Fandom Spotlight: Ocean's Trilogy

[nugents-shirt.livejournal.com]

The Ocean's Trilogy is comprised of three movies: Ocean's 11, Ocean's 12 and Ocean's 13. Clever, huh? The first movie was a 're-make' of a 1960 Rat Pack film by the same name. Though I use the term re-make lightly because there are significant plot differences between the 1960 and 2001 versions. The three films are slick, witty, fun heist movies. And they feature George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. Can we say pretty?


The Eleven

Danny Ocean Played By: George Clooney	Danny is the mastermind of the heists. He's the idea man and he relies on the others to make things happen. He's a smooth talker and a great leader. His main goal is to get his wife back. She divorced him while he was in prison. And he's George Clooney, so he's hot.
Rusty Ryan Played By: Brad Pitt	Rusty makes things happen. He's the details man. And he eats a lot of junk food. He and Danny have this weird telepathy thing going on where they can finish each other's sentences. He doesn't seem to be a big fan of Tess. When Danny gets out of prison, he finds Rusty in LA "cold-decking teenbeat cover boys" - teaching Hollywood stars how to play poker and ripping them off. Trufax - Rusty/Danny was my first slash pairing. And, you know, it's BRAD PITT.
Linus Caldwell Played By: Matt Damon	Poor Linus is the newbie. His father recommended him to Rusty and Danny but doesn't want him trading on the family name. He lives in Chicago and spends his time "feeling up stockbrokers" on the train (picking pockets). He's very eager to please just about everyone and prove himself. Also, Matt Damon. Mmmm Matt Damon. (Yes, I'm shallow, HUSH.)
Virgil Malloy Played By: Casey Affleck	Virgil is one of the 'Mormon twins' that Rusty and Danny recruit as 'drivers' though they end up playing a number of roles in the heist. Virgil likes to build remote controlled vehicles. Yes, that is a plot point.
Turk Malloy Played By: Scott Caan	Turk is the other 'Mormon twin'. They are a "couple of peckerwood jackasses". They're really kind of idiots, but they blend in well to a crowd and do manage to help in a number of ways. Turk is kind of mean to his brother, Virgil, though.
Yen Played By: Shaobo Qin	Yen is the "grease man". He's a 95lb Chinese acrobat who speaks no English. His main function is to fold himself in half and hide in a small metal cart to gain access to the vault.
Frank Catton Played By: Bernie Mac	Frank is the "inside man". He's working as a blackjack dealer in Atlantic City when Danny gets out of prison. He transfers out to Vegas and gets a job at the casino they are targeting. And it's Bernie Mac (RIP) so he's got some of the most hilarious lines in the film. In the second movie, we learn that Frank has an affinity for manicures. Also a plot point. (I told you they were fun movies!)
Basher Tarr Played By: Don Cheadle	Basher is the demolition expert. He's rude and cocky and British and he likes to blow things up. He delivers a monologue covered in poo, because Don Cheadle is just that badass. (*hides from Sam & Elaine*)
Saul Bloom Played By: Carl Reiner	Saul is out of the game when Rusty goes to find him. He's living in Florida in a "nice duplex with wall to wall" and he's "seeing a nice lady who works the unmentionables counter at Bloomingdales". He's resistent to the idea of getting involved, but Rusty is able to sway him. He plays the part of the high roller.
Livingston Dell Played By: Eddie Jemison	Livingston is the electronics geek. He is working for the "FBI mob squad" when he's recruited. He provides all hacking and other electronic support for the heist. He's a rather nervous sort, for a criminal.
Reuben Tishkoff Played By: Elliott Gould	Reuben is the bankroll. He thinks that Rusty and Danny are out of their goddamn minds, but he's got a personal axe to grind with Terry Benedict, so he decides to support their endeavor. He lives in Vegas in an enormous house and dresses like a retired 70s porn star.

The Mark

Terry Benedict Played By: Andy Garcia

Terry Benedict owns three casinos in Vegas: The Bellagio, The Mirage and the MGM Grand. And he's planning to blow up one of Reuben's casinos to make way for a new casino. He's also living with Tess Ocean.

The Wild Card

Tess Ocean Played By: Julia Roberts

Tess is the curator of the museum at the Bellagio and lives there with Terry. She and Danny lived in New York prior to his arrest but she had to leave after he went to prison to get her life back together. She thinks Danny is a liar and a thief.

Basic Plot of Ocean's 11
Trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible. But the basic gist of the movie is that Danny gets out of prison, recruits a bunch of his old pals and they plan to rob the vault that houses the money from The Bellagio, The Mirage and the MGM Grand. They're going to pull off this heist on a fight night because of a Nevada Gaming Commission provision that states that casinos must have enough cash on hand to cover every bet in play on the floor (a fictional provision, for what it's worth). They anticipate a take of over $150 million.

The movie takes us through the recruiting, the planning and ultimately the heist. And there are some fun twists along the way that I shall not mention.

Basic Plot of Ocean's 12
Much like the third season of Roswell, the eighth season of Charmed and the last two seasons of Gilmore Girls, the second Ocean's movie leaves a lot to be desired. The script was originally written as a stand-alone movie and then was adapted for the Ocean's franchise after the success of the first film. As a result it's... rather convoluted. And they tried to throw in a romantic subplot that just fell flat.

Tess is the 12th member of the crew this time and, in one of the more clever moments, they drag her into a heist called "a looky loo with a bundle of joy" because she looks just like Julia Roberts (mmm, I love the smell of meta in the morning).

The basic premise is that Terry Benedict tracks down all of the eleven three years after the heist and demands his money back with interest. In order to raise this money, the gang needs to pull another heist and they decide they are still too hot to work in the states, so they jet off to Europe. Unfortunately there are a couple of thorns in their sides: One is Europol detective Isabel Lahiri, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones (*waves to girl!Bel*), who had a relationship with Rusty several years prior. The other is a rival thief called the Night Fox who is intent on proving he is a better thief than the Ocean's gang.

Going any further into detail would require me to try to actually make sense of the plot and I don't have the energy for that.

Basic Plot of Ocean's 13
The third movie brings the action back to Vegas. This time, the crew is reuniting after Reuben suffers a heart attack due to the stress of a business deal gone wrong. Willy Bank, played by Al Pacino, strong arms Reuben into signing over his share of the hotel and casino they were building together and changes the name from 'The Midas' to 'The Bank'.

Danny, Rusty and the rest of the gang decide to break The Bank by simultaneously trashing its reputation and rigging the casino to give huge payouts to the players during the opening, which will get Bank in trouble with his investors.

Tess and Isabel are not featured in the movie (because "it's not their fight" as Danny explains), but there are two new members of the crew. But I'm not going to give any details on them because they would be spoilers.

The third movie brings back the clever wit of the first.



Why should you watch? Because they're fun, light entertainment. Because George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are hot. If you like the witty banter on shows like Gilmore Girls and How I Met Your Mother, you will definitely enjoy the movies (at least the first and third). They are smart and actually contain plot twists that aren't broadcast from the first ten minutes of the films.

All three movies are available on DVD (regular, HD & Blu-Ray). You can buy them separately or in a box set (that link is all three movies in regular DVD format for $25.99).

Have some fun things!

Trailer for Ocean's 11

The Malloys First Scene

A cameo by Holly Marie Combs and some other young Hollywood actors

The Fountain Scene (despite being one of the last scenes of the film, it's actually spoiler free!)

Ocean's 11 - Supernatural Style (this was just too weirdly cool not to include)



And that's that. You probably never want to watch the first movie with me because I will quote along with it. But if you have questions or comments, feel free to share!!

Comments

[demonbelthazor]

Girl!Bel would like to beg to differ that the eighth season of Charmed left a lot to be desired. That should be the 5th-8th seasons. :)

I honestly can't remember much of O12. I <3 O11 & 13, though.

[nugents-shirt.livejournal.com]

There were some redeeming moments in S5-S7. Not many, but a few.

O12 is... really hard to follow.

[flashesforinfo.livejournal.com]

I think I watched Oceans 12 once! ...I don't honestly remember much. It's possible I got confused and/or bored, and fell asleep half way through.

But I've watched the first one So. Many. Times. Love love love.

[nugents-shirt.livejournal.com]

I think I finally figured out what was going on the third time I watched 12... but, yeah, first one is definitely the best.

[izzyalienqueen.livejournal.com]

There was a third season of Roswell? I thought that was just a really bad dream.

[nugents-shirt.livejournal.com]

It was a figment of your imagination.

[thismaskiwear.livejournal.com]

I just feel the need to mention that sadly, the club where they filmed that scene with HMC et al burned down a couple of months ago. :(

I used to work across the street from there. :(

[wasthegroom.livejournal.com]

I only lied about being a thief.