MOVIE - Robot and Frank

PG-13 (1:30)
Limited opening 8/17/12 (NY 8/24/12 (LA)
I saw it at El Con on Thursday, 9-20-12
RT Crit:  89 Audience:  86
cag: It was okay, had a stellar cast (2.5)
Director:  Jake Shreier
Samuel Goldwyn Films

Frank Langela, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler

This is set in the "near future." Worried about his father's encroaching dementia/Alzheimers, a son gives him a robot to help him with chores, keeping a schedule, and life in general.  The father, Frank Langela, doesn't think he needs help, but quickly becomes "friends" with the robot.  The kicker, the thing that isn't shown in any of the previews of the movie is (SPOILER ALERT) that Frank's past included a stint in prison for robbery, and he's still really good at that particular craft.  So together, they plan
 a heist.

Super cast.  Nice setting, small town America.  Depressing probabilities for our future. Libraries no longer needed .Aging.  Two things that I don't want to think about at all.

The ending was flat, dull, boring, lacking creativity.  Made a somewhat decent move go downhill fast.

MOVIE - The Artist

Surprisingly delightful!
Limited Released 11-25-11
1-26-11 at ElCon with Sheila, Kate, Linda
PG-13 (1:40)
RT Critics: 97%   Audience: 91%
Rating:  4/Loved it
Director:  Michel Hazanavicius
The Weinstein Company
Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo

The whole film is about sound/s.  A silent film superstar is ruined when "talkies" and the stock market crash happen simultaneously.  Ah, but it was about so much more, too.  It was about how the handsome star met a beautiful young ingenue as she was about to begin her career, how she revered him,love him,  rocketed to stardom, stayed sane and grounded, and ultimately saved the handsome star.  George Valentin and Peppy Miller.

Dujardin has a very ordinary face, but when he smiles, his whole face radiates happiness.  It's gorgeous. 
And Bejo, with her hip 20's haircut is a combination of ultra-cute and quite beautiful.  What a great pairing!

The sounds of the movie were amazingly done throughout.  Background silence...or no sound but the clink of a cup on a table surface...or the rise and fall of a great score...sometimes exactly like the old silent movies, sometimes very different.  Fascinating.

This movie was a real delight.