did the people who hated Traffic also see Traffik (the tv series on which it was based)? did they hate that too if so?
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096716/
― piscesx, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:29 (ten years ago) link
it's just an odd movie storywise too, it's like a really lurid afterschool special spliced together with a south of the border docudrama and a gritty episode of CSI san diego.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, August 26, 2014 1:28 PM (37 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
its cool tho u can tell which one is which from the colors
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:30 (ten years ago) link
big fan of wide shots of rooms, its true. throw in some non-actors and i start swooning
― ╲╱\/╲/\╱╲╱\/\ (gr8080),
why I liked The Girlfriend Experience.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, August 26, 2014 12:26 PM (4 minutes ago)
totally, but don't forget Bubble!
― ╲╱\/╲/\╱╲╱\/\ (gr8080), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:31 (ten years ago) link
― lag∞n, Tuesday, August 26, 2014 12:30 PM (1 minute ago)
lol sadly otm
― ╲╱\/╲/\╱╲╱\/\ (gr8080), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:32 (ten years ago) link
― lag∞n, Tuesday, August 26, 2014 10:30 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
my favorite story is the orange one tbh
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:32 (ten years ago) link
i keep meaning to revisit haywire based on the buzz but he gave me all those actors i love and it was just like this lady who couldn't act in a room from far away and ugh i didn't trust him to go elsewhere, i know his kicks
― da croupier, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:34 (ten years ago) link
this is what The Movies should always be like IMO.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCIXKzeaAAs
― piscesx, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:35 (ten years ago) link
helloe tess
― lag∞n, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:41 (ten years ago) link
I'll step up to the mound and defend Traffic here. It's heavy handed both stylistically and thematically, for sure. However, I think what Soderbergh wanted to express is on the money on so many levels. He manages to tie so many things together, both very personal (what can one person do against addiction or corruption) and very political (how do we deal with Tijuana). I generally agree with his views on the drug trade: take care of the demand side of things, in a way that floats your boat. That notion found interesting echoes in his post-Lehman films about money and greed (Magic Mike, Haywire). I think its wise that you get to have clear stylistic distinction between all three sides of the trade itself: transportation, supply and demand and how they are all connected made me very hopeless and how Soderbergh find a way to get his character out of the situation without being too corny (at least to me) and I enjoyed that.
― Van Horn Street, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:47 (ten years ago) link
yeah, Traffic is not terrible even if it might be improved with the sound off.
Wolf of Wall Street IS terrible even if it might be improved with the sound off.
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:55 (ten years ago) link
Traffic was solid, I had no misgivings at the time. "Heavy-handed" is accurate, I'll admit
― Nhex, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 17:59 (ten years ago) link
Traffic was OK whenever Michael Douglas wasn't worried about his daughter and Benicio didn't dream about his ballpark.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 18:00 (ten years ago) link
Erin Brockovich has become my most watched Soderbergh.
traffic is hilarious, traffik is somber in the same way departed US is hilarious, departed HK is somber.
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 18:02 (ten years ago) link
so what you're saying is that in Traffik, the humor is unintentional
― Nhex, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 18:10 (ten years ago) link
traffik is pretty dour!
― Philip Nunez, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 18:48 (ten years ago) link
wolf of wall st def not one of soderbergh's best
― a spectrum is taunting ur OP (wins), Tuesday, 26 August 2014 18:50 (ten years ago) link
it is def David O. Russell's best tho
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 26 August 2014 18:52 (ten years ago) link
http://www.vulture.com/2014/09/steven-soderbergh-the-knick-directing-race-riot.html
― the man with the black wigs (Eazy), Tuesday, 30 September 2014 21:24 (nine years ago) link
does the knick get less gory
― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 04:57 (nine years ago) link
not really, though the opening episode is a straight up "oh blood bothers you, GTFO" gutbucket. it never gets worse than that.
― the other song about butts in the top 5 (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 05:05 (nine years ago) link
blaaahhhhh i guess i'll keep going until i explode
― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Tuesday, 7 October 2014 05:41 (nine years ago) link
I have gotten quite hardened to the surgical scenes, that opening failed c section scene in ep1 is very disagreeable - that is probably the most troubling scene of the series.
― xelab, Tuesday, 7 October 2014 07:40 (nine years ago) link
syphilis nose way harder on my stomach than the c section
― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Thursday, 9 October 2014 04:31 (nine years ago) link
oh should i still be watching this? i kind of forgot about it!
― I dunno. (amateurist), Thursday, 9 October 2014 04:36 (nine years ago) link
are you a fan of syphilis nose
― linda cardellini (zachlyon), Thursday, 9 October 2014 04:40 (nine years ago) link
who isn't?
― I dunno. (amateurist), Thursday, 9 October 2014 05:02 (nine years ago) link
That the "comedy" Typhoid Mary subplot is the light relief in this series says a lot.
― xelab, Thursday, 9 October 2014 05:26 (nine years ago) link
haven't seen traffic in like a decade, willing to believe it will suck on re-screening, but i always thought the closing eno-soundtracked scene was p cool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNgvVVjgK68
― deej loaf (D-40), Friday, 10 October 2014 03:11 (nine years ago) link
Watch his "touched" version of 2001: A Space Odyssey:
http://extension765.com/sdr/23-the-return-of-w-de-rijk
― painfully alive in a drugged and dying culture (DavidM), Thursday, 15 January 2015 12:39 (nine years ago) link
anyone hear The Limey's commentary track?? sounds crazy.
http://www.avclub.com/article/the-new-cult-canon-ithe-limeyi-filmmaker-commentar-23702
― piscesx, Friday, 30 January 2015 16:00 (nine years ago) link
it's been a long time since i heard it but i remember enjoying it and cringing in equal measure. it's like the polar opposite of the chummy, rambling john carpenter / kurt russell commentary tracks.
― bizarro gazzara, Friday, 30 January 2015 16:06 (nine years ago) link
yes, it was A+.
― touch of a love-starved cobra (Dr Morbius), Friday, 30 January 2015 16:07 (nine years ago) link
yea I have, dobbs is a p crabby dude but its mostly good natured kvetching iirc
― johnny crunch, Friday, 30 January 2015 16:10 (nine years ago) link
that's one of the best commentary tracks! probably the most illuminating one i've heard in terms of how a film is a kind of negotiation between competing authorships.... the robocop and starship troopers commentary tracks w/ verhoeven and neumeier are also englightening that way, though in those cases the principals seem less aware of what they're revealing.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 17:31 (nine years ago) link
i was just thinking yesterday of how 90% of commentary tracks are a waste of... time and space, i guess.
was listening to the commentary on the monte hellman double feature (shooting/ride in the whirlwind) and while there are a quite a few interesting anecdotes, almost none of them relate directly to what you're seeing onscreen. in that sense you have to appreciate it as two separate streams of information. on the video level, you're kind of re-experiencing the film, while on the audio level, you're hearing a bunch of people gab about the movie -- but the two seldom interact meaningfully.
the hal hartley/richard pena(?) commentary on godard's "hail mary" is another missed opportunity IMO. hartley is (well, /was/) one of the smartest Godard acolytes, who has a great fondess for JLG's 1980s work, so it should have been a gas. but it's clear that no preparation was done, no remarks were planned, so it really is just like eavesdropping on a not entirely enlightening conversation. it does help that pena (i think it's h im) has nothing of interest to say at all.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 17:34 (nine years ago) link
i should add that bill krohn and blake lucas, who "interview" hellman for the two commentary tracks i mentioned, have some interesting things to say but probably 70% of it is just bloviating and them floating dubious theories about the films' relationships to the western genre, most of which hellman tellingly just avoids responding to.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 17:36 (nine years ago) link
to bring this back to soderbergh, his commentary w/ john boorman on the point black dvd/blu-ray is great. soderbergh in general is kind of the master of commentary tracks, i'd say it should actually count as a key part of his body of work.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 17:37 (nine years ago) link
point BLANK
Yeah, the point blank track really is great
― bizarro gazzara, Friday, 30 January 2015 17:48 (nine years ago) link
i wish more filmmakers were as good at /talking/ as soderbergh.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 17:51 (nine years ago) link
actually, hal hartley is a great talker, too, which is one reason his "hail mary" commentary was such a disappointment.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 17:52 (nine years ago) link
I'mm not a fan of them either – I only listen to them if I'm watching a movie a second or third time – but a top fiver for me is, of all things, Jack Nicholson's for The Passenger. Meticulous, consistently interesting, no trace of the Jack persona; the guy knows about composition, film history, etc.
― guess that bundt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 30 January 2015 18:04 (nine years ago) link
yup, which makes it all the more regrettable that nicholson is nowhere to be found on the criterion of those hellman films, which he starred in and produced (and he wrote one of them!).
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 18:06 (nine years ago) link
feel like soderbee is kinda underrated rn if anything
― wizaerd (Lamp), Friday, 30 January 2015 18:06 (nine years ago) link
he's thanked in the liner notes btw, which probably means he helped out somehow--maybe he gave them a phone number or two--but bowed out of actively participating. which is a shame.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 18:07 (nine years ago) link
who know who is overrated? Gus Van Sant. I have no clue how a man so talentless at directing fumbled his way into a highly successful career.
― Poliopolice, Friday, 30 January 2015 19:09 (nine years ago) link
i don't think he's talentless, but i think his best moves are stolen from other directors and that his choice of subject matter is positively vampirish.
― I dunno. (amateurist), Friday, 30 January 2015 19:41 (nine years ago) link
but nobody really cares about gus van sant anymore, right?
boy the King of the Hill Blu-ray is gorgeous.
― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 16 May 2015 01:04 (nine years ago) link