Well friends, if you ever needed more evidence that Hollywood has completely run out of ideas, look no further than this week's new movies. Yep ... there's an Ocean's three-quel, a Hostel sequel and another freakin' penguin movie.

Just in case you've missed all the hype that these stars and the studio have been spewing forth ... George Clooney, Brad Pitt, the other 11 and a new one hit the screen this weekend in Ocean's Thirteen.

In this installment, Danny Ocean and his group of con men head back to Vegas try to pull off their most ambitious and riskiest heist yet. This time it's to take down a casino owner, played by Al Pacino, who snookered their mentor and friend played by Elliot Gould.

The Reel Deal: If you enjoy the caper movies and it just makes you feel good to keep padding these guys wallets...then party down with Oceans 13. It's a harmless enough movie ... not great, not horrible, but me? ... I like these guys individually but together they just seem like one big Smuggy McSmartypants, and this movie feels like Ocean's 113. For what it's worth, I took Hippie Assistant Matt (HAM) to see the movie, and he loved it. But I'm pretty sure he was baked, so there you go. He's in; I'm out.

In the Bizarro-world landscape of Cannes, Ocean's Thirteen can actually be seen as a bold departure from the mainstream; after nearly two weeks of slow-mo black and white, grinding poverty in Eastern Europe, subtitled mayhem, suicide, unsimulated sex wrenching teen angst and Dogme-style naturalism, a few movie stars feels like a nice change from the same old same old. I wish I could tell you that Ocean's Thirteen is pure adult fun, or that it charms your pants off, or that it at least had you guessing how the boys were going to pull it off this time; I can't quite do that. Ocean's Thirteen is pretty much a confection of silly gags, great visuals, male bonhomie and goofy comedic 'suspense.' And I'm not, per se, complaining; you might as well complain that the ocean contains hydrogen, oxygen and salt.

The moneyman of the Ocean team, Reuben Tishkoff (Eliot Gould) has gotten into bed with the wrong partner -- predatory, vain Willy Banks (Al Pacino, in a low-yet-effective gear of his scenery-chewing 'Hoo-aaaah!' mode). Banks has never met a man he wouldn't swindle, and cuts Reuben out of the deal. Reuben can't believe that a fellow Vegas old-timer would do such a thing: "There's a code among guys that shook Sinatra's hand!" The shock lands Reuben in hospital, leading to a gathering of Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his crew to avenge this wrong against their friend.

Steven Soderbergh is one of the busiest directors in the game. He's also one of the hardest to pin down, mixing the big-budget Hollywood films with independents better than almost anybody. This summer he'll bring us Ocean's Thirteen, which the prescence of Al Pacino has moved to my "must-see" list. ("I think we're going out strong," says Soderbergh about the end of the Oceans series. Fingers crossed!) He's also preparing to start shooting back-to-back movies about Che Guevara, with Benicio del Toro starring as the famed revolutionary. And he's talking about the second film in the controversial series he started with Bubble.

You might remember Soderbergh caused quite a stir with theater owners early last year when he unveiled his ultra low-budget Bubble as a simultaneous cinema, DVD and pay TV release. Soderbergh cites Bubble as one of his best filmmaking experiences, and he disagrees with those who consider it a commercial failure. "It's hard to judge how it went because we were never able to expand beyond the Landmark Theatre chain, which is only 50 screens," he says. "We weren't able to open as wide as we wanted because other theatre chains weren't interested in playing the film. The good news is we sold a lot of DVDs." He claims they broke even on the project. "Considering what an odd movie it is, is great. And we've got five more to go. To my mind, it's all just one giant film being made in six segments."

The next segment will also be a day-and-date release across all formats, and will be about "super high-end call girls" in New York, who make upwards of $2000 an hour. (I'm in the wrong business!) Soderbergh is using non-actors for this new project as well. As for alienating theater owners, Soderbergh says "Lord of the Rings went out day-and-date in the US all over the street. It's happening now; it's just underground." There's more with Soderbergh, including lots of interesting talk about digital projection and what it means for the future of cinema here.

Caper-film junkies, George Clooney fans and Brad Pitt worshippers, this is your lucky day. We have your absolute first look, anywhere on the planet, at the new poster for 'Ocean's 13' (click on the image to the left for a larger version). And in case you're counting, there are only 12 people on the poster: the original crew of 'Ocean's 11' and their perennial nemesis Andy Garcia.

'Ocean's 13' finds Danny (Clooney), Rusty (Pitt) and the rest of the boys planning their most ambitious heist to date AND rolling sans ladies (Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones, you will be missed) -- but they've also got a new pal to play with: an unknown actor you've probably never heard of named Al Pacino. And if that doesn't pique your interest, you'll be happy to learn that the earnest Linus (Matt Damon) may get a little loving this time around ... from an attractive and alluring older woman played by Ellen Barkin. Wow, our little boy Linus is all growed up.

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GET IT: More info on 'Oceans 13'

SEE 'EM: George Clooney | Brad Pitt pics