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!

 

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Contagion (2011) - Soderbergh's global pandemic creep-out  
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2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
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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 
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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 
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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?

Going in Style (2017) - Flip the bird to banks with game veteran stars

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Three beloved veteran stars walking away with poorly secured loot makes up this bright poster for Zach Braff's Going in Style

When a retired bank customer witnesses a successful heist during a time in which he is forced out of his home, because his pension has been canceled, he gets a smart idea...

 

Going in Style is written by Theodore Melfi (Winding Roads (1999)) and directed by great New Jerseyite filmmaker Zach Braff (Garden State (2004)). It is a remake of Martin Brest's same-titled 1979 heist comedy hit starring George Burns, Art Carney and Lee Strasberg.

It is Braff's best work yet as a director by far, and perhaps the year's most welcome, funny and heart-warming film about a jolly good time. SPOILER It is good also because it doesn't splash despondently together in a fix about the world's regrettable constitution today but instead shows us that people are generally good and helpful, although there are greedy bastards in banks and elsewhere that are keen to defraud their next man. The sympathetic analysis of the modern world here gives rise to three adorable veteran stars giving these miscreants a solid knock in the head:

Michael Caine (California Suite (1978)) has his best part in many years and is downright fabulous. Morgan Freeman (Dreamcatcher (2003)) and Alan Arkin (Glengarry Glen Ross (1992)) are also both delightful; and so is Ann-Margret (Carnal Knowledge (1971)), the actress playing the stewardess, Matt Dillon (Deuces Wild (2002)) and John Ortiz (Take the Lead (2006)) as the helpful latino criminal. Christopher Lloyd (Clubhouse (2004-05)) is a bit caricatured as an Alzheimers patient, and Joey King (Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)) as Caine's granddaughter is unnatural and not credibly written, but Going in Style is wonderful and unpretentious all the same.

Related post:

Zach Braff: Garden State (2004) - Braff's hugely overrated deadweight debut (writer/director/co-star)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 25 mil. $

Box office: 84.9 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.39 times its cost)

[Going in Style premiered 1 April (Beaune Film Festival, France) and runs 96 minutes. Shooting took place in New York in August 2015 - ?. The film opened #4, behind holdover hits The Boss Baby and Beauty and the Beast and fellow new release Smurfs: The Lost Village, to an 11.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 3 weekends in the top 5 (#5-#5-#4) and grossed 45 mil. $ (53 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Germany with 4.2 mil. $ (4.9 %) and the UK with 3.9 mil. $ (4.6 %). Braff has returned as director on two TV-series and with a short. Caine returned in Dear Dictator (2017); Freeman in Madam Secretary (2015-17) and theatrically in Just Getting Started (2017); and Arkin in Get Shorty (2017, TV-series), with a voice performance in Dumbo (2019), The Kominsky Method (2018-19) and physically and theatrically in Spenser Confidential (2020). Going in Style is rotten at 47 % with a 5.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Going in Style?

The Informant! (2009) - Soderbergh and Damon's terrific true-crime dramedy

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+ Best True-Story Movie of the Year

Matt Damon looks hilariously moronic on this poster for Steven Soderbergh's The Informant!

In the beginning of the 1990s, a rising star in a major agricultural company in Illinois decides to reveal practices involving prize-fixing, embezzlement and mob methods in his own business in regards to the enormous and enormously overlooked lysine market, (an animal feed additive.) - But who is this Mark Whitacre?

Hold on to your straps, because The Informant! sweeps you on a super-intelligent ride into an incredible true story, which unfolds in such a way that one can only guess along the way as to how things actually fit together. Matt Damon (Good Will Hunting (1997)) is eminent in the title role, who also acts as the story's unreliable narrator. He leads a phenomenal supporting cast of lesser known actors and stand up comedians, who contribute to the film's hilarious moments.
To this is added a hijinks game score by Marvin Hamlisch (Bananas (1971)), whose last score this was before his death in 2012, and the usual super photography we have been led to expect from master Georgian director-cinematographer Steven Soderbergh's (King of the Hill (1993)) films.
The Informant! is written by Scott Z. Burns (Side Effects (2013)), based on Kurt Eichenwald's (Serpent on the Rock (2007)) non-fiction book The Informant (2000), and Burns' script is an always moving animal with a great eye for the often humorous paradoxes of the story. The Informant! is a crazy-good film, which I highly recommended.

Related posts:

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2013 in films - according to Film Excess
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 Watch a 2-minute clip from the film here

Cost: 22 mil. $
Box office: 41.7 mil. $
= Big flop
[The Informant! premiered 7 September (Venice International Film Festival) and runs 108 minutes. Filming took place in Arizona, Illinois, including Chicago, Hawaii, California, including Los Angeles, Missouri, Paris, France and in Zurich, Switzerland from April - June 2008 with additional shooting in November 2008. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, to a 10.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell to #4 in its second week and then left the top 5, grossing 33.3 mil. $ (79.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 2.1 mil. $ (5 %) and Australia with 1.2 mil. $ (2.9 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch better than this review. The film was nominated for 2 Golden Globes. The Informant! is certified fresh at 79 % with a 6.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Informant!?

Bandits (2001) - Barry Levinson's great, funny heist movie

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Three sly-looking stars in sunglasses are aligned for this poster for Barry Levinson's Bandits

  

A couple of jail break bank-robbers find themselves caught in a ménage-a-trois with a feisty hostage, who becomes their partner-in-crime.

 

Bandits is written by Harley Peyton (Heaven's Prisoners (1996)) and directed by great Marylander filmmaker Barry Levinson (Diner (1982)).
The shenanigans in this excellent crime caper comedy, which is a kind of post-modern genre hybrid of road movie, heist movie, romance, action and drama all in one, work surprisingly well. Bandits is an underrated and overlooked American gem.
The performances and over-the-top hilarious and wild script by Peyton make the ride incredibly entertaining and fun: Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine (2013)) is the irresistible woman in the middle of the unlikely friendship between Bruce Willis (Die Hard (1988)) and Billy Bob Thornton's (Bad Santa 2 (2016)) characters, and she delivers a strong performance, - and looks super-sharp while giving it.

Willis is at his most charming, likeable and funny. And Thornton is hilarious as the hypochondriac bandit. They don a number of very funny disguises through the film, and the sheer comedic quality of them in some of these outfits is just so hard to resist chuckling or laughing out loud at.

The music of Bandits is a rich assembly of great hits from artists like Bob Dylan, In Bloom, Bonnie Tyler, Bill Withers, U2 and many others.
The movie may seem a bit long, but then its surprising end makes up for it. The film is full of memorable, funny and exciting scenes, and is a joyous ride throughout, - not to miss.

Related posts:

 

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Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 75 mil. $
Box office: 67.6 mil. $
= Huge flop

[Bandits was released 12 October (North America) and runs 123 minutes. Levinson was paid 10 mil. $ for his directing of the film. Shooting took place from October 2000 - February 2001 in Oregon and California. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Training Day, to a 13 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#4) and grossed 41.5 mil. $ (61.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 3.8 mil. $ (5.6 %) and France with 2.8 mil. $ (4.1 %). The film was nominated for 2 Golden Globes and an AFI award and won a National Board of Review award, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Levinson returned with A Uniform Used to Mean Something... (2004, short) and theatrically with Envy (2004). Willis returned in Hart's War (2002); Thornton in Monster's Ball (2001); and Blanchett in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001). Bandits is fresh at 64 % with a 6.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Bandits?