DVD : The Good German

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0012569736672
Format: AC-3, Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Subtitled, NTSC
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: May 22, 2007
Running Time: 108 minutes
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2006
Sales Rank: 27149
MPN: WARD73667D

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Editorial Review:

Description:
Who knows what American journalist Jake Geismer (George Clooney) expected to find in postwar Berlin? Peace, maybe. Or at least a story. But certainly not Lena (Cate Blanchett), his beautiful, embittered one-time love. And not the trail of secrecy and deception that leads from Lena to the scheming young corporal (Tobey Maguire) who's her new lover...and to a murder no one seems interested in solving. Except Jake. Steven Soderbergh directs three of today's top talents in this zigzag thriller that's both an atmospheric homage to 1940s filmmaking and a deft modern film noir. The Good German is "haunting and hypnotic, it's pure moviegoing bliss" (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone).

Amazon.com:
Despite its flaws, The Good German is a welcome gift for every film lover who laments that "they don't make 'em like they used to." Steven Soderbergh's affectionate, knowing tribute to the black-and-white melodramas of Hollywood's golden age may lack the emotional depth and romantic passion of Michael Curtiz's Casablanca--the 1946 classic it intentionally emulates--but as Soderbergh approximates Curtiz's studio style, he delivers a shimmering, shadowy reminder that movies can be enjoyed for the sheer pleasure of their craftsmanship. Once again serving as his own cinematographer (credited as "Peter Andrews"), Soderbergh went to great lengths to technically and aesthetically re-create the look and feel of a Curtiz production, and Joseph Kanon's source novel (adapted by Quiz Show screenwriter Paul Attanasio) provides a twisting plot set around the historical Potsdam conference in post-World War II Germany. An American military journalist, Capt. Jake Geismer (George Clooney) is in rubble-strewn Berlin to cover the event, and is quickly drawn into a murder plot involving his appointed driver (Tobey Maguire), an old flame-turned-wartime prostitute (Cate Blanchett) and her missing husband, a scientist who possesses pivotal secrets coveted by Americans and Russians in a pre-Cold War bid for power.

Violence, sexual content, and salty dialogue make it clear that this R-rated drama is a brashly contemporary homage to films of a bygone era, and not a slavish attempt to copy the past. This yields mixed results in terms of the film's overall appeal; it's gorgeous to look at, but the plot and performances exist in a vacuum, and the entire film feels oddly disengaged from any sense of genuine human emotion. It's probably fair to say that Soderbergh had more fun making the film than most people will have watching it. And yet, as Clooney's character is repeatedly beaten and deceived on his path to cynical enlightenment, The Good German has many qualities that make it recommendable, not the least being the pleasure of following a talented director as he indulges his penchant for bold experimentation. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

Average Rating: out of 5 stars

Rating:

- Good German
Movie was very entertaining. Kate Blanchard is a great actress and George Clooney was fine.

Rating:

- um... IT'S SODERBERGH?!!!
seriously. Soderbergh directed (and did the cinematography) for this film... above and beyond all THIS IS A SODERBERGH FILM. He's up there with the likes of David Lynch and Cronenberg and various other experimentalists or avant-garde-ists. "The Good German" is beyond simply being a film noir, or having A-List actors in it (which he always does)- the film is to produce an effect and evoke something more than your average or even above average film can accomplish.

when you deal with ... Read More

Rating:

- worthy and entertaining homage
THE GOOD GERMAN isn't bad. C'mom, comparing it to the classics it is inspired by and ripping off isn't fair. Enjoy it for what's it's worth, which isn't a whole, whole lot, but is still better than most junk coming out of Hollywoodland. The acting is good as is, in my opinion, the script. I found the story involving American efforts to snatch up Nazi rocket scientists, a quintessential American jack ***, a murderous lying prostitute, the cool well intended George Clooney trapped in a film noir plot, ... Read More

Rating:

- The Bad Idea
They must have thought this was great in the studio producers' suite when they saw the bleached, scratchy, black and white film and the big name 'stars' hamming it up for all they're worth in a 'film noir' wartime thriller. Another artistic intelligent classic, eh, guys... one for the Oscars!

But when you watch it and you realise the only thing going for this dreary and stultifyingly dull slice of old tat IS the grainy black and white film, you know you're in deep trouble. Mind, chances ... Read More

Rating:

- The Book Was Much Better
I loved the black and white format of this film, but found the acting wooden and the plot tired. The book was much better. This film, albeit an interesting and creative technical piece, sorely lacked the nuance and brilliance of the book. One star for effort and one star for the black-and-white.

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