Steven Soderbergh Videos

September 18 20, 2009. Summer s over, but does that mean Hollywood s hot streak is over as well? Host Grace Randolph gives you the latest box office report plus her own review of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs!

The Informant! / Lawrence of Arabia / Andrei Rublev / The Big Blue / Easy Rider

(By: Scott Weinberg, reprinted from TIFF 9/13/09) If you're about to dig into a mid-'90s "period piece" about a plain nebbish at a food additive company who decides to blow the whistle on his corporation's illegal price-fixing practices, well, you better get a few interesting people to bring this sort of story to the screen. With a leading man less reliable than Matt Damon and a director less colorfully unpredictable than Steven Soderbergh, a flick like this could play like a well-meaning but hopelessly yawn-worthy docu-drama. Happily, since The Informant! boasts both of those filmmakers (and a big handful of others), it turns out to be a seriously entertaining film ... about a seriously plain man. Damon plays Mark Whitacre, a high-ranking suit for a chemical company called ADM. Essentially, these guys create all sorts of wonderful food additives, and the focal point this time around is a corn product called lysine. Only problem is that ADM and virtually all of its executives, not to mention their competitors, are knee-deep in a global "price-fixing" scheme, which (in case you didn't know) is all sorts of illegal. But while Mark seems more than willing to narc on his colleagues, simply because it's the right thing to do, it quickly becomes evident that our semi-hero is hiding more than a few skeletons inside his own closet. Filed under: New Releases, Theatrical ReviewsContinue reading Review: The Informant! Permalink | Email this | Comments

It's not like snapping your fingers, and it can't all be attributed to hair and make-up. So how does a marquee beauty like Matt Damon transform himself into an ordinary-looking businessman in Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!? Damon plays Matt Whitacre, the cinematic version of a real-life character, a scientist who became the vice-president of a chemical company and then turned informant for the government in the early 1990s. Damon doesn't perform a complete disappearing act, to the point that we don't recognize him. True, he gained 30 pounds for the role and his character wears a toupee. The extra pounds make him look "doughy" and soft, which is what Soderbergh wanted, according to USA Today. Yet he doesn't look excessively obese and he doesn't walk around with his shirt off; he just looks rather ... ordinary, a normal, thickening man from the middle of the country, with a wife and children and a house and a car (make that cars). The actor has played pretty boys many times, which is kind of inevitable when you're a good-looking guy. Still, he has the deft ability to shift his charm downward, in service of the role, even in fluffy entertainment like Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen. He doesn't turn all his lights off, just selected ones, just enough to dim the wattage of his stardom. All his skills as an actor are needed in The Informant!, which has an increasingly jaw-dropping story to tell. Scott Weinberg described it as a "quietly odd performance." It's also hilarious. Damon hits every note, blending into the story while retaining an innate goodness that makes you root for him even as you slowly realize you probably shouldn't. It's brilliant; I just don't know how he does it.Filed under: Comedy, Drama, New Releases, Fandom Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

The Informant Movie Review. It’s Ocean’s Two as Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon re-team for this capitalistic comedy. Host Grace Randolph asks audiences if they can recapture the magic! Brought to you by Indy Mogul and Next New Networks!Author: beyondthetrailer Tags: BeyondTheTrailer TheInformantReview TheInformantMovieReview MattDamon MattDamonFat StevenSoderbergh MarkWhitacre FBI Movie Review MovieReview IndyMogul NextNewNetworks GraceRandolph FanReview Posted: 19 September 2009 Rating: 0.0 Votes: 0

The Informant Movie Review. It s Ocean s Two as Steven Soderbergh and Matt Damon re-team for this capitalistic comedy. Host Grace Randolph asks audiences if they can recapture the magic! Brought to you by Indy Mogul and Next New Networks!

Sept. 18: LIVE from a makeshift dais outside the original Maple Leaf Gardens Q: Ballgame, you’re coming off a tough road trip to the Toronto International Film Fest -- over 30 films in four days -- how do you think team Filmspotting held up? A: Well, obviously we’re tired, but I’m proud of the guys. You know, dealing with the time change, the gravy on the French fries, the sometimes smothering congeniality of Canadians... it was a challenge. But I think people will be pleased when we lay out our Top 5 Toronto Film Fest Movies. Q: What about other reviewers like Phillips and Ebert, who are likely seeing hundreds of films over two weeks? A: Look, we can’t focus on what other reviewers or other podcasts are doing. We just have to take it segment by segment, discussion by discussion, film by film, and bring a solid 90 minutes of criticism to the show. Look what Kempy brought to the table during our review of "The Informant!" I mean, here’s a guy that loves director Steven Soderbergh, and this film starring Matt Damon as a notorious corporate whistleblower is generally eliciting a lot of love from the critics -- it would have been easy for Adam to phone this one in. But, no, he stepped it up. He brought his ‘A’ game and BAM, what do you get? Point-by-point, generally articulate dissection of an overall pretty middling film. That’s Kempy being Kempy and why he gets paid the big bucks. And by big bucks I mean he gets paid in hugs and beer. Q: What about some of the feedback you’ve been getting from the fans? A: Look, we love our fans, we wouldn’t be here without them and we’ve got a great batch of Listener Feedback on this week’s show, as well another cringe-worthy rendition of Massacre Theatre and music by Heroes of Popular Wars. Overall, we think it’s a great show. Are we satisfied? No, we can never be satisfied; we’re not a .500 podcast; to compete with the big guys, we’ve got to step it up, but as long that microphone is on, we’ll keep bringing the heat. Massacre Theatre is presented by Pixar Talk. This week's winner will get the Pixar DVD of their choice. Filmspotting #274 :13-18:49 - Review: "The Informant!" Music: HOPW, "A Bus Called Further" 19:22-24:45 - Massacre Theatre (Winner: E. Munn) 24:45-42:49 - Polls, Notes, Feedback Music: HOPW, "It's A Doozy" 43:57-55:15 - New DVDs/Donations 55:16-1:17:39 - Top 5: TIFF '09 Recap 1:17:40-1:19:58 - Polls, Next Show NOTES - Filmspotting's David Mamet/Anne Frank scene on YouTube - Information on Facets Fright School. Full lineup should be posted soon. - Information about "The Art of the Steal," since we didn't really explain. - Get 10% off retro movie inspired t-shirts at Wake Up... Time To Die by using the discount code FSPOT10. - Jeff Goldsmith's Creative Screenwriting Podcast can be accessed through iTunes here. - Follow more notes and corrections at http://twitter.com/filmspotting.