How to resolve AdBlock issue? Arts & Life
OCEAN’S THIRTEEN (Rated Pg-13)
The ubiquitous advertising slogan for Las Vegas needs a slight rewrite. What happens in Vegas shouldn’t necessary stay in Vegas, especially if it involves creating an entertaining caper movie about a bunch of fun-to-watch con men pulling a huge job on a casino. By all means, “Ocean’s Thirteen” needs to be shared far and wide, as it deftly returns to the basic set-up of “Ocean’s Eleven,” the successful remake of the old Rat Pack movie.
“Thirteen,” for now a lucky number, makes one forget the more mediocre “Ocean’s Twelve.” At last, contrary to recent film-going experiences, here’s a third installment in a franchise that does not get the Third Place ribbon.
Once again, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) round up their motley crew of con artists and crooks for an exceedingly risky casino heist that needs to be executed almost flawlessly.
The objective this time is not so much money but sweet revenge. Having ignored some good advice from his compatriots, criminal mentor Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) unwisely entered a business partnership with ruthless casino owner Willy Bank (Al Pacino).
Not surprisingly, slick Willy double-crosses Reuben on his investment, sending him straight to the hospital after a near-fatal collapse. Proving honor among thieves, Danny and Rusty decide they must avenge this horrible mistreatment of a dear and valued friend. Of course, there’s only one way to hit a casino owner.
Danny, Rusty and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) figure that their fast-moving plot to destroy Willy Bank involves bringing down the Bank Casino on the night of its grand opening. Their two-fold strategy requires financial ruin by turning the tables on the notion that the house always wins and destroying Bank’s reputation as the only hotelier to have earned the coveted Five Diamond Award on every single one of his hotels.
The plan is so elaborate and expensive that they are forced to get financing from their old nemesis, casino owner Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), the guy they swindled in the first movie.
Naturally, making a pact with the devil gets a little messy, especially when Benedict insists on doubling his return and getting Bank’s prized diamond necklace collection that is housed in an impregnable fortress. Assisted by his right-hand woman Abigail Sponder (slinky Ellen Barkin), Willy is such a despicable person that Benedict is offended by his rival’s crassness, to say nothing of the fact that the Bank Casino now shadows Benedict’s hotel pool.
To make the heist work, the operation has to function as a well-oiled machine with all the parts meshing together. To this end, the crew has certain responsibilities, often leading to humorous situations.
The squabbling Malloy brothers, Virgil and Turk (Casey Affleck and Scott Caan, respectively), end up working under sweatshop conditions in a Mexican factory that produces gaming equipment, and they become distracted from their mission to produce loaded dice when they lead a strike for better working conditions. Veteran flimflam artist Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner) impersonates a snooty Brit in order to trick the hotel staff into believing that he’s the incognito hotel reviewer sent to assess the casino’s desire for a five-star rating.
Meanwhile, the real hotel critic (David Paymer) is subjected to the most outrageous misfortune at the hands of Ocean’s 11, only to torpedo the Bank Casino’s fervent wish for the exclusive rating.
The mechanical genius of the group, Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle) is not so busy operating heavy equipment underneath the targeted casino that he can’t pen an endless series of sentimental notes filled with sappy inspirational messages designed to cheer up the recovering Reuben.
The master of sleight of hand, Frank (Bernie Mac) finagles his way on the casino floor for the grand opening by devising a variation of dominoes that Willy can’t resist.
Real-life Chinese acrobat Shaobo Qin, limber enough to squeeze into tiny spaces, expands his role by portraying enigmatic real estate mogul Mr. Weng, who puts up a $10 million dollar stake so that he and his assistant, Linus, can score an exclusive high-roller suite for a base of operations.
One of the funnier scenes has Linus disguised as Lenny Pepperidge, complete with a ridiculous prosthetic nose, using ultra-powerful pheromones to seduce Abigail with some manufactured “chemistry.” Even the Malloy brothers have a bit of wicked fun when evicting a hotel guest.
Most of the glee is in the abundance of give-and-take in the wisecracks and banter between the crew of con men who are exceedingly cool and unflappable.
The virtue of “Ocean’s Thirteen” is that the actors are completely comfortable playing their characters in a truly functional ensemble effort.
While Al Pacino seems not to be used to his full potential for villainy, the focus is rightly on the pleasure derived from the movie’s hip and cool attitude.
Fortunately, “Ocean’s Thirteen” recaptures the breezy spirit of the original film (not the Sinatra version, but the one directed by Steven Soderbergh, who obviously regained his form in his third outing).
Simply stated, “Ocean’s Thirteen” is a sleek vessel of wonderful entertainment, mostly for plenty of amusing dialogue and great con jobs.
Tim Riley reviews films for Lake County News.
{mos_sb_discuss:5}
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
KNOCKED UP (Rated R)
The good news, finally, is a week without sequels. But some may argue that writer/director Judd Apatow has delivered in the raunchy romantic comedy “Knocked Up” what is essentially, at a minimum, a thematic follow-up to his brilliantly funny “The 40-Year-Old Virgin.”
The familiar terrain of ribald humor and oddly endearing crassness, tempered by an underlying sweetness, is Apatow’s winning formula for a comedy that works because of the right mix of sharp dialogue and pratfalls. Even though there is a frequent assault on good taste, the jokes, gags and smart banter reach high enough on the scale of inspired comedy so as to not insult the audience’s intelligence.
Smart as this comedy may be, it does ask of us somewhat incredibly to believe that a lovable slacker like Seth Rogen’s Ben Stone can rise far enough above his station to connect romantically with Katherine Heigl’s pretty and sophisticated Alison Scott. This mixed union is what makes for a lot of fun.
Ben lives in a state of arrested development with four other slacker buddies who spend most of the time hanging out and getting high, while occasionally thinking about launching a Web site that serves the prurient interest of locating the nude scenes of famous celebrities.
Meanwhile, Alison is a smart, ambitious professional being promoted to an on-camera interviewer for the E! Entertainment Channel. Celebrating her promotion at a nightclub, Alison has too many drinks and ends up in a one-night stand with Ben.
Befitting the film’s title, Alison discovers two months later that she is pregnant with none other than Ben’s child. Getting past the awkward stage of informing family and friends, Alison decides to keep the baby and Ben agrees to lend his full support, even though he has only a few dollars to his name.
What follows is an awkward romance that requires the stoner Ben to mature to a heretofore unimaginable level, while poised Alison has to find the redeeming qualities in a less-than-stellar candidate for matrimony and fatherhood.
Helping to move along or even at times to hinder the path to true romance is the involvement of Alison’s older sister Debbie (Leslie Mann), a tart-tongued housewife with two young kids who suspects her ambitious husband Pete (Paul Rudd) is unfaithful.
It turns out that Pete may have more in common with Ben than initially suspected, which proves to be the case in a clandestine fantasy baseball meeting and a raucous road trip to Vegas that includes hallucinogenic drugs. Debbie is in a class by herself, and she has a terrifically funny scene in a showdown with a nightclub doorman who won’t let her in because she’s too old and her sister is too visibly pregnant.
Profane and crass, “Knocked Up” has so many comic gems that uncontrolled bouts of laughter are unavoidable. To be sure, there’s a matter of taste to this film’s humor that may not be to everyone’s liking, but I suspect it will nonetheless prove as popular as its thematic progenitor.
MR. BROOKS (Rated R)
Serial killers are inevitably creepy, despicable and demonic creatures. A murderer is made more fascinating and compelling if that person is conflicted, tortured and has a split personality.
That’s the reasoning behind the gripping suspense thriller “Mr. Brooks,” where the pillar of the community, a successful businessman and generous philanthropist, hides a shocking private life that involves a pathological compulsion to kill. Even more shocking is that Kevin Costner plays the titular role of a notorious serial killer who has baffled the police for years.
As the film opens, Costner’s Earl Brooks is being honored as Portland’s Man of the Year. Upon returning home with his loving, devoted wife Emma (Marg Helgenberger), he turns into Mr. Hyde and slips out for an evening of mayhem.
Though repressed for two years while attending AA meetings, his murderous impulse is inflamed by the omnipresence of his diabolical alter-ego Marshall (William Hurt), the inner voice of malevolence who urges the brutal slaying of a dancing couple.
The reason why these two people are chosen as victims is never revealed or explored, other than the fact that Mr. Brooks, abetted by the entreaties of the evil Marshall, has an insatiable blood lust.
For someone meticulous in the manner in which he kills, Mr. Brooks commits his first mistake. By not closing the curtains, he’s observed by the Peeping Tom photographer Mr. Smith (Dane Cook), who chooses to blackmail him with a bizarre demand.
Realizing that he’s found the notorious Thumbprint Killer, the curious Mr. Smith wants to tag along for the next kill, insisting that it happen real soon. Now Mr. Brooks must contend with a demanding alter ego and an impatient bystander. But his problems start to mount when tenacious Detective Tracy Atwood (Demi Moore) gets back on the case.
A few subplots are introduced into the mix, all of which have some bearing upon the actions of the killer or the attempts to apprehend him. Detective Atwood contends with her own personal crisis of a pending divorce from a cheating, gold-digging husband. And her personal safety is at serious risk from an escaped convict she put behind bars.
Then, Earl’s daughter Jane (Danielle Panabaker) suddenly drops out of college and returns home under very mysterious and troubling circumstances. Meanwhile, Mr. Smith’s reckless eagerness to participate in the next murder has put Earl and Marshall in a tough bind.
Though often preposterous, “Mr. Brooks” is as close to serious adult drama as one is likely to find in the vast landscape of banal and silly summer movies. Watching the interplay between Kevin Costner and William Hurt as they deal with the tortured soul of Mr. Brooks is best reason to enjoy this creepy, suspenseful thriller.
Tim Riley reviews films for Lake County News.
{mos_sb_discuss:5}
- Details
- Written by: Lake County News Reports
