Ol' Blue Eyes himself.....
I am not gonna lie I am totally in love with this man! I mean he was charming and dashing, he can sing a tune that can make your heart melt and hit you right in the gut all at the same time. Acting, however, was a different story. If you could make a movie using only him singing on a stage you would think he was the best actor in the world. Even watching him on videos online you can see just how he takes your right where you want to go when he sings a song.
However, when it comes to movies even I, a hugely devoted fan, can admit that he is not one of the best actors in the entire world. Don't get me wrong when everything went right it went so right. However, Mr. Sinatra was not a very patient man and was very much a one take Charlie. He hated having to do more than one take and he didn't want to be on set all day. There are very few movies that he did where everything worked to make him as memorable actor as he is. One of them was his Academy Award winning role as Maggio in From Here to Eternity.
There is one role that that has been cemented in cinematic history that people seem to really love. I really believe this because the name is coming back to life again this year. That name is Ocean.
Frank Ocean.
That is right folks! The movie that I picked to give Alaina's first glimpse into the world of Frank Sinatra is the Original, and frankly the best, Ocean's 11.
Now, the reason that I chose this movie is because not only is it how clever this movie is but because if you are going to watch a remake of a movie then you should watch the original. This point has been proven more poignant to me even at the start of this year because after A new Ocean's 11 and it's two sequels, Hollywood wants to show off the Ocean name again. This year Hollywood has come up with the "great" idea to make ANOTHER Ocean's movie. This an all female cast and only 8 people. Ocean's 8 REALLY!?
Anyways, like I said if you are going to watch any of these movies you need to know where the original movie storyline came from.
In order to get more than a "the movie was good" reaction out of Alaina I would have to come up with questions. I did this because she needs to know that I expect her to pay attention to the movie and I also expect her to try and make a connection. Reason is because when I usually ask her what he thinks of any movie it's always followed by a "good" and no other explanation is given.
As a movie nerd that drives me INSANE!
So, the questions are there to keep her on her toes and to keep me from absolutely loosing my mind.
*Editor's Note: this will contain spoilers! If you would like to see the original Ocean's 11 without it being ruined please don't read any further.
1. What were you thoughts going into Ocean's 11? I was looking forward to seeing were it all started. The movie have been remade twice (meaning the George Clooney Ocean's 11 and this year's Ocean's 8) to it will be interesting to see how the original story worked out.
2. What was your favorite part of the movie? After all of the hard work that they did to pull off the heist and the money all burned in the end. If they hadn't been so greedy about keeping the money they would have made off with half of it in the end instead of nothing.
3. Who was your favorite character? Frank Ocean. (Played by Frank Sinatra)
4. Why was Frank Ocean your favorite character? I loved him because of his snarkiness.
5. What did you not like about Ocean's 11? That is was very slow at first. Once we got to the point where they were planning and pulling off the heist it got interesting.
6. What did you think of Frank Sinatra in this film? I thought he did a really good job. What really sold his performance was how he acted with his eyes.
7. What do you think of the film now that you have seen it? It was not what I was expecting at all. I knew it was going to be a drama and deal with a heist but I didn't not expect it to end the way it did. The fact that all of that went into it and they failed is funny to me.
8. Would you watch Ocean's 11 again? Yes, however I would not seek it out. If someone had it on, asked me to watch or it came on TV I would. I don't think I would be renting it myself anytime soon.
9. Would you recommend this film? Yes, especially if the person I am recommending it to has already seen the remakes.
10. What relevance does this movie have today? I think the relevance to this movie would have the fact there have been so many remakes of this film. If you are going to invest that much time in watching the remakes you should invest a few hours in seeing where it came from.
Now, as a Frank Sinatra fan you would think I would be upset that she didn't like this film that much or would want to see it again herself. I am not actually. As a Frank fan, I am like .001% upset about it because Mr. Sinatra will always first and foremost be a singer.. no not a singer.... a crooner. As a movie fan I am very happy with how much she enjoyed this film. This is not the best movie of all time, it's not on any "best picture" list, nor would it normally be movie I would recommend to someone trying to get into classic films. The reason this film was picked was because it is one of the best films that Mr. Sinatra did that I knew would keep Alaina entertained. I have made her was a Gene Kelly Frank Sinatra movie a few years ago. She loved, and it was outside our list for the movie stars. I didn't want to make her watch another Frank musical I wanted to show her another side of his acting.
I succeeded in doing that. I have hope that I can get her to watch another Frank film in the future.. which in reality is all I really wanted to do. ;)
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