Steven Soderberg is one of my favorite directors...I love that he does big, Hollywood movies and then follows it up with an experimental film shot on a iPhone. He often edits and DP's his movies himself, and he's a terrific writer.
This, not surprisingly, makes it hard to rank his films, as the cinematography of shot-on-the-go High Flying Bird cannot compare to something like Traffic. So my rankings are based on whether or not each film "works" on their own, without really comparing them to one another. Or, it's just a ranking of my favorites in reverse order. Who knows?
*** I have never seenBubble so I've left it off this list.***
30) Full Frontal - interesting "no-budget" experiment with major stars, but this does not work at all. It's not a fun watch.
29) Schizopolis - a surreal, absurdist sketch skit of a movie. You can see the director trying different things - he stars in the movie himself - and it is somewhat interesting...but it's not really a movie. It's an experiment more than anything else.
28) Gray's Anatomy - a concert film of sorts, of Spaulding Gray's obsession with his body parts, intercut with other....stuff. Interesting if you're a Gray fan, not worth watching if you aren't.
27) Let Them Talk - Meryl Streep stars in this improv film about a writer on a trans-Atlantic voyage. It sounds more interesting than it actually is.
26) High Flying Bird - A basketball movie without much basketball, shot on an iPhone and without much thought behind the shots (it seems). Strangely captivating, if you like the business behind.
25) The Laundromat - Soderberg's much more satisfying Meryl Streep movie. Lots of crime and laundering money and schemes...it's a pretty fun movie, but not one you'll remember much of.
24) The Girlfriend Experience - the movie that inspired the long-running TV show, starring actual porn star Sasha Grey. I like this one more than most people, as it shows a matter-of-fact attitude towards sex and sexuality that is not often seen in mainstream cinema.
23) The Underneath - Soderberg's early noir with Peter Gallagher, who is unfortunately miscast as an anti-hero. There's some good stuff in this one, though.
22) King Of the Hill - Gorgeous-looking period piece about a child left alone in a hotel while his father is away on business. A moving, quiet coming-of-age drama. I haven't seen it since it came out, but I do remember liking it.
21) The Informant! - Entertaining shaggy dog of a story, starring Matt Damon, based on a real story, plays a corporate exec turned FBI mole who just starts lying to everybody. Entertaining, funny, but not really worth a rewatch.
20) No Sudden Move - last year's HBO movie starring Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro as two small-time trigger-men with mob ties in 1950s Detroit. The duo is tapped for a stickup job, but soon realizes that they've been double-crossed. They must uncover why before it's too late. Deadly serious crime noir, not the usual snarkiness or comedy like in Soderberg's other crime movies. I enjoyed this.
19) Kafka - Soderberg's second movie - an art film with a capital A. I really love this one...even though, most do not. Gorgeous B&W cinematography and some amazing visuals. With Jeremy Irons.
18) Che, parts 1 & 2 - Very good bio-pic about Che Guevara, starring Benicio del Toro. This is episodic, detailed, and oh so slow. But I could not take my eyes off of it.
17) Logan Lucky - goofy heist movie with a charming and fun cast. Not more than that, though lol.
16) Unsane - very good horror/thriller about a woman who has been falsely committed to a mental health facility - or has she? THIS is how you shoot a movie on an iPhone. Had me on the edge of my seat.
15) The Good German - Gorgeous WWII movie starring Clooney and Blanchet, and made on equipment that would only have been available in the 1940's. I loved this...but then, I tend to like Soderberg's fun experiments.
14) Ocean's 13 - The least of the trilogy, but still ridiculously fun. Al Pacino as the Bad Guy casino owner is awesome.
13) Haywire - What a fantastic and brutal action movie, even if it does star blank-faced non-actor Gina Carano. But her obvious physicality makes this even more believable. Some of the best fight choreography you'll ever see.
12) Magic Mike - Couldn't believe Soderberg made a movie about male strippers, but man, is this a lot of fun. Great cast, too.
11) Ocean's 12 - A lot of people don't like this one, but I think it's great - especially the whole Julia Roberts playing someone who looks a lot like Julia Roberts. I get a real kick out of this one.
10) Contagion - Horrifying, realistic movie about a deadly plague. This is what it would've been like if COVID was a lot more deadly. The scenes of everyday people coughing and touching railings and door handles and restaurant chairs made me really not to want to leave my house lol.
9) Side Effects - Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, and Catherine Zeta-Jones in this delicious, mean, funny, horrifying crime thriller with one helluva twist. Anytime this is on, I have to watch it.
8) Traffic - Beautiful, serious, and well-deserving of the Best Director Oscar. This is an epic with a huge cast and one that just grabs you and doesn't let go.
7) Erin Brockovitch - same year as Traffic, and maybe not as "important," but it is immensely entertaining, thanks to Julia Roberts and Albert Finney.
6) sex, lies, and videotape - Soderberg's first, and maybe his most important - as it helped usher in the 80's independent film boom. Great cast, biting relationship drama, and some of the best dialog you'll ever see in a debut film. James Spader is perfect.
5) Ocean's 11 - the perfect heist movie, with an all-star cast. I wish they would make one of these every few years or so, because I never tire of watch Clooney and Pitt just being cool.
4) Out Of Sight - Hard to find more perfect of a movie than this one. Clooney and Lopez and the first time Soderberg and writer Dobbs experiments with an editing style that, for some reason, is not used very much today. Sexy, romantic, and thrilling.
3) Behind the Candelabra - Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as his boy toy? Yes, please. Perfect in every way.
2) The Limey - This is a personal favorite of mine. I love Terrence Stamp, Lem Dobb's screenplay, and the fact they use an old Stamp film from the 60s for flashbacks. The cast is incredible - if you love 70s and 80s TV like I do. But it's the amazing sound design and editing style that makes this movie so good. Oh, and Stamp's indelible performance. "You tell him I'm coming!!!!"
1) Solaris - I'm just as surprised as you that this is no. 1. Beautiful, romantic, tragic, and damn scary. Science fiction is supposed to amaze you...it's supposed to confront you with the never-seen-before, with the unbelievable. And this movie does that. And I know it's sacrilege, but I love this even more than the original. Clooney, McElhone, Davis, and Davies are so damn...real. And sad. As they confront something no one has ever confronted before. This is what great sci-fi is about - the Great Idea. And I've never seen such a beautiful understanding of true grief in a film before this one. I love it.
