Steven Soderbergh

Spalding Gray was a sui generis performer who mined the sometimes embarrassing, sometimes turbulent details of his life to construct comedic, self-reflective monologues that blurred the line between fiction and reality. In And Everything Is Going Fine, Steven Soderbergh and editor Susan Littenberg deftly assemble countless appearances of their former colleague (with whom they worked on Gray's Anatomy) as he filtered the subjects of art, sex, family and mortality through his singular show more worldview. It builds to a portrait of a man who describes his art as deriving order from chaos. Achingly personal, this is a fond remembrance of a fallen comrade, someone who, with humorous insight and unrivaled self-knowledge, fended off life's cruel, random blows by exhibiting them publicly and in doing so related something more universally human.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1122614/ show less

Like its predecessor Ocean's Eleven, Ocean's Twelve is a piffle of a caper, a preposterous plot given juice and vitality by a combination of movie star glamour and the exuberant filmmaking skill of director Steven Soderbergh (Out of Sight, The Limey). The heist hijinks of the first film come to roost for a team of eleven thieves (including the glossy mugs of Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, and Don Cheadle), who find themselves pursued not only by the guy they robbed (silky Andy Garcia), show more but also by a top-notch detective (plush Catherine Zeta-Jones) and a jealous master thief (well-oiled Vincent Cassel) who wants to prove that team leader Danny Ocean (dapper George Clooney) isn't the best in the field. As if all that star power weren't enough--and the eternally coltish Julia Roberts also returns as Ocean's wife--one movie star cameo raises the movie's combined wattage to absurd proportions. But all these handsome faces are matched by Soderbergh's visual flash, cunning editing, and excellent use of Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome, among other highly decorative locations. The whole affair should collapse under the weight of its own silliness, but somehow it doesn't--the movie's raffish spirit and offhand wit soar along, providing lightweight but undeniable entertainment. --Bret Fetzer show less

First, this film has a narration element. Narration is rarely well done or relevant, and I think it would be better if omitted from this movie. The story, the premise, is okay, and has problems. The acting is terrific. The dancing is fabulous. The characters are interesting. This is light entertainment; a feel-good movie, not one to critique heavily or take too seriously. It was fun. I was going to rate this 3-1/2 stars, but the ending was strong, and pulled things together, and felt great, show more so I revised to 4 stars.
— Rebecca show less

Solid, fun and entertaining, but a bit too self-indulgent in the build-up -- the first 60 minutes of the film should probably really have been done in 40-45. But I enjoyed even the slower bits, so I'm not complaining.