‘Ocean’s Twelve’ Download and Reviews
“Ocean’s Twelve” Movie Details
Ocean’s Twelve tagline: You cross one ocean, you face them all
 Ocean's Twelve DVD Cover |
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Supermodel |
“Ocean’s Twelve” Movie Review
“Ocean’s 12″ Plot Summary
Daniel Ocean recruits one more team member so he can pull off three major European heists in this sequel to Ocean’s 11.
A brilliant satire of the heist movie… I think.
I sat for a couple hours after seeing Ocean’s Twelve trying to figure out why Soderbergh and gang had made such an outrageous film. Too much of it didn’t add up: the ridiculous laser system guarding the egg in the museum and the equally ridiculous way in which it was defeated; the flashbacks containing information that completely undermined the apparent narrative thrust; Julia Roberts’ plot twist and the avalanche of seemingly nonsensical and irrelevant self-reference that immediately followed; O12 had me completely stumped. Until I re-interpreted these scenes as clues towards something else: that O12 is not, in fact, a heist movie, but a *satire* of the heist movie
Why else would someone of Sod’s stature overstuff the film with cliches, like the enigmatic and debonair master thief, and the colorful and completely trustworthy team of people who would never exist in real life? One character (the woefully underused Eddie Izzard) even overtly mentions that one particular element of the film is a cliche — but he doesn’t say what it is a cliche *of*. Notice all the decoys, impostors, holograms, secret languages… O12 is littered with breadcrumbs, and I’m willing to believe that there was never actually a spec script called ‘Honor Among Thieves.’ As a heist movie, it falls flat on its face, arguably worse than Hudson Hawk (which suffered more from sheer goofiness overload, rather than bewildering nonsense). It simply does not make sense. How did the Night Fox get into that house in Amsterdam? Conveniently not explained. How did Benedict find all of the Twelve at once? Conveniently not explained. How did Julia Roberts’ plot twist work, while Matt Damon is with her but does not experience the same story change? Conveniently brushed off. How in the name of Zeus did a certain someone show up out of the blue while the gang was locked up and help them with a certain problem? How was this individual aware of certain aspects of Isabel Lahiri’s paperwork? An outlandish narrative convenience… or a satire of the genre? Why was so little narrative dedicated to convincing the audience of Benedict’s extremely vindictive motivation? How else do you explain the obvious expenses the thieves racked up in their very quest to make money? I mean, come on, when Damon and the other two remaining thieves start spouting off all the heist jargon as they try to figure out a contingency plan… it’s preposterous. No one talks like that
Maybe I’m reaching. But either way you slice it, O12 is much, much more enjoyable as a *satire* of the heist film. That’s the only way I can understand the film. I know why a sequel was made, certainly: The original made over $450 million dollars worldwide, far and away Sod’s most financially successful film. Its closest competitor is Erin Brockovich, which made a little over $250M worldwide, and Traffic clocks in at a little over $200M. Successful, certainly, but not blockbusters like O11 was. A sequel was as inevitable as death and taxes. So it occurs to me that Sod decided he might as well have fun with it — screw with the audience a little, poke fun at the actors themselves (good naturedly), and they still walked away with about $360M.There also might be a meta-commentary going on about American audiences and how little they catch on to stylistic subversion (I am an American myself, for the record) but it’s pure speculation. All I can tell you is that O12 simply does not work as a straightforward film and can really only be enjoyable as a satire. There’s simply too many outrageous scenes and too many cliches. There are simply too many lines of dialog that only make sense if the whole movie is a genre skewer. It’s also much easier on my brain. And I’d like to think that Sod hadn’t morphed into a cynical robber baron who no longer cared about making a good movie.
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‘Shrek’ Download and Reviews
“Shrek” Movie Details
Shrek tagline: The greatest fairy tale never told.
 Shrek DVD Cover |
Actors:
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Blind Mouse |
“Shrek” Movie Review
“Shrek” Plot Summary
An ogre, in order to regain his swamp, travels along with an annoying donkey in order to bring a princess to a scheming lord, wishing himself King. add synopsis
Wonderfully irreverent family film with lots of laughs
The filmmakers obviously have some irreverence regarding Disney, and it’s about time I say. Especially with the rather un-Disneylike behavior the studio has engaged in for the past dozen or so years. The anti Disney jokes are so much fun (our favorite is the ’small world’ parody!). I have to wonder what DULOC means! I have listened to the commentary on the DVD, done Google searches, looked through the trivia on IMDb, all to no avail. I wonder what the big secret is. Anyway, this is a family favorite of ours. The jokes may go over the heads of small children, but they will still enjoy the animation. The music is fantastic. My teenager even bought the soundtrack to it.
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‘The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc’ Download and Reviews
“The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc” Movie Details
The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc tagline:
 The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc DVD Cover |
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English Judge |
“The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc” Movie Review
“Joan of Arc” Plot Summary
A young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors. add synopsis
A fine film
By no means a perfect film but you have to give it a lot of credit for trying to do something different with the material. I love the visual mystery of it all and the at times abstract images. For some reason it feels like there may have been a lot left out during the editing process, but a lot of these types of films have that feeling. Milla Jovovich hit a career high in The Messenger that she has never really lived up to since. What is brave about this film is that fact that it takes such a famous historical figure and does not try to deify her or make her a larger than life hero. She questions herself at every corner. She is confused half the time. Joan of arc in this film never seems to be sure of herself and is not above changing her mind at the last second like in the scene of the retracted confession. Granted, narratively this film can be a bit muddled, but as texture and atmosphere, it is hard to beat. Luc Besson has a sly wit that seems out of place here, for example the scene where an English guard asks ‘What is she doing’ cut to the French fighters ‘I don’t know!’ The score for the Messenger is very unique, with a combination of abstract synthesized sounds and large scale orchestra and choir reminiscent of a biblical epic. I must be honest in saying that I did not entirely like this film when I first saw it in the theater, but it stuck with me, so I went back for a repeat viewing and found I liked it a lot better than I thought. This is a very unique, although not entirely successful take on a very old story.
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‘Staten Island’ Download and Reviews
“Staten Island” Movie Details
Staten Island tagline:
 Staten Island DVD Cover |
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| Directors: James DeMonaco | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| IMDB Rating: 6.0/10 out of 1,191 votes |
“Staten Island” Movie Review
“Staten Island” Plot Summary
The lives of three residents of New York’s Staten Island intersect as they struggle to get ahead. add synopsis
Pretty Good
A septic tank cleaner Sully (Hawke) wants his unborn child to have a genius IQ; a mobster boss Tarzo (D Onofrio) wants to become truly famous; and Jasper (Cassel), a deaf mute butcher, plays the horses and does dirty work for Tarzo. When their paths collide, nothing will ever be the same. This starts out like it’s going to be a comedy of sorts telling all about the forgotten New York Borough, Staten Island, and that the mob lives there and they also bury their victims there and you chuckle a little. Then the real movie starts and be prepared for a little gore. It is not a comedy. However, near the end, it does become somewhat comedic and you will chuckle again
There is some gore in here and although you may not see all of it, your mind’s eye will and you will squirm a lot. Of course, I chose to look away anyway. Hey, I have to sleep at night. The acting performances are all good and the pace keeps you tuned in because you are not sure how things will play out. I must say that I become more impressed with Ethan Hawke with each movie. He is more than good. He delivers. When he gets scared, I get scared too. See?Pretty good for a small budget movie. Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes.
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