I PREFER TO THINK OF IT AS AN EXODUS FROM AN UNDESIRABLE PLACE: Dan Kois recently re-watched all of Steven Soderbergh's films and classifies them as "three masterpieces, four classics, six worthwhile divertissements, four really fascinating films that get better with age, four interesting failures, and one movie that's all of the above."
One Soderbergh question I saw posed recently which I find fascinating: in Ocean's Eleven, what was the source of the fliers which filled the duffel bags? Because they weren't in the vault.
Sorry, but Ocean's 12 should not be above either 11 or 13. That movie is a total mess that's insulting to the audience in a "Oh, you expected this plot to earn anything? Sorry, we were too busy hanging out in Europe. Thanks for funding it!".
ReplyDelete11 remains a great flick and 13 was a very nice little summer movie. 12 is garbage.
12 is largely a mess from a plot standpoint, but the "Tess pretending to be Julia Roberts" segment that he points to is really funny.
ReplyDeleteThat was the thing that jumped out to me as well. I don't think I've ever heard anyone call Ocean's 12 their favorite of the three or anything above bleh for that matter.
ReplyDeleteAck. Guest was me.
ReplyDeleteI think Soderbergh admitted in the DVD commentary on Ocean's 11 that the source of the flyers are a plot hole.
ReplyDeleteThe meta stuff in O12 is the only part that is amusing at all.
ReplyDeleteWait, did he just rank Bubble below Erin "OH I'M SO SAINTLY" Brockovich? 'Cause that's just not right.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy the Oceans movies as creatively-plotted capers with an incredible atmosphere. Soderbergh and the actors just emanate cool in a way we don't typically get from movies anymore. I know that the entire thing is a conceptual paen to the Rat Pack, but what makes them great are how unserious the movies take themselves.
ReplyDeleteI also question the realism of The Pinch, but that's neither here nor there.
ReplyDeleteInteresting analyses, with many conclusions that could draw interesting quibbles. I find myself wishing I'd seen more of the indy films on the list. Maybe it would help suggest a pattern of disagreement.
ReplyDeleteProbably Kois and I just like different things.
The Good German, for example, is probably my favorite movie on this list, and I didn't find anything about Out Of Sight compelling. Unless Kois going by box office, I can't understand why TGG would be an "interesting failure" and OOS a "masterpiece". (And if box office is the measure then anything from the late '90s starring Clooney and JLo might get a Palm D'Or.)
I saw Contagion last weekend, and while I would agree that it's neither a masterpiece nor a classic, somehow classifying it as a worthwhile divertissement seems inadequate given how deeply unnerving parts of it were. It's been nearly a week since I saw it, and I'm still hitting the hand sanitizer pretty hard. (Of course, this wasn't helped by the fact that, for the first time in the nearly eight years I've been going to this same theater, there were bottles of hand sanitizer in the bathrooms!)
ReplyDeleteAgreed re: Oceans 12. I would put that in a new category, uninteresting failure and waste of time. 11 and 13 were both great fun, though.
What we really need is another movie of James Spader masturbating. I really like Soderberg, but sex, lives and videotape was just awful. (yes, I get that it succeeds as *cinema*, but the story, the characters, and the setting and completely without redeeming qualities -- it's a life-hating movie).
ReplyDeleteI just love all three Oceans, just for the pure candy of them. Even 12, which I recently rewatched. The chemistry between the group is good and I was okay watching them flirt around Europe. Also, I do like the ending when they're sprung from jail.
ReplyDeleteStill one of the most amusing commentary tracks I've heard.
ReplyDeleteI never bothered with O13 since O12 was so lame. Mayhap I'll go back and give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI love 11 and 13 so much. I like to pretend 12 doesn't exist.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't the rest of the SWAT team have brought them in? They could have had them in their bulky Swat Team outfits.
Oh wait, that doesn't explain the flyers in the van. Nevermind!
Exactly. They're in the duffel bags that the casino staff loads into the white van before the SWAT team arrives.
ReplyDeleteTPE - It's really fun. Pacino is just over-the-top (surprising!) as the villain, and there are some nice callbacks to the antagonists of the first two. Plus it's back in Vegas, which is always nice.
ReplyDeleteApparently, I have labored for years under the delusion that Syriana was a Soderbergh movie. So I guess I'm glad I read this.
ReplyDeleteSimilarly, I'm glad I went to karaoke last night, because I learned the actual words to several STP songs.