VERSUS THE SCARECROW EPISODE 18: The Remakes. I decided to challenge myself and really open the doors of my film knowledge and take on “The Scarecrow Video Movie Guide”. It’s 808 pages of movies and movie reviews from some of the most knowledgeable movie people you don’t know. It’s a book put together by a staff that praises, and destroys, some of our favorites and not so favorites. You can read the rest of my series here.
Just a quick refresher: each episode, I’m going to tackle three films from three different categories. Two films will be films I’ve never seen before and one will be one I’ve seen before or own. For the new films, well, new to me, I’m going to review them like a typical FTS review using the TOAST Rating system. But, for the films I’ve seen, I’m going give a quick paragraph or two about why I like or don’t like the film. We’ll try to include the poster and trailer for each film. “….and here. We. Go!”
Remakes aren’t all bad… are they? this week I found out when I take a look at remakes of the Planet of the Apes, The Blob, and I reflect on my like/dislike relationship with Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11.
Ocean’s 11 (2001) Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Starring: George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon. IMDB says: “Danny Ocean and his eleven accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.”
“There’s a ninety-five pound Chinese man with a hundred sixty million dollars behind this door.”
I don’t know why I ever decided to dislike this film. I remember seeing this before the 1960 version with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., so on and so forth, but once I saw the original, I really liked it. I liked it enough to buy the DVD and watch it from time to time. Soderbergh’s Oceans 11 didn’t reel me in after my first watch. I guess that’s why I decided to pretentiously pass judgment on the film, declaring it inferior to the original.
After a more recent review, I don’t know what the hell I was talking about. Now, I do still enjoy the 60s Ocean’s 11 more, but… wow… Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11 is incredible. The sights, the sounds, especially the cast, are the epitome of Vegas style and flash, no matter the generation. As I write this reflection, I can’t think of a more perfact cast for this film. They work well together, they work great when they split into groups and pairs, and they even work as stand alone characters in their own scenes. I will say my favorite characters were Virgil and Turk Malloy, played by Casey Affleck and Scott Caan respectively. It was like Soderbergh encompassed all decades and styles of Vegas, giving Affleck and Caan a vaudevillian role that had me in tears from laughing.
What added to my enjoyment of the film was a recent trip myself and the FTS Crew took out to Vegas to meet up with other LAMBs. After the Oscar viewing party, at the Bellagio, we stepped out onto the balcony and had our own little Oceans moment, watching the fountain as Pavarotti played faintly through a speaker. I started to tear a bit, knowing I was living a scene from a movie surrounded by not only my best friends, but my new friends as well. So obviously, when I saw that scene in the film, I was touched, but happy. Happy, because now I have a shared experience that I can relive at any moment, just by watching Ocean’s 11. And for that reason, amongst many others, I can say that in no way shape or form is this an inferior film on any level. It’s an incredibly solid film with a complex-ish but satisfying plot and did I mention the cast was amazing?
We all have visions of getting millions from the casino, however unlike Danny Ocean and his men, most of us dream of winning big at online slots or roulette.
If watching Oceans Eleven has got you in the mood for some gaming why not visit your nearest online casino. With live tables, hundreds of slot machines and daily poker tournaments you are guaranteed to find the winning game for you.