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According to Reuters, Oceans 13 is set to shoot in Los Angeles and Las Vegas this summer. Looks like George Clooney, Brad Pitt and all the fellows are back, but Julia Roberts and Catherine Zeta-Jones are passing on the film. No plot details confirmed yet, but I’ll go on record saying there’s probably going to be a heist.

Speaking of heist movies, I saw Inside Man over the weekend at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. It’s a Spike Lee joint, that’s not your typical Spike Lee joint. The New York director pimped Woody Allen’s style out of the gate with She’s Gotta Have It. Here he does with the Inside Man what Allen did last year with Match Point. Lee builds a credible thriller without the majority of his well-worn crutches. Sure the racially-tinged humor is there, as are the Republican jabs. But they seem less ham-fisted, more natural. So either he phoned this one in, or he took a page out of Steven Soderbergh’s book and left fewer fingerprints on the film.

The Inside Man is a subtle heist movie that moves at the pace of a drama but forces the audience to guess not only WHY the thieves are stealing but WHAT they are stealing. There were some severe problems with the third act and Jodie Foster’s ball-busting blackmailer is interesting yet unnecessary. Still, Denzel Washington and Clive Owen make a grade-A cat and mouse, and the film keeps you guessing until the final 20 minutes. It’s not groundbreaking, but I give it the thumbs up.

Out on DVD this week are King Kong and Memoirs of a Geisha. The only movie I’ve ever seen three times at the theater (it came out when I was 13) is the original Jurassic Park, and still I have absolutely no interest in seeing King Kong. Zero. I don’t even mind Naomi Watts and Jack Black. Still, nothing. So if you rent it this week, leave some feedback for me. A friend of mine had the funniest line about that movie. At the end, apparently the giant ape is holding Watts in his hand as he clings to the top of the Empire State Building and looks out over the west side of Manhattan. At that moment she said “Throw her to New Jersey!” That was a good one.

Memoirs of a Geisha looks much more interesting, even though it’s directed by the man who helmed Chicago, the worst best picture in Oscar history. The cinematography looks as lush and exotic as the subject matter, and this adaptation of the Arthur Golden novel stars Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon heroine Ziyi Zangh. By the way, remember when she first broke into American cinema and everyone had her name backwards as Zangh Ziyi? That was weird.

Opening this Friday are sister films Ice Age: The Meltdown and Basic Instinct 2. Ice Age is obviously a kids movie, but some of the best comedy writing can be found in animated features, and the criminally underused Dennis Leary lends his sarcastic, tightly-wound talent to the prehistoric adventure. David Morrissey fills in for Michael Douglas in the pointless sequel to Basic Instinct. I met Morrissey on the set of The Reaping last fall. The guy is as introverted a family man as I have ever met. He must be a phenomenal actor to slip into the sweaty romps hinted at in the preview. I’m not sure who this movie is really for. Most of these kinds of sequels go straight to video.

Ok, so say you’re an actor and a movie producer tells you that the cowboy flick you’re up for will star Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, and it’s going to be directed by Academy Award winner Ang Lee. What do you do when the producer tries to convince you to work for cheap by telling you the film is low budget, will get neither wide distribution nor an Oscar push, and has zero chance of making big bucks at the box office? If you’re Randy Quaid, you wave your usual seven-figure asking price and clock in for work. Then, if you’re still Randy Quaid after Brokeback Mountain grosses nearly $100 million domestic and wins a bazillion awards you rip your hair out and shout curses at the gods because you’ve just seen your mug next to Webster’s definition of gullible. But Quaid isn’t taking matters into his own hands, he’s taking them to court. Read about it here.

And finally, filming has wrapped in Shreveport on the Edie Sedgwick story Factory Girl. Check out some stills of stars Sienna Miller, Jimmy Fallon and Guy Pearce and the advance poster here.