Ocean's Eleven (2008)

"Ocean's Eleven" is a Ferrari of a movie: cool, stylish, and classy. And if, like a Ferrari, it doesn't always work, that's OK who will complain when it's so stylish?

The premise is lifted right out of the 1960 Rat Pack original: Danny Ocean (George Clooney, suave as hell) is released from prison, and plots to steal over $163 million from the vault of a Las Vegas casino during a heavyweight fight. He recruits his old buddy Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt), and they put together a dream team of crooks, each of whom has a specialty. There's a computer geek, a demolition expert, a con man, a pickpocket, and so on.

And, of course, there's Danny's ex-wife, Tess (Julia Roberts), who's now involved with the manager (Andy Garcia) of the casino Danny intends to rob. So, Danny's not only after money he wants his girl back as well. But she's having nothing of it, as evidenced by this neat dialogue piece:

Danny: "I've paid my debt to society."

Tess: "Funny, I haven't gotten my check yet."

Dialogue like that is one of the great pleasures of this movie; watching it delivered by the likes of Clooney, Roberts, Pitt and the stellar supporting cast (Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Carl Reiner, Elliott Gould, et al) is the other.

And, in fairness, it's a good thing that the dialogue and acting is so good, because as a pure caper flick, "Ocean's Eleven" is, to be charitable, a little thin. In the best caper movies ("The Heist" comes to mind), the theft itself is the star of the movie the intracicies, the backup plans, the intrigue. In "Ocean's Eleven," we're expected to believe that a casino with over $150 million in its vault wouldn't have a backup power generator, or that the vault's security system wouldn't have a motion sensor.

But criticisms like that are akin to nitpicking that red Ferrari 575 because it has a small trunk the point isn't realism, it's style, and like a Ferrari, "Ocean's Eleven" has it in droves.

Below is a review of this product: 4 Film Favorites Ocean's Collection. Amazon may display this review on the page of another version of this product, for which this review may not apply. After reading this review, please click on the link so that you can be assured that the product this review applies to is the same one you thought it was for.

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### ABOUT THE 4 FILM FAVORITES SERIES ###

Warner Brothers/New Line's "4 Film Favorites" is a line of two-disc sets consisting of four films that are part of a series/franchise or center around a common theme. Each disc is dual-sided, with the contents of each side being a bit-for-bit copy (a "disc image") of a previous DVD release. Usually the very first DVD release of a film is used as the master for each side, which could be either single-layer or dual-layer. If the DVD master that is used first came out at the infancy of DVD production (the late 1990s), there may be little to no extras, and even a poor film transfer when compared to a later re-release. Also, if that original release was a two-disc set, or a dual-sided disc (see: Lethal Weapon 4), only Disc 1 or Side A will be used. The "4 Film Favorites" line is priced with the budget-conscience consumer in mind, with Target having the lowest price at 9.99 each (occasionally on sale for 8.99). Other stores will inevitably be priced higher, though I don't recommend paying more than ten dollars for each two-disc set.

### ABOUT THE OCEAN'S COLLECTION ###

OCEAN'S 11

* Year: 1960

* Runtime: 2:07:17

* Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen

* DVD Production Date: September 10, 2001

* Region: 1

* Layers: 2

* Audio Languages: English, French

* Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French

* Extras: Commentary by Frank Sinatra Jr. and Angie Dickinson, Interactive Las Vegas Then and Now Map Casino Vignettes, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson Excerpt Featuring Guest Host Frank Sinatra and Angie Dickinson, Cast & Crew Filmographies (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford, Angie Dickinson), 2 Theatrical Trailers.

* Easter Eggs: (1) On the Special Features menu, press LEFT to highlight a poker chip on the pile. Press Enter to view a clip about the Las Vegas Gambling Museum. (2) On the "Map Of Vegas" menu, watch The Sands casino video. After viewing the video, select it again to see a different video showing the implosion of the casino in November 1996.

OCEAN'S ELEVEN

* Year: 2001

* Runtime: 1:56:27

* Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen

* DVD Production Date: March 7, 2002

* Region: 1

* Layers: 2

* Audio Languages: English, French

* Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French

* Extras: Commentary by Matt Damon and Andy Garcia and Brad Pitt, Commentary by director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Ted Griffin, "The Making Of Ocean's Eleven" Featurette, "The Look Of The Con" Featurette, Cast Filmographies (George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts), 3 Theatrical Trailers, "Are You In Or Out?" DVD-ROM Game.

OCEAN'S TWELVE

* Year: 2004

* Runtime: 2:05:10

* Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen

* DVD Production Date: February 8, 2005

* Region: 1

* Layers: 2

* Audio Languages: English

* Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French

* Extras: Theatrical Trailer.

OCEAN'S THIRTEEN

* Year: 2007

* Runtime: 2:01:59

* Video Format: 16:9 Widescreen

* DVD Production Date: August 29, 2007

* Region: 1

* Layers: 2

* Audio Languages: English, Spanish, French

* Subtitle Languages: English, Spanish, French

* Extras: Additional Scenes, "Vegas: An Opulent Illusion" Featurette, "Jerry Weintraub Walk And Talk: The Producer Takes Us On A Casino Set Tour" Featurette.

Buy Ocean's Eleven (2008) Now

This package is an exceptional deal. You get all four Ocean films for less much less than the price of a single copy of Ocean's 11 on Blu-Ray! What more could you ask for?

Read Best Reviews of Ocean's Eleven (2008) Here

I've got to admit, half the fun of this movie is the star-gazing. George Clooney is great as a convict recently released from jail, Brad Pitt is Mr. Suave as his right-hand man, and Julia Roberts plays the icy ex-wife beautifully. Throw in Matt Damon as a pick-pocket and Andy Garcia as a casino mogul and you've got the gist of this movie's star power.

The plot is pretty simple: Danny Ocean (Clooney) organizes a group of eleven highly skilled criminals to simultaneously rob three of Vegas' biggest casinos. Their plans are over the top and outrageous-and you can't help but smile watching them put into action. There are also some really memorable touches in the movie: including Brad Pitt teaching Shane West and Topher Grace how to play poker. This movie kind of serves as a who's-who in Hollywood. "Oceans" probably won't spark any deep conversations or teach you any life lessons, but it's fun watching the celebrities interact onscreen. If you want something deep and thought-provoking, this probably isn't your movie. But if you want to watch something purely for entertainment, this is a great and fun film.

Want Ocean's Eleven (2008) Discount?

Yeah, it's impossible, it's ridiculous, it's contrived, but you gotta love the acting and the chemistry between the actors. Only Julia Roberts' role was maybe a mismatch, and that's difficult for me to say as she's one of my favorites.

The 1960's original version with Frank Sinatra and the infamous Rat Pack was fun, too, but this contemporary one makes full use of all the modern cinema techniques that make action/adventure films such fun to watch.

The whole setup (a plan to rob several Las Vegan casinos owned by a guy who has `taken possession' of Danny Ocean's ex-wife) is convoluted and sometimes difficult to follow and frankly, rather than hit replay and try to figure it all out, I'd just advise suspending disbelief and going with the flow.

It's a hoot.

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