Tag Archive for Robot & Frank

Movie reviews, ‘Robot & Frank,’ (Trailer w/ commentary from Director)

This sounds like a movie that I’ll actually pay money to go to a blacked out building full of strangers and set in the dark and watch. Those movies are few and far between. . . EDITOR

from Los Angeles Times

By Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times Film Critic

August 23, 2012, 3:05 p.m.

Frank Langella is masterful as a lonely curmudgeon who rediscovers his purpose in life with some high-tech help.

Everything about “Robot & Frank” is as unlikely as it is irresistible. Charming, playful and sly, it makes us believe that a serene automaton and a snappish human being can be best friends forever.

Perhaps the most surprising aspect of this Sundance prize winner is the easy way it blends the impeccable old-school acting of Frank Langella with the youthful independent sensibility of a pair of first-time filmmakers, writer Christopher D. Ford and director Jake Schreier.

Though most indie filmmakers gravitate toward stories about the agonies of being under 30, old souls Schreier and Ford have made a film that deals, in the most good-humored way, with age, vulnerability and the need to always be of use in your own life. . . . Read Complete Review

from IFC

Posted August 16th, 2012, 2:08 PM by Brian Jacks

It’s surprising to think that one of the most humanistic films of the year co-stars a machine, but that’s what you get with Jake Schreier’s new movie “Robot & Frank.” Legendary actor Frank Langella plays Frank, an elderly grump in the near-future whose children (Liv Tyler and James Marsden) worry constantly about him as he schlubs his way through his twilight years. Hoping to get his dad’s life back in order, his son orders him a robot (voiced by Peter Sarsgaard), a digitally-powered unit designed to function as a butler and caretaker in one. Initially resistant to his new addition, Frank — a “retired” jewel thief — quickly realizes that his robot may be good for more than just fetching glasses of milk.

Call-In Commentary: Watch the “Robot & Frank” trailer with director Jake Schreier