What Happened to Ocean's 1-10?: "The Ocean's Trilogy" Review

INTRODUCTIONS: Ocean's 11, 12 and 13 are a series of films directed by Steven Soderbergh and follow the heists performed by a group of thevies that were released in 2001, 2003 and 2007. Ocean's 11 is made up of George Clooney (as Ocean), Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Bernie Mac, Scott Cann, Casey Affleck, Elliott Gould, Carl Reiner, Eddie Jemison and Shaobo Qin. The series also stars Julia Roberts, Andy Garcia, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vincent Cassel, Eddie Izzard, Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino.

THE REVIEWS: Ocean's Eleven is easily to best of the series. This comes mainly by the fact that here is where the large cast is used the best. Each characters has their own personality, story and moments to shine. The heist is also the best, with the whole thing coming together nicely at the end. However, the film is not very memorable. Nothing in the film really goes above and beyond. This however might work to the film's advantage, as it increases the replay factor of the movie.
    Ocean's Twelve is very good at doing the opposite of what made Ocean's Eleven good. Taking a large cast and making them each memorable? Na, let's only focus on Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Julia Roberts. Pretty sad when the character your movie is named after is the fourth most inportant character. A pace that makes the movie feel just right? Nope, Ocean's Twelve overly breezy pacing makes the film feel shorter than it actually is. And that's not a good thing. Have a heist movie with ACTUAL FREAKING HEISTS? WRONG. GUESS AGAIN! The film has not one, not two, not even three, but TWO heists and somehow they forget to talk about them. Remember how Eleven's one heist took up almost the last hour of the film. Twelve's TWO heist take up about ten minutes of the 125-minute movie. The one thing that keeps this movie from absolute failure is an hilarious extended cameo by Bruce Willis.
    Ocean's Thirteen is a thankful return to form for the series. The cast is all giving their A-game yet again. The heist is different and entertaining. Al Pacino serves as a great new villian. And yet, the film can't help but feel unneccesary. No matter how fun the proccedings get, the film still feel like a rehashing of the first. Maybe it's returning to the Vegas setting. Maybe it's Andy Garcia's entirely unneeded role in the film. I don't know, but at least Thirteen is fun and memorable.

THE VERDICTS: In the end, Ocean's Eleven is the first and the best. The large cast is memorable and well used and the heist is extremely well-done. However, the film's lack of memorablility leave the movie 5 out of 6.
    Ocean's Twelve makes the most out of a Bruce Willis cameo, but, when alls said and done, the overly quick pace and mistake of not using much of the cast leaves the film struggling to keep things fun. Especially when the film decides Brad Pitt's melodramatic love life is more entertaining that the film's heists. Overall, 2 out of 6.
    Ocean's Thirteen brings the series back from the dead by actual having heists and using the talented cast. The new players are a welcome edition, even though the film feels like a rehashing of the first. 4.5 out of 6.

Back to the 1940s: "LA Noire and Back to the Future: The Game" Review

INTRODUCTIONS: LA Noire is Rockstar Studios newest game. The gmae follows Cole Phelps, an LAPD detective as he solves cases and catches criminals. Back to the Future: The Game follow Marty McFly as he goes back to the 1930s to rescue Doc Brown. This reviews the PS3 versions.

THE REVIEWS: LA Noire is obviously drastically different from Rockstar's other games Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto 4. In those games, for the most part, you played what many people would think as "bad guys'. In LA Noire, you play as a police officer, which is clearly a welcome change. Long story short this game is good. Noire does an expert job at actually making you feel like a detective. The graphics, especially the famous face animation, is fantastic. The characters are likable and the ending is quite possibly Rockstar's best yet.
    However, the game does have some major flaws. Like, even though the characters are good, they are definately the least memorable protagonists in a Rockstar game. The game may also be Rockstar's shortest. With 21 cases to do, all at varying lengths, the games, while a decent size, does feel a little short. However, that may be because the sandbox in this game is not very interesting. There just isn't enough to do. The game also has problem with variety. The game tends to have you work basically the smae cases over and over with only minor differences.
    Back to the Future: The Game was somewhat cleverly broken up into 5 downloadable chunks. The good news is that the game feels like the long-lost fouth movie. It's every bit as smart, funny and exciting as the other three films. However, gameplay-wise, the game can be a little to boring and repetitive to satasfiy some gamers.

THE VERDICTS: LA Noire is one of the most gripping and fun game when it's good. However, when it's bad, it's boring and lazy. Overall, it's THEATER-WORTHY. Back to the Future: The Game captures the spirit of the movies very well, but faulters when it comes to gameplay. Overall, it's Recommended (Just Not At Full Price).