Robot & Frank (6/10): An original futuristic take on aging.

"The human brain, a lovely piece of hardware.”

Jake Schreier won the Feature Film Prize at Sundance in 2012 for this original dramatic comedy and it’s easy to see why. There are few films in Hollywood that deal with aging and when they do they are usually handled in an overly sentimental or poorly manner. By simply looking at the poster alone, I thought I knew what this movie was going to be about: an odd pairing of a grumpy old man refusing to accept the assistance of a robot but who would eventually get to befriend it and accept it. Robot & Frank however was nothing like I expected and the story had a very original premise with a strong central performance from Frank Langella. It also stands out in its depiction of the future, which seems much more believable and approachable than most futuristic dystopian movies. It is a simple movie that approaches the subject of aging in a rather simple but realistic manner. 

Frank (Frank Langella) is a former jewel thief who has served time in prison, but is now living on his own in an upstate New York town. His son, Hunter (James Marsden) takes long drives to come visit him during the weekends to check up on him and during one of those visits he brings him a robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard) to assist him. The robot specializes in healthcare, but Frank isn’t too keen about having him around. Not knowing how to shut if off he eventually gives in and allows it to do the chores in the house. During the course of the movie we realize Frank is beginning to have trouble remembering things (showing early signs of dementia), and that is why his family is concerned for him. His daughter, Madison (Liv Tyler), is a philanthropist who is always traveling to foreign countries but also tries to check up on him when she has a chance. Frank’s robot wants him to begin a new project in order to improve his health and it believes that Frank should take on gardening and establish a daily routine. But Frank has other ideas, he wants to plan for a new heist and he easily convinces the robot that it is a good idea. Susan Sarandon also has a supporting role in this film as a local librarian that Frank frequently visits, but there isn’t much of a romantic arc. The film is basically a dramatic comedy centering on the relationship Frank forms with his robot and how his family deals with his illness. 

Langella is the true stand out here and he carries this movie with his solid performance. There were moments were the pacing seemed to drag, but his character simply captivated me and got me through some of those patches. I had some issues with the ending as well, which seemed a bit too neatly wrapped for a film that basically was staying away from genre formulas and conventions for almost its entire runtime. But for a film that centers on a relationship between an old man and a robot it does feel quite fresh in that unlike with most sci-fi films, here there is no conflict as to if the robot will develop a consciousness or not. It never seems to be an issue here and he constantly reminds Frank that he is not alive. This isn’t a man versus machine type of movie, it is more interested in showing how technology can help improve our lives as is the case with Frank, although there are of course dangers implied with it, depending on how we use this technology. The screenplay focuses on that intimate relationship between Frank and his robot, and that ends up being the highlight of this film.        

Unfinished Business (3/10): Dumb and Dumber Eurotrip.

“Hello, I’m Mike Pancake.”

This quote is just one example of how uninspired the screenwriter was at the moment of writing the script for Unfinished Business. Of course he followed it up by making several breakfast references, but none of the jokes were actually funny. It’s a shame because Ken Scott had a stronger cast to work with here than in his previous collaboration with Vince Vaughn, Delivery Man, a film I didn’t really like but that I didn’t dislike either. I’d rather sit through that movie than watch Unfinished Business because this was incredibly dull, the jokes were lame, and the story was completely unfocused and all over the place. Delivery Man is a masterpiece next to Unfinished Business. It seemed like screenwriter Steve Conrad thought about several funny scenes he could include in a movie like having Vince Vaughn run in his wife’s jogging clothes, but he didn’t worry about giving any reasonable explanation for the scene other than having his young daughter confusing her mom’s clothes with his (like if that were a possibility). Actually the entire subplot with Vaughn’s family is unnecessary and shouldn’t have been included because it felt completely out of place. I’ve read some positive reviews and I respect them, but I honestly didn’t find this film funny and thought that it was a waste of a talented cast. My greatest problem was the lazy writing, the forced jokes and the unfocused story. 

In Vince Vaghn’s latest bromantic comedy he plays Dan Trunkman, a salesman for a big company who decides to quit and start his own small business after discussing with his boss, Chuck Portnoy (Sienna Miller). He offers the rest of his fellow co-workers the opportunity to come work with him and the only ones who follow him are Timothy (Tom Wilkinson) and Mike (Dave Franco). The only reason they do is because Timothy has been forced to retire because of his age and Mike was actually interviewing for a position which he didn’t get. Tom immediately invites them to Dunkin Donuts to plan their strategy. A year goes by and the three of them are still having their meetings there, but they are about to close their first important deal. In order to do so they must travel to Germany where they will meet Jim Spinch (James Marsden) and his assistant Bill (Nick Frost) to shake hands and seal the deal. Unfortunately the sale isn’t as closed as they had anticipated because Chuck has been interfering and trying to seal another deal with them. In the meantime, Dan’s kids Paul and Bess (Britton Sear and Ella Anderson), are having trouble in school and his extremely supportive wife, Susan (June Diane Raphael) needs his attention. Dan will have to try to balance his family life and his business, but things get extremely wacky in Europe where a sex fetish event is taking place at the same time as a global economic summit.

I honestly have no idea what Dave Franco was thinking when he decided to play this character, but I guess he never considered taking Robert Downey Jr’s advice of never going full retard in a movie. It’s hard to understand what he’s saying at times as he doesn’t speak out much and seems to mumble and make up words. Vaughn is playing the same character he has been playing in his latest comedies and I’m glad he is finally going to be doing something different in the upcoming True Detective series because he needs to try to break out from that tired formula which worked wonders for him in Wedding Crashers, but has gotten old now. Tom Wilkerson is a terrific actor, but his character isn’t funny at all. He plays an old man who is looking forward to getting divorced and having sex for the first time with someone he can love. Not even the reliable Nick Frost is given decent material to work with. The film is only 90 minutes long but you feel every second of them because most of the jokes miss the mark. The film is also incredibly unbalanced being on the one hand an irreverent business road trip and on the other trying to deliver an anti-bullying message which is never actually resolved and ends up being an afterthought. 

My Review: The Butler (8/10)

"Everything you are and everything you have, is because of that butler."

Lee Daniels' The Butler is an ambitious film that has Oscar bait written all over of it. It may have an uneven and overlong narrative, but the impressive cast makes up for it. The film covers an extended period of time where political and racial history was being made in the United States, but it does so in a very quick and safe way. That is where some of the comparisons with Forrest Gump come in, but this film takes itself more seriously. I wasn't a fan of Lee's previous film, The Paperboy, but Precious was a solid movie. The Butler is not as good as Precious, but it's still a solid effort and an engaging film with some great performances. We get to see through the eyes of the butler how each of the historical events presented in the film affected his life and society as a whole. It can be manipulative and melodramatic at times, but the film does work and it's emotionally affecting. Many of the characters come in and out of the film so quickly that we barely have time to get to know them. The only three characters in this film that get some depth are the butler, his wife, and oldest son. That was enough to engage the audience and keep them hooked to the story despite the pacing issues. 

The screenplay was written by Danny Strong inspired by an article written by Wil Haygood entitled "A Butler Well Served by This Election." The film is very loosely based on a true story, but several liberties were taken for dramatic effect. It centers on the life of Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker) who grew up in the south as a domestic servant in the 20's. He later decides to continue his life on his own and becomes a hotel valet under the guidance of Maynard (Clarence Williams III) who teaches him everything he needs to know about becoming a servant. He does his work so well that eventually he's called to serve at the White House during the 50's. Beginning his service during President Dwight Eisenhower's (Robin Williams) term he observes the radical changes from the inside for decades serving seven more presidents in the process. His service eventually affects his family life including his relationship with his wife Gloria (Oprah Winfrey) who has a drinking problem and with his oldest son Louis (David Oyelowo) who becomes involved in the Civil Rights movement. The Butler allows us to experience the changes in America during the 20th century through his eyes and the effect it had on his family.

Despite being manipulative and playing it pretty safe, what The Butler does best is focusing on the duality of its main character and the inner struggle he must face. That is the key element in this film and what works best because there are several flaws with the pacing considering its ambition to cover such an extensive period of time. Cecil learns at a very young age that he must remain invisible and thus learns how to control his emotions and keep to himself. That is why he becomes such an efficient servant, but on the inside he struggles with the injustice despite remaining passive. His son, is the opposite, and that is where the duality is expressed as he represents everything his father isn't. The Butler works best when it centers around this conflict between father and son, and the conflict between the two differing ideologies. It was interesting to see this dynamic in play and it worked much better than the extensive and broad biopic that it was trying to be. The impressive cast also lifts this film and makes it seem much better than it really is. David Oyelowo is probably the best here, although Whitaker is receiving a lot of credit for his restrained performance as well. It was good to see him sharing a short scene with Robin Williams (since I was a huge fan of their 80's film Good Morning Vietnam, it had a nostalgic effect on me). The Butler isn't a groundbreaking film and as a period film it doesn't impress much, but it gets credit for trying to explore the duality in The Butler and his relationships.

My Review: The Box (2/10)

¨Your home is a box. Your car is a box on wheels. You drive to work with it. You drive home with it. You sit in your home, staring into a box. It erodes your sole, while the box that is your body inevitably withers... then dies. Where upon it is placed in the ultimate box, to slowly decompose.¨

(2/10) The Box had a pretty interesting premise: A mysterious man comes to a home and offers a family an opportunity of a lifetime. He gives them a box that has a button on it and tells them that if they push the button two things will happen. First they will receive a million dollars, and second somebody they don`t know will die. So in a way the entire movie focused on this Shakespearean dilemma: To push or not to push the button, that is the question. Richard Kelly, better known for directing the cult movie Donnie Darko and then later on the less successful Southland Tales, directs this movie based on Richard Matheson`s short story entitled ¨Button, Button.¨ I was expecting a lot more from this sci-fi mystery movie, but The Box drags during almost the entire two hours. The characters are just not that interesting and we actually don`t care about them. There are several weird characters and a lot of questions that the movie raises and then fails to answer. When The Box finally ended I felt that there had been so many things unsaid and way too many unnecessary elements introduced in the movie. The dialogue was horrible as well and there were very few rescuable moments in the entire film (one being Frank Langella). In order for a mystery film to be successful some of the questions raised during the movie should have to be answered, and in The Box this wasn`t the case.

The movie begins with a ring at the door of the Lewis family. Norma (played by Cameron Diaz with a sort of southern accent) opens the door and finds a box lying on the floor with a note saying it is from Arlington Steward. She shows the box to her husband, Arthur (played by James Marsden from Enchanted) and neither of them have any idea who the man is. The movie moves on and we follow each of these characters to their jobs. Norma is a school teacher who has a problem with her foot as she only has one toe due to an incident she suffered years ago. In one of the weirdest scenes of the movie one of the students asks her to show them her foot and she agreeingly does so. From this point on I was a bit disappointed with how the story was developing. The movie lost me when Cameron Diaz`s character decided to show off her foot to the entire class room. Norma ends up losing her job because they are reducing some of the classes for the next semester. Arthur on the other hand works for NASA and he is a well known scientist, but something goes wrong with his psychological test and he isn´t allowed to travel. From this point on it is obvious that the Lewis`s are being played and forced into a position in which they will have to push the button. After these strange things occur, Arlington (Frank Langella from Frost/Nixon) visits Norma and explains to her the consequences of pushing the button. He has a strange appearance since he is missing part of his face (his appearance is the closest thing I have seen to Harvey Dent when he turns into Two Face in the Dark Knight). The reason Arlington is missing part of his face is because he was hit by lightning and declared dead for a couple of hours before waking up at the morgue. What happened to him continues to be a mystery. The plot continues from this point on dealing with the box and the consequences their actions might bring.

Richard Kelly does try to make interesting and original films; no one can argue that his movies are different from most mainstream Hollywood films. However being original is one thing and being entertaining is another and The Box isn`t entertaining at all. The movie leaves too many questions unanswered that it shouldn´t have even risen in the first place if they were not going to tackle them later on. Who was Arlington working for? Was he simply a messenger like he said he was? Who were his employees actually and where did they come from? I just found many of the mysteries the movie had to be pointless. All I can say is that Arlington will not have to worry about us spending all our time staring at a box if more movies like this one continue to come out. I think the highlight of the movie was Frank Langella`s performance, but that was about the only positive thing about The Box. I would definitely recommend people to skip this movie.