Director: Gary Ross

Starring: Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway

Rating: M

Running time: 110 minutes

Verdict: An exceptionally well-frocked crime caper

THREE STARS

To pull off the headline-stealing heist she has spent the last five years planning, Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) needs a multimillion-dollar bankroll and the brainpower of at least seven wily women.

But that’s peanuts compared to the $70 million writer-director Gary Ross (The Hunger Games, Seabiscuit) spent recounting her story, wrangling thousands of actors, celebrities, technicians and extras in the process.

Miraculously, neither of them gets burned (that’s not really a spoiler, since in this genre, “getting away with it” is the equivalent of Cinderella finding her Prince).

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Ocean’s 8’s conception preceded the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements, but the film is perfectly poised to ride the crest of that popular wave.

Ross doesn’t attempt any surprise manoeuvres; he doesn’t need to.

The hotly anticipated, all-female spin-off to Steven Soderbergh’s three previous Ocean’s films, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, is exceptional by its very existence.

Even though Ocean’s 8 sticks to the fast-paced, large-scale, big con template executed so successfully by its predecessors, the characters are subtly redefined by the shift in the gender balance.

Ocean says she wants an all-women crew for her priceless jewel snatch, not because she has
anything against men, but because women don’t get noticed, which in this case is an advantage. Given the setting — Ocean’s 8 unfolds against the backdrop of the glittering, star-studded Met Gala — this would seem to be a rather paradoxical statement.

But since “fashion’s biggest night out” is an event where women are looked at, rather than seen, the seasoned grifter does have a point.

The celebrity glamour of the high-profile fundraising event, hosted by Vogue’s Anna Wintour, who makes a cameo appearance in the film, is an added bonus.

Bullock is terrific as the intense, slightly damaged sister of the late Danny Ocean (Clooney, whose company Smokehouse Pictures produced this film). She is well matched by Cate Blanchett’s androgynous partner-in-crime, Lou.

Such is the chemistry between the two actors, there’s a suggestion that their characters might be more than just good friends.

After convincing the parole board to release her early for good behaviour, Ocean quickly assembles her team, which includes a bankrupt fashion designer (Helena Bonham Carter), a surly, dreadlocked hacker (Rihanna), a streetwise pickpocket (Awkwafina), a fence with a day job as a suburban mum (Sarah Paulson), and an unassuming jeweller (Mindy Kaling). (The final member is a surprise reveal.)

The plot involves a $150 million Cartier necklace, a Hollywood actor (Anne Hathaway) with enough clout to lure it out of its vault, and a richly deserving stooge.

Ocean’s 8 is a workmanlike sequel and Rihanna is more comfortable on the red carpet than she is in her role as a genius rebel.

But the costume changes come thick and fast, the disguises are fun, the location is sumptuous, and the key performances as well tailored as the couture.

It’s fun to be scammed so seductively.

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DISOBEDIENCE

Director: Sebastian Lelio

Starring: Rachel Weisz, Rachel McAdams, Alessandro Nivola

Rating: MA15+

Running time: 114 minutes

Verdict: A love story that plays by its own set of rules

FOUR STARS

AN illicit romance is hot-housed within the strict confines of an Orthodox Jewish community in Disobedience, a slow-burning drama about faith, duty and desire.

When New York photographer Ronit Krushka (Rachel Weisz) returns to London to attend the funeral of her estranged father, a respected rabbi (Anton Lesser), old wounds are reopened.

Unsettled by Ronit’s arrival, Rav Krushka’s “spiritual” son and anointed successor, Dovid Kuperman (Alessandro Nivola), nevertheless welcomes her into his home.

Despite their divergent lifestyles, the chemistry between this emotionally restrained pair suggests a former close bond. Their pauses speak volumes.

The reaction of Dovid’s wife Esti (Rachel McAdams in a plain-making Orthodox wig) is harder to gauge.

But what initially appears to be hostility is later revealed to be self-protection.

Ronit and Dovid’s relationship is not what it seems.

Every great love story requires an insurmountable obstacle. A lesbian relationship in a close-knit frum (pious or devout) Jewish community certainly fits the bill.

Ronit and Esti haven’t seen each other since they were discovered by Rabbi Krushka as teenage lovers. While Ronit rebelled against the constraints of her religious upbringing, reimagining herself as a free-spirited, bohemian artist in America, Esti sought solace in her religion, her work as a teacher, and Dovid’s steady companionship. But now that they are back under the same roof, the women’s powerful attraction is reawakened.

All of which might suggest a steamy romantic melodrama, but director Sebastian Lelio (A Fantastic Woman) has a knack for making extraordinary situations seem natural and real. One of Disobedience’s most appealing qualities is its even-handedness towards the spiritual and corporeal worlds, which are in conflict here, but not locked into some kind of binary opposition.

There is room for dialogue, despite the intransigence of the conservative members of the centuries-old community.

And while Ronit draws attention to some of its more “medieval” practices, the ancient religion is treated with similar respect.

For an outsider, the rituals and customs — such as modesty wigs — are fascinating. The Torah chanting raises the hairs on the back of your neck.

Against this unfamiliar backdrop, the resolution of Lelio’s English-language debut is as surprising as it is apt.

A beautifully layered story of love, courage and acceptance.

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UPGRADE

Director: Leigh Whannell

Starring: Logan Marshall-Green, Betty Gabriel, Harrison Gilbertson

Rating: MA15+

Running time: 100 minutes

Verdict: A fiendishly clever vigilante reboot

THREE-AND-A-HALF STARS

THIS skilfully executed sci-fi horror movie reconstructs Death Wish with the tools provided by 21st-century technology.

Artificial intelligence steers the vigilante action genre in unexpected directions.

Written and directed by Leigh Whannell (Saw, Insidious: Chapter 3), Upgrade is set in a dystopian near future where driverless vehicles pepper the highways.

Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is a vinyl loving, muscle car-driving kind of guy who ekes out a living reconditioning vintage Firebirds for rich collectors such as billionaire tech innovator Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson).

The proud technophobe’s wife Asha (Melanie Vallejo) on the other hand is an early adopter. She works for Keen’s rival company Cobolt.

When Asha’s autonomous vehicle malfunctions, Trace’s worst nightmares are realised.

Four masked men pull the couple from the car. Trace’s spinal column is severed, forcing him to watch helplessly as his wife dies.

Three months later, Trace is a wheelchair-bound quadriplegic and the police — represented by a similarly old-school detective by the name of Cortez (Get Out’s Betty Gabriel) — have failed to come up with a single lead.

So when Keen suggests trialling his latest invention — a computer chip called STEM — Trace reluctantly agrees.

The experimental technology works better than even its creator imagined — transmitting neural messages from Trace’s brain to his damaged body.

Not only is the stay-at-home mechanic able to walk again, but the implant boosts his strength and reflexes to superhuman proportions.

At this point, Trace decides to take the law into his own hands. He and STEM prove to be quite a team — until Keen shuts his invention down, the odd couple goes off-grid, and the false leads multiply.

The murky underworld Trace navigates in search of Asha’s killers is inhabited by gamer addicts, who extend their playing time with i/v drips, along with mercenary cyborgs and their bottom-feeding associates.

Upgrade’s seamless blend of high and low-tech aesthetics is one of the film’s strengths — it’s great to see a version of the future that acknowledges the staggered uptake of technological advances.

Whannell directs his richly layered screenplay with assurance. But a word of warning for the squeamish: the filmmaker’s Saw antecedents are clear. At times the violence is so exaggerated it borders on fetishistic.

Even Trace looks away when STEM takes over his body to torture and mutilate one perpetrator/victim.

Genre fans will no doubt appreciate the gallows humour. But nonbelievers will be sustained by the breakout performance of Marshall-Green (The O.C., Prometheus, Spider-Man: Homecoming) and a bunch of attention-grabbing themes including personal responsibility, and the opioid-like appeal of an alternate reality.

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