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 Ocean's 11
Ocean's 12
Ocean's 13
Oh, Mr Porter!
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Ocean's 11
(2001)

Steven Soderbergh said his heart wasn't in this, but he pulls out all the stops to make it fly visually and kinetically, helped no little by David Holmes score. Accusations that it's smug and self-conscious are fair, but this is a breezy stylishly made entertainment. Only Julia Roberts seems at sea.

***1/2


Ocean's 12

(2004)

Most maligned, but the best of the bunch. Soderbergh gets to do a caper, rather than a heist, and it looks like he's having fun. Filled with freeze-frames, flashbacks and dazzling David Holmes music choices, it sneaks by as a Hollywood movie, when it's really an experiment with form. 

 As for the Julia Roberts twist, I found it hilariously bare-faced cheek. Eddie Izzard makes a great addition to the cast, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is lucky to work with Soderbergh a second time, since he makes her seem almost multi-faceted.

****


Ocean's 13
(2007)

Sadly paying too much attention to the drubbing that 12 received, and altogether less inventive and pacey. Pacino's goes through the motions, although Barkin shows her comic chops. Damon has the most fun out of the main ensemble.


***


Oh Mr Porter!
(1938)

Will Hay becomes the Station Master at a small country station in Ireland. Classic scenes abound, including an old man repeating "You're wasting your time!" ad infinitum.

****
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(1975)

A stone cold classic, obviously. About the only actor in this who wasn't subsequently typecast in unhinged roles is Danny De Vito, who is almost unrecognisable. But then he has only played Danny De Vito ever since. Christopher Lloyd is fantastic here, genuinely funny and threatening with none of the ham that later enveloped him.

*****


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