I saw the sneak preview of this movie last week. I thought it was pretty good, but mindless. Standard caper film. If you liked Ocean’s 11, I’d see it. But I was reading Ebert’s review, and I was wondering if he actually watched the whole movie. Here’s the relevant bit:
If you’ve seen the movie, just be stunned by that bolded sentence. That was the one really clever bit of the movie, and that he missed it is disturbing.
Also, Seth Green is the best part of the movie. Go Oz!
Go 'head and tell me. What did he miss? Spoilerbox it if you feel it’s a big deal.
Go 'head and tell me. What did he miss? Spoilerbox it if you feel it’s a big deal.
He does have one good line in the review:
<Snort> Haven’t seen the movie, but probably will because my wife loves her Mini-Cooper.
I may see it, but having fond memories of the original I’m not sure I want to screw them up.
Just a couple of many things that make it unlikely I’m going to enjoy this one much:
Wahlburg in the Michael
I may see it, having fond memories of the original, although I’m not a big Wahlburg fan. OTOH, who wouldn’t want a chance to go racing up and down stairways in a Mini Cooper?
Sorry to hijack this thing already, but when the frickin’ frack are they gonna release the Michael Caine version on Region 1 DVD? It was pre-announced months ago, but every time I check Amazon, all I see is “release date not yet determined” or some such.
Agh, the evil post-stealing hamster strikes again…
This only spoiles the first ten minutes of the movie. “The Italian Job” is to steal a safe from a 2nd floor apartment in Venice. There is a first floor apartment they have access to, and a boat garage under that, that they break into and park a boat in. They coat a square section below where the safe is, on both floors, with some kind of explosive paint. Then, Boom! The safe falls straight down onto the boat they have parked into the garage, and it peels out with the safe-owners in hot pursuit. Ebert’s comment makes sense, right?
But that’s not what really happens! The boat that takes off is a decoy. The safe actually fell straight to the bottom of the water in the garage, and the thieves open it using SCUBA gear and take out the gold. So what movie was he watching? Is he being intentionally dense so that it’s a bigger surprise?
And for the mini-cooper fans, one of the best scenes in the movie is Charlize Theron’s character just driving back to the office through Philly traffic in hers.
What I want to know is how much BMW paid to have the movie redone.
He misses stuff like that ALL THE TIME. Maybe he’s too busy writing notes to understand the plot.
I saw it at the preview last week too, and I had the same thoughts as Ebert. It does get “resolved” but…
If the boat were where it had been in the shots before the theft, it would have been crushed. If it was moved then the safe would have made a tremendous splash, and the boathouse interior would have been drenched. We next see the boathouse with the boat close enough to where it had been before and the room is dry. I was scratching my head at that point, but suspension of disbelief made me tell myself to shut up. If the film hadn’t have been played so much for the comedic aspects it would be a significant flaw, as it is I think the film was lightweight summer fare so it’s nothing to lose sleep over.
Eh, I wasn’t paying attention to the plot because I was dazzled by Jason Statham in his boxers, showing just the slightest flash of his maleness.
Very enjoyable movie.
I remember I bought the playstation game on a whim for $10. It was so fun that I’m now going to go see the movie. It sounds like it differs from the original though.
One of my favorite scenes in the game involved the mini-cooper and the stadium. Is that part in the new movie?
In his review of Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, he mixed up the two characters played by Jason Lee. I reasonable mistake, but it shows that he wasn’t paying much attention to the movie.
Spawn.
Dude, no offense but are you an Ebert stalker? Any thread about him appears and you bring up that he kinda actually enjoyed “Spawn.” Give it a rest
Didn’t see a stadium in this movie, but it may behoove you to know that they are now remaking the game and updating it with levels based on the movie remake.
Spa… oh, I see you already understand. Spread the news.
I just saw it tonight, and I thought it was a total blast. Nothing to be taken seriously, mind you, but a very fun movie. And I’m not usually someone who is willing to accept something as a “Popcorn Movie” unless it’s a lot of fun.
Seth Green’s character was great, the Mini scenes were fun, and generally I had a real fun time. Edward Norton was reaaaally hateable, always good in a villain. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that a couple years ago someone saw an ad for the new series of Mini Coopers and thought “So… it’s time to remake The Italian Job”. There are a whole lot of long, commercial-type shots of the cars sitting still. The cars are cute, but still… they’re just cars. Not a real exciting shot. Whatever.
Only 2 things about it rubbed me the wrong way.
Watching Marky Mark try to be all emotional over a frosty “dead” Donald Sutherland. He looked so painfully goofy I was embarassed for him.
The ending where they try to turn torturing someone to death in to a joke. I know he was a bad guy and it was a movie and he “got what was coming to him”, but I’m just not comfortable with that as a subject for a movie period, much less as a joke.
LC
Oh, I forgot to mention that I saw it with a girl I know who drives a Mini and is very much in love with it. To give you an idea of how much she loves her Mini, his name is Neville.
She fully intends to order vanity plates that say ITLNJOB, and knowing her, she’ll do it.
LC