Tag: Elliott Gould

386 – Contagion

With The Christophers finally arriving in theatres, we are returning to the ever-evolving filmography of director Steven Soderbergh. In the period of his one-for-you-one-for-me jostling between micro budgets and mainstream fare, 2011 offered his paranoid eco-thriller Contagion about a virus that overtakes the world. Though the film was an early fall box office success with major Oscar winners as Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, and Marion Cotillard, Warner Bros. only launched the film’s campaign at the end of the season. A decade later, the film would become a major mass rewatch for… totally normal, everyday reasons!

This episode, we talk about Soderbergh’s period between Oscar and “retirement” and Paltrow joins our Ten Timers club. We also talk about Laurence Fishburne and Jennifer Ehle as best in show, our reticence to watch the film during COVID, and Soderbergh’s current underrated era.

Topics also include Paltrow’s terrifying death scene, the 2011 Venice Film Festival, and the Saturn Awards.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

361 – Ocean’s Eleven

One of the defining stories of the 2000 Oscar year was the one-two punch of Steven Soderbergh delivering both Traffic and Erin Brockovich, making good on the past decade’s worth of promise kicked off by Sex Lies and Videotape. In 2001, the victory lap was Ocean’s Eleven, a Vegas heist remake that cast some of the biggest names in movies. The film was a box office smash, but ultimately considered just a fun blockbuster romp. It remains a classic but Soderbergh has yet to return to the Oscar club since.

This episode, we talk about the decade leading up to Soderbergh’s Oscar homecoming and the film’s surprising omission from the Globes Comedy races. We also have a quiz heavy episode, with George Clooney and Brad Pitt sharing a double Six Timers Quiz and Julia Roberts enters our Ten Timers Club.

Topics also include the MTV Movie Awards, Don Cheadle’s cockney accent, and the city of Las Vegas.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS