It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad Ocean

Once upon a time, there was a suave criminal named Danny Ocean who said:

"You think we need one more? You think we need one more. All right, we'll get one more."

Listen to me: YOU DON'T NEED ONE MORE!

From Coming Soon:

Al Pacino will star in director Steven Soderbergh's Ocean's 13, targeted for a June 8, 2007 release, reports Variety.

Pacino joins the cast -- headed by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and Bernie Mac -- and their franchise's new leading lady, Ellen Barkin.

Jerry Weintraub is producing the film, which has a July 21 start date. Shooting is scheduled to take place in Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

Rounders screenwriters Brian Koppelman and David Levien wrote the script.

Details of the plot are being kept under wraps, but Warner Bros. revealed that Pacino will be playing Willie Banks, the owner of a high-profile casino and hotel in Las Vegas.

That's just marvelous. You guys are just killing me, here. Stop it, will you please? Just ... STOP!

Ocean's 12 was wrong on so many levels and will forever tarnish the memories of the flawless jewel that came before. It ranks up there (or rather down there) with Alien: Resurrection and The Matrix Revolutions in terms of franchise spoilers.

I have to say that Ellen Barkin is a shrewd casting choice given that she is (a) not the blatant attempt at over-the-top A-List casting that Catherine Zeta Jones was and (b) she's bound to keep the film a bit more grounded. However, she's counterbalanced by Pacino, who is likely to ham up the proceedings and kill the sly humor of the original.

And I have to believe that it's the original film that they're trying to emulate with this third one. They're putting it back in Vegas and it will apparently involve yet another casino heist. Can they mine this territory any more than they already have? They are sensible enough to get a script written specifically for this third film, as opposed to the damned awkward "adaptation" of an old script for the second.

The articles notes that the screenwriting duo also did Rounders, which was an above-par film concerning poker. I guess they think this qualifies them to do a film located in Vegas, but it's important to note that the last feature film these guys wrote was the Walking Tall remake. Ugh.

Just ... just ... STOP, will ya please?!?!