Heh, I fully admit that I had clue the "Ocean's 11" from 2001 was a reboot. I had never heard of the original with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

Pretty much this. The original was fresh and unique, the sequel played to the same gags too much.
I'll hold judgement on this new version, but it's got a high bar to meet.

That's because Ghostbusters II used a tired, generic, paint-by-numbers plot with character exploitation but limited to no serious character development. It fell into the same typical plot trap of many 80s comedy films that weren't so good.

I remember leaving the theater with my brother after the film unfulfilled. Even the bad guy was the stereotypical abusive boss with semi-gay undertones. It was like they were trying to touch all the bases on a checklist without remembering what made the first film so strong--and frankly, trying to out do the first film was next to impossible without it being the first in a contiguous trilogy which it was not.

Maybe if they had tried to reintroduce Gozer... maybe.


Hell, even the baby was a generic 80s plot element by that time and did the film no favors whatsoever in how the implemented the tyke. This was two years after "Three Men and a Baby" and several months before "Look Who's Talking." The baby only made the film drag and added even more to the "routine" feeling.


The first film was full of world building. The second was a world drain.

It's worth watching if you get the chance. Dean's "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" plays a few time and I think Sammy has a number or two. I don't recall Frank singing in it. It's not great cinema (sorry. Scorsese), but it's a good Rat Pack film and it has one of the BEST surprise endings in the history of movies. Ranks right up there with the original "The Mechanic" and "The Usual Suspects".

Look, it's Mike from Stranger Things and he is in the gig economy of busting ghosts.