Supermallet

I read Brian Orndorf's DVD review of The Good German at http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=25643 and...

Is anyone else sick of seeing Soderbergh use George Clooney? I thought it couldn't get any worse than when he made a freakin' remake of Solaris with Clooney, but now he's using him as a stand-in for Bogey. It grates on me. Clooney can be okay sometimes, but usually he's just playing George Clooney, and I've never seen Soderbergh pull an especially good performance from him. It irks me because I really like Soderbergh, but his whole "hobnobbing it with the stars" thing is wearing thin. I just had to vent.

Jericho

I wouldn't say Soderbergh "hobnobs with the stars". He's got business ventures with Clooney, and by all accounts they're good friends. That's why they do movies together. Just like Scorsese/DeNiro (or these days Scorsese/DiCaprio) or Hitchcock/Stewart or many other director/actor combos. I don't have a problem with Clooney or Soderbergh, although I have yet to see the Good German.

Supermallet

I guess the difference between Scorsese/De Niro, Hitchcock/Stewart, Kurosawa/Mifune, Herzog/Kinski etc. and Soderbergh/Clooney is that with those others, it never felt like they were making vanity pictures for their actors. Several of the films Soderbergh has made with Clooney feel like complete vanity projects for Clooney. I guess the other difference is that those actors actually varied their performances to each movie they did with the director, whereas Clooney just plays Clooney.

Mann Made

Suprmallet, if it helps, I completely agree. Love Cate Blanchett, but will be skipping this because of Clooney and Maguire.

FinkPish

I guess it depends on how you personally define "vanity projects." Clooney wasn't playing himself in Solaris, and doesn't seem to be playing himself in The Good German either. To me, everyone in the "Ocean's" movies were essentially playing themselves, or playing an ironic twist on themselves.

I'm curious, which films do you think Clooney and Soderbergh made were vanity projects?

CinemaNut

Looking forward to this movie. Seems the reviewer cant jive a homage to B&W movies of the 40s with more of a sense of realism of how people talked in real life as opposed to the "reel life" of movie dialogue back then. Melding these two worlds is not going to be a hinder for me. Also, I think Clooney gave an awesome performance in Solaris and the remake is much better than the original.

Supermallet

Just about every one except maybe Out of Sight. And even though Clooney played himself in that one, there was more to the movie than him.

FinkPish

OK, so any Steven Soderbergh movie that has George Clooney as the star is a vanity project? That's fair.

Supermallet

Considering he has Clooney play himself, yes, I think that IS fair. The only film I've seen where Clooney even tries to play someone who isn't exactly like George Clooney is O, Brother, Where Art Thou?

FinkPish

Why don't you just admit you hate George Clooney and make the discussion easier? There's no problem with that; maybe you just don't like him. But there's no point in discussing anything if you really believe Clooney has essentially played himself in every movie except O Brother, which I believe to be false.

Supermallet

The thing is, I don't hate George Clooney. I thought he had charm to spare in Out of Sight, and I really enjoyed Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, as well as his performance in O, Brother, Where Art Thou? I do think he's a lazy performer, though, and it takes a lot of work for a director to coax a performance out of him that is actually worthwhile.

maxfisher

I typically like George Clooney. With Syriana, Good Night and Good Luck, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Solaris, O Brother Where Art Thou, Ocean's Eleven and Three Kings, he's built up quite a solid filmography over the past decade. Despite enjoying his performances, I'll be checking out The Good German on dvd, if at all. I recently read the book and the descriptions of the movie I've seen in reviews sound like they've taken drastic liberties with the plot, most of which I think would hurt the overall story.

The Bus

Supr: Have you seen Syriana? He definitely does not play himself there.

Now that The Good German has gotten two good reviews from this site I might try to check it out.

CinemaNut

Please provide a link to any director that has stated it takes work for them to coax a performance out of him - otherwise, this is merely your opinion but yet stated as if you have read or heard something else we havent

Supermallet

I have not seen Syriana but will give it a try next time I see the HD DVD at a low price.

B.A.

That's what I have been worried about from the get-go, but I've been patient since I am usually a fan of Soderbergh's work.

BravesMG

I'm with Suprmallet on this one. I can't stand George Clooney the person or the quasi-political activist/Budweiser spokesman, but I think I can distinguish that from his performances. I think in movies where he's asked to play "himself" or just a smooth talking, arrogant but affable guy he does pretty well. I think he and Pitt anchored both Ocean's 11/12 movies well and he was pretty good in the AWFUL Intolerable Cruelty. But he just doesn't mold into his films like other actors, there's always the "That's George Clooney" factor that I don't think he ever quite overcomes.

Edit: Let me also add that he was good in One Fine Day, one of the better movies that my wife loves.