SODERBERGH IS THE WORST DIRECTOR EVER!

You're a freaking moron; I realize you are entitled to your opinion, but what you base it off is HORRIBLE--getting writing and direction mixed up, for example.

He's easily in the top 10 american directors out there.
His style is quick and unique, he's got a great sense of lighting and character, and possibly best of all, he's capable of turning even the most boring scenes into eye-gluers.

Tarantino is good, but not GREAT (with the exception of Pulp Fiction and PARTS of Resevior Dogs). Donnie Darko?! No wonder you think SS sucks...you like garbage.

one word: Schizopolis.

Uh, okay cronkman69.

Anyone who claims Kill Bill of all movies is the best film ever pretty much voids any cinematic credibility. Thanks for wasting your own time.

Cronkman69 says:
Sobergergh thought he was soooo clever by not having Chancellor Vallorum kill fonda, but wtf? what kind of ending is that? we wait the whole film for him to simply walk away and leave the guy, who may or may not live. I'm all for ambigous endings (love Donnie Darko & american psycho) but there has to be a point! Soderbergh did it just do it with no point whatsoever.

If I may offer my humble twopenn'orth (yeah, I'm a limey too), I thought the ending was deliberately ironic. Wilson walks away without killing Valentine because
i) he is persuaded that her death was an accident, and, most importantly,
ii) he learns that she was holding the phone, threatening to turn Valentine in to the police, when she died. This is a behavior that she developed as a child in response to her father's criminality. He immediately recognises Valentine's description of the situation, knows that his daughter was of course bluffing (as he explains earlier in the film, it became their little "game"), and he realises that Valentine would not have known this, that Valentine consequently panicked, began shaking her, and she died... In other words, her death is largely the result of Wilson's own (literally) criminal irresponsibility as a parent.

It strikes me as a very moving ending.

I think you are entirely wrong about Soderbergh's directing, by the way, but I acknowledge that tastes do differ.

You gotta give the man credit for his visuals though. I put him and Michael Mann in a similar category for this - they dont always make the best movies (Miami Vice for Mann, Ocean's 12 with SS), but every movie they touch looks so *beep* cool. SS's movies have atmosphere; the filters he uses, the editing, the music, and above all, the shots. Maybe he isn't a "great" director, but he's definitely one of my favorites.

cronkman - using lists is dubious. Take a look at a few of the majority choices that are a byproduct of democracy - hardly very encouraging. I _am_ in agreeance with others - that this is likely just a slighty less than bottom of the barrel troll, but hey, I've seen stuff of that level that is actually not in jest.

fwiw, I don't like many of soderbergh's stuff - but I _do_ like the Limey. I'm curious as to why you would compare it to Oceans anything. Some might argue that that type of movie is just a glossy, big budget, big name self indulgent yank of the crank, others might see differently.

It's possible that some of the appeal is due to the use of certain slang. It's very familiar to anyone in Australia (who due to our varied heritage as well as exposure to international film and tv likely 'get' more slang from just about anywhere, as well as all the colourful accents english speakers have) - and no doubt in the UK. They don't go too overboard with it - they could quite easily have made a film that would have required dubbing or subtitles (which explained the dialogue rather than just directly listed what was said) - but instead chose a more accessible middle ground.

The limey is a character driven piece, a modest budget that has other focus, and none of the 'trinkets and shiny things without substance' that tends to make a commercial success. It's silly to compare it to other films completely without context.

Rather than criticise soderbergh, please direct us to info about the movies you've made that are better. On the subject of Tarantino, there's some who would suggest he's ripped off certain films, particularly Hong Kong cinema. I'd alternately suggest that he's in fact inspired by them to a certain degree, or is a fan of the atmosphere of some of them. If there is any resemblance to such films, it's homage rather than plagiarism.

One of the atmospheric things about the Limey is indeed the use of the archive footage from 'poor cow' - the film was originally planned with michael caine in the lead role. I don't know what came first - Terence Stamp was on board, or Soderbergh saw that footage and decided to use it (and get Terence Stamp) - but the _way_ in which it was used - pure genius, and an understatement in subtlety.

Also - with respect to the ending - if you didn't like it, you probably didn't fully grasp it. That's not to imply you are simple or anything - it's quite possibly just a subtle difference in culture and life experience - some people will see it, some won't. And that's fine. Donnie Darko isn't just an ambiguous ending, the whole film is highly ambiguous (and that btw is one of it's many strengths) - everyone seems to have a different interpretation, and apparently no-one has the same as the director did when making it either (which they are reportedly very happy with too)

More people eat at McDonalds than at some local family hamburger/take away food place, but it's hardly indicative of the food one way or the other.

[deleted]

I certainly hope you are in the minority but it's too bad that people can't even recognize that Soderbergh is very important to American film. He sometimes crashes and burns but he's always striving to be original and that's more than most filmmakers out there. Even the Director's Guild of America voted him their Vice President - so at least his peers agree.