Ocean's Eight

A fun and funny heist caper, perfectly cast in the same mold as Ocean's Eleven 2001. Just like the 2001 film, the film has plenty of twists and turns to keep me entertained despite the enormous plot holes. The film does a nice job of capturing the same style as the 2001 film, including the opening scene at a New Jersey prison parole hearing, the slinky music, the high glamour of the heist, and the unique fashion choices of each character. The eight women are all terrific - Sandra Bullock portrayed her Debbie Ocean much like her pal George Clooney's Danny- cool and calm. My wife was especially happy to see her show off her fluent German language skill in a movie! Speaking of languages, Cate Blanchett's accent was a little confusing, but her long bangs and awesome costumes make up for it.
In my Ocean's Eleven 2001 review I commented

"Soderbergh does a nice job of giving everyone at least one scene to shine. For example, Don Cheadle, in some ways, is barely in the movie. But he gets a few brief moments to be noticed which count for a lot."

Ocean's Eight mostly serves its eight women well...except for Mindy Kaling: does she have more than a dozen words to say in the entire film? There are tons of scenes where her character seems to be struck silent.

Notes

• Once again, Helena Bonham Carter has to talk her way into a underground vault in order to steal a unique historical object (see Harry Potter 7)
• The movie takes place in the spring, but the cemetery scene looks like the autumn- many brown leaves on the trees and on the ground. I noticed it right away.
• Richard Armitage made a great impression as alpha dwarf Thorin Oakenshield in the Hobbit movies, but I continue to not recognize him at human height in other movies.
• I can't stand James Corden on television, but he was good in this. I loved his perfectly tailored suit in this movie, a stark contrast with the suits he wears on TV that make him look so fat!
• We were really hoping Danny Ocean would make a mysterious appearance near the end of the movie, perhaps a wink from across a busy city street. All I will say here is TWO of the 2001 Eleven have cameos in this film.

Theater Notes

Enjoying a giant Bavarian pretzel before the movie,
about an hour before the brownout.

Emily and I originally went to see this at AMC Aviation Plaza in Linden NJ on the hottest day of the summer- July 1. Suddenly, right when Cate Blanchett confronts Sandra Bullock on the waterside "you can't pull a job inside a job!" the picture went black. Ten seconds later, the sound stopped too. I went out into the corridor and it turns out all the screens were dead- there was a brownout! Emily and I and the other dozen patrons sat in the darkness for a few minutes until the house lights came up and a theater flunky stepped in and asked "did the movie start yet?" Several people began explaining what was happening onscreen:

"Sandra Bullock was talking to that blonde lady on the beach..."

"Cate Blanchett!" another woman chimed in.

The flunky took this in, turned on his heel, and exited the theater without another word. Emily and I hung around another ten minutes, sharing our broken film stories - meanwhile, we could clearly hear Jurassic dinosaurs on the loose through the walls. Thankfully we received readmit passes without a fuss, and saw the movie without incident on July 5 at AMC Burlington.

Also on Stub Hubby

My 2001 Ocean's Eleven review reads like I'm being paid by the studio. I stand by it, but Ocean's Twelve and Thirteen would erode the good faith Eleven instilled in me.