Cannes. Ocean's Thirteen.

"In the Bizarro-world landscape of Cannes, Ocean's Thirteen [site; screening Out of Competition] can actually be seen as a bold departure from the mainstream; after nearly two weeks of slow-mo black and white, grinding poverty in Eastern Europe, subtitled mayhem, suicide, unsimulated sex wrenching teen angst and Dogme-style naturalism, a few movie stars feels like a nice change from the same old same old," writes Cinematical's James Rocchi. "I wish I could tell you that Ocean's Thirteen is pure adult fun, or that it charms your pants off, or that it at least had you guessing how the boys were going to pull it off this time; I can't quite do that. Ocean's Thirteen is pretty much a confection of silly gags, great visuals, male bonhomie and goofy comedic 'suspense.' And I'm not, per se, complaining; you might as well complain that the ocean contains hydrogen, oxygen and salt."

Updated through 5/31.

Glenn Kenny notes that, in his first-impression review, he wrote that "Ocean's Thirteen goes down like a caphirina. Now I see Variety's Todd McCarthy calling it 'as smooth as a good mojito.' I swear we did not work this out."

"No journalist I've spoken to thus far is doing cartwheels over this thing," reports Jeffrey Wells.

"It's one of the smuggest franchises in cinema, but it's also a guilty pleasure to watch," confesses James Christopher in the London Times.

It's all good: "The A-list cast raised 9.2 million dollars (6.8 million euros) at an exclusive charity bash on a yacht off this Riviera resort for Sudanese uprooted by the savage conflict in Darfur," reports Marc Burleigh for the AFP.

Update: Salon's Andrew O'Hehir reports on the press conference: "Soderbergh said that the Ocean's films are actually harder for him to make than his 'serious,' art-house films. Gesturing out at the group of reporters, he said, 'There's an assumption on that side of the room that isn't on this side of the room, an assumption that people who make entertainment films somehow care less about what they're doing.' He added that the Ocean's series has allowed him to experiment with camera motion, editing and, especially in this new film, the exaggerated colors of his Las Vegas setting."

Update, 5/25: "The new film is so listless and logy it needed Michael Moore to take it to Cuba for emergency medical treatment," quips Time's Richard Corliss.

Update, 5/31: "Time's Josh Tyrangiel sat down in Cannes with a very loose George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and series newcomer Ellen Barkin - in her first film role in quite some time and, in case you forgot, kind of a live wire - to discuss politics, Al Pacino, the Pitt-Jolie paparazzi juggernaut, and their favorite leading men. And in Barkin's case, to exploit every possible opportunity for innuendo."

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Cannes @ 60. Index.

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Posted by dwhudson at May 24, 2007 12:23 PM