Weintraub gears up for ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’
Weintraub gears up for ‘Ocean’s Thirteen’
The Associated Press, Francois Mori The Dessert Sun
Producer Jerry Weintraub is known for his huge, circus-style promotions, going back to his days as concert promoter for Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley.
In 2004, Diane Sawyer’s “Primetime Live” interviews with Weintraub and the cast of “Ocean’s Twelve” from the producer’s Bighorn Golf Club home in Palm Desert helped turn the sequel into a hit on par with its predecessor, “Ocean’s Eleven.”
But with “Ocean’s Thirteen” hitting theaters this week, Weintraub may be even topping himself.
Last month he canceled an interview in Los Angeles before going to the Cannes Film Festival in France because “Getting together right now is impossible. I can’t even get together with my dinner. “Hey, that’s a good one,” he said, brightening like the high-roller he played in “Vegas Vacation.” “That’s a Weintraubism.” Stateside promotions for “Ocean’s Thirteen” begin today with Weintraub and leading men George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon adding their hand and footprints to the cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. A publicist said Weintraub is the first producer to be so honored. “Ocean’s Thirteen” will have its North American premiere tonight at Grauman’s, with stars Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Al Pacino and director Steven Soderbergh expected to attend. The film will then launch the CineVegas Film Festival Wednesday with Weintraub receiving its Vanguard Producer Award. Weintraub, who earned a lifetime achievement award at ShoWest in Las Vegas earlier this year, said he hadn’t sought the producer awards in Vegas, but CineVegas offered to make a large donation to aid victims of the conflict in Darfur in Sudan. Weintraub and the “Ocean’s” cast will attend a Chicago premiere Thursday that also benefits the International Rescue Committee for Not On Our Watch to aid victims in Sudan. “This is the most hectic schedule because I’m doing so many events,” Weintraub said. Weintraub won’t have much time to rest after “Ocean’s Thirteen” premieres and goes wide on Friday. His next movie, “Nancy Drew,” opens June 15.
Samsung phone plays part in O13
Samsung Electronics has placed an audacious bet on an upcoming Hollywood movie “Ocean’s 13” and its villain Al Pacino. Samsung paid an undisclosed amount to Warner Bros. to provide a diamond-studded mobile phone to Pacino, who plays a Las Vegas casino owner. In the movie to be released worldwide next week, the actor becomes a Samsung fan who yells, “I want that Samsung now!”
The amount of the product placement contract is kept secret but it is estimated to be several dozens of millions of dollars, given that the phone has been given an unusually significant role for a commercial product planted in a major Hollywood movie. In a similar case, Ford reportedly paid $35 million to provide an Aston Martin for James Bond in the 2002 movie “Die Another Day.”
“Ocean’s 13” is a second sequel to the hit movie “Ocean’s 11,” featuring a dozen celebrity stars including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Pacino. The Samsung phone plays an integral role in the plot of the movie, as a team of 13 crooks uses it as a bugging device before they rob the casino owned by Pacino.
In one scene, Pacino uses the handset while moving in an underground elevator and does not hesitate to say it works there “because it’s a Samsung.” “The moviemaker requested a luxury phone that characterizes Pacino’s personality in the movie, so we provided a gold, candy bar-type handset,” the company said in a press release. It is not the price of the gold-plated, diamond-embroidered handset that matters to Samsung. Given that the phone has a much bigger role in “Ocean’s 13” than the Aston Martin did in “Die Another Day,” and Pacino shows his indulgence to his phone more openly than Pierce Brosnan did to his car, the price Samsung has paid to Warner should reasonably be well above $35 million. Known as product placement in the film industry, planting goods in movies and dramas is a popular marketing technique and is growing at a rapid pace these days. According to PQMedia, a consulting firm that tracks the product placement market, the global product placement market grew 24.2 percent to $7.76 billion in 2006 from 2005, and is projected to increase 20.3 percent to $9.33 billion in 2007. Sine the 1990s, Samsung has provided mobile phones and other electronics appliances to a number of Hollywood and South Korean movies, such as the “Matrix: Reloaded,” “The Departed,” and “Fantastic Four.” In “Superman Returns” last year, the company set a record by placing 274 items such as TVs, monitors, laptops, printers and facsimile machines.
George’s Gang Invades Hollywood
George’s Gang Invades Hollywood
June 05, 2007 E! Online
Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Matt Damon’s hand and footprints will be preserved in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle and producer Jerry Weintraub raise monies for Darfur.
‘Ocean’s Thirteen,’ starring GEORGE CLOONEY, BRAD PITT, MATT DAMON and DON CHEADLE, opens with a hand and footprint ceremony, followed by a benefit premiere today, at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, CA, to raise monies for the International Rescue Committee for Not On Our Watch.
The committee was co-founded by film producer JERRY WEINTRAUB and the aforementioned four stars of ‘Oceans Thirteen’ to create a humanitarian organization whose initiative is to support existing Darfur relief efforts and to ensure the protection of civilians in that region.
“It was such a privilege to reunite with STEVEN SODERBERGH and an amazing cast to make ‘Ocean’s Thirteen,’” commented Weintraub, who will become the first producer to have his hand and footprints cemented for posterity at Grauman’s. “I am very proud of the film, and I am excited about premiering the film in multiple cities across the country. However, the thing I am most proud of by far is that these events will benefit a cause that is very important to me and my colleagues.”
The hand and footprints ceremony takes place today at 11:30 a.m., with the North American premiere of the film beginning at 7 p.m. at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.
For more information on the International Rescue Committee, click here.
How lucky are those ‘Ocean’s’ cats?
How lucky are those ‘Ocean’s’ cats?
By Donna Freydkin, USA TODAY
Luck and Ocean’s Thirteen go hand in hand. You need a bit of it to gamble, pull off heists — or open a movie. For this film’s core crew, though, luck might not be as much a driving force in their careers as it seems. “There’s a lot more planning with these stars than they let on,” says Paul Dergarabedian, head of box-office tracking company Media By Numbers. USA TODAY asked Dergarabedian to analyze how the stars have managed to keep playing with house money:
George Clooney, 46: “Look where he started out, on Roseanne and The Facts of Life, and now he has evolved into this actor/director/producer. He made a decision to leave ER. That was not just luck. And he never forgot his roots there. He has carefully planned his career, and you see it. Deciding to direct — that’s not luck. His teaming up with (director Steven) Soderbergh. He has made strong alliances with important filmmakers. Plus, he’s got the acting side. He can do it all. Everyone thinks he’s the coolest guy. He’s this affable, seemingly likable person who doesn’t seem affected by his celebrity. He’s a regular guy who made it big. He’s a real force in Hollywood.”
What’s in the cards for ‘Ocean’s’?
What’s in the cards for ‘Ocean’s’?
By Harlan Jacobson, Special for USA TODAY
CANNES, France — George Clooney & Co. are rolling the dice in theaters again Friday with Ocean’s Thirteen, the franchise’s third.
The gang is back in Vegas, and this time they’re after revenge more than loot. The film isn’t the surest bet, especially in a summer in which sequel fatigue is showing after the third Spider-Man, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean. But the stakes are perhaps not as high, given that the Ocean’s movies have brought in just over $300 million domestically, compared with the first two Pirates’ take of nearly $730 million.
It’ll take a good bit of luck to win audiences over. But that’s something Clooney is used to.
“Think about how random things are,” he says. “For me, it required a Thursday night time slot for a medical show (ER). … There had only been two shows in 16 years —L.A. Law and Hill Street Blues— and it opened up. We had a show, and immediately everything changed. And you go, ‘That has nothing to do with me.’ That has to do with pure luck all the way around.” But the co-stars assembled for this conversation — Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy Garcia and Ellen Barkin — aren’t entirely buying it. “Even luck is created by persistence, study and dedication, and aspiring to a dream, and sticking around and taking the licks, staying in the game,” Garcia says. “And then all of a sudden, you get lucky.” Adds Cheadle: “The worst thing is to get that shot and not know what to do with it because you really don’t have anything but a desire to be famous. That ain’t gonna get you there. And if it does, that’s worse. Because if that’s all you have … we’ve seen those meteoric rises, and then you’re down the other side.” It’s that other side that these veteran actors seem to fear most. “The more difficult thing is sticking around,” Pitt says. Damon adds, “I remember vividly on Ocean’s Eleven George saying to me, ‘You know, if you can pull off a 10-year career in this business, you are really doing something.’ “ Says Clooney: “We’re on borrowed time! Enjoy!” He adds that it is all about adjusting — that’s what the people who have lasted do. “The best example is (Paul) Newman. He was the greatest movie star in the world and then decided to become more of a character actor and does The Verdict. If you’re able to last, it’s about how you’re able to work it.” Even if this gang pulls off every box-office heist, saying they’ve “made it” isn’t an option. Says Cheadle: “We’re all too neurotic.”
DVD: ‘David Sheehan’s Summer Movie Magic’
Hollywood Video Announces Sponsorship of ‘David Sheehan’s Summer Movie Magic’
Posted : Mon, 04 Jun 2007 17:18:00 GMT
WILSONVILLE, Ore., June 4 /PRNewswire/ — Hollywood Video, a division of Movie Gallery, Inc. is sponsoring the “Summertime DVDs” segment of entertainment reviewer David Sheehan’s Summer Movie Magic syndicated TV special, which will air nationwide June 1 through July 8.
The segment, taped at the Hollywood Video store in Burbank, Calif., will feature David Sheehan’s five favorite “Summertime DVDs” and will include interviews with major film stars including George Clooney, who stars in The Good German and Ocean’s 13, and Clint Eastwood, director of Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. The show will also feature Sheehan’s interviews with other big stars of the summer season including Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Tobey Maguire, Kevin Costner, Nicole Kidman, John Travolta, Bruce Willis, Robin Williams, and Brad Pitt.
Cannes waitress loving new-found celebrity status
Victoria Hart, who was chosen to perform at George Clooney’s recent yacht party in Cannes, says she is loving her new-found celebrity status, and has even signed a few autographs. Victoria, 18, said that while she wasn’t nervous actually performing, it was when she was socialising afterwards that she realised the amount of stunningly good-looking actors in the room. She told GMTV: “I was chatting to Steve Jones from T4 for a while, and then he said, ‘I’m surprised you want to talk to me when all these guys are here’. And I turned round and Brad and George were right there. My stomach flipped then!” [Daily Mail]
Ocean’s Thirteen Reviews (Spoilers Included)
Ocean’s Thirteen
Posted: Thurs., May 24, 2007, 6:59am PT
By TODD MCCARTHY Variety
As smooth as a good mojito, as stylish as an Armani suit and as meaningful in the grand scheme of things as yesterday’s Las Vegas betting odds, “Ocean’s Thirteen” continues the breezy good times of the first two series entries without missing a beat. By returning the action to Vegas, producer Jerry Weintraub and director Steven Soderbergh recapture the feel of the 2001 original after the 2004 European detour that bugged some fans. With George, Brad, Matt and the rest pulling another ultra-cool con without breaking a sweat, and with Al Pacino ideal as their new nemesis, Warner Bros. can bet on cashing in for yet another franchise payday.
Script by Brian Koppelman and David Levien, who penned the sharp gambling-world drama “Rounders,” puts all its dramatic chips on the anticipated comeuppance of a thoroughly reprehensible baddie. Egomaniacal Vegas kingpin Willy Bank (Pacino) has screwed the beloved Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) out of his part ownership in Bank’s latest venture, the Strip’s most grandiose and luxurious hotel-casino. Bank’s unscrupulous reputation preceded him, but Reuben made the mistake of trusting him since they are among the few pioneers left old enough to have shaken Sinatra’s hand. With Reuben in critical condition from shock, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) gather the clan together again to avenge their mentor. The Bank, as the new pleasure palace is known, is to bow July 3, and the men swiftly concoct a fantastically complicated high-tech scheme to sabotage the opening, divest Bank of his riches, ruin his reputation and restore Reuben to health and wealth in one fell swoop. No problem for these guys, except that Bank’s empire, and the systems that are in place to secure it, appear to be impregnable. Much of the fun, then, stems from the dizzying ways in which Ocean’s team surmounts the difficulties: Dice is magnetized in Mexico, card shufflers and slot machines are rigged, a camera is snuck into Bank’s office, would-be high-rollers are brought in and pulled out. Most audaciously, an earthquake is artificially stimulated under the Bank (using a giant drill formerly used to carve out the Chunnel — specifically, the one that started on the French side), forcing the evacuation of the casino at a crucial moment. On top of all this, when Ocean runs low on funds, he’s forced to turn to Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), his adversary in the first film, for further financing, which is forthcoming on one condition–that Ocean steal the diamonds Bank has hidden away in an unreachable place in his building. A problem but, again, no problem. So much for the high stakes. What seems to obsess Bank most is the Five Diamond Award, a top hotel ranking he’s achieved at all his other establishments worldwide. Pic’s most amusing subplot involves Carl Reiner’s Sal Bloom posing as an evaluator assessing the Bank during its soft opening run while the real ratings man, played by David Paymer in ultra-schleppy victim mode, is beset by all manner of ill-treatment by hotel staff, real and otherwise. Last but not least, Linus Caldwell (Damon) turns up as the ultra-efficient (and fake schnozzed) Man Friday to would-be high-roller Mr. Weng (Shaobo Qin) in order to romantically distract Bank’s sharp-eyed No. 2 (Ellen Barkin) during the opening festivities. Most of the action plays out at the imposing Bank hotel, a faintly absurd but nonetheless amazing twisting structure that dominates the Vegas skyline thanks to impeccable CGI work and impresses via the interiors conjured by production designer Philip Messina. Unlike “Ocean’s Eleven,” which locationed in a genuine casino, new film was shot on a lavish set built on Warner Bros.’ biggest soundstage. The main room is a double-level, balconied affair with an Asian motif. Decor is dominated by sumptuous golds and reds, with money dripping from every frame as Soderbergh, under his nom de camera Peter Andrews, shoots this one more steadily and glamorously than he did the first entry. As before, most of the scenes are deliberately underplayed banter sessions dominated by quick give-and-take, knowing exchanges and sly understatement among a members-only troupe. Everyone looks their best and knows they can never be one-upped, as befits some of Hollywood’s biggest stars brandishing a we-know-we-have-it-and-you-don’t unflappable cool that stops short of the arrogance some detected in “Ocean’s Twelve.” Only moments of something remotely resembling reflection and emotion are delivered in pic’s most appealing scene, in which Danny and Rusty, either toward dawn or dusk, walk along a street deliberately framed to accentuate trees and an elegant, Euro-style backdrop and discuss Reuben and the Vegas they used to know before everything changed. Cast, fab production values and a pace that never flags keep the fizz on the series. Another entry is indicated by the final dialogue exchanges. Taking his leave, Damon tells Clooney and Pitt, “See you when I see you.” Pitt then bids adieu to Clooney with own little in-jokes, “Hey! Next time! Keep the weight off. Have a couple of kids.” Camera (Technicolor, Panavision widescreen), Peter Andrews; editor, Stephen Mirrone; music, David Holmes; production designer, Philip Messina; supervising art director, Doug Meerdink; art director, Tony Fanning; set designers, Aric Cheng, Todd Cherniawsky, Scott Herbertson, Al Hobbs, Dawn Brown Manser, Ron Mendell, Maya Shimoguchi, Robert Woodruff; set decorator, Kristen Toscano Messina; costume designer, Louise Frogley sound (Dolby Digital/SDDS/DTS), Paul Ledford; supervising sound editor/re-recording mixer, Larry Blake; associate producer, Robin Le Chanu; assistant director, Gregory Jacobs; casting, Debra Zane. Reviewed at Cannes Film Festival (noncompeting), May 24, 2008. MPAA Rating: PG-13. Running time: 122 MIN.
Ocean’s Thirteen
The best of Steven Soderbergh’s heists by a considerable stretch
May 24, 2007 Times Online
It’s one of the smuggest franchises in cinema, but it’s also a guilty pleasure to watch. You know the score. Steven Soderbergh gathers the usual suspects around George Clooney and Brad Pitt, and they pull off an impossible heist.
But to make them look good they need a really chunky villain, and they don’t come much chillier than Willie Banks, played by Al Pacino. His spanking new high-rise casino in Las Vegas is a cash-making obscenity. But far worse is the fact that he has double-crossed that old-fashioned fruit, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould), who is forced to retire to his hospital bed while Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his trusty side-kick, Rusty Ryan (Pitt), figure out how to hit Pacino where it hurts: namely his pockets, and his diamonds.
The running joke of this franchise, which started life as a nostalgic homage to Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack, is that there is, indeed, something called honour among thieves. “You shook Sinatra’s hand” is a constant refrain, and the implicit accusation forever levelled against Pacino, who clearly has broken the code. Revenge for Pacino’s moral crime is a fiendishly complicated dish, but it’s also tremendous fun. The Michelin Man who arrives incognito to grade the services at Pacino’s new gaff on the strip is, in no particular order, poisoned, gassed, attacked by legions of bed bugs, and inadvertently booted out of his room. This is a genre film that champions grace and manners. Soderbergh is a sort of grown-up version of Quentin Tarantino. The issues are as loaded as the dice. The Mexican factory which makes the chips for Pacino’s mega-casino is an uncomfortable reminder of what life is like on a fiver a week. But the five-star nostalgia is so gorgeous that I doubt many will actually notice. Brad and George lean over a stone railing by a man-made canal riffing about whatever happened to the Sands, the Desert Inn, and the Dunes. “The town has changed,” muses Clooney. So too have films. And this is Soderbergh’s point: that fiendishly clever new gadgets – be they cameras or safe-crackers – can work with old-fashioned morals to brilliant effect. We forget that at our peril. This point alone is reason enough why Ocean’s Thirteen is the best of Soderbergh’s heists by a considerable stretch. The visceral moments of justice are peppered with ironies. “Are you ready?” asks Clooney of one of his adoring goons. “I was born ready,” replies the goon. Gentleman George rolls his eyeballs. There is a 1960s split-screen sequence as Ocean’s thirteen go about their business on the opening night of Pacino’s casino. Moments that must have cost millions are thrown around like confetti. A scene where Clooney and Pitt weep while watching Oprah Winfrey gushing over orphans in a hotel suite is quite simply sublime. Soderbergh’s sophisticated humour has never looked so fresh and sharp. He is too clever and subtle a director to let anyone forget that he has loyalties to Europe and America; hence the deliberate quirky mix of English and American actors and accents. Is the film too frothy for Cannes? Of course it is. But I’ve yet to hear anyone complain.
Ocean’s Thirteen
Bottom Line: A spirited wrap for the often engaging series of far-fetched caper films. May 25, 2007 The Hollywood Reporter
CANNES — Rolling the dice for a third time in “Ocean’s Thirteen,” Steven Soderbergh and his team beat the odds. Final chapters of trilogies invariably suffer from lameness. This, of course, already transpired in the “Ocean’s Twelve,” where subplots misfired and the script resorted to all sorts of slight-of-hand trickery.
The new film, which screened Out of Competition at Cannes, returns to Las Vegas and does recapture much of the spirit of the original film. Of course, after six years and two films, a new film can no longer have the bracing freshness of “Ocean’s Eleven.” Then again, the film doesn’t need to waste time explaining everyone’s role. We know how these heist-masters operate. Familiarity will also breed solid boxoffice for the film both domestically and internationally as many will want to catch these cool men in cool clothes shaking down Vegas as you only wish you could.
This time, in a clever script by Brian Koppelman & David Levien (who wrote the poker drama “Rounders”), the heist is for friendship. It seems a sleazy hotel and casino operator with the name of Willie Bank, played by Al Pacino, has suckered Ocean’s friend and mentor Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) so badly that he was rushed to ICU with a critical heart condition. Danny Ocean (George Clooney) gives Willie a second chance to let Reuben back into his fair share of Vegas’ newest casino, called the Bank, but Willie laughs it off. Only then does the gang re-assemble. The plan is not to steal a thing. Rather the boys will rig every game so that on opening night everyone but everyone can break the Bank. Then the boys hit a problem. Actually two. To devise an “exit strategy,” Danny and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) call in a top take-down expert (played with sly zeal by Eddie Izzard). He discovers the casino operation are protected by “Greco,” an artificial intelligence so great and so sensitive it can sense when even one thing is amiss much less all things. He suggests the Ocean’s gang fold a losing hand. The boys brainstorm: What if an “earthquake” knocked out Greco, which would take more than three minutes to reboot? Would that be enough time to break the Bank? Basher (Don Cheadle), the Cockney mechanical whiz, rents the massive drill used to dig the Chunnel connecting England with France. That ought to cause an earthquake! Then the drill breaks down. To buy, not rent, the other drill, the one that dug from the French side, will set the team back $36 million. Time to re-capitalize. Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), always the most put-upon of the team, has a risky idea: Ask Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), their mark in the first movie and nemesis in the second, to fund the drill. He agrees — he hates Bank too — but on one condition: Ocean’s team must steal a necklace of diamonds worth $250 million from an impenetrable room on top of the Bank. This will require Linus to seduce Willie’s right-hand woman, Abigail Sponder (Ellen Barkin in a wonderfully comic role). One or two subplots misfire due to lack of time to make them work: Frank (Bernie Mac) convinces Willie to let him operate a dominoes game opening night. (Highly unlikely.) And Virgil and Turk (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan), sent to a Mexican factory to make certain dice for the casino are loaded, wind up organizing a strike by underpaid workers. (Even less likely.) Things move too fast for anyone to care much are about the misfires. Meanwhile, Clooney and Pitt smoothly MC the many-ring circus that is an Ocean’s con game. Damon gets to play two roles, Linus and his sexed-up alter ego, Lenny Pepperridge, a handler for a mega-rich Asian real estate mogul, who undertakes the task of seducing Willie’s vulnerable assistant. But Pacino is stuck with a wafer thin role that denies us his usual fire. Philip Mesina’s design of the fictitious hotel, a jazzy score by David Holmes and Louise Frogley’s cool costumes keep everyone and everything perfectly in character. Ocean’s Thirteen Cannes Film Festival 2007 (World Premiere, Out of Competition)–Adding several new characters and some new subplots to “Ocean’s Thirteen” only partially resolves the narrative and structural problems faced by the popular franchise that began on a high note six years ago with “Ocean’s Eleven” and continued with “Ocean’s Twelve” to middling results. Most critics disliked “Ocean’s Twelve” due to its vapid, self-conscious yarn and laid-back tempo. The public also was not forthcoming, judging by the disappointing box-office results, compared to the worldwide records achieved by the first picture. The filmmakers themselves have publicly acknowledged their laissez-faire attitude—-George Clooney has gone on record saying, “Maybe we were too lazy.”
Though improved, the third chapter again shows that the real fun, original wit, and contagious energy that marked the first segment are now gone. And since the novelty of spotting the stars and observing their cool behavior–and haut couture–have also diminished based on familiarity with the format, “Ocean’s Thirteen” just proceeds from one scene to another, with plenty of Hollywood’s style and knowingness but little momentum or relevancy. Watching the film is like visiting seductively attractive friends that, no matter what they do or say, you want to be in their company for a short while. Perhaps a better way to describe “Ocean’s Thirteen” is to say that it’s like taking a long journey laced with divertissements–sort of punctuations–along the way: Smart and clever one-liners and self-reflexive references to the previous chapters and to the stars’ off screen persona and lifestyle. A star vehicle par excellence, “Ocean’s Thirteen” reunites George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin, Carl Reiner, and Elliott Gould. Vet Al Pacino joins the glamorous cast in a major role as the greedy Willy Bank, and Ellen Barkin fills the bill as the feature’s only femme, playing Banks’ right-hand woman, Abigail Sponder. Julia Roberts, who had a cameo in the first film and a major part in the second, is not only gone, but no references are made to Danny Ocean’s marital status, or love life for that matter. In fact, other than a funny sex (or rather foreplay) scene between Matt Damon, who’s in mask with a fake nose to steal jewelry, and Ellen Barkin, as a horny woman of a certain age, there are no romantic interludes. “Ocean’s Thirteen,” like Hawks’ “Rio Bravo” and countless other movies, is about a bunch of professional men who cherish each other’s company on and off duty–with as little as possible interference by women or other members of the outside world. More a revenge than a heist saga, “Ocean’s Thirteen” is based on a very simple premise. Willy Bank (Al Pacino), an unscrupulously ruthless casino owner, swindles Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) out of his share of a new Las Vegas casino. Bank never imagined that the odds were against him when he double-crossed Danny Ocean’s friend and mentor Reuben, putting the distraught Reuben in a hospital bed in critical condition. For most of the film, Reuben is bed-ridden, with his comrades paying him visits—-and reading him melancholy letters he has no desire to hear. Danny and the gang seem to have only one reason to pull off their most ambitious and riskiest casino heist—-to defend one of their own. But this time around, they need more than luck on their side to break Willy. Miscalculating badly, Bank might have taken down one of the original Ocean’s eleven, but he left the others standing. Worse yet, Bank’s action gives them a shared purpose to take him and his empire down on July 3, the night of what’s meant to be his greatest triumph—the grand opening of his new casino, appropriately named The Bank. Their strategy is twofold. First, there’s money involved. The band plans to ruin Bank financially by turning the tables on the precept that the house always wins. But the real knockout punch is targeted at Bank’s personal pride, his reputation as the only hotelier who has earned the Royal Review Board’s Five Diamond Award on every single one of his hotels. More than the previous segments, in this one, director Soderbergh and his writers adopt the prevalent paradigm of Howard Hawks, centering the saga on male camaraderie, cool professionalism, and above all group loyalty. You may recall that in “Ocean’s Eleven,” Danny wants to get his wife (Julia Roberts) back and take down casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), so the guys all work together to undertake an incredibly elaborate heist. “Ocean’s Twelve” is about the group using their skills to literally survive—to get out of the trouble that they got themselves into in “Ocean’s Eleven.” In contrast, “Ocean Thirteen” is all about friendship and the ties that knot when a senior member is brought down. For Danny and his wild bunch, the ultimate humiliation is that Reuben is brought down by an unworthy outsider like Bank’s Pacino, a crass and greedy businessman with taste or manners. To that extent, Danny and his team rally together to save Reuben’s honor and they are not above using their previous nemesis Terry by promising him a major chunk of the profits and other benefits. This element is what drives and unifies the current story, which goes beyond the heist. As team members, they complement each other with their skills and share a strong esprit de corps, Danny and his amigos come up with a plan that’s elaborate, dangerous and near impossible. The point is made: There are no limits when it comes to one of their own. If memory serves, in this segment, Danny and Rusty (Brad Pitt, the best dressed man) have the biggest parts, and they are often seen together, unlike the rest of the team that has smaller but still well-written parts, and often operate individually. As noted, the ultra-cool dialogue and is delivered in a nonchalant way (like who cares), which works well. Soderbergh and the scenarists don’t let the banter slow down the proceedings, which move in a breezy pace. The technical and scientific aspects of the heist are so complex that they may be hard to follow. Two of the film’s highlights involve TV’s Queen of Talk, Oprah Winfrey. In the first, Clooney is caught offguard with tears in his eyes by Rusty, while watching the Oprah Show. In the second, Terry is interviewed by Oprah and lends cadence to a new oncept, “cheritable heist.” (describing more specifically the circumstances will spoil the fun). Just before the story ends, there is a reflective scene with a touch of nostalgia that refers to Vegas of yesteryear and the heroes’ first encounter with what has become the Capital of Crass. There may be an autobiographical element in Clooney’s monologue that he first visited Vegas 22 years ago, when it was “so different.” As expected, the film concludes in a smooth and knowing manner at the airport, with the cast’s three most physically appealing members, Clooney, Pitt, and Damon, sporting dark glasses and exchanging bon mots like “See you when I see you.” Jokes referring to the actors’ real life can also be detected in the farewell between Pitt and Clooney (both in their 40s and both multiple-winners of “Sexiest Man Alive”): “Keep the weight off. Have a couple of kids!” A smart director, Soderbergh knows that the format has become tired if not stale and that the script is too slender, basically a series of interlinked vignettes. As a result, he relies on stylistic flourishes, such as lurid colors, sexy costumes, ostentatious interior décor, and technical devices, such as split screen, fast tempo, bravura tracking shots, and some stunning framing. The above devices are meant to camouflage the meandering nature of the skeleton scenario, credited to Brian Koppelman and David Levien that seldom builds narrative momentum. Koppelman and Levien had previously delved into the milieu of inveterate gamblers in the poker drama “Rounders.” That movie, which was directed buy John Dahl and co-starred Matt Damon, had a better script and stronger characterization, but was not nearly as well-directed and pout together as “Ocean’s Thirteen.” Indeed, alongside with the stars, the other element that unifies the trilogy (so far) and elevates it way above the trappings of its source material is Soderbergh’s masterful direction, which again impresses with splendidly staged scenes flaunting visual fluency that’s missing from the film’s textual properties. As a yarn, “Ocean’s Thirteen” consists of hundreds of brief scenes, some lasting a few seconds only, offering grand visual and aural pleasure that only highlights the lack of emotional engagement. Technically, the film’s package is ultra-accomplished due to Soderbergh’s own lensing (using a pseudonym) and his elaborate play with light and color. The movie is shot in bright, hot colors, with yellow, red, and purple dominating the casinos’ interiors, and blue and gray the exterior scenes. The whole movie benefits from the rich and diverse color palette, which changes from scene to scene. The creative team, headed by production designer Philip Messina, editor Stephen Mirrione, costume designer Louise Frogley and composer David Holmes, deserves credit for making the kind of glossy picture that only Hollywood knows how to. That said, I hope that after the flop of “The Good German,” which was all about style and homage to Hollywood of yesteryear, and “Ocean’s Thirteen,” which should be commercially successful, Soderbergh would find material that’s worthy of his considerable talents. When George Clooney and other cast members of “Ocean’s Thirteen” came onstage to auction off a yacht vacation, Stone promised a bidder: “If you put up $350,000, George will kiss you.” Clooney went through with it, and he and Stone sold two yacht vacations instead of one for a total of $700,000. [indystar] FROM HOLLYWOOD TO DARFUR The charity of Clooney, Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, and producer Jerry Weintraub does not stop on the movie screen. They also came to the world’s largest film festival to raise money and awareness for refugees in the Darfur region of Sudan. “We’re not politicians. We’re not able to make decisions. We’re not able to do anything except bring attention to something, and that’s the thing we can do,” Clooney said. “Kids are dying from diarrhoea … that just shouldn’t be in this day and age, and it’s that kind of thing that needs to be changed. Enough is enough,” Pitt added. The United Nations says some 200,000 people have died and more than 2 million have fled their homes since the conflict in Darfur flared in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government. Four “Ocean’s Thirteen” cast members — Clooney, Pitt, Cheadle and Damon — and Weintraub launched the Not On Our Watch Foundation to raise money and draw attention to the refugees. Earlier this week, they raised $10 million at a Cannes party, and in June they head to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Chicago for similar charity events Clooney took issue with anyone doubting his motives. “At what point does anyone think anyone of us needs more publicity?” Clooney said. “I’m not going to defend what I think is doing the right thing … we are doing it because we all think we would be criminal if we didn’t take it a step further.”
Dice, cards and slot machines are traced back to the manufacturer. Payoffs are made and electronic equipment installed. One very amusing touch has the boys making certain that a hotel reviewer (David Paymer), who holds the key to a coveted five-diamond rating, will have a perfectly awful stay.
Grade: B [Source]George offers ups some lip action to the highest bidder!
FROM HOLLYWOOD TO DARFUR
[Complete Article]
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