Robot and Frank

I have this friend who loves monkeys a little too much. For as long as I have known him he has incessantly talked about moving to the islands and training little monkeys to be his butlers and roll joints for him. And knowing this guy there would probably be two Asian strippers next to him at all times. Now while this in theory sounds fresh it sounds a little too much like a retired Magnum P.I. for my tastes. As far my dream is concerned, I have always wanted a little robot to bring me drinks like in Rocky 4. But after seeing Robot and Frank, I have upped my standards a bit for my own personal servant. In this movie, which is set in the not too distant future, robots are a bit more advanced but not quite I, Robot advanced. They can walk/run about as well as Forrest Gump when he had his training legs and they are programmed to help you with your specific needs. So if you are a librarian, then he would be programmed solely to help you with the card catalog, (when was the last time you heard that?) checking in and out books,and just making your job easier as a whole.

I would have my personal robot programmed to help me pick up girls. We would go to the dog park and he would run after girls while screaming and waving his hands and I would jump in just at the right time to "save her". I have unintentionally tried this method with a live friend before but the setting was at a bar and my friend would just always get way too drunk and I would have to save him from himself and sometimes the poor girl from his dancing. It never worked because he was just creepy weird not "im a killer robot with no feelings" weird. Now while I will admit it's not an A-Team fool proof plan, it does has potential and I'm just working out a few kinks. It's better than what my Indian buddy would use it for and that's to design the iOS8. How lame is that???

Anyway, if you are still reading this and it would be a miracle if you were, Robot and Frank is a pleasant surprise. Watching the previews it looks like a movie for old people, as in it's safe, fluffy, and doesn't challenge you at all. But that's not the case. Frank who is played by Frank Langella has retired from his cat burglar days because it seems like dementia is starting to set in. The director shows you his day to day activities and how this disorder is starting to affect him. The one pleasant thing he does daily is visit the local librarian who is still hanging on by a thread to a dying concept. In this futuristic setting there is no longer a need for a library as you can access any book you want on line. It's basically only around because hipsters think it's ironic to actually go to a building to read books. Which I hope no hipsters are reading this because soon local libraries will be filled unshaven, slightly dirty looking people who look like they could be homeless. Although this already sounds like the New York Public Library or my favorite local bar today. I bring all of this up because it plays an important role n the movie later.

So Frank's concerned children decide to buy him a robot to help him with his disorder and to try and make life easier for him. And after constant push back, the robot finally starts to grow on Frank. It's not long before he realizes how smart and efficient the robot is. So he cons the robot into helping him get back into the cat burglar game. it's great because now that he is task oriented some of the old Frank is back and the robot feels as though he's doing his job but as the dementia continues to creep in the robot starts to show signs of attachment to it's owner. Or is it? Maybe the robot just has it's own agenda. This part I will let you discover for yourself but Peter Sarsgaard's voice adds another element to the robot. If nothing else it just sounds like the kind of concerned caretaker you want living with you.

All of the acting is great in it and there are quite a few douche bags in the movie that you want Frank to rob.So each burglary scene is both intense and feels like some weird form of justice being carried out. I rate this movie as FRESH and suggest that you pop in.