There are a lot of very uncomfortable gender issues being raised in “Ex Machina,” the directorial debut of novelist/screenwriter Alex Garland now playing in theaters across Kansas City.

Taking on the point of view of a lonely programmer named Caleb (Domnhall Gleeson) — who codes for Bluebook, a technology company clearly modeled after Google and Facebook — this sci-fi chamber piece teases and punishes in equal measure.

Oscar Isaac plays Nathan, the genius billionaire who runs Bluebook and whose insistence on extreme privacy stands in stark contrast to the privacy of its users. Caleb meets his boss at a remote wilderness bunker, and the mind games begin. Isaac is terrific, exuding menace while Nathan puts on a laid-back facade, keeping his guest on constant edge. Although he needs input from Caleb, it pains him to have to deal with human niceties.

Maybe that’s because he’s been cooped up with his creation — a cyborg with super-advanced artificial intelligence and a slender, sexy frame named Ava (Alicia Vikander) — for too long. The robot is designed as a heterosexual male fantasy figure, with glowing metal parts inside a transparent encasement that further accentuate her model-thin waist, and a beautiful face that resembles human skin, but is completely free of blemishes.

Nathan says that he’s summoned Caleb to see if Ava passes a kind of Turing test, passing as human — even though he’s not remotely disguising her as such. In her daily sessions with Caleb, however, she starts wearing a wig and a dress, and openly flirts with him.

Garland’s film, like so many sci-fi and fantasy stories, sexualizes Ava to an embarrassing degree, which also happens to be its entire point. As the themes of “Ex Machina” reveal themselves, however, it’s clear that the writer/director’s aim is to have his cake and eat it too, with images of female nudity literally created for the male gaze, subverted through the plot, and mined for maximum uncomfortability.

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No stranger to big questions, Garland wrote the screenplays for Danny Boyle’s philosophical sci-fi epic “Sunshine” and Mark Romanek’s melancholic exploration of death “Never Let Me Go.” With “Ex Machina,” he proves to be a potent filmmaker as well. Ava is an absolute marvel of modern practical and CGI production design, the sleek set adds to the mounting claustrophobia, and handsomely framed shots and deliberate pacing reinforce Caleb’s alienation.

Like “Sunshine,” however, “Ex Machina” places a lot of red herrings throughout and swerves a little too conventionally in its final act. It isn’t enough, however, to undermine all of Garland’s careful buildup, because the film leaves the viewer with so many tricky questions to stew over.

“Ex Machina” is rated R for creepy android nudity, strong language, sexual references and some violence.

The Wrecking Crew

A new music documentary profiles some of the most important players in the history of pop music — a group of Los Angeles studio musicians nicknamed “The Wrecking Crew.”

The movie, playing at the Tivoli and on iTunes and On Demand, is full of amusing anecdotes and facts about their most famous sessions: among them the all-time classic “Pet Sounds” Beach Boys’ record with Brian Wilson, Phil Spector’s “Wall of Sound” singles, the Mamas and the Papas, and more.

From a narrative standpoint, “The Wrecking Crew” is scattered, which limits its appeal to pop music aficionados. As one of those people, I enjoyed the film despite its lack of forward movement. Director Denny Tedesco (son of profiled session guitarist Tommy Tedesco) filmed the rock doc between 1996 and 2008, so there’s an unusual disconnect in graphic design, film quality and aspect ratios throughout that gives it a made-for-TV feel.

While “The Wrecking Crew” doesn’t live up to the standard set by recent backup-musician documentaries like “Standing in the Shadows of Motown,” “Muscle Shoals,” or “20 Feet From Stardom,” it does offer a welcome glimpse behind the scenes of a unique time and place — where creativity and chops were developed right alongside the changing face of music and culture.

“The Wrecking Crew” is rated PG and is worth it just for the soundtrack, featuring probably a hundred amazing songs.