Since becoming a mega-star and one of the movers and shakers in Hollywood, actor George Clooney has only delved into the world of SF and genre-related material on a precious few occasions. First there was the Quentin Tarantino vampire-fest known as “From Dusk Til Dawn.” Clooney got that role because Travolta was off flying a big 747 Jumbo Jet somewhere over Australia at the time and couldn’t commit. That turned out be really good news for Clooney because his performance definitely made the film a super box office hit, turning what could have been a cheesy film into a really great cheesy film.
He also starred in two gigantic loosers. Not so much as far as box office is concerned because these two films, “Solaris” and “Batman & Robin,” did well with ticket sales…..they were simply dreadful films and did nothing to endear the actor to headline another genre-related movie. He has done some voice work for “South Park” the television series and for the big screen film “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut” and did a guest shot for “Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over,” but after the disasters of “Solaris” and his stint as the caped crusader he has avoided being the lead in anything remotely SF by nature.
Now that is about to change with the release of “Men Who Stare at Goats,” an adaptation of British journalist Jon Ronson’s book, about the U.S. Army’s First Earth Battalion, a unit that was to use paranormal powers.
Clooney will headline and co-produce with his Smoke House partner Grant Heslov. Heslov is set to direct the film from a script by Peter Straughan who also wrote “How to Lose Friends and Alienate People,” a British comedy film currently in post production.
“Men Who Stare at Goats” is in the very early stages of development.
Since when was Solaris a “disaster?” Sure it wasn’t a mega block buster but Soderbergh didn’t set out to make that kind of movie. I found it deep, sad, tragic with great cinametography and chilling performances and a more compelling experience than the original. Most of all it stuck with me more than much of the rest of the hollywood tripe. Judging from IMDB reviews I’m not alone but it looks like there are no middle reviews; people either loved it or hated it. 2001 gets the same type of reaction.
just to check if I wasn’t a Soderbergh fanboy check the Yahoo critical reviews and the average was a B. With Roger Ebert giving an A- as well as the rolling stone guy. The lowest was Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle with a D+. Most critics gave it a solid B which is far from a disaster. The collection of reviewer quotes is interesting.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808411942/critic
“Men Who Stare at Goats” looks fun though.
Film Reviews are the equivalent of political pundatry, people tend to migrate toward the one’s they already agree with. I agree with you that Clooney’s “Solaris” was either a love or hate venture with no middle ground for discussion. I could cite just as many very negative reviews: Here are just a few among the very, very many:
Rotten Tomatoes – rated it slightly above average with a 6.5 out of 10.
“An unoriginal piece of originality” — FilmCritic
“It remains as remote as Pluto from the audience” — Courier-Journal
“Tarkosky Lite, with George Clooney’s naked posterior bring up the rear” — Boulder Weekly.
I could go on and on, but the points been made. As for me personally, I like it, so much so, I bought a DVD copy. But then, I liked Richard Kelley’s “Southland Tales” — I tend to migrate toward the nebulous and bizarre in filmmaking.
To be Fair and Balanced – most of the SF genre generating audience – regardless of the pros and cons from those of us in the professional business of critiquing films, didn’t really much care for it, especially when compared to the 1972 film from Denmark/Germany. Steven Soderbergh, for all of his brillance, simply couldn’t catch that same spark with his version as Andrei Tarkovsky was able to achieve 30 years earlier. On that, most of the sci-fi community agree. The key word in that last sentence being “most.”
Fair enough. The part about most of the sci-fi community not liking it was news to me. I didn’t see a source or author on the article and I thought that little bit about Solaris being a “disaster” was opinion stated as fact. As always, weather I agree or disagree with any article, Slice is my first source of info and I appreciate all the content and work that goes into it.
Please tell me “Men Who Stare At Goats” is a working title. I have no idea how that relates to the supernatural. I’ll bet the average movie-goer won’t either.
It has to do with the idea that during those US Army experiments it was conjectured that if one with enough mind-power stared at a goat long enough he could make its heart stop.