Category: Movies

Low Budget Sci-Fi & Much More in “Robot & Frank” (Short Review)

robot & frank There seems to be a small trend of some independent films using science fiction elements, usually with little special effects, to explore universal themes. Films like Another Earth (2011), Melancholia (2011), and The Man from Earth (2007), dwell in a setting that looks normal but with a small twist. Each shows that science fiction may be used to explore the human condition without a big blockbuster budget. The latest to join this trend is Robot & Frank (2012), directed by Jake Schreier and starring Frank Langella.

Robot & Frank is set in the “near future,” so that easily explains why everything looks like today, except for fancier cell phones and some occasional robots, including the “Robot” in the title who is voiced by Peter Sarsgaard. Langella plays Frank, a former burglar who is gradually losing his memory. His son worries about him, so one day he brings him a robot to look after him. Frank is resistant to the robot but he gradually warms to the new house guest, who not only cooks and cleans but who also may be useful in some local thievery.

The film is largely a character study with some meditations on aging, changing technology, and memory. Langella is excellent as always, as is Susan Sarandon. The movie may not bowl you over, and it did not go as deep into the themes as I might have liked. But it has a little suspense and subdued humor throughout. If you are looking for a sci-fi action film, you may want to look elsewhere. But if you are just trying to find a decent entertaining movie before the big Fall movies arrive, check out Robot & Frank.

Other Reviews Because Why Should You Believe Me? Rotten Tomatoes has a respectable 89% critics rating and 87% audience rating for Robot & Frank. Jeff Meyers at MetroTimes enjoyed the film while noting, “The final act, in particular, feels rushed and formulaic, and a subplot with Frank’s daughter (Liv Tyler) goes nowhere — but it does benefit immensely from his underlying character study, which is rich, tender and artful.” Witney Seibold at CraveOnline writes “Robot & Frank is, all at once, an astute look at the near future, a chuckle-worthy heist movie, a pure exercise in science fiction, and a sweet little drama.

What did you think of Robot & Frank? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    What a French Film Would Look Like If It Starred a Cat

    henri le chat noir

    For our funny video of the week, check out this send up of foreign films about an existential crisis. If you like foreign films, ennui, or cats — or even if you hate those things — you will enjoy Will Braden’s short film, Henri 2 Paw de Deux:

    If you like that one, there is the original Henri film, as well as Henri 3, Le Vet. Henri, Le Chat Noir has his own Facebook and Twitter accounts, as well as his own store. Next thing you know, he will be coming out with a book. Oh, he already has his own book.

    What is your favorite line in the film? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    • Buy from Amazon

    The Body of Gram Parsons and The Streets of Baltimore

    gram parsons
    On September 19, 1973, singer-songwriter Gram Parsons died from too much morphine and tequila in Room 8 of a motel room in California. It was not the end for Parsons, or at least his body, which then went on an odd journey.

    Parsons’ Body

    Before Parsons’s death, Parsons and his road manager Phil Kaufman made a pact.  They agreed that for whichever one of them died first, the other would take the friend’s body to Joshua Tree National Park, where they would cremate the body.

    So, after Parsons’s death, Kaufman and Michael Martin, a roadie, then stole the body and coffin.  They took the coffin while it had been en route to a burial in Louisiana.

    Kaufman and Martin then drove the body to Joshua Tree National Park.  There, they poured gasoline on the coffin and set it on fire with a match.

    But Gasoline is not enough to cremate a body, so some of Parsons’s body survived the burning.  After Kaufman and Martin were arrested, the charred remains of Parsons were buried in New Orleans.

    Because at the time stealing a body was not a crime in California, Kaufman and Martin were fined for stealing property: the coffin. Today, though, one may still pay respect to Parsons at Joshua Tree.

    Grand Theft Parsons

    The story of the body theft was told in the movie Grand Theft Parsons (2003), starring Johnny Knoxville. It has been awhile since I saw the film, but I remember being a bit disappointed by it.

    The story’s focus on the few days seemed stretched out for a movie. And maybe I was disappointed that the movie did not tell us more about the most interesting person related to the story: Gram Parsons.

    Rotten Tomatoes has a 44% critics rating and 53% audience rating for Grand Theft Parsons. But I suspect other fans, like me, will still want to see the film.

    “Streets of Baltimore”

    I do not know whether or not Parsons would be unhappy that his remains are in New Orleans. But one of his classic songs, “Streets of Baltimore,” is about a another journey and going some place you do not want to be.

    In “Streets of Baltimore,” the singer recounts leaving Tennessee on the train for Baltimore because his love wants to live in the city.  He gets a factory job and walks the streets with her.  But he soon realizes she loves the city lights more than she loves him.

    So in the end, the singer takes the train back to Tennessee alone: “Now I’m a going back on that same train that brought me here before / While my baby walks the streets of Baltimore.”

    There is little video footage of Parsons, but check out this rare grainy recording of him singing with Emmylou Harris.

    It is sad that there is so little video footage of Gram Parsons. Not only did he predate the music video era, but much of his fame came after his short life ended. So, he was never a regular on television.

    Even in this grainy black and white video of “Streets of Baltimore,” you can still tell he is a superstar, though.  And wherever his ashes and remains are, his music resides in our souls.

    What is your favorite Gram Parsons song? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    • Google Saves the Planet By Adding “Bacon Number” Function

    John Wayne's Bacon Number

    Finally, the folks at Google have solved a worldwide problem by making it easy to find the “Bacon Number” for any actor, past or present. Google apparently was concerned that people were spending too much time thinking when they played “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon,” so they added a function where you can find the number easily on Google.

    Here is how: (1) In the Google search box, type “Bacon Number,” followed by an actor’s name; (2) Then hit “search.” That’s it. That actor’s “Bacon Number” will come up on the screen, along with an explanation of the steps.

    Considering actor’s mentioned in recent Chimesfreedom posts, it is easy to find that Daniel Day-Lewis’s Bacon Number is two. Casey Affleck’s Bacon Number is one because he appeared with Kevin Bacon in Lemon Sky (1988). Bob Dylan’s Bacon Number is two. . .

    “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” was inspired by the play and film, Six Degrees of Separation (1993), which popularized a theory by author Frigyes Karinthy that everyone is on average only six introductions away from any other person on earth. The theory eventually developed into the theory that Kevin Bacon has been in so many films that one may connect him to any actor through six films or less. Up to now, one had to think to figure out the steps, but no longer.

    New York Magazine found some flaws with the program. And, since “bacon” made me think of Miss Piggy, I discovered that Google has no Bacon Number for her. But it does have a lot of actors.

    So, fire up Google and go at it. The world’s biggest problem is solved. Oh wait, you mean The Oracle of Bacon had already solved the problem (as well as knowing that Miss Piggy’s Bacon Number is two)?

    2024 UPDATE:  Unfortunately, Google no longer offers the Bacon Number function.

    Whose Bacon Number did you check? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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    • Daniel Day-Lewis and the Voice of “Lincoln”

    Spielberg Lincoln One of the first things I noticed in watching the newly released trailer for Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln is the voice Daniel Day-Lewis gives to the sixteenth president. As discussed in a previous post about The Gettysburg Address, actors often portray Abraham Lincoln with a booming deep voice, and we seem to imagine him that way because of his legendary status in American history. But contemporary reports of his voice discuss a higher-pitched nasally sound coming from The Great Emancipator.

    As you can see from the trailer, Spielberg and Lewis are aiming for something close to reality, even in Lincoln’s voice.

    The movie that examines the life of Lincoln in his final months before his assassination. I cannot wait to see this film, which is based in part on Doris Kearns Goodwin’s book Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln. By contrast, Slate gives the trailer a B-.

    What do you think of the trailer for Lincoln? Leave your two cents in the comments.

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