MovieChat Forums > The Art of the Steal (2014) Discussion > Imitation Flattering but Unnecesary

Imitation Flattering but Unnecesary

posted 9 years ago by Quanfa
3 replies | jump to latest

Jonathan Sobol took careful notes while watching every Tarantino movie, combined it with Oceans 11 and made a movie. I'm impressed it even got made - and since I'll watch just about any movie with Matt Dillon & Kurt Russell, there's an appeal. Terence Stamp is icing on the cake.

Unfortunately all the flashes of style, the clips of "here's what would happen if..." was just way to similar to other movies, notably pretty much every Tarantino movie that involves a group plus smatterings of Ocean 11 for good measure. God even the soundtrack was similar - I was waiting for Dick Dale to start playing.

Not a waste of time because of 3 actors I already mentioned, but so much a rip off it was kind of painful to watch. And what was Jay Baruchel doing? A Christian Slater imitation? Ugh. There's a scene directly out of Fargo, the reveal is suspiciously Kaiser Sosa-like, and we even have Smoky & the Bandit-esque goofs in the end credits.

Is there anything original in this movie at all?

[–] spookyrat1 9 years ago

... while watching every Tarantino movie ...

I think you mean Guy Ritchie. It never struck me as Tarantino like. But you're right. It's quite well made, but very derivative.🐭

[–] revengine 7 years ago

I think you mean Guy Ritchie. It never struck me as Tarantino like. But you're right. It's quite well made, but very derivative.

Agreed. Never once thought of Tarantino while watching this movie. Very definitely some early Guy Ritchie influence. The writing isn't quite as tight as Ritchie's but it's still pretty good. I enjoyed it. A good homage to Ritchie.

You should have taken the money. - Robert McCall

[–] yukonracer 7 years ago

There are maybe half a dozen original ideas made into main stream films every year. The art of stealing other people's good ideas is arguably the key to success. (I could be a film critic with lines like that)