

1996 Schizopolis

1996 Gray's Anatomy

1995 Underneath

1993 King of the Hill

1991 Kafka

1989 Sex, Lies, and Videotape

[evollove]

SIDE EFFECTS is coming out in February. Later that month BEHIND THE CANDELABRA will air on HBO.

Then he's done with film. That's it. No more. Finito.


First, great director or what?

Second, what's up with retiring?

Discuss.

[Keeping It Simple]

The Limey was good. It reminded me of the Mike Hodges directed movie Get Carter, which starred Michael Caine. It had a similar feel and look about it.

[h8kurdt]

He's always been a director I've felt non-plussed by. There hasn't been a film of his that's blown me away. Although I would like to see Che at some point.

As for retirement, they all say that. He'll come back in a few years once he gets a good story and the itchy feet start kicking in. Tarantino keeps bleeting on about doing it too and I know he wont. A long down period sure, but not retirement.

[demonrail666]

I wouldn't ever call him great (not that I really know what a 'great' director is). I suppose I'd put him on the same level as someone like Kathryn Bigelow in that he's always interesting, even if I don't necessarily like everything he's done.

As for his retirement, it seems to be in response to what he perceives as an increasingly 'anti-director' stance within Hollywood. He's better placed than most to know but it seems like an odd reason, given the almost unprecedented freedom currently given to directors like Tarantino or PTA.

[Toilet & Bowels]

Pretty much everything I've seen from him I've enjoyed, it'll be a shame if he stops making films, but on the other hand there are plenty of other things to watch.

[!@#$%!]

sex lies and videotape was a sort of game changer for the economics of independent film, and i enjoyed the movie, but i've never felt he's great or something. good, yes, great, no.

about retiring: making films is a huge pain in the ass and anyone who can write or paint instead will be much happier doing that.

we were talking about whit stillman the other day, he's only done 4 movies, but he made them after realizing that novel writing wasn't for him because it was too solitary of an activity and he didn't enjoy that aspect.

film-- tons of people involved, industrial-scale budgets and logistics, egos galore, imited creative control-- it takes a maniac to survive the demands of filmmaking.

[demonrail666]

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

film-- tons of people involved, industrial-scale budgets and logistics, egos galore, imited creative control-- it takes a maniac to survive the demands of filmmaking.

True. Maybe when Mourinho leaves Real he'll follow his true vocation and move to Hollywood.

[keep poppin pimples]

only seen che. good damn job. wish i could see that movie actually shot in santa clara though, one of a kind city

[evollove]

Shocked, stunned, stupefied more people haven't seen and subsequently loved SCHITZOPOLIS, quite possibly the funniest experimental film I've ever seen.

[Rob Instigator]

I have only seen the two Che flicks and The Limey
Both were very good to me.

Che was LONG! I am not normally very into biopics, seeing as how they color the reality of people's lives, and ussually have to work like a reader's Digest condensed book, but che was something else.

[!@#$%!]

Originally Posted by evollove

Shocked, stunned, stupefied more people haven't seen and subsequently loved SCHITZOPOLIS, quite possibly the funniest experimental film I've ever seen.

never even heard of it actually. watching a funny experimental film would be great though. will look for it.

solaris, i never wanted to see a remake of tarkovski, so i didn't see it. it's like going to see the psycho remake.

the oceans movies were fun but nothing i even remember.

erin brokovich was a good story in that the real erin brokovich did something pretty great, but as films go it was another julia roberts vehicle

what's with him and his julia roberts obsession? anyway...

girlfriend experience i didn't like-- it was depressing. it was a good i guess cinema verite kind of look at things, but i wouldn't say this was a great epiphany.

i think that's the last thing of his i saw. but i'll see if schizopolis is on netflix or something.

[evollove]

I had such the wrong impression. I kinda figured his greatness was taken for granted by most film nerds.


Full Frontal is highly recommended. A self-referential, multi-character thing that I find very moving. A hell of a lot shorter and a hell of a lot more immediately entertaining than the similarly-themed (and very pretentious) Short Cuts and Magnolia.


The Oceans films were low points, but with socially conscious cast members like Cloony, Pitt and Cheadle, you can feel good that some of the money went to worthy causes.


He has shot and edited just about everything himself, since Traffic.

Originally Posted by !@#$%!

solaris, i never wanted to see a remake of tarkovski, so i didn't see it. it's like going to see the psycho remake.
.

One of the great movie experiences is going in with low expectations, going out mighty impressed. This is why you should check out Solaris.


Same with Good German. It currently has a 33% on Rotten Tomatoes. Tell me if it's that bad.


With the lighter genre stuff (Out of Sight, Haywire, Erin B to some extent), I best appreciate them knowing that in just about anyone else's hands, they'd suck. He brings a unique intelligence and sensibility to all his projects (which is ultimately why he's an auteur, though usually not a screenwriter).


And his sensibility is really why I dig him at the end of the day. What he finds funny, I find funny. What he finds interesting, I usually find interesting. I love the look of everything he makes. etc. And as with people, if his "film personality" isn't your thing, it isn't your thing.

[Diesel]

Ah Traffic. I did not go to see a movie at the cinemas after seeing this film for another 13 years. It wasn't the pictures fault but more of a social change or something but this bollocks didn't exactly help. Along with all the unrealistic twists in that ocean thing and erin borovizicziwowitz i didn't think this was a director to herald. Solaris looked interesting in a depressing way but it's a remake. Props to you if you like it. Awesome

I don't wanna submit but lols to the maximum of this world....fucking hell man

[Rob Instigator]

I prefer the films of Herzog to those of Soderbergh.