A Short Cut Movie Review is normally less than 400 words, but in some cases may go slightly over. This is my attempt to keep writing about as many films as I see without getting bogged down with trying to find more to say. They are meant to be brief snapshots of my reaction to a movie without too much depth.
I’m a total sucker for heist films. I’ve said it here
before. I love the group of thieves each with some specialized skill, the plan,
the execution, and the hitch, even though these are all generally tired clichés
in the subgenre. Steven Soderbergh’s updating of Ocean’s 11, from a screenplay by Ted Griffin, is a slickly produced
genre film that is far better than it has any right to be.
The original featured the epitome of 1960s cool, the Rat
Pack, with Frank and Dean at the fore. Forty years later, the update features
contemporary Hollywood’s biggest male stars and embodiment of suavity: George
Clooney and Brad Pitt. Clooney is Danny Ocean, the brains behind the caper and
plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos of $160 million. His closest confidante is
Pitt’s Rusty. They’re bankroll is supplied by a fading Vegas hotel magnate
played by Elliott Gould and they put together an ensemble of crooks and
villains that includes Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon,
Bernie Mac, and Carl Reiner.
