"Ocean's Thirteen"

Title: "Ocean's Thirteen"

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Producers: Jerry Weintraub
Editing: Stephen Mirrione
Composer: David Holmes
Starring:
- George Clooney as Daniel Ocean
- Brad Pitt as Rusty Ryan
- Matt Damon as Linus Caldwell
- Bernie Mac as Frank Catton
- Elliott Gould as Reuben Tishkoff
- Casey Affleck as Virgil Malloy
- Scott Caan as Turk Malloy
- Eddie Jemison as Livingston Dell
- Don Cheadle as Basher Tarr
- Shaobo Qin as "The Amazing" Yen
- Carl Reiner as Saul Bloom
- Andy García as Terry Benedict
- Al Pacino as Wilyl Bank
- Ellen Barkin as Abigail Sponder

- Vincent Cassel as Francois Toulour

Plot and Critical Review: In an effort to legitimize himself in his later years, Reuben Tishkoff is conned by Willy Bank when Bank forces Tishkoff to sign over the ownership rights of the new hotel/casino/resort they were building together. Reuben suffers a heart attack from the betrayal and becomes bed-ridden. Danny Ocean, after attempting to negotiate with Bank, gathers up his partners-in-crime and plans to completely ruin Bank on the night of the opening of the casino, "The Bank", as a way to get revenge for Reuben. They decide to do so in two ways.

First, they plan to prevent Bank's new hotel from winning the prestigious Five Diamond Award from the Royal Review board, which Bank has won four times before for other casinos or resort properties. Saul Bloom poses as the reviewer of the board, while the real reviewer, a self-proclaimed "Very Unimportant Person", is treated poorly during his stay through Ocean's associates and the staff of the hotel on Danny's payroll.

The second plan is to rig the casino's slot machines and other games to force the hotel to pay out more than $500 million in winnings. But it's not a simple case of crossing some wires as it requires them to defeat "The Greco", a state-of-the-art artificial intelligence system that monitors all of the games and gamers in the casino. They plan to trick Bank into carrying a cell phone equipped with a magnetron (a device which generates and emits microwaves) to disrupt "The Greco". To assure that players cash out and claims as much money as possible, Ocean's team acquires one of the giant drills used to bore the Channel Tunnel to simulate an earthquake under the hotel on its gala opening night.

While the group prepares the rigged games, they run into problems when the drill fails. Ocean is forced to approach his nemesis Terry Benedict to fund the purchase of the second drill. While Benedict has a grudge against Bank and is willing to help, he only offers Ocean the funds if they also steal the four other Diamond Awards Bank has won, now on display in a secured case in the upper most room of the hotel. Ocean plans for Linus Caldwell to seduce Bank's assistant, Abigail Sponder, to gain access to the display and switch the diamonds with fakes.

Opening night arrives. As Ocean's plan goes into action agents from the FBI arrive to investigate the presence of rigged machines. They take Livingston Dell's prints off the rigged machines (Dell was the one who rigged those particular machines before the heist went into action) and use it to generate a list of Dell's known associates - Ocean's "Eleven". Basher distracts Bank long enough to allow the gang to change the FBI records. Linus is arrested by the lead agent who turns out to be his father who is also in on Ocean's plan and there to help Linus swap the diamonds. As they exit to the roof of the hotel for extraction via helicopter they are taken at gunpoint by Toulour whom Benedict had ordered to intercept the diamonds. Linus and Bobby hand over the diamonds to Toulour who escapes but discovers he only holds the fakes, for Ocean had been aware of Toulour's presence all along and had arranged for Linus and Bobby to extract the entire display case from the hotel with the helicopter. Bank rushes out of the casino just in time to see his diamonds in flight.

The remainder of Ocean's plan continues as planned with the Greco disabled and guests leaving the casino with their winnings. As Bank realizes his ruin, Ocean lets him know that they did everything for Reuben. The group uses the money they made off with to buy property north of the Las Vegas Strip for Reuben to build his own casino. As punishment for Benedict's treachery, Ocean donates his portions of the take to charity, forcing Benedict to publicly admit his (false) philanthropy. As the group disperses, Rusty ensures that the "Very Unimportant Person" is compensated by allowing him to win an eleven million dollar jackpot at a rigged slot machine at the airport.

Watching a good cinematic trilogy can be as satisfying as listening to one of the great symphonies of Beethoven or Mozart; while there are distinct thoughts and ideas throughout the work, once it ends you feel as if you've only been listening to one piece of music or, in this case, watching one really long movie. Even though the "Ocean's" franchise suffered in "The Dip" of sequel-induced failure, the third installment helped to revive interest in the films and closed the series in a way that honored and applauded the time, energy, and talent that had been spent over the 6 years (approximate) of production. That Danny's crew should end up back in Las Vegas and once again at odds with Terry Benedict only sweetens the sense of completion and "full circleness" we feel when watching a film series.

My Rating: 7/10

Content to Caution:
V-1.5 - Fistfights here and there, but no outright or overwhelming violence.
L-2.5 - In keeping with the previous films.
DU-1.5 - Drinking and smoking.
RT-0 - No comment.
H/S-0 - No comment.
CH-2 - No comment.
S/N-1.5 - Form-fitting outfits abound. One scene of attempted romance. No sexual nudity.

The "Reel Revelation": "Being A Team Player - Pt. 3"

We know that we belong to the "Body of Christ", and that we are individual members of God's family on Earth. We know that God has given each of us special gifts by which to serve a very special function within His Body. We pray for peace in our position and seek to make the most of the opportunities we have, that we might honor God by using His gifts to serve His people, bring the lost to God's love, and extend God's Kingdom. And yet, we must look beyond our individual gifts and callings to the "Body" at large and ask, "Where are we going?" If we really are a body, ought we not ask in what direction we're supposed to be moving? And should God respond are we, as the "Body", prepared to go where He calls?

St. Paul said that he was pressing "on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:14). Even if you've never run an actual race you certainly know what it means to win a prize! But what is Paul really focusing on here, the "prize" or the "goal"? Moving ahead to the end of the chapter, we get a glimpse at the "prize" and the "goal':

"For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself." (20-21)

Eternal Life. Could there be any higher "goal"? Could there be any greater "prize"?

These words should stir within us the deep desire for Eternity and the everlasting joys of Heaven. Oh, to be with Christ and dwell with Him and the Father and the Spirit in that great mansion! How many blissful conversations have you had that included speculations and ponderings about what Heaven will be like? How many times have you listed all of the questions you want to ask God? How long is the list of all the saints you want to sit and talk with? Such conversation is encouraging and inspiring, for it reminds us of what is waiting for us. Just as an amateur athlete might look upon a championship trophy and say "This is my prize, though I've yet to win it", so too do we gaze at the stars and imagine the everlasting land that awaits us, the "prize" of we've yet to embrace.

But our daydreams fade and we awake to a dark and sinister world. Jesus wasn't just being poetic when He said that we'd be sent out "as sheep amongst wolves" (Matt. 10:16). Our daily struggles with sin and the sinful blur our vision and cause us to forget the Heavenly prize, the Eternal goal. To this end St. Peter encourages us:

"Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness,and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 1:5-8)

Are you striving for that "true knowledge"? St. Peter gives us quite the check-list of virtues, but to know that they will produce within us the "true knowledge" of Christ ought to be all the motivation we need. Not only will that "knowledge" keep us in harmony with the will of God for our individual lives; it will help us to see the work of the "Body" at large and remind us that we are all running the race of faith together. By that same powerful and divine "knowledge" we learn how to grow nearer to Christ through devotion and righteous living. We also learn how to encourage those around us who are running the very same race and chasing after the same "goal" and "prize" of God!

Press on!

Strive!

March on!

The King awaits.

See, He walks with us, indeed.

See you tomorrow - E.T.