#142: Ocean's Thirteen

Before I go into this, I want to address a quick vanity issue. I will be looking for a new photo shortly. While I never gave it much thought at the time, I would like to represent the slightly more fit version of myself that now exists. I will miss you Woody and, sorry Todd, but I will not resurrecting the picture of me and the waterhorse.
Okay, so what makes Ocean's Thirteen my least favorite movie, but still worth owning. Of course I own all three Clooney based Ocean's movies which is part of the reason for owning it and watching it again I am not sure that I didn't like this one more than 12.
What the movie does well is the same thing all the Ocean's movies do. We watch and enjoy these movies because we like these guys and it's clear that they are having fun. The three-quarters speak that is rampant through-out all of the movies also adds to the repeat value as much of the true meaning of the dialogue is lost without the full context of the film.
But, beyond an immense amount of like ability brought forth by the cast there is very little here that represents any true depth. The crew seems to feel like they owe their audience a return to Vegas and more shenanigans, this time at Al Pacino's expense. Pacino is suited for the role as a monopolizing casino owner who doesn't respect tradition but is limited by the fact that there isn't much else there for him to do. The rest of the movie centers around the usual gang rigging the opening night for Pacino so that his casino fails. Like the previous Ocean's movies you try and piece together what exactly the plan is while it's constructed but only the first Ocean's truly provided you with a satisfying ending. This feels some how less significant than the previous endings.
At the end of the day what you really have here is a pseudo documentary on cool people hanging out together and having fun. I appreciate that these guys like each other, that they work well together and that beyond the Ocean's films they have combined to give audience's some of the best work of the past generation. I also appreciate that there remains no plans for another Ocean's film as this one seemingly tapped the well dry.

At My Movies 2.0

This is a second attempt at this. The first attempt focused on going through my movie collection alphabetically and those reviews are still available. It was cut short as I began to focus more on completing my master's and time for movies was sadly lost.
As my life begins to straighten out post masters, I know find myself able to begin enjoying my movie collection again. This time I am ranking my collection from 1-142 with #1 being my favorite and 142 being my least favorite. I am dropping out most of my wife's and kids films from this (Pixar will still be featured of course). The old posts still exist so when I reach those films he posts will likely be considerably shorter. With this second attempt there are two points I can not over emphasize. First is that I like all the movies on this list including #142 and this is not going to be a forum for me to rip films (however if anyone wants to rip my films I look forward to it)and second is that there will be movies ranked in the 90's that if this list was based on quality of the film they would probably be in the top 25. Likewise, movies in my top 5 likely wouldn't make my top 50 if I was giving them an honest critique. I am not a critic (maybe a movie snob, but not a critic) and I am focusing on what I like/love about these movies and reflecting on that. I also reserve the right to do new entry films any time I buy a new film as well as doing films out of numerical order just for fun. And with that, number 142 is ....