Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Out of Sight (1998) - Clooney and Lopez burn up the screen in Soderbergh's crime comedy

8/17/2021

Out of Sight (1998) - Clooney and Lopez burn up the screen in Soderbergh's crime comedy

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Crime-Comedy of the Year + Best Erotic Movie of the Year

High-contrasted, primary-colored, cool throw-back exploitation-style poster for Steven Soderbergh's Out of Sight

A serial bank robber winds up in a Florida prison, but he breaks out with a new scheme to rob a rich inmate, - a plan which gets complicated when he falls for an FBI agent, whom he shares a trunk with for a period, as well as the company of some bad characters...

Out of Sight is written by Scott Frank (Marley & Me (2008)), adapting the same-titled 1996 novel by Elmore Leonard (Stick (1985)) and directed by Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)), whose 7th feature it is.

It is an enthusiastic, typically 1990s 'smart', (for lack of a better word), film, meaning that it's laced with ironic dialog and advanced chronology. It is also a star-making feature for George Clooney (Michael Clayton (2007)), who exudes sexy ruggedness, a hearty lead for the film that isn't big on teeth and has a penchant for boorish fatalism, - but is partnered up with Jennifer Lopez (Anaconda (1997)), who is equally sexy and bad-ass to boot here. Lopez has the film's best scenes. Soderbergh cultivates their chemistry and the sexiness of the pair with snowfall and love-making scenes, which is the brand of Out of Sight.

It has, however, a large cast of energetic charlatans; Dennis Farino (That Old Feeling (1997)), Michael Keaton (Jackie Brown (1997)), Luis Guzman (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)), Steve Zahn (Night Train (2009)), Don Cheadle (Things Behind the Sun (2001)), Isaiah Washington (Dead Birds (2004)), Albert Brooks (Taxi Driver (1976)) and more. Soderbergh, stylishly assured as is his normalcy, uses freeze-frame, zoom and other filmmaking grips coolly, and locations are also utilized for the underlining of Soderbergh as a technical master craftsman. Some feel that Out of Sight could use some action, and there may be something to that reservation, as the film can come of as somewhat sly. - I enjoyed it nevertheless.

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
The Informant! (2009) - Soderbergh and Damon's terrific true-crime dramedy
Che Part One - The Argentine (2008) - Soderbergh's sober depiction of the Cuban revolution

Ocean's Twelve (2004) - Soderbergh returns with jumbled, glossy heist comedy sequel
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Erin Brockovich (2000) - Roberts, Soderbergh and Grant's triumphant biopic

1998 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 48 mil. $

Box office: 77.7 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.61 times its cost)

[Out of Sight was released 26 June (USA) and runs 123 minutes. Clooney was paid 10 mil. $ for his performance; Lopez 2 mil. $. Shooting took place from October 1997 - January 1998 in Louisiana, Michigan, including in Detroit, Florida and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #4, behind fellow new release Doctor Dolittle and hold-over hits Mulan and The X Files, to a 12 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another weekend in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 37.5 mil. $ (48.3 % of the total gross). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Adapted Screenplay, lost to Bill Condon for Gods and Monsters, and Editing, lost to Saving Private Ryan. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to a notch higher than this one. Soderbergh returned with The Limey (1999). Clooney returned in The Thin Red Line (1998); Lopez with a voice performance in Antz (1998), in 6 music videos and physically in a theater in The Cell (2000). Out of Sight is certified fresh at 93 % with a 7.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Out of Sight?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

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William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

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8/17/2021

Out of Sight (1998) - Clooney and Lopez burn up the screen in Soderbergh's crime comedy

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