Steal Magnolias 8

First, it was Ghostbusters. Now, another male-centric franchise gets the gender-swap treatment. In Ocean's 8, the all female spin-off of Ocean's Eleven, Sandra Bullock leads a group of remarkable woman to pull off the crime of the century. Here are a few things you need to know about the highly-anticipated heist comedy opening next week. Are you in or are you out?

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1 IT RUNS IN THE FAMILY!

Ocean’s 8 centres around Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock), the estranged ex-con sister of heist maestro Danny Ocean (George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven and the two sequels), who’s concocting the greatest heist of her career with an all-female crew (see p31). Their target is the Cartier necklace called the Toussaint that’s valued at US$150 million (S$201 mil). And they plan to steal it in broad daylight, so to speak, at The Met Gala, the annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. “The outlaw trope has always been at the heart of American movies, but with few exceptions, those ‘outlaws’ have been men,” said director/ co-screenwriter Gary Ross (Pleasantville, The Hunger Games), who, interestingly, conceived the story for the fourth Ocean’s instalment for Steven Soderbergh. “I was intrigued with the idea of a group of kickass women laying claim to this genre that always seemed off limits.” Added Bullock: “Heist movies are always fun. How will they get away with whatever they are stealing and what antics will happen along the way? But what this movie is really about is these eight wonderfully complex, smart, funny women, who are going to take you on their own journey, and all the twists and turns that arise.”

2 THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART IS ONE OF THE MAJOR CHARACTERS!