(no spoilers.) I went to see The Italian Job with Connie and Michael on Friday evening. It’s good popcorn-entertainment and I was able to just relax and enjoy it. In some ways, its playful tone reminded me of Ocean’s Eleven — if you liked that movie, you'll probably like this one as well (trivia: Ocean’s Twelve is scheduled for a 2004 release).
It’s rated 67 / Generally Favorable at MetaCritic, which I think is fair (MetaCritic computes a score based on the reviews of several dozen online and dead-tree movie critics). For what it’s worth, Ocean’s Eleven got 75, which is also “Generally Favorable”.
Before going, I hadn’t even seen any trailers or commercials for the movie (though I had seen a segment about it on Ebert & Roeper). But, that was probably all for the best since the trailer — which I watched last night — gives away virtually every spoiler in the film (and I’m not linking to the trailer for that reason). A couple quotes from critics which I think capture the essence of the film:
Wall Street Journal / Joe Morgenstern: “The best car commercial ever, an absolute triumph of product placement, and great fun as a movie in the bargain.”
Washington Post / Stephen Hunter: “For two hours, the bliss of the brainless fluff is yours for the asking. It cheerfully puts the escape back in escapism.”
Entertainment Weekly / Owen Gleiberman: “There's a fair amount of filler in The Italian Job, but it all boils down to the big heist, which has been staged as if it were Fort Knox being robbed by Evel Knievel.”
As an audiophile, I had a minor quibble with one of Seth Green’s lines. He was talking about what he’d like to buy and named a receiver from NAD “with Burr-Brown DACs”. However, he pronounced the letters D-A-C, whereas I’ve only heard “DAC” pronounced as a single word :-/.
I wouldn’t ding them for the DAC thing. I work in broadcast TV and we never really call them ‘DACs’, we tend to call them ‘D to As’.
I don’t think there is a correct way of saying it, just several varied, equally good, ways.
I saw the Italian Job out on Cape Cod a few weeks ago. It was definitely an entertaining movie and probably even worth the money. (Note that I didn’t say it was a good movie.)
It should also be noted that Ocean’s Twelve is the worst title for a sequel ever.
Always said “DAs” myself – the pro-sumer mags have forced “DACs” on me for years, though. :(
Every commercial I saw for the movie was terrible. I had no desire to see it, and only went because a co-worker was going and going out sounded fun. I was glad I went – I thought the movie was great. I will be buying it on DVD, and would even consider seeing it at the theater again. Like you, I thought it reminded me at times of Oceans 11. I just like movies with twists, and the minis didn’t hurt either.
My girlfriend worked the trailer for this, about a month before it came out – I went with her, and thought it was decent. There were definitely some scenes that weren’t finished yet. I want to go see it again, to see what was changed for the final release, but I don’t want to pay for it…
On another note, if you haven’t seen the original, you should. It’s totally different, but really funny – Benny Hill plays the computer nerd.
“Ocean’s Twelve” is almost as bad as “The Whole Ten Yards”.
On the D-A-C/DAC/D-to-A thing, the universal argot in the semicon industry is “DAC”. But what’s surprising is the Seth Green character’s choice of manufacturer – why on earth would he specify NAD??? BTW, only one (stereo) DAC is needed, rather than a plurality of DACs.