Friday, June 19, 2015

Be Kind, Please Rewind

He’s a Co-Captain of Industry. He’s the…

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Week of June 19, 2015

Robotic workers are also part Keurig machines. First up…


 
CHAPPiE

The upside to a robotic workforce is no more mandatory birthday cake in the break room.

Mind you, the emotional automaton in this sci-fi movie would actually enjoy the awkward ritual.

Forbidden by his boss (Sigourney Weaver) from testing his experimental A.I. on a new police robot, Dion (Dev Patel) steals an injured one, CHAPPiE (Sharlto Copley), in hopes of installing it with human emotions.

But an indebted gang (Ninja, Yolandi Visser, Jose Pablo Cantillo) wants to use the freshly sentient being to do its bidding, which includes robbery and murder.

Meanwhile, a competing designer (Hugh Jackman) plans to cripple Dion’s design and introduce a more menacing enforcer to the market.

While the special effects and action sequences can be impressive, the script is too ambitious with too many sub-plots, while the entire cast is visually unappealing and audibly annoying.

Besides, having robot cops would devastate the entire doughnut industry.  Red Light


 
The Lazarus Effect

The downside to returning from the dead is having to pay-off all your lavish funeral expenses.

However, the resuscitated individual in this horror movie is more interested in other people’s funeral arrangements. 

Forbidden by the dean of their university from continuing on with their animal trails involving a Lazarus formula, Frank (Mark Duplass) and his fiancée, Zoe (Olivia Wilde), carry on in private.

But when a lab accident leaves Zoe dead, Frank decides to use the drug on her, with their friends (Donald Glover, Evan Peters, Sarah Bolger) barring witnesses to her resurrection.

Back from the dead, Zoe uses her newly developed powers of telekinesis and super-strength to murder her lab partners.

Lacking any substantial scares beyond the standard startles in dimly lit rooms, The Lazarus Effect is a poorly conceived thriller with a predictable and pointless existence.

Incidentally, once in the ground you do have 30-days to return your coffin.  Red Light


 
Run All Night

The worst thing about your father being a mob enforcer is his constantly threatening you to throw your little league games.

Thankfully, the father and son in this thriller have grown up and become estranged.

When his son, Mike (Joel Kinnaman), witnesses the son of his boss, Shawn (Ed Harris), murder two drug-dealers, Jimmy (Liam Neeson) comes to his aid, but ends up killing Shawn’s son when he comes back to silence Mike.

Hunted by a hit man (Common) hired by Shawn, the two evade his bullets while trying to amass evidence on Mike’s innocence.

With Neeson serving as the tormented tough guy once again, Run All Night has the same demeanor of all his other head-busting roles as of late.

Furthermore, the acquainted script and archaic action never exceeds mediocrity. 

On the Bright-side, when your dad's an enforcer the hammer department is the only place you need to shop for Father’s Day.  Red Light

***Out of Workforce***


 
Short Circuit 2

Robots cannot only do our jobs better, but they can stand in the unemployment line longer than any human.

Fortunately, the bot in this comedy has multiple jobs to support him.

Loaned out to his old friend Benjamin (Fisher Stevens) to help with the production of his new toy line, Johnny 5 (Tim Blaney) finds NYC to be much more interesting than his rural home.

One day when he wanders off he befriends a bank-robber (Jack Weston) who wants to use Johnny 5 to dig a tunnel into a vault.

Meanwhile, Benjamin’s business partner (Michael McKean) plots to sell Johnny 5 for millions.

Despite the poor casting of a white actor as the East Indian lead, this sequel to the corny original exceeds its predecessor by focusing more on Johnny’s evolution, as well as ramping up the action.

Incidentally, Johnny 5 went on to become an unsuccessful bomb disposal robot.

He’s a Robotanist. He’s the…


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