Let's All Go To The Movies: Big Ocean

This week's Big Movie: Ocean's Thirteen! It’s a real surprise how divided the critics are about this one! Sure it’s franchising, sure it’s full of top shelf men in designer clothes and high-end accoutrement, but we thought it was all kicks and giggles. Groucho Reviews's Peter Cavanese however, says, “the plot of Thirteen is old, old news.”

Many, like Roger Ebert, expressed their exhaustion with this trope -- Scott Floundas of the Village Voice Media Collective went as far as to say that “this time the con is on the audience," and the Bay Guardian found Ellen Barkin's role somewhat sexist. Your local mainstream media critics, though (The Chron's Mick LaSalle, the Examiner's Rossiter Drake, and the Merc News's Bruce Newman) all thought it was perfectly fine.

We’re none too grouchy. Admittedly slick and shiny and lots of other bad sounding words for “expensive,” the film is still fun. It’s witty and clever and makes no real effort to pull the wool over your eyes. It’s really just expecting you to be on your toes. Maybe fitting we describe the film in clichés? Hard to say. Direction is still high grade (Soderberg after all), acting is great, the storyline of this one was more endearing than the others, even with all the love interest and family tension those others involved. However, the critics aren’t saying much about the film’s fuzzy points.

Filmstew.com’s Richard Horgan was a touch more charitable, writing, “It’s not as good as the first, better than the second," while SlashFilm's Peter Scierra was like, it's all kind of unbelievable, but not unfun either. Hm. That’s just what we thought of Pirates 3.

This may become one of those films that’s loved by fans and speared by critics. A reviewer on the Brisbane-based Rotten Tomatoes, Susan Granger, even called it a “guilty pleasure.” Few things get the critics sharpening their pencils faster.

SFist Sara, contributing.