Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

9/17/2022

Ocean's Thirteen (2007) - Soderbergh lays the deck with pizazz

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The 12 male stars (the one female is missing...) stand around a crap game table on this poster for Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Thirteen

Reuben Tishkoff gets pushed out of service by the town's new unsympathetic major casino owner, and so Danny Ocean calls his team of experts together to serve revenge.

Ocean's Thirteen is written by Brian Koppelman and David Levien (Rounders (1998), both) and directed and photographed by Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)), whose 17th feature it is. It is also the final film in Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy.

After the dubious plotting and convoluted elements of Ocean's Twelve (2004), it is a great pleasure to see and feel the slick machine of the first film return to form here in a film that's as strong as Ocean's Eleven (2001).

Al Pacino (Insomnia (2002)) is delightful as the dirty villain, who simply lacks George Clooney's (One Fine Day (1996)) gentlemanly skills as Danny Ocean. The story is simple yet again, and it is the serving rather than the plot that makes this firebrand entertainment: It is intelligent, funny and delicious to look at and listen to. The great drums of show business roll loud here; Hollywood is in its ace.

Ocean's Thirteen is packing fun supporting roles and cameos, gadgets and a tight story. - And Oprah!

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

Ocean's Eleven (2001) - Soderbergh brings down the house

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

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

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 311.3 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.66 times its cost)

[Ocean's Thirteen premiered 24 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 122 minutes. Clooney was paid 15 mil. $ for his performance in the film; the over-all budget was lowered from the preceding film's 110 mil. $ to 85 mil. $, the same budget as for the first film in the trilogy in 2001. Shooting took place from July - December 2006 in London, England, Las Vegas, Nevada and in California. The film opened #1 to a 36.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), grossing 117.1 mil. $ (37.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 27.3 mil. $ (8.8 %) and the UK with 26.4 mil. $ (8.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 2.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Soderbergh returned with Che: Part One (2008). Clooney returned in Michael Clayton (2007); Pitt in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007); Damon in The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and Pacino in Righteous Kill (2008). Ocean's Thirteen is fresh at 70 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ocean's Thirteen?

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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

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

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.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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9/17/2022

Ocean's Thirteen (2007) - Soderbergh lays the deck with pizazz

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