Steven Soderbergh

News, Reviews & Features
  • Review: The Laundromat is a quick spin with spotty results

    Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 24th October 2019

    It sucks that there are people in the world whose only goal is the pursuit of wealth without any thought for the human cost, and that these people live lives of fabulous opulence we could only imagine while poverty exists, but that's the natural result of a society based on capitalism. I mean, we're all like it to some extent - we've got to pay the bills and put food on the table, and the goose game on Nintendo Switch isn't going to buy itself - but those who possess the ability to hoard more money than they could ever spend are equipped to rise to the top of the heap at our expense. It's a maddening situation, although if pushed I'd say I was more angry about geese right now. That seems like a problem I could solve. Forget billionaires; we need to kill all the geese.

  • Review: High Flying Bird shoots, hits the rim, bounces in off the backboard

    Movie Review | Luke Whiston | 20th February 2019

    I am a sucker for a sports movie. Whether it's the technical aspects, a soppy love story or some team melodrama, they are my cinema catnip. I think it's because sport is a wholly silly artificial concept - something we invented after settling down long enough to think about what to do with ourselves next, so we decided to throw rocks into holes then invite the other caves over to see who could do it the best. Jump forward a few millennia and sport has become this hyper-commercialised beast that is embedded deep within the tribal part of our psyches. And even though I know that's a bad thing, I can't deny a primal urge to holler and wave a big foam hand whenever someone sprints up to do a slam dunk. GO SPAWTS!

  • What's wrong with this Metro ad?

    Movie News | Ali | 22nd July 2013

    Sounds like a great film! But what's it called? (via @bennhawkes)

  • Behind The Candelabra

    Movie Review | Neil | 4th June 2013

    "Too much of a good thing can be wonderful", claims Michael Douglas as Liberace in this bling-soaked biopic, and while recent developments suggest that he might want to qualify that statement by suggesting one at least goes easy on the knicker bacon sandwiches, he could still very well be referring to his own performance. His performance in the film, I mean, not between the folds of Catherine Zeta Jones' funflaps. Honestly, you people.

  • Haywire

    Movie Review | Ali | 6th January 2012

    Honestly, I question whether anyone involved is really taking Haywire completely seriously. This is Steven Soderbergh in experimentation mode; an auteur director making a stripped-down, amped-up action movie, just to see if he can. It features a stellar cast, all of whom are slumming it to some degree, except of course for MMA fighter and lead actress Gina Carano, whose best is – in the nicest way possible – still some way beneath everyone else's. I'd recommend you approach Haywire with a similar air of detachment – expect nothing less than a slick, short, snappy revenge flick and you won't be disappointed.

  • Haywire trailer: Steven Soderbergh's MMA movie (seriously)

    Movie Trailer | Ali | 23rd July 2011

    Famed indie auteur Steven Soderbergh must have got tired of thinking outside the box and fighting the system, because he's directed an action movie starring a female MMA fighter. I can't decide whether it looks amazing or like something Steven Seagal would pass on.

  • Contagion: Steven Soderbergh remade Outbreak minus the monkey

    Movie Trailer | Ali | 14th July 2011

    Hipster's choice Steven Soderbergh made a movie you probably haven't heard of called Contagion, but cast Matt Damon and Kate Winslet in it. Ugh, sell-out. (*straightens lens-free glasses*)

  • The Girlfriend Experience

    Movie Review | Matt | 5th December 2009

    A film about the exploits of a call girl starring a real-life porn star? Hot DAMN! Sign me up for that flick! Oh wait, it's an experimental 'artsy' film by Steven I'm-between-big-budget-movies Soderbergh. (*sigh*) Okay, I guess that's good too.

  • The Informant!

    Movie Review | Chris | 20th November 2009

    The Informant! is the best Coen Brothers movie not actually directed by the Coen Brothers. Insanely prolific director Steven Soderbergh has managed to capture the distinct Coen vibe - mainly the sardonic sense of humor and dry wit - while making it completely his own. The final result is an engaging, intricate movie about a whistleblower that manages to double as a send-up of movies about whistleblowers.