(no subject)

[jfb]

Some things I did last night:

1. Went to the Nomad Café, a cool little fair-trade coffeehouse in Oakland, to enjoy a set by Nate Cooper. Talked to the owner about booking an Altamont Pass show ("that's a great name", he said, so that's step one). Unfortunately I had to leave before I could see much of Mike Jung's set.
   
   
2. At the stupendous Grand Lake Theater, watched a trailer for Weapons of Mass Deception, because in Oakland, even mainstream Hollywood movies come with a smattering of leftist documentary. (See also the marquee.)
   
   
3. And then Ocean's Twelve, which I quite enjoyed--I was helplessly entertained by Julia Roberts's set piece. Much better than the last one, although it was still no The Italian Job. It's just too many people. You begin to notice how the action stops periodically so they can show you the same thing happening to all twelve of them, or ten, or whoever's in the game at that point.
   
   4. Drove home listening to Amplified Heart and thinking about the person who recommended it, back in college, and how time passes.

Comments

[emmacrew.livejournal.com]

But did you get to hear the Mighty Wurlitzer?

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah! I knew there was something I was leaving out. The Wurlitzer was great. Also there were some high school kids dancing to it, briefly.

[morganology.livejournal.com]

One of my favorite albums. Tracey's voice is stunning.

O12

[talking-sock.livejournal.com]

I really liked it too, and thought JR did a great job. I didn't think she
phoned it in at all, like Ebert said. I didn't think it was better,
in that it sprawled more; but I liked the energy for the first 3/4,
and then thought it slowed down a bit towards the end. Probably to
set up all the stuff for the ending.

It may have been self-indulgent as a sequel, but I wanted to be indulged
too.

[michaelpop.livejournal.com]

I saw Ocean's 12 yesterday because I found myself with 3 hours to kill while Best Buy unsuccessfully rewired my speakers. It was all right, but I don't think I could recommend it. I agree with Kenneth Turan's assessment in that it seems like all of the characters had a great time but the audience is left on the outside looking in.

I also agree with you in that they tried to cram too many characters into the film and wound up not really getting much out of anyone's performance. I thought the film was pretty clever, but I felt horribly underwhelmed by the twist. It seemed uninspired and cobbled together in a last ditch attempt at tidying everything up. In fact, I dare say I felt gypped by the ending.

[jfb.livejournal.com]

Yes. I actually hate that kind of twist, which shows up in far too many otherwise entertaining movies. But it was mostly fun while it was happening.