Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Ocean's Eight (2018)

10/22/2022

Ocean's Eight (2018) - Commercially mandated spin-off sinks

♥♥

Eight increasingly diminutive female stars line up on this cinema-red poster for Gary Ross' Ocean's Eight

Danny Ocean's sister is released from prison with a plan: Along with a crew of seven other gifted women she wants to steal a lot of diamonds from the big Met gala in New York.

Ocean's Eight is written by Olivia Milch (Dude (2018, story)) and co-writer/director Gary Ross (Pleasantville (1998)). It is a reboot spin-off of the Ocean's franchise begun with Ocean's 11 (1960) and directly related to Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy (2001-07).

Good musical choices, smashing dresses and a fitting lack of regular action, (there is no pasted on car chase or shoot-out, which suits the film well) are worth commending this mildly entertaining film for, - but regrettably its success is still hindered by several problems:

Sandra Bullock (Love Potion No. 9 (1992)) is the protagonist thief, whom we are naturally supposed to root for, but at this point her heavily surgically 'enhanced' face seriously hamper this engagement, just as her friendship, - or possibly more than friendship (?), - with Cate Blanchett's (Knight of Cups (2015)) character, (Blanchett on the other hand is hidden behind enormous bangs (and often also shades) here, - never becomes really exciting. You can enjoy Rihanna (Guava Island (2019)) solely for who she is in real life here, and Anne Hathaway (Bride Wars (2009)) and Helena Bonham Carter (Shadow Play (1996)) are fairly good, but Ocean's Eight is never very funny or really exciting. It also clings to elements of the preceding films with a clumsy scene with Elliott Gould (Puckoon (2002)) SPOILER as well as a tame, lame ending, in which Bullock makes herself a cocktail in front of (George Clooney's) Danny Ocean's gravestone and saying, "You would have loved it!" In this way Ocean's Eight sticks to the shadow of Soderbergh's films, while a revenge motive behind the big heist never really gets us pumped.

Ocean's Eight is failed; it is unnecessary, disappointing and poor.

Gary Ross: The Hunger Games (2012) - A global, teen-centered sci-fi smash

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 70 mil. $

Box office: 297.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.25 times its cost)

[Ocean's Eight premiered 5 June (New York) and runs 110 minutes. The film was announced in October 2015. Shooting took place from October 2016 - March 2017 in New York and Los Angele, California. The film opened #1 to a 41.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3-#5), grossing 140.2 mil. $ (47.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 14 mil. $ (4.7 %) and Australia with 13.6 mil. $ (4.6 %). Ross has not returned as a director since, but is returning as co-writer of Desert Warrior (2022). Bullock returned in Bird Box (2018). Ocean's Eight is fresh at 68 % with a 6.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ocean's Eight?

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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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10/22/2022

Ocean's Eight (2018) - Commercially mandated spin-off sinks

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