Well Deserved Praise

The Worst Film Ever

Lack of good storyline.

.Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Ingenious? Meh. Hilarious? Not really. Moving? Definitely not. Not sure what I...wait, there's more descriptions for this on the back cover? Brilliant, touching and captivating? Funny, thoughtful and smart? Where was I...oh yeah, not sure what I watched but it certainly wasn't any of the above. A retired cat burglar who suffers from memory lapses has two grown children who are concerned that he cannot live by himself. So they purchase a robot programmed to improve his health, however he uses it to get back into completing heists. Ok look, it's a nice film, perfectly watchable and hosts a fantastic central performance from Frank Langella. I was onboard with the subtle futuristic tropes in a modern world that is based on our current reality. Humanoid robots, modern phones and televisions and even the architectural designs of certain buildings. The attention to digitalisation assisting humanity through processes of deterioration was rather refreshing. Our main character resents change but slowly starts to embrace it, ironically this is the same with any new piece of technology. Schreier's directing style was clean and enhanced the contemporary indie feel that the film was aiming for. All the ingredients for a quirky memorable indie drama are there, so why was I immediately disengaged with the story? I mean I really didn't care for the plot at all. It's far too glossy and overly quirky to a point where the characters themselves existed just because the plot required them. Susan Sarandon's character is in the film simply as a means for a twist at the end, which was implausible anyway. Liv Tyler still cannot act. The subtle humour was so subtle, that I didn't actually laugh or smile once. I'm just not sure where I sit with this one. The concept and ideas were great, technical execution was sublime and the production design was suitably modern. The story and script were rather lacklustre and for that, I didn't care for it. Shame really.

Robot and Frank is a good film. It is about medical ethics and the use of robots. On the one hand it seems like Frank has a form of dementia, which contributes to the plot. The robot is Frank's care-giver but also a pal who helps him steal, create new projects and get a piece of his memory back. Stealing here is Frank's past-time. Frank considers it a kind of skill and a kind of hobby which excites Frank. Having a partner in crime (the robot) makes Frank a little bit more hopeful in life.I believe the main question in this movie is about how ethical is robotics? Can a human befriend a robot? Can a robot do what humans cannot do? Can the robot be programmed to help a sick human?

This is a movie that will entertain from start to finish - provided you don't take the medical aspects of Frank too seriously. The creators seem to have invented a type of dementia that creates selective long term memory loss without affecting Frank's executive functioning nor his short term memory. Maybe the story would not have worked with a medically-recognizable condition. Certainly, by the end, I found myself quite angry about how lazy the creators were in researching a fundamental aspect of the story.

In the near future, an aging thief with memory problems (Frank Langella) gets a robot assistant.Nice little movie, reminds me a little of the interaction between the man and the robot in "Moon".The robot's design is a bit distracting at first since it's pretty obvious that it's a (wo)man in a suit, which makes it pretty hard to suspend the disbelief. Still, it's a OK movie.Excellent score by Francis and the Lights. Good performance by Langella. Good voice acting by Peter Sarsgaard.The script could have been more interesting.