★★★ The Good German

[Gino: 3.0]

Gino says: 'The Tomatometer critics concensus is "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." I'm not sure I totally agree with that. Perhaps my expectations were low in the first place, but all in all not a bad film.

The movie is a mystery of sorts, taking place in occupied Berlin on the eve of the Potsdam Conference. The story is engaging enough to keep you interested, but not on the edge of your seat or anything.

This was filmed with the techniques available in that period (lighting, sound, etc). It turned out to be less gimicky than I expected, and in fact he should have went further: if you are going to go through all that trouble to achieve a feel to a film, why not, for example, also cut out the cursing, which you would never have in a film of that vintage? I actually had a problem with the casting though: Tobey Maguire could no doubt kick my arse, but watching him curse on screen is kinda like watching Miss Piggy curse (although not as fun). And while I like George Clooney, he doesn't seem to have the range to act truly worried or concerned on screen (perhaps in that case it is in line with the acting of that period). '