FILM REVIEW OF ''OCEAN'S EIGHT" (2018)

A glossy, polished, female revenge fantasy, crime caper, Gary Ross's "Ocean's Eight," (*** OUT OF ****) starring Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, and Rihanna, amounts to the gender flip-side of Steven Soderbergh's male-oriented heist trilogy "Ocean's Eleven, Twelve, and Thirteen." Comparably, "Ocean's Eight" follows on the high heels of 2016's "Ghostbusters," with Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, and Leslie Jones, that gave gals the starring roles in the remake of the 1984 Bill Murray classic. Predictably, "Ocean's Eight" shares some similarities with Soderbergh's extravagant, predictable, and often madcap epics. "Ocean's Eight," however, isn't as hopelessly fanciful as Soderbergh's "Oceans," but it unfolds in the same land of imaginary Hollywood realism. As Danny Ocean's younger sister Debbie, Sandra Bullock is fashionably appareled throughout this sumptuous PG-13 saga as are her comely conspirators. Like brother Danny, Debbie recruits top-flight talent. If you're afraid the authorities may nab and pack them off to prison, banish that thought. The police are virtually invisible in this elaborate 'mission impossible' theft. Indeed, our heroine flies so low beneath her parole officer's radar that we never see either him or her surprise our heroine with an unscheduled inspection. Make no mistake, "Hunger Games" helmer Gary Ross has made a palatable, attractive, and mildly suspenseful thriller that will probably hold your attention throughout its 11o-minute running time. The flaw in this sophisticated heist caper is our dames walk away without a hair out of place. Inevitably, they encounter some complications in "Ocean's Eight," but they never resort to physical violence. Furthermore, nobody either catches a bullet or dies.



Like the "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) remake, "Ocean's Eight" opens with a contrite Debbie reassuring the authorities at Nichols Women's Prison in New Jersey that she will avoid contact with all former criminal accomplices and family if she gets paroled. "If I were to be released," she sighs, "I would just want the simple life. I just want to hold down a job, make some friends, you know, pay my bills." No sooner has Debbie stepped out of stir than she steals everything in sight that she needs to wallow in the lap of luxury at a swanky motel during her first night out of prison. If you remember "Ocean's Eleven," Danny told his jailors the exact same lies. Debbie's brazen scam at the perfume counter later seems amateurish, but the movie makes it appear smoothly plausible. Meanwhile, she learns that her estranged brother, Danny Ocean, has died. For the record, George Clooney played Danny Ocean in Soderbergh's "Oceans" trilogy. Specifics are never revealed about Danny's demise. Nevertheless, Debbie visits the mausoleum where her older brother has been buried to pay her respects. She toasts Danny's passage with a martini but doesn't shed a tear. Conveniently, one of Danny's closest associates, Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould of "MASH"), shows up on behalf of the fellows but fails to persuade Debbie to cease and desist. Is Danny really dead or is he in hiding? Knowing Danny, Danny is probably holed up someplace. More importantly, this bombshell revelation means no "Oceans 14!" Reportedly, Soderbergh has said in public that he has no plans for another "Ocean's" escapade.



In "Ocean's Eight," Debbie has engineered the whole shebang down to the smallest detail. All of her accomplices will walk away with cool double-digit millions and never have to ever commit another crime. Debbie has no problem recruiting her former partner-in-crime, Lou (Cate Blanchett of "Thor: Ragnarok"), to join her and outlines her audacious plan to rob 'the most exclusive party in America,' the Metropolitan Museum of Art's annual Gala, in New York City. Like Danny, Debbie assembles an A-Team of experts from every field to execute her fool-proof plan. Reluctantly, Lou accommodates Debbie. Together, they enlist an out-of-fashion, fashion designer, Rose Weil (Helena Bonham Carter of "); an Indian jewelry-maker Amita (Mindy Kaling of "A Wrinkle in Time"), an African-American computer hacker, Nine Ball (Rihanna of "Battleship"); a white suburban housewife fence, Tammy (Sarah Paulson of "Serenity"); and an Asian-American pickpocket, Constance (Awkwafina of "Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising"), to pull off this crime of the century. When Amita asks Debbie how long the latter took to concoct her bold scheme, Debbie replies specifically "five years, eight months, and twelve days." As it turns out, this is the length of time that Debbie spent in prison for a crime she didn't commit, all owing to a treacherous art dealer, Claude Becker (Richard Armitage of "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey"), who double-crossed and framed her. Not only does Debbie savor the prospect of exacting vengeance on Becker, but she also tells her cohorts they are committing this grand crime for all those little girls aspiring to be career criminals.



Principally, Debbie and her partners dupe an arrogant but glamorous movie starlet, Daphne Kluger (Anne Hathaway of "Love & Other Drugs"), into serving as their innocent accomplice. They hoodwink Kluger into hiring Rose Weil to dress her for the gala. Rose insists Daphne wear the legendary Toussaint, a world-renowned, six-pound, Cartier diamond necklace that has been locked up in an underground vault for the last fifty years. Initially, the Cartier people refuse to let the Toussaint, a bauble valued at $150 million, see the light of day. Reluctantly, they agree, and two seasoned security experts safeguard the necklace. Meanwhile, Tammy infiltrates the company coordinating the gala and works from within, acquiring all kinds of invaluable information. Nine Ball hacks into the security system to pinpoint the arrangement of all surveillance cameras. Inevitably, Debbie and company must separate Daphne from the Toussaint. This sequence with poor Daphne crouched over a toilet hurling her guts out is simply sidesplitting. Although he doesn't drum up white-knuckled, nail-biting suspense designed to keep you teetering on the edge of your seat, director Gary Ross never lets the momentum lag for a moment with a charismatic cast and splendid cinematography. An ideal gals' night out opus, "Ocean's Eight" qualifies as above-average with its cornucopia of humor compensating for its conspicuous scarcity of suspense.

FILM REVIEW OF "THE KILLERS'' (1946)

“Son of Dracula” director Robert Siodmak, who emigrated from Germany after Joseph Goebbels drove him out of the Fatherland, made a specialty of what French film theorist Nino Frank called ‘film noir.’ These gritty, black & white melodramas usually occurred in an urban setting and involved unsavory criminal types as well as cops. Women—designated as femme fatales--often lured gullible men to their doom like the sirens did to sailors in ancient Greek myths. Although some scenes take place during daylight hours, most film noir thrillers unfold after dark. Metaphorically, film noir involve flawed protagonists suffering from some psychological neuroses. Siodmak’s “The Killers” (**** out of ****)epitomizes vintage film noir. “Black Friday” lenser Woody Bredell captures the fatalistic look of film noir, and Siodmark incorporates several mirror image scenes as they depict the solution to a mysterious robbery and the demise of all the conspirators. Basically, nobody winds up with what they set out to get in "The Killers" starting with the eponymous villains when they order supper at a lunch wagon.

“The Stranger” scenarist Anthony Veiller, along with John Huston and Richard Brooks (neither received credit for their contributions), adapted Ernest Hemingway’s famous short story that Scribner’s Magazine had published in its March 1927 issue. Siodmak and his scribes kept most of the short story intact. The short story dealt with two tough-guy gunmen who occupied a Midwestern dinner in a small town and waited to kill a prizefighter named ‘Swede’ Anderson. Undoubtedly influenced by the narrative flashbacks in “Citizen Kane,” the filmmakers forge the remainder of this concise 103 minute film with flashbacks galore as various individuals discuss their relationship with a curious lone wolf insurance investigator who cannot get over the fact that the Swede accepted his inevitable death at the hands of the gunmen without trying to defend himself. The puzzled investigator exhausts every single clue in the case and winds up solving a 6 year old hat factory robbery and recovers a portion of the loot.

“The Killers” opens after dark as two gunsels in fedoras and trench coats, Max (William Conrad) and Al (Charles McGraw of "The Narrow Margin"), cruise into the cozy hamlet of Brentwood, New Jersey, check out the Tri-States Gas Station and then step over to Henry’s lunch counter a little before 6 PM when supper is served and set up an ambush to kill ‘Swede’ Anderson. The diner owner warns them that if the ‘Swede’ doesn’t show at 6 PM then he isn’t going to show. The gunmen leave Henry’s dinner and he unties his black cook and a customer, Nick Adams. Adams (Phil Brown) works with the Swede at the gas station. Henry sends Nick off to warn the Swede (Burt Lancaster in his film debut) before the gunmen can find him. Nick warns the Swede, but the Swede refuses to flee. “I once did something bad,” he explains to Nick. Later, Max and Al barge into his room and shoot the Swede eight times. All we see is the flash of their firearms barking off-camera as they perforate the Swede.

Riordan (Edmond O’Brien of “DOA”) investigates claims for an insurance company. He learns that the Swede left $2,500 to a beneficiary. Riordan questions Nick about the Swede. The flashbacks begin with Nick’s story about the Swede meeting an out-of-town motorist who makes him so queasy that he takes a day off of work and lies in the darkness of his boarding house. Initially, Riordan’s boss, R.S. Kenyon (Donald MacBride of “Room Service”), considers it a nickel and dime case and wants Riordan on another case. Riordan convinces Kenyon to give him more time. Riordan calls on Philadelphia Police Detective Lieutenant Sam Lubinsky (Sam Levene of “Golden Boy”) who not only grew up with the Swede but later arrested him for theft and sent him to prison for three years. Lubinsky tells Riordan about the Swede's ill-fated boxing days and later how he fell into bad company. Lubinsky arrested his own childhood friend on a theft charge because the Swede refused to let him arrest his flame Kitty on a shoplifting charge. Riordan attends the Swede’s funeral that Lubinsky and his wife, Lilly Harmon Lubinsky (Virginia Christine of the Folgers Coffee commercials), have arranged and asks about another funeral guest.

Charleston (Vince Barrett of “Scarface”) shared a prison cell with the Swede for two years. He tells Riordan his side of the story. In the flashback, Charleston contacts the Swede as soon as he got out of prison about a job. The Swede joins the ring of criminals led by ‘Big’ Jim Colfax (Albert Dekker of “The Wild Bunch”), a trigger-happy goon, Dum Dum Clarke (Jack Lambert of “Vera Cruz”), and Blinky Franklin (Jeff Corey of “True Grit”). Charleston refuses to participate in the robbery caper because he thinks that it is too big and will end in failure. He explains that he will never go back to prison and lives only for 'easy pickings.'
Riordan learns that Colfax, Clarke, Franklin and the Swede robbed the Prentiss Hat factory from a single lead, a green silk bandana with an Irish harp on it. An incredulous Kenyon reads about the robbery.

While Kenyon reads about the robbery on the soundtrack, Siodmak presents the robbery in a single take with a crane shot. Clearly, Siodmak knew his craft to pull off this complicated camera movement. This scene exemplifies Siodmak’s finesse with the mise-en-scene. Touches like this one elevate “The Killers” and make it look better than it convoluted story. Indeed, Veiller, Huston, and Brooks expand the scope of the action, going back seven years to depict the Swede’s victories and successes. Usually, the Swede lost. He goes soft on a dame, Kitty (Ava Gardner of “Whistle Stop”) and takes a fall for her so that she won’t land in prison. The remainder of “The Killers” deals with caper that Big Jim cooks up. When the Swede joins them, he is surprised to see Kitty as Big Jim’s squeeze. Later, Big Jim and the Swede fight over a card game. Big Jim hates the Swede and tries to cut him out of the robbery. The Swede trumps him because Kitty tells him about the new rendezvous and he swipes the $250-thousand from Colfax, Clarke, and Blinky.

“The Killers” qualifies as a top-notch film noir caper. Burt Lancaster became a star as did his co-star Ava Gardner. The irony is the Swede never had a chance with Kitty. He took a dive for her and she still tricked him. The theme of fate pervades “The Killers.” The Swede knows he’ll never escape either fate or the gunsels. Siodmak coaxes solid performances from a talented cast. Lancaster is simply dazzling as the thick headed Swede who goes dizzy over Kitty and is destroyed by her treachery. Ava Gardner looks spectacular as the cunning Kitty, while Albert Dekker is appropriately perfidious as Colfax. He uses Kitty to trick not only the Swede into thinking that he has robbed Colfax and his pals, but also he eliminates his conspirators—Dum Dum and Blinky—by letting the Swede take the loot. The plot twists and the ending when Kitty finds her neck finally caught in the noose of fate is outstanding. Film noir not only cheats the villains but it also cheats Riordan. Initially, Riordan is elated because he solved the six-year old robbery, but Kenyon points out:"Owing to your splendid efforts, the basic rate of the Atlantic Casualty Company as of 1947 will probably drop one-tenth of a cent." “The Killers” is powerful stuff.