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WARNER BROS.

MOVIE INFO
Director:
Steven Soderbergh
Cast:
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts
Screenplay:
Ted Griffin

Synopsis:
Danny Ocean and his ten accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.


Box Office:
Budget:
$85 million.
Opening Weekend:
$38.107 million on 3075 screens.
Domestic Gross:
$183,417,150.


MPAA:
Rated PG-13.

DISC DETAILS
Presentation:
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
Audio:
English DTS-HD MA 5.1
French Dolby 5.1
Quebecois French Dolby 5.1
Spanish Dolby 5.1
Castillian Dolby 2.0
German Dolby 5.1
Italian Dolby 5.1
Czech Dolby 5.1
Subtitles:
English
French
Spanish
Castillian
Danish
Dutch
Finnish
German
Italian
Czech
Norwegian
Chinese
Swedish
Closed-captioned
Supplements Subtitles:
English
French
Spanish
German
Italian
Dutch
Chinese

Runtime: 116 min.
Price: $39.99
Release Date: 4/30/2024

Bonus:
• Audio commentary with Director Steven Soderbergh and Writer Ted Griffin
• Audio Commentary with Actors Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Andy Garcia
• “Are You In or Out?” Featurette
• “Pros and Cons” Featurette
• “The Style of the Steal” Featurette
• “The Look of the Con” Featurette
• “Original Ocean’s, Original Cool” Featurette


PURCHASE @ AMAZON.COM

EQUIPMENT
-LG OLED65C6P 65-Inch 4K Ultra HD Smart OLED TV
-Marantz SR7010 9.2 Channel Full 4K Ultra HD AV Surround Receiver
-Sony UBP-X700 4K Ultra HD Dolby Vision Blu-ray Player
-Chane A2.4 Speakers
-SVS SB12-NSD 12" 400-watt Sealed Box Subwoofer


RELATED REVIEWS


Ocean's Eleven [4K UHD] (2001)

Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (April 29, 2024)

Steven Soderbergh experienced a remarkable year in 2000, a year during which he released two films: Erin Brockovich and Traffic. The former took in $256 million worldwide and nabbed Julia Roberts an Oscar as Best Actress, while the latter made $207 million globally and also earned a few Oscars.

In addition, both flicks scored nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Soderbergh went home with the latter trophy for Traffic.

To recap: two box office successes that captured a total of five Oscars, including two of the five most significant awards. So what became the logical next step for Soderbergh? Why, to direct a star-studden caper flick based on a Rat Pack affair, of course!

Yes folks, that’s sarcasm, for Soderbergh’s choice to remake 1960’s Ocean’s 11 seemed strange. But I guess Steve knew best.

The 2001 version of Eleven didn’t duplicate the Oscar success of Soderbergh’s 2000 offerings, s it failed to snare a single nomination. However, it did turn into the biggest financial success of the bunch, as it grossed a whopping $450 million total – or nearly $200 million more than Brockovich and Traffic combined.

Considering the level of “A”-list talent in the cast, I suppose that didn’t seem tough to do, though we should note the number of box office flops in which some of the actors have appeared. Heck, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts bombed with The Mexican in 2001, so Eleven definitely wasn’t a sure thing.

However, the combination of star power and hot director apparently turned into too much for audiences to ignore. It also didn’t hurt that Eleven offered a light and frothy little flick that seemed consistently entertaining.

Paroled from jail in New Jersey, scam artist Danny Ocean (George Clooney) immediately plans his return to crime, and in a big way: he wants to steal well over $100 million from some Las Vegas casinos. Ocean develops a slick plan, one that connects Ocean with his potential co-conspirators.

Initially he snares right hand man Rusty Ryan (Pitt), and they go to work on the other nine. Piece by piece, they add pickpocket Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon), pyrotechnician Basher Tarr (Don Cheadle), inside man Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), drivers/general nuisances Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk (Scott Caan) Malloy, electronics expert Livingston Dell (Edward Jemison), “grease man” gymnast the Amazing Yen (Shaobo Qin), and retired vet Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), who’ll pretend to be a high roller to get some vault access.

A man with a personal connection to the target, former Vegas tycoon Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) bankrolls the project. The crew wants to hit casinos run by jillionaire Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) because he put Tishkoff out of business via underhanded methods.

Tishkoff isn’t the only one with personal reasons to go after Benedict, as it turns out that Danny’s ex-wife Tess (Julia Roberts) now dates the Vegas bigwig. Danny clearly still pines after her, so it’s obvious this fact plays into his decision to nail Benedict’s funds.

Except for some small detours when Danny connects with Tess, the narrative revolves around the heist. No other backstory or “personal moments” or melodrama manifest, so we get a lean little tale that keeps its focus on the action.

That tightness really helps make Eleven a success, for we find so little filler on display that the film flies by rapidly. It careens from situation to situation quickly but not in a gratuitous or rushed manner, as Soderbergh simply keeps things going briskly. This means the film seems breezy and taut at the same time.

The killer cast helps. Many films feature bloated star-studded conglomerations of actors, but much of the time, those attempts flop because they just lack enough room for all those oversized personalities. They’re used to being the main attractions and can’t deal with secondary status.

Amazingly, that doesn’t occur during Eleven. Just like the musicians who recorded “We Are the World” had to “check their egos at the door”, it seems that the many big names of Eleven managed to do the same.

We find a true ensemble piece in which no one steps on or overshadows the others. The actors seem to respect each other, and they interact splendidly.

It feels eminently clear they experienced a great time, and that fun tone comes through at all times. (Someone needs to fire Cheadle’s dialect coach, however, as he provides the worst British accent on record.)

Some criticized Eleven because it delivers a light flick that never gets serious. These folks miss the point, as Eleven works because it gives us a light flick that never gets serious.

I guess when you win the Oscar for Best Director, you can only create deep and meaningful movies with a strong social message - y’know, kinda like Traffic.

I’m glad Soderbergh decided to take it easy. I actually think Soderbergh seems to work best with lighter material like 1998’s Out of Sight, which I feel remains his best film.

That movie topsEleven just because it provides a stronger sense of relationship and characters, and it comes from superior source material as well. Obviously an Elmore Leonard novel beats a second-rate hipster movie from the 1960s.

The two flicks share basic plot similarities and a hip tone, but not much more. Except for Ocean himself, the characters come with different names, backstories and personalities.

During the audio commentary on this disc, writer Ted Griffin states that he studiously avoided simply rehashing the older film and tried to use it more as an inspiration. That became a good choice given the thinness of the original.

Eleven doesn’t offer a film after which you’ll enjoy long discussions with friends, and you won’t ponder it for hours. You’ll watch it, you’ll have a blast, you’ll want to watch it again.

I don’t think entertainment for entertainment’s sake is a bad thing. It’s especially wonderful when it’s executed as splendidly as Ocean’s Eleven.


The Disc Grades: Picture A-/ Audio B/ Bonus B+

Ocean’s Eleven appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K product, this edition looked great.

Sharpness worked well. The only softness related from photographic choices, so the vast majority of the movie seemed accurate and tight.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Grain felt light but consistent, and print flaws remained absent.

Typical of Steven Soderbergh’s films, the movie offered stylized hues that meant a broad and vivid color schemes, and the 4K replicated these tones well. Soderbergh apparently likes for colors to border on oversaturation, and that happened here.

However, the hues remained vivid and tight throughout the movie, as they just managed to keep from crossing that line. HDR gave the colors added vivacity and impact.

Black levels looked nicely deep and rich, and shadow detail felt appropriately heavy without any excessive darkness. Whites and contrast got a nice boost from HDR. Across the board, the movie gave us a terrific image.

As for the film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, it didn’t excel, but it did its job. The soundfield remained fairly heavily oriented toward the front spectrum.

In that domain, the music offered solid stereo imaging, and effects seemed natural and well defined. Those elements spread cleanly across the forward channels, where they showed good blending, and panning appeared smooth and natural.

Surround usage seemed limited but acceptable. The rear speakers reinforced the film’s music and they also occasionally offered decent effects support.

Admittedly, these channels remained fairly passive much of the time, but they came to life acceptably during scenes like those at the casino or the dog track. Actually, the boxing match provided the strongest surround action, and the demolition of the hotel also gave us a good auditory segment.

Audio quality also seemed positive. Speech came across natural and distinct, and I never encountered any concerns related to intelligibility or edginess.

Effects seemed clear and accurate, and they provided the film’s strongest examples of subwoofer usage. For instance, the building demolition kicked in some good LFE.

Music provided clean and bright highs and fairly solid lows. Ultimately, the soundtrack of Ocean’s Eleven failed to make a strong enough impression to merit more than a “B”.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray from 2008? Both came with similar soundscapes, but the 4K’s lossless audio seemed richer and fuller compare to the BD’s lossy track.

As for the 4K’s visuals, they brought a massive upgrade over the mushy Blu-ray. With superior accuracy, colors and blacks as well as the elimination of the BD’s speckles, the 4K trounced the problematic prior release.

The 4K brings pre-existing extras, and we find two audio commentaries. The first comes from director Steven Soderbergh and writer Ted Griffin, both of whom were recorded together for this running, screen-specific track.

I enjoyed the Soderbergh commentaries I heard in the past for both Out of Sight and The Limey. Interestingly, those two also paired the director with their films’ authors.

This usually makes for some nice chemistry between Soderbergh and the writers, and the track for Ocean’s Eleven follows suit. On the negative side, it starts somewhat slowly, and it suffers from too many empty spaces.

However, the content of the track helps make up for those flaws. At the start, Griffin dominates the commentary and it appears to take a while for Soderbergh to get into a groove.

That eventually occurs, and the two riff off of each other nicely. They cover a slew of topics, as we learn about technical considerations, dealing with the original subject material, working with the actors, and many other topics. While the track’s flaws keep it from being a great one, it still seems very interesting and informative.

In addition, we get a second commentary from actors Brad Pitt, Andy Garcia and Matt Damon. Actor commentaries often end up as disappointments.

When I hear of them, they always sound enticing. I mean, how could it not be cool to hear Chevy Chase discuss European Vacation or listen to Arnold Schwarzenegger chat up Total Recall?

In reality, many of these tracks fall flat, and I can think of very few actor’s commentaries that I actually enjoyed. Many of the good one involved Brad Pitt, so that got my hopes up for the second Eleven track. Unfortunately, even with Pitt, it falls short of expectations.

From what I could tell, Pitt sat on his own, while Garcia and Damon got recorded together. Ala the Eric Idle/John Cleese/Michael Palin track for Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the track’s producer’s make it sound as though all three chatted in the same place.

However, based on the way they refer to each other, it seems fairly clear that Pitt taped elsewhere. His remarks got deftly edited into the Damon/Garcia track to create a pretty seamless piece.

Whatever the case, the three offer a rather spotty commentary. On the positive side, they prove to be charming and engaging, and they offer some fun anecdotes about the shoot.

As always, Pitt provides a number of biting statements and good laughs, especially when he cracks on Clooney. Damon add a funny impersonation of producer Jerry Weintraub as well, and the commentary always feels loose and lively.

However, it loses points for a couple of reasons. For one, quite a few empty spots appear throughout the commentary.

Significant minutes pass without information. In addition, the three meander into broad praise too much of the time.

While I feel disappointed by the commentary’s inconsistencies, I still like it. Just don’t expect a stellar track.

Found on the prior Blu-ray, The Look of the Con goes for nine minutes, 40 seconds and concentrates on the film’s clothing. We hear from Soderbergh, Pitt, Garcia, Griffin, costume designer Jeffrey Kurland, and actors Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and Carl Reiner.

Despite the moderately extended roster of speakers, Kurland offers the lion’s share of the data as he covers how he approached clothes design for the actors. It’s an informative and entertaining look at this element of the process, and it seems useful.

The remaining four featurettes already appeared on a bonus disc from the Ocean’s Collection Blu-ray set. Are You In or Out? runs 28 minutes, eight seconds.

It involves Soderbergh, Griffin, Clooney, Reiner, Garcia, Roberts, Damon, Pitt, producer Jerry Weintraub, writers Brian Koppelman and David Levien, special effects coordinator Kevin Hannigan, 2nd ADs Basti van der Woude and Trey Batchelor, editor Stephen Mirrione, 1st AD Gregory Jacobs, production designer Philip Messina, film journalist Anthony Kaufman, and actors Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Topher Grace, Elliott Gould, Don Cheadle and Eddie Jemison.

“In” examines the decision to remake the 1960 version and the 2001 flick’s development, story/characters, cast and performances, editing and visual design, sets and locations, and related domains. Though we get an awful lot of praise here, “In” offers enough useful content to merit a look.

Pros and Cons lasts 13 minutes. Here we find remarks from Soderbergh, Gould, Pitt, Jemison, Clooney, Cheadle, Mac, Griffin, Koppelman, Levien, Reiner, Damon, and crime novelist Gary Phillips.

Here we get more thoughts about the movies’ characters. Phillips offers neat insights about how the “Eleven” fit some genre standards, but this feels like a fairly superficial piece in general.

After this we go to The Style of Steal. In this 10-minute, 48-second reel, we get info from Soderbergh, Damon, Clooney, Jacobs, Garcia, Paymer, Griffin, Phillips, Koppelman, Levien, Kurland, Entertainment Weekly Senior Writer Geoff Boucher, Vanity Fair Senior Editor Krista Smith, and costume designer Milena Canonero.

Though I thought “Steal” would be about fashion and clothes, and it occasionally covers those subjects. However, much of it looks at the movies’ notion of “cool”, so it’s less informative than expected.

Original Ocean’s, Original Cool spans 13 minutes, 48 seconds. It delivers statements from Clooney, Soderbergh, Mac, Boucher, Weintraub, Koppelman, Levien, Rat Pack Confidential author Shawn Levy, Sinatra biographer Bill Zehme, Sinatra friend/co-manager Tony Oppedisano, Esquire fashion editor Nick Sullivan, writer/producer Sandy Hackett, and writer Kario Salem.

“Cool” discusses the Rat Pack and aspects of the 1960 Ocean’s. Like the rest of the disc’s programs, it combines facts with happy talk. Still, it gives us a passable overview of the Rat Pack.

Note that the 4K drops three trailers and an HBO “First Look” featurette from the Blu-ray.

Easily superior to the 1960 original, Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Eleven becomes a blast. The film manages a wonderfully light and brisk tone that makes it a consistent delight. The 4K UHD provides excellent visuals, fairly good audio and a mix of supplements. This easily turns into the best version of the movie ever to hit home video.

Note that Ocean’s Eleven can either be purchased solo via a steelbook package or as part of a three-disc “Ocean’s Trilogy” set that also includes 2004’s Ocean’s Twelve and 2007’s Ocean’s Thirteen. The latter lacks the fancy steelbook cases but it comes at a much cheaper price.

Each steelbook lists for about $40, whereas the three-movie set retails for around $60. If you love steelbooks, then go that route, but otherwise the “Trilogy” becomes the way to go, as it allows viewers to own all the flicks for half the cost of the three individual releases.

To rate this film visit the original review of OCEAN'S ELEVEN

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Review Archive:  # | A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z | Viewer Ratings | Main