Stephen Soderbergh – The State of Cinema

[BLUMENKOHL 1,068]

Steven Soderbergh's State of Cinema

Haven't seen this posted on here. It's a long long read. But really worth it. Addresses a lot of topics we recurrently discuss here.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/04/steven-soderbergh-state-of-cinema-address/#utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[Koray Savas 2,251]

Thanks for the post, I'll read when I get a chance.

[Quintus 5,399]

Skim read it in five seconds and picked this out:

Speaking of ambiguity, we had a test screening of Contagion once and a guy in the focus group stood up and he said, “I really hate the Jude Law character. I don’t know if he’s a hero or an asshole”.

That is all that needs to be said.

I'll read it in its entirety later.

[Hlao-roo 389]

It's too long for me to read. Would someone mind boiling it down to 140 characters for me? Thanks!

[Quintus 5,399]

Just dictate it into Google Voice Search and it'll read it back for you.

[JoeinAR 1,949]

a man stood up and said I've seen several of your recent movies, Contagion, Haywire, and Magic Mike, and I don't know if your a decent director or a terrible director.

[Quintus 5,399]

Lol

[Jay 37,368]

I liked Haywire!

[JoeinAR 1,949]

I liked Haywire!

it was the worst movie I saw the year it came out. Antonio Banderas sumed the film up with his final line in the film. SHIT.

I really like Contagion. SSod made one hell of a frightening film.

[Uni 306]

Haven't seen Haywire, but Soderbergh has long been a major talent in the business, one of the few clever and consistent storytellers we have left in Hollywood. I've come to respect his work a great deal.

He's not wrong in his assertions here--things are changing, and while the business side may show an upswing, the artistic side is suffering grievously. I know most of us see it, because we spend a fair amount of time around here complaining about the declining quality of movies and the monopoly of average-at-best blockbusters. One place you can really sense this effect is the Oscars; they continue, every year, to try and glamorize the "magic" of movies, but in a age when all the power has shifted from the movie moguls to the Money Muggles, it rings as a pretty hollow endorsement. In fact, their approach is often counterproductive--they string together montages of clips from classic films through the years, as if to remind us, "Remember when movies used to be magical?"

I hate to sound as pessimistic as Soderbergh, but I agree with him that there's no reason to believe things will change anytime soon. Like it or not, we're stuck with what we're gonna get from here on out.

- Uni