Psychotronic Film Society

Death by voicemail

Steven Soderbergh is the creator of odd personal films like Kafka and Schizopolis, but has since “graduated” to the larger budgets of more commercial Hollywood projects like Erin Brockovich and Ocean’s 11. David Lynch directed the sprawling, complicated science fiction epic Dune. The Shining is commonly thought of as Stanley Kubrick’s lone popcorn picture. At one time or another in the career of an artist critically respected for their more personal and/or otherwise artistically ambitious works he or she is tempted by the offer of more mainstream, more commercial work. Some leap at the chance to sell out and spend the rest of their days cheerfully going through the motions to churn out predictable entertainment products. Some clash immediately with the studio system and go back to independent filmmaking, forever disowning whatever work they’ve done in the mainstream. Some are able to easily adapt, alternating blockbusters with much smaller independent films. And some manage to take the studios’ mainstream projects and make them their own, transforming them using their own distinctive vision. Continue reading →