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

Showing posts with label Brian Koppelman. Show all posts

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?

9/26/2019

Solitary Man (2009) - Forgettable, undistinguished NY egotist dramedy

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Silver fox Michael Douglas takes center stage with a good handful of supporting stars floating around him on this poster for Brian Koppelman and David Levien's Solitary Man

A swindling, irresponsible, aging womanizer with extremely cold and harsh surroundings winds up a waiter at his only real friend's place, and refuses to end his life's course of running solo.

Solitary Man is written by writer-director Brian Koppelman (Runaway Jury (2003)), who co-directed with David Levien (Knockaraound Guys (2001)).
Michael Douglas (Coma (1978)) stars as the egotistical protagonist in this overly talky drama, which lacks some humor and/or characters that stir up some sympathy.
The film has a strong cast, and there's something weighty in its theme. I just personally enjoyed pals Douglas and co-star Danny DeVito (Wise Guys (1986)) more in their low-brow romantic family adventures of the 1980s, Romancing the Stone (1984) and Jewel of the Nile (1985).

Related post:

Brian Koppelman, David Levien: Runaway Jury (2003) - Gun violence trial as Hollywood show (co-writers)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 15 mil. $
Box office: 5.6 mil. $
= Mega-flop (returned 0.37 times its cost)
[Solitary Man premiered in September (Toronto International Film Festival, Canada) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place in New York from November - December 2008. The film opened #34 to a 94k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #14 and in 177 theaters (different weeks), grossing 4.3 mil. $ (76.8 % of the the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Brazil with 393k $ (7 %) and Argentina with 227k $ (4 %). Roger Ebert gave it a 3½/4 star review, translating to two notches higher than this one. Koppelman and Levien have both stayed from directing since, returning to writing and producing. Douglas returned in Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010). Solitary Man is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.82/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Solitary Man?

8/18/2019

Runaway Jury (2003) - Gun violence trial as Hollywood show

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+ Worst Poster of the Year

Formally dressed stars eye each other uneasily under a blurry photograph on this dubious poster for Runaway Jury

A madman mows down 11 people at an office, and a widow to one of the slain subsequently sues the gun company. The principal trial gets a jury, zealous lawyers, - and an X factor ...

Runaway Jury is written by Brian Koppelman (Runner Runner (2013)), David Levien (Rounders (1998)), Rick Cleveland (Nurse Jackie (2009-10)) and Matthew Chapman (Heart of Midnight (1988)), adapting The Runaway Jury (1996) by John Grisham (The Summons (2002)), and directed by Gary Fleder (Kiss the Girls (1997)).
The biggest problem for this over-written courtroom thriller set in New Orleans is that it lacks a hero: Gene Hackman (Split Decisions (1988)) is definitely the villain of the piece; Dustin Hoffman (Stranger Than Fiction (2006)) may have been thought of as the hero, being the lawyer representing the widow's case, (but it is a grotesque case in my opinion.) John Cusack (Adult World (2013)) and Rachel Weisz (Death Machine (1994)) both play manipulative and greedy characters, whose real aim is only revealed in Runaway Jury's poorly closed up ending.
The film also suffers from superficial music video-style editing, which lowers the realism in the material and ruptures any thematic weight it may have carried. Robert Elswit's (Salt (2010)) photography is seamless, and Hackman lets loose; especially he and Hoffman's bathroom scene has the show movie energy that this film is still worth watching for. The American gun ownership issue at the core of the film remains pretty much unchanged today.

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Watch a VHS tape teaser for the film here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: 80.1 mil. $
= Big flop (returned 1.33 times its cost)
[Runaway Jury premiered 9 October (USA) and runs 127 minutes. Since pre-production had started in 1997, filmmakers Joel Schumacher and Mike Newell and stars Will Smith and Edward Norton had been attached at various points. The plot was changed from a tobacco focus to guns following the release of tobacco-focused The Insider (1999). Shooting took place in Louisiana, including New Orleans, and in Los Angeles, California in and around September 2002. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and holdover hit Kill Bill: Vol. 1, to an 11.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another week in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 49.4 mil. $ (61.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 3.8 mil. $ (4.7 %) and Italy and France at a shared #3 with 3.7 mil. $ (4.6 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Grisham in 2004 called the film "smart" and "suspenseful" but was disappointed with its theatrical performance. Fleder returned with 11 TV episodes in 3 different TV-series before hitting big screens again with The Express (2008). Cusack returned in Must Love Dogs (2005); Hackman in Welcome to Mooseport (2004) - his final movie; Hoffman in Finding Neverland (2004) and Weisz in Envy (2004). Runaway Jury is fresh at 73 % with a 6.56/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Runaway Jury?

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

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)