Steven Soderbergh has been called everything from “indie superstar” to “Hollywood’s poster boy.” With Ocean’s Twelve coming out next Friday, now’s the perfect time to brush up with some selections from Soderbergh’s canon, and remind yourself why the guy’s pretty much one of the coolest directorsÉ well, like, ever.
– The Limey (1999)–A British ex-con (Terence Stamp) hits America, looking for the man (Peter Fonda) who he thinks murdered his daughter. This nearly perfect action/drama makes old people actually seem tough and cool, instead of just creepy and weird smelling.
– sex, lies, and videotape (1989)–Soderbergh’s striking, first film is widely credited with not only legitimizing the Sundance Film Festival, but also single handedly starting the independent filmmaking revolution of the ’90s.
– Out of Sight (1998)–A slick, underrated heist movie starring frequent Soderbergh collaborator George Clooney and a pre-J.LO Jennifer Lopez. Soderbergh’s always brilliant with how he utilizes music, and here he gets one of the best soundtracks ever. That, along with the smart script, the skillful charm of Clooney, and Don Cheadle’s effortless badassery, makes this one of the best films of the ’90s.
– Traffic and Erin Brockovich (2000)–Soderbergh was his own competition at the 2000 Oscars–he was nominated for Best Director for both these films (which were also nominated for Best Picture). Soderbergh won for Traffic, while Julia Roberts won Best Actress for Brockovich.
– Solaris (2002)–Soderbergh teamed up with James Cameron to put out this haunting film about a trapped psychologist (Clooney) on a space station orbiting a planet that may be… alive.
– Ocean’s Eleven (2001)–Anybody who says they didn’t have a blast watching this super-stylized remake of 1960’s Rat Pack vehicle is either a liar or a pretentious asshole. Possibly both.
