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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer (RSDL )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: Dolby Digital Surround
  Subtitles
    English - Hearing Impaired
  Extras
  • 2 Teaser trailer
  • Theatrical trailer
  • 2 Audio commentary - 1./ Director Steven Soderbergh, Screenwriter Ted Griffin 2./ Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia
  • 2 Featurette
  • Animated menus
  • DVD-ROM features
  • Filmographies

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Roadshow Entertainment/Roadshow Entertainment . R4 . COLOR . 112 mins . M15+ . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Ocean's Eleven. It's about a boy, called Ocean. He's eleven. He does stuff. Funny stuff. Life shaping stuff, like travelling the trains of America with his dog. Discovering dead bodies in the woods. Learning about life. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll soil your undies. At least, that's what you'd think a film called Ocean's Eleven would be about. You'd be wrong, though.

And the lies don't stop there!

Ocean is really Danny Ocean. He's not eleven. Closer to about 41, I'd say. He smirks a lot. I mean a real lot. Like he knows the answer to everything. Which it turns out he does. He talks to people with a smirk. He walks with a smirk. He sings with a smirk. He can even smirk with a smirk. In all, he looks pretty damn satisfied with himself.

And he's a criminal fresh outta jail. Naturally, the first thing he wants to do is to rob some casinos. He rounds up some old pals to help him. "Ah ha!" you say. "Eleven friends, right?" you say. "Er, kind of..." I say.

See, he gets Brad Pitt (who eats a lot), Matt Damon (who smiles a lot), Don Cheadle (who talks in a bad cockney accent a lot), Casey Affleck (who... um... reminds people he's not his bigger brother Ben a lot), Carl Reiner (who complains about his prostate a lot), Elliot Gould (who finances the whole job, so the film should really be called Elliot's Eleven... or Ten, whatever), Scott Caan (who tries to be his dad a lot, well okay, not a lot really), Bernie Mac (who, I don't know, tries to look necessary a lot or something so he can get more work), Edward Jemison (I give up) and Shaobo Qin (who flips around a lot and says about four words, only one of which you understand).

Now, that's ten people. Unless Danny Ocean is schizophrenic and counts himself, they're one person short. So it should be Ocean's Ten, not Eleven. Doesn't sound as good, though, does it? "George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt in Ocean's Ten. Coming Soon." Just doesn't sound right. You'd see the film, and swear that you're missing out on something, maybe an eleventh person, or something. You'd say "Hmmm, maybe they should have cast George Clooney's pig as an eleventh person or pig or whatever? Maybe as a mascot? I would have liked it more. Maybe ten percent more."

Then, there's the little issue of the 'pinch'. This is a device they steal and use to create this pulse thing that shuts down the power in the area, to allow them to rob the casinos. It might be a bit more technical than that, but that’s the rough idea. Anyway, what about all the gamblers with pacemakers? I mean, the local bowls club, or whatever the equivalent in the States is, would be on a bus trip at the casinos spending all their welfare money, happy to be alive at taxpayers expense, when FZZZK! every one of them fitted with a pacemaker just drops dead, just so Ocean's Ten can rob the casino. Granted, they're trying to get 150 million bucks, so what's a few dead geriatrics? But it's a bit of a worry still, and the filmmakers have completely ignored this problem. Still, 150 million dollars. Yeah, forget it. A few less Volvos on the road blocking me at roundabouts would be good.

And then there's Julia Roberts. Why is she in this film? Oh, silly me. So it can make money, that's why. Is she any good? Well, she walks down some stairs. She smiles like she does. She looks at some art. She smiles. She eats, she smiles. She looks at people beneath her contempt, all the while smiling. I’d smile too if I got paid to walk around in a film smiling all the time. In all, she’s a perfect love interest for Clooney, wouldn't you say? Mr and Mrs SmirkSmile. Imagine the kids. They'd get bashed in the schoolyard for sure.

So did I enjoy it? Well, yes I guess. It was a reasonably entertaining film, with some good moments. Director Steven Soderbergh knows how to make a film or two. And he sure can make them look and sound cool and slick. But, on the other hand, No, it’s not a great film and a must see. It’s just a competently made film, though hardly exciting cinema or anything. It definitely didn't feel like Steven Soderpop worked too hard on this one, just letting all the actors have a few moments on screen to smirk and smile and eat, then on to the next scene for some more of the same. The problem is that it all seems so smooth and so cool that every scene just slides right by, with hardly any scene staying in your head for more than a few seconds after the film. I think back and I can’t recall any real standout moments.

Overall, a middle of the road effort from all and sundry. For the story, Ocean's Ten gets Vincent’s Seven.

  Video
Contract

What an awful looking picture! Shocking! Just shocking! I’m just kidding. That’s because those bastards at Roadshow are so bloody good at their job that you find us always saying that the picture looks brilliant. It gets a little tiring, to be honest. We want to yell “Eww! Aliasing! Yuck! Artefacts! Boo-hiss! Edge-enhancement!” But we can’t. Instead, we have to say “Humana-humana, this DVD looks sweeeeet!” Sweet indeed. The colours, the clarity, the detail, all look fantastic. Even the fine grain in the picture (which too many people hate for some stupid reason) looks good. Early on in the film, Clooney wears this jacket with a fine pattern, I think it’s called tweed or something, I dunno, I’m not exactly fashionable myself, I think Hawaiian shirts look good in winter. Where was I? Ah, the jacket, well it threatens to be a problem what with all the fine little crisscrossing lines on it, and you think there’s gonna be aliasing and shimmer and moiring and what have you, but the transfer just says to it “Oi! Knock it orf!” and it behaves itself. There you go! Naturally for a big flick from spec-faced nerd Soderbergh, the aspect ratio is 2.35:1 and it’s 16:9 enhanced, but I’m sure you would have guessed that.

  Audio
Contract

Slick picture, slick sound. Yep, this is a very nice sounding film. Helped along by a very cool and smooth soundtrack, the audio, in Dolby Digital 5.1 of course and a Dolby 2.0 mix just in case you’re poor, is easy on the ears, with a good balance throughout. Moments when I thought things were going to suddenly be very loud weren’t, and that made for a nice change. Dialogue, score, effects, etc, all sat comfortably around the same level, and I appreciated this no end. It doesn’t go all nuts with the surrounds either, only really calling them up for major duty when we’re in the casinos and they want you to hear all the slot machines going “Ping!” around you. This is also very nice and with the spacious soundstage created across the front, the overall result is very pleasing indeed.

  Extras
Contract

There’s a nice, but not over the top, selection of extras on this disc. We get two commentaries, the first from director Steven Soderbergh and scriptwriter Ted Griffin. It’s a fair listen, nothing special, with lots of info, although a bit dry at times for my liking. However, it’s improved by randomly switching to the second commentary with Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia. Theirs isn’t bad either, with some funny stuff. It might have made a good commentary if they put everyone into the single commentary instead of two. They were probably concerned about having everyone in the same room at the same time though for insurance reasons.

Next up is a featurette - The Look Of The Con - which is about how they dressed the actors and such. It’s okay, but of limited interest unless you’re some kind of pervert who gets off on knowing what colour the actors look best in. The second featurette, The Making of Ocean’s Eleven, is again okay, but nothing overly amazing - yet it's easily watchable with a slick editing look. Probably a bit too much style over content, sort of like the film. In a minor supporting role are the final extras, consisting of two teaser trailers, one theatrical trailer, cast and crew film highlights and a PC-DVR-ROM thing.

  Overall  
Contract

It’s a slick (but ultimately forgettable) film on a slick DVD with a slick picture, slick audio and slickish extras. If you dug the film, you can’t go wrong with this release. If you were interested in seeing it, you’ll get a reasonable night's entertainment out of it.

What more do you want?


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      And I quote...
    "A slick (but ultimately forgettable) film on a slick DVD with a slick picture, slick audio and slickish extras..."
    - Vince Carrozza
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Sony DVP-525
    • Receiver:
          Sony STR-DB1070
    • Speakers:
          Wharfedale s500
    • Centre Speaker:
          Polk Audio CS245
    • Surrounds:
          Wharfedale s500
    • Subwoofer:
          DB Dynamics TITAN
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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