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The Good German

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The Good German (2006)

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Reviews Counted:145

Fresh:47

Rotten:98

Average Rating:5/10

Consensus: Though Steven Soderbergh succeeds in emulating the glossy look of 1940s noirs, The Good German ultimately ends up as a self-conscious exercise in style that forgets to develop compelling characters.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for language, violence and some sexual content.

Runtime: 1 hr 48 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Dec 15, 2006 Limited

Box Office: $891,721

Synopsis: One of mainstream cinema's most tirelessly inventive directors, Steven Soderbergh delivers another big-budget stylistic experiment with THE GOOD GERMAN. This time around, Soderbergh's target is... One of mainstream cinema's most tirelessly inventive directors, Steven Soderbergh delivers another big-budget stylistic experiment with THE GOOD GERMAN. This time around, Soderbergh's target is 1940s film noir. Set in postwar Berlin, the atmospheric thriller is based on the acclaimed novel by Joseph Kanon. Frequent Soderbergh collaborator George Clooney plays Jake Geismer, an American military journalist who has returned to Berlin for the Potsdam Peace Conference. Jake's driver, Tully (Tobey Maguire), appears innocent upon first glance, but is in fact a major player in the corrupt Berlin underworld. He's also dating Jake's former flame, Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett), whose beauty continues to torment Jake. When Tully's cadaver washes ashore one day, Jake is shocked to discover that nobody wants to go public with the news. As much as he'd like to forget about Lena, he can't. Pretty soon, he's risking his life to help her flee the country. In shooting THE GOOD GERMAN, Soderbergh employed many of the actual filmmaking techniques that were used in the 1940s: black-and-white cinematography, elaborately constructed sets, wide master shots, and a sweeping score (compliments of Thomas Newman). The result is a film that looks and feels like it was made in a much earlier era, yet which contains the graphic language and content of an R-rated early 21st-century production. [More]

Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Beau Bridges, Tobey Maguire

Starring: George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Beau Bridges, Tobey Maguire, Tony Curran, Don Pugsley, Robin Weigert, David Willis

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Screenwriter: Paul Attanasio
Producer: Gregory Jacobs, Ben Cosgrove
Composer: Thomas Newman
Studio: Warner Bros.

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Release:

May 22, 2007

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Reviews for The Good German

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61 - 80 (sorted by date)
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Interesting to watch, up to a point. The Good German gets lost amidst its references; it doesn't stand by itself but is held up by the films that inspired it.

Full Review Source: Seattle Times | comment Comment
12/22/06
Moira MacDonald
Moira MacDonald
Seattle Times

Stick with the videos of the real thing, and wait for "Ocean's 13."

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
12/22/06
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

A history-based, murder-mystery war-yarn that goes round and round in circles.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
12/22/06
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

Soderbergh's attempt to re-create a 40s film noir might not be for all tastes but Paul Attanasio's script keeps the story engaging long enough.

Full Review Source: Denton Record Chronicle (TX) | comment Comment
12/22/06
Boo Allen
Boo Allen
Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

Everything about The Good German seems a few degrees off, as if the new map of Europe has somehow altered the latitudes along with attitudes.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
12/22/06
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Good German is a mechanical movie, pushing forth in a way it believes appropriate rather than finding a natural flow.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
12/22/06
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

If it weren't for a singular, gripping performance by Cate Blanchett, The Good German might as well have been titled The Incredibly Boring German.

Full Review Source: Metro Weekly (Washington, DC) | comment Comment
12/22/06
Randy Shulman
Randy Shulman
Metro Weekly (Washington, DC)

The Good German suggests that they can still make 'em like they used to, but also reminds us that there's more to a good movie than good looks.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
12/22/06
Russ Breimeier
Russ Breimeier
Christianity Today

Still-relevant political observation...[and] a nifty mystery that's a bit too self-conscious for its own good.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
12/22/06
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

There's nothing going for the movie, really, except its ambition -- its heavily marred, totally unrealized ambition.

Full Review Source: Mark Reviews Movies | comment Comment
12/21/06
Mark Dujsik
Mark Dujsik
Mark Reviews Movies

Much like a horror movie clone, The Good German looks like Casablanca, but seems to be missing something fundamental underneath it all, that will eventually lead to its horrible destruction.

Full Review Source: WaffleMovies.com | comment Comment
12/21/06
Willie Waffle
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com

It should have been wonderful -- a delicious tribute to classic Hollywood -- but it simply doesn't come off.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
12/21/06
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Of The Good German, it can be said that the operation was a brilliant success, even if the patient is not merely dead but most sincerely dead.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
12/21/06
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The Good German plays like Soderbergh's doctoral thesis for film school. But look past the honkingly loud geek factor, and it still works.

Full Review Source: South Florida Sun-Sentinel | comment Comment
12/21/06
Laura Kelly
Laura Kelly
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The Good German is a self-serving act of fetishistic virtual embalming, with all the liveliness that description implies.

Full Review Source: Orlando Weekly | comment Comment
12/21/06
Ian Grey
Ian Grey
Orlando Weekly

The Good German cannibalizes the cool, cynical look of those great old movies, but it's too spiritually vacant to duplicate their soul.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
12/21/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

A most peculiar and unsatisfying film.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
12/21/06
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Soderbergh wants us to see post-War Berlin as, in its way, another Chinatown a la Roman Polanski.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
12/21/06
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Soderbergh is out to dispel the phrase, 'They don't make 'em like they used to,' and he mostly succeeds.

Full Review Source: Metromix.com | comment Comment
12/21/06
Matt Pais
Matt Pais
Metromix.com

Tully is the ugly American galumphing through Europe, grasping, insecure, and cocky all at once.

Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
12/21/06
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
 
 
61 - 80 (sorted by date)
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