Tag Archives: first time director

Robot and Frank: You can’t help but love them

Frank Langella and Peter Sarsgaard star in Robot in Frank. Courtesy of Sony Pictures


As an elderly person in need of full time care, would you prefer to have a human or a robot take care of your day-to-day needs? What does the future hold for us in terms of humanitarian occupations in the service industry? Robot and Frank gives us a small peak into the potential of robotic care, simultaneously examining the day-to-day happenings of a former thief befriending his mechanical care giver.

Frank Langella delivers an entertaining and convincing performance as an aged man living with memory loss. His chemistry with both Robot and the ever wonderful Susan Sarandon adds layers to an already fantastic story.

Writer Christopher D. Ford and first time director Jake Shreier successfully knit a charming, multilayered film. They give us a rather tight look on Frank’s life and his mischievous adventures with Robot. It would have been nice to see the social ramifications the all-pervading robots have on society at large but that’s just a personal nitpick. Both writer and director molded tight relationships and a highly entertaining story that stays within you after the credits roll.

The special effects department worked marvels with Robot, who never once looked out of place or unconvincing.

Bottom Line: Looking for an original, entertaining, and well thought out film? Then Robot and Frank is exactly what you’re looking for.

Grade A-

Runtime: 90 minutes
IMAX: No
3D: No


Chernobyl Diaries: Worth the ride

OLIVIA TAYLOR DUDLEY as Natalie, JESSE McCARTNEY as Chris, JONATHAN SADOWSKI as Paul, DEVIN KELLEY as Amanda, DIMITRI DIATCHENKO as Uri, NATHAN PHILLIPS as Michael and INGRID BOLSÖ BERDAL as Zoe in Chernobyl Diaries. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures


Twenty-six years ago, the catastrophic Chernobyl nuclear disaster struck the Western portion of the then U.S.S.R. and parts of Europe claiming thousands of lives and infecting even more with cancer. Almost three decades later, the man behind the hit Paranormal Activity creates a horror involving the remnants of the abandoned radioactive site. Are you game?

Chernobyl Diaries takes you along with six tourists who bravely, or foolishly, take an unofficial tour of the abandoned city. Things take a turn for the worse and they find more in the city than abandoned buildings and cars.

What is interesting about the movie is its attempted original concept from Oren Peli. Peli and two co-screenwriters pieced together a situation that makes you feel as if it could possibly happen. Sure things aren’t perfect, but their screenplay does provide a fun suspenseful scream-worthy ride.

Choosing first time director Bradley Parker (a visual effects artist for films like Fight Club) was a wise choice. Parker uses handheld camera work throughout the movie, but never gets carried away with shaking the camera resulting in a theatre full of observers suffering from motion sickness (hope the makers of the next Hunger Games movie are taking lessons).

Finding talent most people will not recognize has become a trademark for Peli’s movies. Considering what was asked of them, the cast did a fairly good job with the script and the amount of action involved.

In the end, this will not provide the fright-fest Paranormal Activity did, but it does take you on journey you’ll find unsettling the first time around. After that, you’ll find the replay value takes a dive off a towering cliff.

Bottom Line: Worth watching once if you’re in the mood for a creepy scare.

Grade B-

Runtime: 90 minutes
IMAX: No
3D: No

DEVIN KELLEY, OLIVIA TAYLOR DUDLEY, and JESSE McCARTNEY


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