elliot gould Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Jonathan Kesselman wrote and directed The Hebrew Hammer, a comedy about an Orthodox Jewish Blaxploitation hero (Adam Goldberg) who saves Hanukkah from the evil offspring of Santa Claus (Andy Dick). The film has become a cult favorite, and you should add it to your holiday viewing list this year. In addition to being a successful screenwriter, Jonathan teaches Writing Comedy for Film and Television at Yale University. He has some great tips for aspiring comedy writers.

Cinematical: When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

Jonathan Kesselman: I always loved writing. When I was in the 5th grade, I was pulled out of my class and put onto the 12th grade yearbook staff writing copy. For a while, I thought I wanted to be a journalist. In college, I majored in Psychology -- neuroscience was my field. I realized that I didn't like slicing rat brains. I remember really searching for what it was that I wanted to do with my life. And I had always been obsessed with movies. I remember having this existential crisis pre-graduation, and then seeing a documentary on Your Show of Shows, and it hit me that I was put on this earth to make fun of people.

Cinematical: So you threw the rat in the air triumphantly...

JK: I ate the rat -- tasty! Yeah, I graduated, and decided I wanted to go to film school. I eventually went to graduate school at USC for film production.

Just like Vegas' hottest new casino, Ocean's Thirteen comes packed with a host of slick, highly-stylized visuals and enough clean-cut cool to entice any ordinary Joe off the street to empty his pockets in hopes that the atmosphere alone with hypnotize him to a point where he'll walk out broke without feeling any pain whatsoever. The summer's threequel theme returns this weekend with a third installment stuffed full of Hollywood's favorite A-list stars and, although it's far superior to the mis-managed mess that was Ocean's Twelve, Ocean's Thirteen doesn't quite top the fun and suspense of the original (and when I say 'original,' I mean the Ocean's Eleven from 2001, not 1960). It's fun, it's campy and it's worth the gamble -- that's if you don't mind shoddy character development, regurgitated gags and an unrealistic story.

Proving once again that what happens in Vegas should definitely stay in Vegas, Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his crew return to the town where they belong, but this time they're not out to fill their pockets with other people's money. Nope, they want revenge. When Danny's friend and mentor Reuben (Elliot Gould) is forced against his will to hand over his 50% share in a new casino to his slimy, opportunist ex-partner Willie Bank (Al Pacino), the shock and overwhelming disappointment lands Reuben in the hospital, near death and unable to speak. Thus, Danny, Rusty (Brad Pitt), Linus (Matt Damon), Basher (Don Cheadle), Frank (Bernie Mac) and the rest of Ocean's wannabee hustlers arrive to plan Bank's demise and, at the same time, score a big fat one for Reuben.

Back in December, we gave you your first glimpse of the teaser poster for Ocean's 13 the third star-studded installment in director Steven Soderbergh's light-hearted caper franchise. Today, we offer you an exclusive ganders at the new -- and final -- theatrical poster for the film (click on the image above for a larger version).

Those of you who have already seen the aforementioned teaser poster will notice that it is quite similar to the new poster. There are, however, a number of subtle differences. I count five. How many can you spot?

Ocean's 13 finds Danny (George Clooney), Rusty (Brad Pitt) and co. on a mission to mete out revenge against a ruthless casino owner (Al Pacino) responsible for forcing Reuben (Elliot Gould) out of the biz. Along the way Linus (Matt Damon) falls for an attractive older woman (Ellen Barkin), the boys join forces with longtime nemesis Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) and Danny cries during 'Oprah.'

Enjoy the poster, and come back tomorrow to see 12 new Oceans 13 photos -- such as the one of Brad Pitt to the left -- right here.

All about Ocean's 13 | Watch the Ocean's 13 trailer | See the Ocean's 13 teaser poster

I have to confess: The photo I shared from The Freshman yesterday was not my first choice of a football scene in a movie: I really wanted something from MASH. I couldn't find any stills from the 1970 film's climactic and hilarious football game, but I did find this marvelous shot of Trapper John (Elliot Gould) and Hawkeye (Donald Sutherland) sporting colorful golfing outfits from Tokyo that clash terribly with the Korean War. How they ended up in Tokyo with their golf clubs in the first place is something you'll have to watch the movie to experience -- I am sure that the golf scene in Animal House must be a direct tip of the hat to Trapper and Hawkeye using the helicopter landing pad as a driving range.

The first time I saw MASH I didn't like it -- I was in high school, watching the film late at night while on a babysitting gig. It was probably the dirtiest film I'd seen up to that point, even edited for late-night network TV, and seemed downright sacreligious to a Catholic girl. I loved the TV show but was shocked by the movie. And yet, a year or so later, I wanted to see it again. And again. (My favorite line: "How d'you want your steak cooked?") When I finally saw MASH in a theater I realized that I'd been watching pan-and-scan versions on TVs so small that many amusing background details were unnoticeable. I own the DVD now, but I try not to pass up the opportunity to enjoy MASH in a movie theater.

Dig through my big roll of movie posters, the ones I no longer have space to hang on the walls, and you'll find one that isn't very attractive and doesn't fit with the rest: Harry and Walter Go to New York, shown above. The poster represents one of my biggest guilty-pleasure films. I hung the poster in my living room for awhile, but people kept giving it funny looks and eventually I replaced it with Ed Wood, because everyone loves Johnny Depp.

I watched most of Harry and Walter Go to New York by accident when I was about 13 years old. My family was on vacation in Florida and one rainy night, my dad and I were flipping channels to see if we could find anything remotely watchable. We stumbled upon Elliot Gould and James Caan breaking out of prison in the silliest manner possible, and were intrigued. Was this a heist film or a comedy? And then Michael Caine showed up. And Charles Durning. We were riveted to the screen by the spectacle of a ridiculously plotted film with a stellar cast. Later, I found the movie again on late-night TV and videotaped it for my dad, but he preferred to remember it fondly than to actually watch it again. (He feels the same way about The Duchess and The Dirtwater Fox, which is a whole other story.)