Ocean's 12
Spoilers below. I'll let you know when we're close.
Went with wife to the Warner MyCal cinema. MyCal's are American style movie theaters. They have big lobbies with tasteless carpeting in purple hues. There's a concession stand, and they sell popcorn, coke, candy, and dogs at inflated prices. They will even arrange them in a foldout cardboard tray with circular compartments that are a little bit too small. Most movie theaters here have little of this. Floors are tile. The concession stand is an afterthought and it sells cans of tea, coffee, and chocolate "biscuits." The trade off is that one gets to bring one's own snacks. As soon as the lights dim the auditorium comes to life with the crackle of burger wrappers. And did you know that you could by a beer at a movie theater in Japan? And I'm not talking about no paper cup, I'm talking about a...OK it is a paper cup, but still. Also, at the Warner MyCal you can choose your seat when you buy the ticket. No need to stand in line 40 minutes prior to the previous showing, run in, and end up standing in the nose bleed section with your wife in the looking-up-like-a-turkey-in-the-rain section, both of you looking at each other and trying to communicate the seeing conditions with hand gestures.
Ocean's 12 (no spoilers yet): In Ocean's 11 each of the 11 had a particular skill, and each skill is focused on a specific goal in a tight plot. In 12 you got a bunch of guys who pull some jobs. Not even all the guys are used.
I don't buy the character of the zillionare brat who is bored with the lack of challenge in his life and decides to become a master thief. For some reason this only happens in Europe.
I found the grainy, hand held camera thing really annoying. For an Oceans movie I want slick. Don't try to make me feel that I really am in an Amsterdam apartment with some of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.
Spoilers below. Don't read more if you haven't seen it.
They cheat. The guys took the egg before any of this happened. All of the characters know this, but they don't talk about it even though there's no reason not to. And how did they take the egg? By somehow finding out what train the egg was going to be on and staging a fight. I've lived in or near New York City and Tokyo for the last ten years and I've never seen a fight on a train. And if I did see a fight and had my newspaper that I'd already read on the seat next to me, I'd put a hand on it. Somehow I think the actual guardians of the egg would have the train full of teargas if George Clooney so much as scratched his dimple.
Why the elaborate plot with the Julia Roberts thing (which I thought was funny) when Bourne is just going to pull a switcheroo in front of the cameras. And they only used four of the twevle for this.
They tell us that getting past the lasers is impossible because they move in random patters, but then the zillionare Master Thief gets past them. Couldn't the Chinese guy have done that?
But I still liked it. The same way I like watching Star Trek. If you think about it for two seconds you realize that it's utterly preposterous. But it's just fun to be in that world. Cloon and Pitt really feel like they're old buddies and they're fun guys and it's fun to hang with them for a while.
Went with wife to the Warner MyCal cinema. MyCal's are American style movie theaters. They have big lobbies with tasteless carpeting in purple hues. There's a concession stand, and they sell popcorn, coke, candy, and dogs at inflated prices. They will even arrange them in a foldout cardboard tray with circular compartments that are a little bit too small. Most movie theaters here have little of this. Floors are tile. The concession stand is an afterthought and it sells cans of tea, coffee, and chocolate "biscuits." The trade off is that one gets to bring one's own snacks. As soon as the lights dim the auditorium comes to life with the crackle of burger wrappers. And did you know that you could by a beer at a movie theater in Japan? And I'm not talking about no paper cup, I'm talking about a...OK it is a paper cup, but still. Also, at the Warner MyCal you can choose your seat when you buy the ticket. No need to stand in line 40 minutes prior to the previous showing, run in, and end up standing in the nose bleed section with your wife in the looking-up-like-a-turkey-in-the-rain section, both of you looking at each other and trying to communicate the seeing conditions with hand gestures.
Ocean's 12 (no spoilers yet): In Ocean's 11 each of the 11 had a particular skill, and each skill is focused on a specific goal in a tight plot. In 12 you got a bunch of guys who pull some jobs. Not even all the guys are used.
I don't buy the character of the zillionare brat who is bored with the lack of challenge in his life and decides to become a master thief. For some reason this only happens in Europe.
I found the grainy, hand held camera thing really annoying. For an Oceans movie I want slick. Don't try to make me feel that I really am in an Amsterdam apartment with some of the highest paid actors in Hollywood.
Spoilers below. Don't read more if you haven't seen it.
They cheat. The guys took the egg before any of this happened. All of the characters know this, but they don't talk about it even though there's no reason not to. And how did they take the egg? By somehow finding out what train the egg was going to be on and staging a fight. I've lived in or near New York City and Tokyo for the last ten years and I've never seen a fight on a train. And if I did see a fight and had my newspaper that I'd already read on the seat next to me, I'd put a hand on it. Somehow I think the actual guardians of the egg would have the train full of teargas if George Clooney so much as scratched his dimple.
Why the elaborate plot with the Julia Roberts thing (which I thought was funny) when Bourne is just going to pull a switcheroo in front of the cameras. And they only used four of the twevle for this.
They tell us that getting past the lasers is impossible because they move in random patters, but then the zillionare Master Thief gets past them. Couldn't the Chinese guy have done that?
But I still liked it. The same way I like watching Star Trek. If you think about it for two seconds you realize that it's utterly preposterous. But it's just fun to be in that world. Cloon and Pitt really feel like they're old buddies and they're fun guys and it's fun to hang with them for a while.
posted by Wake | 2/02/2005
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