Two Great Surprises This Weekend
I finally saw Ocean’s Twelve and I have to say, in spite a a really f-ed up third act, I felt great about the film. I felt as though critics who mocked the film for being a bunch of arrogant celebrities on holiday, jiving their way through, were fixated on feature stories about the actors and not really paying attention. And Soderbergh’s work, as director and DP, is quite wonderfully loose and tight and often brilliant. This is, as a production, what I was hoping Ocean’s Eleven would have been and if they can get a script that has a really good third act punch, I would be excited to see Ocean’s Thirteen. (I’ll do a real review on THB next week.)
Also, the Kirby Dick documentary, Twist of Faith, which made the Oscar short-list without many people having seen it, is stunningly good. Again, I will hold off on details until I do a full review, but this look at child molestation – and one priest in particular – has all the intimacy and none of the self-righteousness (outside of the deserved emotion of its subjects) that has so bent the documentary form as of late.
I still love Born Into Brothels and will root for it to win the Oscar, but I would not be outraged if it went instead to Twist of Faith.
Oceans will play best when it is on HBO every day. Works better on repeat viewings.
Ocean’s 12 was fun. I don’t care what anyone else says.
Yeah. If you see that third act repeatedly on
HBO, then you will probably see what they were
going after. I think it works pretty well. Even
of Billy Crudup’s dad being Welsh Willow’s dad, I
saw coming from a mile away (pay attention to the
references folks!).
A fun time at the movies that critics, repeatedly,
do not want the movie going audience to have. We
should all suffer their depressive merder all
rutting year apparently the daft goats.
Daft goats? You serious?
I’ll give my support here for the 12 as well. I think the third act was brilliant in the way it just dismantled the genre. I think it takes a lot of balls to make a heist film where most of your major players are in jail for the actual heist, which is a makeshift affair cobbled together at the last minute. It makes the film not about HOW they do it, but about the characters and the locations. The cast was firing on all cylinders, although I was surprised at how little screen time Clooney had. Pitt walked away with the film effortlessly, and Damon’s additional time was a great move.
Critics just seem to hate it when directors have a lot of in-jokey fun. Who gives a shit? There’s something perversely enjoyable about seeing studio money spent on what is essentially a celebrity vacation. Better than formulaic crap like every other comedy that comes out, or some TV show adaptation. What is also getting little acknowledgement is how Soderbergh made what is very much a New Wave film here, something he’s done before, but it really fit with the European settings. This one is going to be a great repeat viewer.
I saw Twist at Sundance. I was floored. Gripping story about abuse of power and trust. I hope like hell it wins the oscar