The Bonus Disc:
In 2001, Ocean’s Eleven remade the 1960 Rat Pack tale with many of the era’s biggest stars. A major hit, sequels followed in 2004 and 2007.
Though this article covers the trilogy as a whole, I want to concentrate mainly on this package’s final platter. Called “Bonus Disc”, it includes a few more Ocean’s tidbits.
Note that the letter grades above average out the picture and audio ratings for the three movies. The “Bonus” grade averages out the extras on the three movie discs and adds those here.
We get seven featurettes, and Are You In Or Are You Out? offers a 28-minute, 10-second discussion of Ocean’s Eleven. It provides notes from director Steven Soderbergh, producer Jerry Weintraub, writers Brian Koppelman, David Levien and Ted Griffin, special effects coordinator Kevin Hannigan, 2nd ADs Basti van der Woude and Trey Batchelor, editor Stephen Mirrione, 1st AD Gregory Jacobs, production designer Philip Messina, film journalist Anthony Kaufman, and actors George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Casey Affleck, Andy Garcia, Carl Reiner, Julia Roberts, Topher Grace, Elliott Gould, Don Cheadle and Eddie Jemison.
“In” examines the decision to remake the 1960 version and the 2001 flick’s development, story/characters, cast and performances, editing and visual design, sets and locations, and related domains. Though we get an awful lot of praise here, “In” offers enough useful content to merit a look.
Ready, Jet Set, Go runs 25 minutes, 39 seconds and discusses Ocean’s Twelve. Here we find comments from Soderbergh, Weintraub, Garcia, Clooney, Affleck, Damon, Caan, Jemison, Cheadle, Hannigan, Pitt, Messina, Batchelor, Roberts, Jacobs, Kaufman, Gould, Reiner, writer George Nolfi, composer David Holmes, and actor Catherine Zeta-Jones.
“Go” covers the push for a sequel and story/characters, sets and locations, cast and performances, music, and connected areas. In tone and execution, “Go” strongly resembles “In”. That makes it fluffy but decent.
Unsurprisingly, the 29-minute, 46-second Third’s a Charm examines Ocean’s Thirteen. It brings remarks from Soderbergh, Clooney, Mirrione, Reiner, Weintraub, Koppelman, Levien, Damon, Garcia, Affleck, Mac, Messina, Jemison, Caan, Gould, Pitt, and actors Ellen Barkin, David Paymer and Al Pacino.
Lather, rinse, as “Charm” provides a close sibling with the prior two shows. It becomes another semi-fluffy but reasonably engaging featurette. Actually, this one may work better than its peers because it offers a nice look at the design and creation of the main casino set.
Pros and Cons goes for 13 minutes, two seconds and includes Soderbergh, Gould, Pitt, Jemison, Clooney, Cheadle, Mac, Griffin, Koppelman, Levien, Reiner, Damon, and crime novelist Gary Phillips.
Here we get more thoughts about the movies’ characters. Phillips offers neat insights about how the “Eleven” fit some genre standards, but this feels like a fairly superficial piece in general.
After this, we find Ahab with a Piggyback, a nine-minute, three-second piece that features Soderbergh, Hannigan, Clooney, Damon, Messina, Cheadle, Jemison, Koppelman, Levien, and Popular Science editor-in-chief Jake Ward.
In this show, we learn about some of the science behind the heists as well as the effects used to pull them off onscreen. Similar to its siblings, this one mixes fluff with good content.
The Style of Steal spans 10 minutes, 49 seconds and gives us info from Soderbergh, Damon, Clooney, Jacobs, Garcia, Paymer, Griffin, Phillips, Koppelman, Levien, Entertainment Weekly Senior Writer Geoff Boucher, Vanity Fair Senior Editor Krista Smith, and costume designers Milena Canonero and Jeffrey Kurland.
Though I thought “Steal” would be about fashion and clothes, and it occasionally covers those subjects. However, much of it looks at the movies’ notion of “cool”, so it’s less informative than expected.
Finally, Original Ocean’s, Original Cool takes up 13 minutes, 50 seconds with details from Clooney, Soderbergh, Mac, Boucher, Weintraub, Koppelman, Levien, Rat Pack Confidential author Shawn Levy, Sinatra biographer Bill Zehme, Sinatra friend/co-manager Tony Oppedisano, Esquire fashion editor Nick Sullivan, writer/producer Sandy Hackett, and writer Kario Salem.
“Cool” discusses the Rat Pack and aspects of the 1960 Ocean’s. Like the rest of the disc’s programs, it combines facts with happy talk. Still, it gives us a passable overview of the Rat Pack.
In addition to the featurettes on the bonus disc, the “Trilogy Collection” offers two other components. We get Ocean’s branded dice and playing cards.
Back in 2001, Ocean’s Eleven provided a delightful star-studded affair. Its two sequels fared less well but they nonetheless offered good entertainment. These Blu-rays vary in terms of picture quality, mainly because Eleven seems dodgy.
All come with good audio and reasonable bonus materials. This trilogy set adds a nice array of features as well and becomes solid “one stop shopping” for fans/
Note that this review covers a 2014 three-film collection. 2018 brought the release of spinoff film Ocean’s Eight and thus a four-movie package.
Because I don’t own that set, I can’t say for certain, but I would assume that the first three Ocean’s movies reuse the same discs in the 2014 box. I don’t know if the 2018 package provides the bonus disc, however.
