Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Ocean's trilogy

Showing posts with label Ocean's trilogy. 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?

9/15/2022

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

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When you've got a cast like this, you should flaunt it. So does this poster for Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven

Released from prison, grand larcenist Danny Ocean pulls together a 10-man team for an ambitious new heist, aiming at three major Las Vegas casinos in the same operation.

Ocean's Eleven is written by Ted Griffin (Ravenous (1999)) and directed and photographed by Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)), whose 11th feature it is. It is a remake of Ocean's Eleven (1960) by Lewis Milestone, which featured the Rat Pack, Angie Dickinson and more.

Soderbergh has spun a piece of top entertainment here and resurrected a genre (the heist movie) in a way that couldn't possibly be any more stylish. The attractive cast all deliver, and especially Elliott Gould (E/R (1984-85)) and Carl Reiner (The Art of Love (1965)) are hilarious.

Ocean's Eleven reeks of Vegas and show business in the best possible way. There's small twists and neat features in the long built-up to the big score. Ocean's Eleven is a highly successful operation.

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

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: 450.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 5.30 times its cost)

[Ocean's Eleven premiered 5 December (California) and runs 116 minutes. A remake by David Permut was close to happening in 1987. George Clooney (Three Kings (1999)) was paid 20 mil. $ for his performance; Brad Pitt (Sleepers (1996)) 10 mil. $ - against a back-end deal that ended up netting him 30 mil. $ total; Julia Roberts (Mary Reilly (1996)) got 10 mil. $ and Matt Damon (Rounders (1998)) 5 mil. $ - that's 45 mil. $ total up front for the film's 4 main stars, more than half the film's budget. Shooting took place from February - June 2001 in Chicago, Illinois, New Jersey, Las Vegas, Nevada, Florida and in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #1 to a 38.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 5 weekends (#2-#2-#2-#3-#4), grossing 183.4 mil. $ (40.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 51.9 mil. $ (11.5 %) and the UK with 35.7 mil. $ (7.9 %). The film was nominated for a César award and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. The success was followed by two sequels with returning stars and director Soderbergh; Ocean's Twelve (2004) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007), - as well as a female-lead reboot by Gary Ross; Ocean's 8 (2018). Soderbergh returned first with Full Frontal (2002). Clooney first returned in Welcome to Collinwood (2002); Pitt in Jackass (2002, TV-series) and theatrically in Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002); Roberts in Grand Champion (2002); and Damon with a voice performance in The Majestic (2001) and physically in Gerry (2002). Ocean's Eleven is certified fresh at 83 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ocean's Eleven?

7/17/2019

Ocean's Twelve (2004) - Soderbergh returns with jumbled, glossy heist comedy sequel

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An impressive collection of Hollywood stars walk on a line on this poster for Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's Twelve

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 110 mil. $
Box office: 362.7 mil. $
= Box office success (returned 3.29 times its cost)
[Ocean's Twelve premiered 8 December (Hollywood, California) and runs 125 minutes. The script was changed to accommodate Julia Roberts (Pretty Woman (1990)) being pregnant with twins. Shooting took place in the Netherlands, including Amsterdam, Italy, Illinois, including Chicago, Los Angeles, California, Las Vegas, Nevada, Monaco and Paris, France from March - August 2004. The film opened #1 to a 39.1 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weeks in the top 5 (#2-#5-#5) and grossed 125.5 mil. $ (34.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 31.6 mil. $ (8.7 %) and the UK with 23.5 mil. $ (6.5 %). It was the 10th highest-grossing film of the year globally. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this one. Ocean's Thirteen (2007) was also made by Soderbergh with the stars returning. Soderbergh returned first with Bubble (2005). George Clooney (One Fine Day (1996)) returned in Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005); Brad Pitt (Happy Together (1989)) in Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005); and Matt Damon (Margaret (2011)) with a voice cameo in Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2005, TV-series) and theatrically in The Brothers Grimm (2005). Ocean's Twelve is rotten at 55 % with a 5.9/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Ocean's Twelve?

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

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

9/17/2022

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

9/15/2022

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

7/17/2019

Ocean's Twelve (2004) - Soderbergh returns with jumbled, glossy heist comedy sequel

Eagerly anticipating this month ... (5-25)

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