Minutes to Memories

Jody and I enjoyed the rare opportunity to go to a movie last night, and we took in Ocean’s Thirteen. It was entertaining, though not destined to be one of the all-time classics. I mean, I enjoyed Ocean’s Three a lot back in the day, back when Clubber Lang fought Freddy Krueger, but Hollywood just keeps cranking out the sequels for suckers like me I guess.

One of the new additions to the Ocean series this go around was the addition of Al Pacino as the bad guy. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Pacino or not, but he makes for a really believable bad guy in this movie. A couple more such roles and he might just become a household name.

My favorite part of Ocean’s Thirteen was seeing Super Dave Osborne again. Well, that’s not really true. Instead, my favorite part was recognizing an actor whom my wife didn’t know (since this NEVER happens). His real name is Bob Einstein (and he actually has a website HERE), and he plays Matt Damon’s dad in Ocean’s Thirteen, but I remember his days as a super stuntman (as remembered in the TV Guide pic above). Does anyone else remember Super Dave? Was I the only college student sucked into getting the Showtime/Movie Channel package in the early 1990s?

One other kind of favorite part in the movie. At one point, Andy Garcia’s character faces down Al Pacino’s character (they’re both casino owners, which is important for this favorite part). Garcia says something about trying out a new game in Tunica, Mississippi. Pacino replies, “Mississippi? I thought that’s where games go to die?”

There was a wee bit of tensed silence in the Biloxi movie theater. I think I was the only one who laughed out loud.

One final thing to note: Ocean’s Thirteen is diabolically anti-Christian in my estimation. You fall in love with these endearing crooks, and between Don Cheadle’s thoughtful letters to Elliot Gould and Danny Ocean’s heist leading to $72 million to needy children, you just might think criminal activity can be okay if done for the right reasons. So other than this diabolical anti-Christian message, it’s a fairly entertaining way to spend an evening.

Plus, there’s Super Dave.