Oceans 7-11 - The Internet Sensation
Review by: Pugilist
Review the Series for Yourself at www.Oceans711.com
Did you ever hear about something that was so popular you wondered where you'd been to have missed it?
That's me and Oceans 7-11. Oceans 7-11 is a high production value web series written by Tim Calandrello and Heath Centazzo and directed by Tim Calandrello. It has a January 2008 IMDB.com entry with a Plot Synopsis of the following:
"A low-rent band of misfits join together to knock over a string of convenience stores."
And a tagline of:
"7 Is The New 11"
With a full description of:
"Clooney Ocean is the king of scams, but for once this scheme is about more than just a monetary payoff. He's a small time crook with a big time idea and with the help of his partner in crime, Dusty; they assemble a semi-skilled team of cons and crooks. Bound together by a common goal, the crew sets out to pull off the ultimate heist; well, at least a pretty good one. 7 Is The New 11! www.oceans711.com"
So, it's a parody of the whole Oceans' series set into the geek associated culture world through a ancillary tie in to Clerks with the convenience store focus. The GeeksofDoom.com tell us that this thing is the #1 web series in the world. There are eight episodes planned, one shot and released. Of course the GeeksofDoom.com has that ass-wipe "You are the lucky 875,431,896,093,578,345,390,912th visitor" add on their site so right off I disregard a lot of what they say. Is that harsh? I really don't care because I despise those ads to such a degree that I question the validity of any site that displays them.
But let's keep focus on Oceans 7-11. I admit, anything that is "the #1 Internet" anything is something I suspect is more fad than substance however if I could force myself to watch some of the other things I've reviewed, I could, at least give these folks an honest hearing.
And I tried. But their series is only available in QuickTime and you must buffer it online and I do not have the patience to wait for 30 minutes while QuickTime buffers. Then there's the camera work. It's actually quite good. It’s so good that the continuity errors in the first 5 minutes were glaring. Seriously, would it have killed them to reshoot the tie scene so that it did not teleport all over the damn square like something out of Team Fortress?
And an additional quick note. When your actors look at the camera, and they are not supposed to do so, tell them about it and reshoot the damn scene. A "good enough" take is not good and it most certainly ain't enough.
This is supposed to be a parody of the Oceans films, I get that. But it's a tiresome parody that slaps you over the head with a ”look how cool we are” feel. Oh, and using the cartoon effect from Photoshop to "geek-a-fie" it really does not carry. As matter of fact the effect is used so much it becomes, at best, idiotic.
As we see in the mainstream industry, just because you have the resources to make a movie, it does not follow that your project should be made. As filming techniques continue to become widely affordable we will see more and more projects hit the Web that should have never seen the light of day. Oceans 7-11 is one of these.
For while the production levels are high, there is a "good enough" attitude toward filming and acting and the story is, at best, dull and predictable. If you are going to do a parody it really is best to either do it over the top, as with The Naked Gun and Hot Shots, or you go for a subtler angle with satire like The Truman Show.
Since we are told that this series is the #1 web series in the world I must conclude that I am out of touch with popular trends and tastes.
Thank God for that.
Production values drag this up to a 5. Most probably I will ignore it until the entire series is complete and ignore that too.