 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| |||||
Week Of June 4, 2007 - Hostel 2 Mon / Wed / Fri
June 6 , 2007
O13 ... Bingo!
Danny Ocean aka Peter Andrews aka Steven Soderbergh finally got it right.
For me, the first clubby Ocean's film, 11, was a surprising mediocrity from a fun all-star cast and one of the best working directors in the world. Ocean's 12 was more interesting to me, as Soderbergh started to assert his visual complexities on the conventional studio programmer, though I couldn't argue with anyone who claimed that the film became an overly self-indulgent, confusing mess.
And in Ocean's 13, Soderbergh, writers Brian Koppelman & David Levien, and most expecially, cinematographer/doppelganger Peter Andrews found the sweet spot in this conceit. Much as I like the supporting 10, O13 distinctly loses interest in keeping the film balanced and makes the movie about the buddy duo of Clooney & Pitt, offers Damon as a freelance character, and sprinkles on not only the "other 10," but Pacino and Barkin on top with a Paymer cherry for good measure. Everyone else is basically reduced to one nice piece of schtick, though Affleck and Caan (boldfaced names that are not the boldest in their families) get a little more than the other. Even Pops Reiner, who has been feeling his age and was not so inclined to invest a lot of time shooting another movie, is laid into the film with all the brio of the other actors, though he probably shot his bits in 10 days of work spread out over the production schedule.
Don't get me wrong. This movie is about nothing. It makes Seinfeld's nothing look deep. But by finally agreeing with itself that Pitt and Clooney are Sinatra and Dino and that Damon is The Lawford (and yes, in this film, Cheadle really does become The Sammy for the first time in the series), the film franchise finally gets out of its own way and has the loose-minded fun that was always intended. Create an earthquake? Sure. An easy answer to "the impossible heist?" Sure, if it's fun. Bad fake noses ... silly pheromone jokes ... international labor politics with a purely comedic kick ... cougars ... diarrhea jokes ... absurd manipulations ... improbable hidden cam scams ... and plenty of stuff that just makes no sense (Why exactly is B- Mac needed on the casino floor?) ... yes ... but so what? It's Pirates of the Careless Being. It's a summer movie, damn it!
But besides being a delightfully forgettable summer froth fest, the movie also happens to contain some of Soderb.., uh, Peter Andrews' best work behind the camera to date. I expect that most people who love great cinematography will look right past it due to its location in this lightweight fare, but Soderbergh makes himself the absolute #1 get for Bond on any other action movie with style with O13. The color scheming, mixing a lot of shades of gold with muted fresco-looking pastels, subtle shades of the same colors overlapping (Louise Frogley's costume design pushes the envelope in the same effort), and the seamless use of CG mixed with a massive, spectacular casino set (by production designer Phillip Messina) makes Ocean's the best looking of the summer movies to date, including the Big 3.
But mostly, it's just fun. You want to be challenged? Not your movie. Looking for a great confrontation scene a la Heat between Pacino and anyone? Not your movie. Want it to make sense? Sorry, if they didn't have numbers to play with, this movie would be called Ocean's 11: Suspension of Disbelief. And now and again, that is not only okay with me ... it's a thrill.
E Me.
Week Of April 3, 2006 - Life In the Bubble - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 10, 2006 - List Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 17, 2006 - Review Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of April 24, 2006 - Overlooked Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 1, 2006 - Mystery Week - Tue / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 8, 2006 - How We Watch Week - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 15, 2006 - Premature Week - Oscar Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 22, 2006 - B-13 Mon / Inconvenient Wed / Fri
Week Of May 29, 2006 - Wed / Fri
Week Of June 5, 2006 - 666 Tue / Iraq Doc Wed / Seattle Fri
Week Of June 12, 2006 - SIFF Mon / SIFF Wed / Fri
Week Of June 19, 2006 - Cinevegas Mon/Deliver Us Wed/Prada Fri
Week Of June 26, 2006 - Pirates Mon / Super Again Wed / Fri
Week Of July 5, 2006 - Wed
Week Of July 12, 2006 - M. Night Mon | You, Me & Wed | Monster House Fri
Week Of July 17, 2006 - 8 A Year Mon / Water Wed / Revamp Fri
Week Of July 24, 2006 - Comic-Con Mon / Gossip Wed / Fri
Week Of July 31, 2006 - Mel G Mon / Talladega Wed / Fri
Week Of August 7, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of August 14, 2006 - No Column Mon / Wed / Snakes Fri
Week Of August 21, 2006 - Snakey Mon / Anniversary Wed / Scoundrels Fri
Week Of August 28, 2006 - Mon Love / Berloff Wed / Fri
Week Of September 4, 2006 - Thur
Week Of September 11, 2006 - TIFF Mon / Bobby Wed / Fr
Week Of September 18, 2006 - Mon / TIFF 1 Wed / TIFF 2 Fri
Week Of September 25, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of October 2, 2006 - Atonement Mon / Wed / Indie Fri
Week Of October 9, 2006 - Flags Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of October 16, 2006 - Mon / Epagogix Wed
Week Of October 23, 2006 - TCIFF Mon / Wed / Catch A Fri
Week Of October 30, 2006 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of November 6, 2006 - Mon / Dead Girl Wed / Fri
Week Of November 13, 2006 - Bond Mon / Wed / TomKat Fri
Week Of November 20, 2006 - Mon / Thankful Wed
Week Of November 27, 2006 - Mon / Auteur Wed / Blood D Fri
Week Of December 4, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 11, 2006 - Mon / Wed
Week Of December 18, 2006 - Mon / Wed / COM Fri
Week Of December 27, 2006 - Wed / Worst of 2006 Fri
Week Of Janiuary 3, 2007 - Best Of 2006 Wed
Week Of Janiuary 8, 2007 - Mon / COM Book Wed
Week Of January 17, 2007 - Little Red Writing Hood Wed
Week Of January 29, 2007 - Mon
Week Of February 5, 2007 -This Thing We Do Wk - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 12, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of February 26, 2007 - Rough Oscars Mon / Zodiac Wed / Doc & Foreign Fri
Week Of March 5, 2007 - Mon / Fri
March 14 / March 21/ March 28
Week Of April 4, 2007 - Wed / Grindhouse Fri
Week Of April 9, 2007 - Indie Distirbution Mon / Star Ranking Wed / Top 20 Fri
Week Of April 16, 2007 - Mon / Piaf Wed
Week Of April 23, 2007 - Mon / Tribeca Wed / Costner Fri
Week Of April 30, 2007 - Spider Mon
Week Of May 7, 2007 - Mon / Wed / Fri
Week Of May 14, 2007 - 10 Thing Studios Don't Want Wed / Fri
Week Of May 21, 2007 - Mon / Pirates Fri
Week Of May 28, 2007 - Knocked Up Friday
