t times, one does some hand-wringing about the movies. Are the nerds ruining everything? Where are the nonwhite people? Where’s Emma Stone? Where’s Sharon Stone? Would Roger Ebert have liked this movie? Is Steven Soderbergh truly serious about hanging it all up?
Ah, yes, that. Back in February, Soderbergh released a diabolical block of ice called Side Effects with three sharp but sadly forgotten performances by Rooney Mara, Jude Law, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. In April, Soderbergh delivered a keynote speech at the San Francisco International Film Festival about the death of art in the movies.
He focused on ignorant film executives and the proliferation of releases based on comic books. His remarks were refreshingly candid and tinged with a kind of entitled dismay. He was biting a hand that used to feed him. Whether or not his point was self-serving, he had one, and it was resonant: The movies are doomed.
That, of course, didn’t feel at all true this year. But the impacts of global warming don’t hit you all at once, either. For now, it still snows in winter. Soderbergh is looking grimly at the long game, and in doing so, it’s probably obvious whom he’s reminiscent of. Harold Camping would have had an exact date. But Soderbergh’s no dummy; he’s just preparing us to expect less snow.
via The Year in Movies – Grantland.
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