Movies From the Hat 7 – #23 – Catherine’s Pick – Logan Lucky (2016)

This is my 3968th Review

Thanks to  Catherine of Thoughts All Sorts for this recommendation.

 

“As warden, I can approve buying a copy of A Dance With Dragons for the prison library to go up on the Game of Thrones shelf. Now, the only problem is that The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring have yet to be published so those aren’t available. Well, I can’t do anything about what I can’t control. ” – Warden Burns

Number of Times Seen – 1 (12 Apr 2018)

Brief Synopsis – A divorce mine worker enlists the help of his brother and an incarcerated convict in a daring heist.

My Take on it – I have always enjoyed a fun heist movie and wasn’t sure what to make of this one for quite a while which is why I avoided seeing it.

This film features a really clever idea that works largely due to the expert pacing of the story itself.

The cast is excellent (and in some cases unrecognizable) and they help keep the storyline interesting even when the plot make you doubt and wonder about the intelligence of all of those involved.

Steve Soderbergh once again shows how adept he can be when creating a heist film and even though these characters and their lifestyles are so diverse from the ones in the Clooney & Company series by him, you still can see how much goes in to creating such a fun, enjoyable and intelligent heist film.

This is the kind of film that will require numerous viewings in order to grasp all of the nuances of the story and I can’t wait to see it again soon.

Bottom Line – Clever idea that works due to the pacing of the story.  Amazing cast helps keep this interesting even when the plot makes you doubt the intelligence of them all along the way.  Soderbergh once again shows how adept he is when making a heist film eventhough this is the exact opposite of the high class ones he made with Clooney and co.  Requires numerous viewings in order to take it all in, so I’m due to see it again sometime soon. Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The film was distributed by cutting out studios, in order to have creative control and make money directly from the film itself. Accordingly, for this atypical distribution, Steven Soderbergh raised the budget by selling off foreign distribution rights, and then sold everything except the movie showing up in a movie theater in order to pay for advertising and prints of the movie (for example, selling post-theatrical rights to the likes of HBO, Netflix, Video-On-Demand, television, and airplanes). By following these two steps, Soderbergh was able to sidestep a Hollywood studio, and had creative control the entire time (for instance, the trailers that dropped earlier this summer were by his design, as was the poster and the entire marketing plan). Also, according to Soderbergh, under this set-up, the box-office bar for success is lower. With nearly everything prepaid, and no hefty distributor fees coming off the top, even a modest fifteen million dollar opening would be a win. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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