Does the name Tarkovsky ring a bell, anyone?? Surely the readers of this
website and for God sake reviewers, should have enough pre-knowledge to know
that Steven "plagiarism" Soderbergh has taken yet another brilliant film and
turned it into another Hollywood piece of shit. Should a remake be compared
to an original or stand alone? The answer: BOTH!
"ddmcd" <ddmcd@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:hP7Za.5688$aE1.1775@nwrddc01.gnilink.net...
Quote:
No Frills DVD Review: SOLARIS (2002) The HBO FIRST LOOK contained on this DVD epeatedly warns the viewers they are in for a romantic, psychological, and emotional film with atypical science fiction elements. In their commentary track, director Soderbergh and producer Cameron make similar comments. They (somewhat wistfully) wish they could have captured these sensibilities in the advertising associated with the film so that people could have gotten an accurate view of what was in store for them on the screen. No matter. The film superbly rendered on this DVD bears repeated watching. All aspects are masterfully done. It is an adult, literate, and intelligent film that swings back and forth between intellectual challenge, mystery, and wrenching emotion. The music and visuals are stunning. The performances of George Clooney and Natascha McElhone are top flight. The planet Solaris is a major character as well, evolving throughout the film from an ethereal, lovely, placid globe to an angry red menacing apparition. Listening to the commentary you realize how many avenues the producer and director could have gone down, but Soderbergh's vision and good instincts ultimately won out. Here's hoping, though, that a Director's Extended Vision someday makes its way onto DVD. Based on the commentary, it sounds like a lot of really good stuff was left on the cutting room floor. http://ddmcd.home.mindspring.com/DVD/
Tarkovsky - isn't he the director of that really long version of WAR AND
PEACE that was produced with the aid of the Russian army? What's that
got to do the Solaris?
Just joking.
By your logic, any review of Orwell's 1984 that does not make reference
to Yevgeny Zamyatin's WE is suspect. Maybe you're right.
If you must comment on the previous version of SOLARIS then you must
comment on Lem's novel, and whether or not you read it in the original
language or in translation, and you must comment on Lem and cybernetics,
and on and on and on. I'm just lazy, I guess. I haven't read the novel
since I was a kid and have forgotten most of it.
Fortunately, I was not aware of any of Soderbergh's previous works when
I saw Solaris. I was not even aware that he was the director of the
remake of OCEAN's 11 which I found to be curiously cool and uninvolving.
(It was still better than the original I thought but the times were
different.)
But back to SOLARIS. It may not be appropriate to refer to this as a
remake of Tarkovsky's film. Based on my listening to the commentary, it
sounded like Soderbergh was more influenced by the novel than by
Tarkovsky's film.
Does the name Tarkovsky ring a bell, anyone?? Surely the readers of thiswebsite and for God sake reviewers, should have enough pre-knowledge to knowthat Steven "plagiarism" Soderbergh has taken yet another brilliant film andturned it into another Hollywood piece of shit. Should a remake be comparedto an original or stand alone? The answer: BOTH!"ddmcd" <ddmcd@yahoo.com> wrote in messagenews:hP7Za.5688$aE1.1775@nwrddc01.gnilink.n et...
Quote:
No Frills DVD Review: SOLARIS (2002)The HBO FIRST LOOK contained on this DVD epeatedly warns the viewersthey are in for a romantic, psychological, and emotional film withatypical science fiction elements. In their commentary track, directorSoderbergh and producer Cameron make similar comments. They (somewhatwistfully) wish they could have captured these sensibilities in theadvertising associated with the film so that people could have gotten anaccurate view of what was in store for them on the screen.No matter. The film superbly rendered on this DVD bears repeatedwatching. All aspects are masterfully done. It is an adult, literate,and intelligent film that swings back and forth between intellectualchallenge, mystery, and wrenching emotion. The music and visuals arestunning. The performances of George Clooney and Natascha McElhone aretop flight. The planet Solaris is a major character as well, evolvingthroughout the film from an ethereal, lovely, placid globe to an angryred menacing apparition.Listening to the commentary you realize how many avenues the producerand director could have gone down, but Soderbergh's vision and goodinstincts ultimately won out. Here's hoping, though, that a Director'sExtended Vision someday makes its way onto DVD. Based on the commentary,it sounds like a lot of really good stuff was left on the cutting roomfloor.http://ddmcd.home.mindspring.com/DVD/
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 11:59:01 GMT, ddmcd <ddmcd@yahoo.com> wrote:
Quote:
Fortunately, I was not aware of any of Soderbergh's previous works whenI saw Solaris. I was not even aware that he was the director of theremake of OCEAN's 11 which I found to be curiously cool and uninvolving.(It was still better than the original I thought but the times weredifferent.)
You were not aware of any of the director's previous films?
You're obviously a reviewer we should take very seriously.
Does the name Tarkovsky ring a bell, anyone?? Surely the readers of this website and for God sake reviewers, should have enough pre-knowledge to know that Steven "plagiarism" Soderbergh has taken yet another brilliant film and turned it into another Hollywood piece of shit.
Nonsense.
I'm a fan of Tarkovsky, and have watched his version of
SOLARIS numerous times, having bought the Image laserdisc,
the Ruscico DVD, and the Criterion DVD.
Certainly Soderbergh's remake has its deficiencies -- as
does Tarkovsky's original. I love both versions, though,
and when all is said and done, I prefer the Soderbergh to
the Tarkovsky.
On Tue, 12 Aug 2003 11:59:01 GMT, ddmcd <ddmcd@yahoo.com> wrote:
Quote:
Fortunately, I was not aware of any of Soderbergh's previous works whenI saw Solaris. I was not even aware that he was the director of theremake of OCEAN's 11 which I found to be curiously cool and uninvolving.(It was still better than the original I thought but the times weredifferent.)
You were not aware of any of the director's previous films?You're obviously a reviewer we should take very seriously.John Harkness
I plead guilty. I was not aware of Soderbergh by name. I HAD seen
several of his previous films but the name never caught on with me till
I bought this DVD (which I bought primarily because of the reviews I had
read of the technical quality and the commentary track).
The facts of Soderbergh's reputation were unknown to me when I saw this
version of Solaris for the first time. So my expectations of the movie
were actually quite limited and I was amazed at how good it was.
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No Frills DVD Review: SOLARIS (2002)
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