Throwback Thursday Review: 'Ocean's Eleven' (2001)

Sorry that this review's coming a little late, but last Thursday evening I prioritized writing my Hereditary review because I felt compelled to share my thoughts immediately. Anyways, I'd never seen Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's trilogy prior to a few days ago so I went ahead and watched them all before going to see Ocean's Eight yesterday. I won't be reviewing Ocean's Twelve and Thirteen for the time being because I have a lot of reviews to prepare/publish this week before going out of town. This includes publishing Throwback Thursday Reviews of Jurassic Park and The Incredibles in addition to reviewing new releases Ocean's Eight, Hotel Artemis, Tag (2018), and Incredibles 2 and prepping a Throwback Thursday Review for The Lost World: Jurassic Park before I leave. As a result, my review of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom will be coming a little later than normal since I won't likely see the film till perhaps next Friday.

'Ocean's Eleven' Review

Ocean's Eleven trails con artist Danny Ocean shortly after he's been let out of jail and put on parole. Ocean assembles a team of ten other accomplices with plans to steal from three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.

Ocean's Eleven was directed by Steven Soderbergh, featured a screenplay written by Ted Griffin, and functioned as a full-fledged reboot which went on to become a bankable trilogy of capers. With the help of a star-studded cast, Soderbergh assured direction ensures Ocean's Eleven was a heist film dressed to the nines and has got plenty of style to spare from start-to-finish. Soderbergh even served as his own cinematographer under the pseudonym of Peter Andrews (he does this fairly often) so the cinematography is sleek and stimulating under his watchful eye. When combined with the surefire editing and a jazzy score by David Holmes, the film's bravado is absolutely unrivaled.

I also appreciated how the film was fairly unpredictable and kept me on my toes as I tried to guess how the crew would get themselves out of some hairy situations. The twists and turns along the way managed to be quite surprising and satisfying, and I particularly liked that there was an ulterior motive to the heist beyond stealing tons of money. It's always nice when a heist film is really about something greater and a relatable motivation is a solid start to that. 

Other entertaining elements include the heist itself, some sharp dialogue, and the camaraderie amongst the crew. I've also got to say how impressive it is that the script managed to balance the ensemble despite having an abundance of characters. Some get more focus that others, but that's simply the nature of show business. 

Regardless of all that, the all star cast will charm your socks off. George Clooney imbues Ocean with a suave debonair and calm, collected composure while Brad Pitt's Rusty is a reliable right hand man. Filling out the rest of the crew, Matt Damon, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Elliott Gould, Don Cheadle, Eddie Jemison, Carl Reiner, Shaobo Qin, Casey Affleck, and Scott Caan are exemplary matches to their respective roles as up-and-coming pickpocket Linus, smooth talking croupier Frank, eccentric munitions expert Basher, flamboyant tycoon Reuben, awkward tech genius Livingston, grouchy old con-man Saul, soft-spoken Chinese acrobat Yen, and two hard headed brothers Virgil and Turk. 

On the flip-side, Andy Garcia goes all in for his cold-hearted portrayal of Terry Benedict and stands out as a formidable foe. Meanwhile, Julia Roberts has little screen time, but makes her mark as a fitting femme fatale of sorts. 

While not all that substantive, Ocean's Eleven is slick, stylish, and an all-around good time. It's been seventeen years, but Ocean's Eleven seems to still be the gold standard for this franchise and the heist genre in general.

Film Assessment: A-

'A Ghost Story' Review

A Ghost Story shadows a young couple as the husband dies and returns to his home to attempt and reforge a connection with his emotionally overwhelmed wife in the form of a white-sheeted ghost invisible to the human eye. The film that follows then details a unique exploration the importance of legacy, love, and life.

David Lowery writes, directs, and edits A Ghost Story as his follow-up to the Pete's Dragon remake he directed for Disney last year. Lowery makes the distinct decision to shoot A Ghost Story in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio (to give you an idea of what that looks like, all the remaining images from the film I'm including in this review will be in that aspect ratio). For those confused as to what an aspect ratio is, it's defined as the ratio of width to height of an image or screen. If you'd like to hear more about aspect, here's a video essay that explains aspect ratios far better than I ever could... 

So now, you hopefully have some understanding of what an aspect ratio actually is and I can carry on...

Lowery has gone on record saying the use of that aspect ratio was intentional for the purposes of visually conveying the claustrophobia Casey Affleck's ghost felt after becoming a ghost and being trapped within the confines of his old life. Speaking of which, A Ghost Story is a film that always takes the opportunity to show rather than tell. Cinematographer Andrew Droz Palermo lets the camera linger for long periods of time to demonstrate what it's like to be condemned to such purgatory as a ghost. There's rarely any accompanying score utilized, but Daniel Hart's compositions are eerie when they do creep in, certainly communicating the ethereal plane of ghosthood. 

It's difficult to describe exactly how I felt about A Ghost Story because I can't help but admire the ambiguous artistry on display. However, it's a VERY slow-paced film so it was easy to lose focus every time I got bored. For that reason, I can't really recommend you watch A Ghost Story because I know you may struggle with that same issue. 

Anyways, A Ghost Story is an otherworldly artistic film. A Ghost Story was haunting, but not in the proverbial sense. Scary? Nope. Pretentious? Absolutely. For one, it's a meditative film that focuses on the meaning of life and all that mumbo jumbo. There are no clear cut answers to anything that happens because you, as the viewer, must interpret everything you just witnessed. While I don't mind a bit of ambiguity, A Ghost Story overdoes it to the point where things just abruptly happen and there's not much around to explain it all because the film is low on dialogue. 

Secondly, the protagonist essentially wears an iconic homemade Halloween costume for a large duration of the film's running time. I did often wonder if Casey Affleck was actually underneath the sheet or not because there's no way to tell, and honestly it could have been anyone acting underneath considering the ghost just walks around.

Then there's the infamous five minute scene where Rooney Mara scarfs down almost an entire pie. That was surely something else, and I've gotta hand it to Mara for making that scene work. It could have easily become laughably stupid, but Mara committed to the idea that the pie functioned as a comfort mechanism in her grieving process.

Otherwise, Affleck and Mara produce the quality performances you'd expect from such accomplished actors. They aren't offered much dialogue, so their performances are purely physical and I personally had difficulty investing in them as characters because there's not much there for either "C" or "M" beyond the surface level. As a result, I was emotionally detached from the story for the entirety of my viewing experience.

While certainly well made, A Ghost Story didn't linger with me afterwards as much as I'm such Lowery would have liked. Instead, I just thought to myself "Wow... That was overly long, slow, boring, and quite pretentious." 

Film Assessment: C+

Recollection Reflection Review: 'Interstellar'

This review was originally supposed to be published the week Dunkirk was released, but it just got delayed and delayed and delayed due to extenuating circumstances... However, we can just pretend I'm publishing it now to coincide with Dunkirk's home media release and the upcoming Ultra HD 4K editions of Nolan's films next week. In other news, I'm all caught up with my draft reviews of more current releases (which I'll soon finally be able to share with you) and I'm currently overcoming an illness, so it seemed like the optimal time to finally work on this review.

'Interstellar' Review

Nominated for: Best Visual Effects, Best Production Design, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Original Score.

Won: Best Visual Effects.

Recollection- 'Interstellar' Review

Reflection- I can recall seeing Interstellar in IMAX three years back and being blown away by Nolan's mastery of storytelling, both visually and narratively. I'd consider my older review of the film more simple in detailing my thoughts when compared to my more recent reviews, but that's exactly why I started doing these Triple-R Reviews! Anyways, since that review I've discovered more and more to love about Interstellar every time I watch it, so I suspect this review will come across as much more enthusiastic!

Review- Interstellar launches audiences into a future where Earth is experiencing a global crop blight and a second Dust Bowl that are rendering the planet to be uninhabitable. When mysterious forces lead former NASA pilot Cooper to the secluded remnants of NASA, physicist Professor Brand informs Cooper there may be a way to save mankind. Ten years prior, NASA sent twelve landing pods to twelve potentially habitable worlds through a wormhole on a series of missions known as the Lazarus missions. Of the twelve sent, three promising worlds were discovered in one system. Cooper then joins the crew of the Endurance to travel through the wormhole to that system and identify which of those three planets would be optimal for human colonization.

Interstellar was directed by Christopher Nolan, who also cowrote the film's screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan. Interstellar was Nolan's ninth feature length film and his first project following the completion of the Dark Knight Trilogy, but Nolan's auteur fingerprints can still be found all over Interstellar. The film is just as emotionally and intellectually charged as the best of Nolan's work and even features one of his trademark ambiguous endings.

Interstellar's defining characteristic is its determination to tell a personal story on a universal scale. Nolan wisely waits to widen the scope of the character's circumstances till aptly investing audiences in the focal father/daughter relationship between Cooper and Murph. Only then, does Nolan up the ante. Cooper is presented with a monumental decision to choose between abandoning his kids in hopes of saving the human race and staying on Earth to raise his children at the risk of humanity's survival. Objectively, it'd be easy to pronounce a decision. However, in actuality, the alternatives bear fare more weight. By firmly establishing a steadfast bond between Cooper and Murph, the stakes have astronomically risen and audiences understand Cooper's trepidation as he journeys out into the great unknown. From that point onward, Interstellar's anecdotes revolve around perseverance in the face of the most improbable odds, proving that love is the only thing that truly capable of transcending time and space.

Technically, Interstellar is masterfully made in every way, shape, and form imaginable. The visual effects are not only awe-inspiring to look at, they also bestow an authenticity to the incredible and extensive fabric of space. In fact, I can't think of a single frame that looked as though it were captured inside a sound stage against a green screen background. In other departments, the film features stunning cinematography, intense editing, phenomenal production design, stirring sound editing and sound mixing, and another sensational score from Hans Zimmer. I'd daresay it's one of his best film scores to date because each composition not only suits the subsequent scenes, but also stands as an epic piece of music on its own merit. In fact, I often listen to themes from his Interstellar soundtrack because it can be soothing or simply provides a grandiose sound that's difficult to find elsewhere. 

Sure, the sequence inside the tesseract can be a bit of a head-scratcher on first viewing, but I've found it to make much more sense on subsequent rewatches. The sequence really serves as the lynch pin of the entire film, tying everything together remarkably well thematically and narratively. 

As for the cast, Matthew McConaughey turns in one of his most emotionally vulnerable performances yet as Cooper. McConaughey sells Cooper's warmth and trauma equally well with many of his scenes packing an emotional wallop. The sequence where he leaves his family is notably heart-wrenching, as well as one onboard the Endurance when he's watching video messages from his grown children. If neither of those bring you to tears, then you're simply not human. Mackenzie Foy and Timothée Chalamet also deserve some recognition for playing the younger versions of his two children, Murph and Tom. Foy, in particular, shows a lot of promise as an captivating child actor considering she's never overshadowed by McConaughey's larger-than-life screen presence in their scenes together. 

Jessica Chastain and Casey Affleck lend themselves to playing the adult versions of Murph and Tom, and both are quite good, but Chastain takes the cake. Chastain expertly builds upon everything established by Foy and McConaughey to ensure the mature Murph is resolute, intelligent, and headstrong, but believably so. 

As for the crew of the Endurance, Anne Hathaway convincingly captures Brand's intellect and empathy while David Gyasi discerns Romilly with more cerebral sense.

Rounding out the Nolan regulars, Michael Caine offers a solemn, serene performance as Professor Brand with one scene in particular that really shows his acting talent beyond playing a sophisticated British man.  

Last but certainly not least, I must credit Bill Irwin for voicing and operating the hydraulics for the snarky tactical robot, TARS. I think the design of the robot is unique and impressive on its own, but I've found myself gravitating towards the robot every time I watch Interstellar thanks to Irwin's precise line delivery.

Perhaps, three years ago I would have told you that I merely enjoyed Interstellar for Nolan's astonishing craftsmanship and superb storytelling, but it's only now that I realize Interstellar is an film that will endure the test of time for its impeccable example of the resilience of the human spirit. It's emotional. It's intelligent. It's insightful. It's exceptional.

Film Assessment: A+

'Manchester By The Sea' Review

Nominated For: Best Picture, Best Director; Kenneth Lonergan Best Actor; Casey Affleck, Best Supporting Actor; Lucas Hedges, Best Supporting Actress; Michelle Williams, and Best Original Screenplay.
Won: Best Actor; Casey Affleck and Best Original Screenplay.

Manchester By The Sea follows the life of handyman Lee Chandler as he suddenly learns that due to his brother's passing he must become his teenage nephew's guardian but he's not quite sure he can handle it based on some preceding personal events that I won't spoil here.

Manchester By The Sea is currently one of three frontrunners in this upcoming awards race standing alongside La La Land and Moonlight in all the major categories, and these films couldn't be any more different. Where La La Land is a musical about pursing your dreams and some of the harsh realities that accompany that, Moonlight tells the coming of age story about an outsider, and Manchester By The Sea is a drama about grief and the complications of life. 

Manchester By The Sea is written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan and he did an incredible job of making these characters and situations not only real but somewhat relatable, as the struggles these characters endure are struggles everyone encounters in their lives. The film is relatively simplistic in all departments but that takes it one step closer to feeling all the more authentic. It's well-shot with straightforward handsome shots of the ocean waves from Jody Lee Lipes, well-edited with seamless transitions by Jennifer Lame between the present day and flashbacks taking a peek at the events that shaped Lee, and extremely well-directed and well-written by Lonergan thanks to his emphasis on making everything seem genuine. 

I think my favorite aspect of Manchester By The Sea is that despite being categorized as a drama, nothing feels overdramatic for the sake of conflict or grabbing the viewer's attention. In fact, everything in Manchester By The Sea feels authentic and plausible from awkward conversations to the layered depictions of the story's characters.

Casey Affleck puts forth a subdued performance as Lee Chandler perfectly capturing the complex nature of someone in grief or that's undergone heavy amounts of personal trauma. Affleck plays Chandler as a reserved man with a hardened exterior and while it's off-putting at first, you sympathize for the character once you learn his backstory and the performance really does deserve the praise it's garnered thus far.

Lucas Hedges plays Lee's nephew, Patrick, in the ideal middle ground between a self-absorbed jerk and a whiny brat with a more sincere turn at an actual teenager. He says it himself, he's on the hockey team, has two girlfriends, and is in a band. Hedges makes a nice impression here and stands well alongside Affleck despite being such a young actor.

Michelle Williams is being heavily talked for this and I feel she put forth a great performance but I'm not quite sure she's a standout when compared to her co-stars as Lee's ex-wife Randi. Elsewhere, Matthew Broderick, Kyle Chandler, C.J. Wilson, and Gretchen Mol have decent turns as important players in the story.

In summary, Manchester By The Sea has strong confident direction and formidable screenplay from Kenneth Lonergan, features exceptional performances from Casey Affleck and Lucas Hedges, and is simply a beautiful film about grief. Manchester By The Sea is an authentic cinematic experience that may not be for everyone but is certainly one of the more emotionally resonant films I've seen this year.

Film Assessment: A

'The Finest Hours' Review

The Finest Hours is based on true events and shares the tale of a United States Coast Guard rescue mission.

For the most part, The Finest Hours was a very solid film with great performances that creates a believable ocean environment thanks to proficient practical and visual effects. Unfortunately, The Finest Hours biggest fault is dull exposition that drags the first act of the film, but it all leads to the venturous rescue that puts the audience on the edge of their seat. The core rescue mission is the highlight of the film as tensions are high and the the stakes are believable.

The standout performances were most definitely Casey Affleck and Chris Pine. Affleck portrays Ray Sybert, the engineer aboard the oil tanker, and commits to his character's conflicted leadership role. I especially liked how the character was willing to commit to what was best for the crew despite how unpopular his viewpoint tended to be.

On the other side of the narrative, Chris Pine exhibited some versatility in the role of Bernie Webber, where he demonstrated some of his more serious acting, since the character is quite reserved yet daring at the same time making for a great protagonist with a golden heart. Alas, the remaining characters are static caricatures and the performances don't transcend their bland characters.

The Finest Hours is being heavily promoted a a 3-D experience but I saw the film in 2-D and felt it was just fine in the format and couldn't quite see very many advantages to a 3-D post conversion.

I can't quite recommend The Finest Hours as a theatrical experience, but it's certainly worth checking out on Blu-ray or as a rental. As I said earlier, The Finest Hours makes for a solid film with great performances and a pleasant combination of practical and visual effects for a gorgeous sea aesthetic that pays the due service to the real life rescue.

Film Assessment: C