Down By Law (1986)

2/5

Jim Jarmusch's Down By Law was an utter disappointment. The plot follows three prisoners (Benigni, Waits, Lurie) as they are sent to jail and as they escape. The movie plods along at a laborious pace; reviewers infatuated with Mr. Jarmusch may call it something more flattering like patient or rambling. Whatever you call it, it practically put me to sleep. The acting is atrocious and amateurish, although I wouldn't be surprised if someone told me it was meant to be "realist," "cinéma vérité," or some other elitist excuse for being bad. The actual filmmaking is just as low-quality as the acting. Quite frankly, this whole movie looks and feels like a film school project. And not just any film school project, but the one made by that weird kid who thinks he's got great ideas but everyone else just sees bad execution. The sound capture was pitiful; there was clearly one audio capture device and it was stuck on the front of the camera. And why is it black and white? (Probably ego, to answer my own rhetorical question.) While there was some comedy, I attribute it less to the film as a whole and more to what I can only assume is Mr. Benigni ad-libbing lines. Unless you're a big Jarmusch fan, I would avoid this movie.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090967/

Ocean's Thirteen (2007)

4/5

Ocean's Thirteen is entertainment of the guiltiest form. Although far from an artistic endeavor, it keeps you hooked. You know what will happen, but you watch anyway because the ride is so much fun. With its wonderful tongue-in-cheek style, you can tell just how much the actors were enjoying themselves. The numerous self-references, movie references, and in-jokes prove this. (I am a sucker for Godfather references.) I think Soderbergh really hit home with the style. From the 60's credits to the wipes and zooms, it truly felt like the movies it stole from. The pacing worked exceptionally well and I loved how the stories interweaved. Ocean's Twelve unevenly favored a few characters while most of our favorites were imprisoned and helpless. Here we see everyone working their magic the way we first met them, in perfect synchrony and balance. In this movie, Soderbergh fixed all the mistakes present in Twelve. And Pacino is great as the bad guy. It's a fun movie, so check it out if you liked the others (or at least the first one).

IMDb link: http://imdb.com/title/tt0496806/