Tag: based on the graphic novel

ROBOT DREAMS – Review

So it’s been long established that the Summer season is the “go-to” release time for animated features (along with the year-end holidays). Kids are out of school and parents need an air-conditioned refuge for the whole family. This season has begun at the multiplex with a fully CGI’d version of the “funny papers” feline, and we’ll soon get an ’emotional” reunion with a Pixar sequel and another visit from Gru and his minions. Ah, but “in between” we’re getting treated to something special and somewhat unique as it’s not part of a franchise, rather it’s based on an acclaimed graphic novel. Plus it’s done in the “classic” animation style, often referred to as 2D, much like the “hand-drawn” shorts and features (and TV shows) of the past. Oh, and it’s an Oscar nominee…from last year. Yes, it was one of the five nominated films in the March ceremony. And though THE BOY AND THE HERON took home the gold, this little gem more than deserved to be “in the race”. Now, at last, everyone will get a chance to be dazzled and delighted by some heart-tugging ROBOT DREAMS.


This story’s “waking life” begins in an anthropomorphic (much like ZOOTOPIA) version of NYC nearly forty years ago. The canine hero (known only as “Dog”) spends his nights in a walk-up one-bedroom apartment (perhaps in Brooklyn or Queens) in front of his tube TV. It’s hooked up to a “home gaming system” enabling him to play the classic “Pong” by himself (each hand holding a joystick makes it a new spin on Solitaire). Dog then switches his set over to basic cable, and pops a frozen “mac & cheese” dinner into the microwave. Setting up his “TV tray” he notices the windows of buildings across the street revealing happy couples enjoying life. And then a commercial inspires him. It’s an ad for the “Amica-2000” robot companion. Dog grabs the phone along with his charge card and places an order. After days of listening for a delivery truck stopped on his street, the big package arrives. After the driver (a bull) leaves, Dog quickly assembles his new mechanical buddy. Its steel noggin sports wide quizzical eyes and a broad smile. Soon Dog and “Robot” are inseparable, strolling down the street, watching TV (THE WIZARD OF OZ is a fave), playing video games, sharing a pizza, and even roller skating in the nearby park. As the temps rise, Dog decides they should hop on a bus to “Ocean Beach Park”. After some fun and food on the “boardwalk”, the duo ventures into the water. After a bit of trepidation, the pals finally engage in some undersea exploration. Afterward, they grab a bit of blanket space on the sand and bask in the sun. They doze off and awaken to a nearly deserted beach at dusk. Dog hastily begins gathering their things and takes Robot’s hand. But he can’t move. perhaps the seawater damaged his inner workings (could be rust). Dog then leaves his friend (assuring him he’ll return) and heads back into the city for his tool kit (and an oil can). But when Dog returns, a fence has been erected because the beach is now closed for the season, the sign stating it will be re-opened in June of next year. He tries to squeeze through the fence but the police gorilla hauls Dog away. Can these “best buddies” survive the separation? Could something happen to either one during the long months of waiting?

This is quite an emotionally complex story for an animated feature, though told in a seemingly simple way. As I mentioned earlier, these aren’t digitally shaded characters with “pixel’d” strands of fur and whiskers. Sure there’s a “double color layer” to suggest a light source and guide the shadows, but the main duo would be right “at home” with the Flintstones, Jetsons, or the first seasons of the Simpsons, though Robot could be a distant cousin to Futurama’s Bender. The backgrounds also benefit from a smooth, slick design, with meticulous detail to the time period (from a couple of pop culture nods, I’m zeroing in on 1986). Plus the fact that Spanish craftsman could so convincingly recreate the Big Apple is most amazing. And the movement is quite impressive, as there’s no real spoken dialogue other than some “chirps”, grunts, and growls. Through body language we know exactly how the heroes are reacting and their “inner life”. Which touches on the universal adult feelings of loneliness and the joy of finally connecting with someone, even if you did have to build him. There’s a sense of that even as the duo are kept apart for months. Dog has a brutal “dust-up” with two nasty twin aardvarks, and later he begins a romance with an athletic duck. Even as he lies on the beach, Robot has some encounters, including a rabbit rowing team and a bird seeking a safe nest for its eggs. And he does dream, drifting into shattering fantasies of reunion and whimsy. It all builds to something beyond the usual cartoon “happily ever after” ending, instead, it’s a warm interlude bathed in melancholy. Surprising that these simple shapes could elicit “all the feels”. Even more startling is the director’s resume, as Pablo Berger is mainly known for live-action comedies and dramas (talk about hitting a homer the first time at bat). But then the source material he adapted, from graphic novelist Sara Varon, has plenty of both. So even though this is technically from 2023, ROBOT DREAMS is one of the best films, animated or live-action, that you’re likely to view, and be moved by this year.

4 Out of 4

ROBOT DREAMS is now playing in select theatres

THE KILLER (2023) – Review

I’ve had them and I’m sure you’ve had them. Lousy days at work will happen at some point and many times it’s our fault. We’ve “scrooched the pooch” as they say, made an error, perhaps a miscalculation or even an uncrossed”t”. What’s the worst that could happen? Well, we could get fired or perhaps suspended or given a “stern warning” maybe along with a verbal “dressing down”. Yes, that’s with most regular jobs, but what if your profession is life or death? But more toward the latter if you’re a “murder merchant”, or a “gun for hire”. That’s at the heart of a new thriller from one of the most inventive filmmakers of the last few decades. He gives us a look at a “very bad, no-good day”, leading to several wretched weeks in the life of THE KILLER.

After a sprightly credit sequence highlighting the “tools of his trade”, we meet a highly-paid professional hitman (Michael Fassbender), whose real name is a mystery to us (and probably to many of his “hires”). His latest gig is in Paris (nice) but most of his time is spent waiting…and waiting in an “under-renovation” office space in a building across from a swanky hotel. The days pass so very slowly until his “target” finally arrives. The victim is in the sites of his top-of-the-line rifle, the trigger is pulled, and things “go sideways”. The hitman makes a mad dash into the Paris streets to the airport. There’s a heated cell phone exchange in which his “agent” says he’ll try to “make things right” with”the client”. After a stopover in Florida, “the killer” makes his way to his secluded estate in the Dominican Republic, arriving moments after some person or persons trashed the place, leaving someone near death. It’s then that the hitman becomes a detective, zeroing in on the “invaders”, as he “burns his bridges’ to exact his revenge. Can he find those responsible before he becomes a target? And can he ever really leave his past, and “the life” behind him?

The lead role provides a superb showcase for Fassbender, one of the screen’s most engaging actors. The title character doesn’t have many spoken lines directed at others, but his “stream of consciousness” narration not only guides us in his planning and preparation but offers terrific reflections, often very funny, on humanity in general. While making his way around the globe (literally)Fassbender does his best to be unnoticeable (with awkward hats swallowing his face) which gives his full “reveals’ a greater impact as his piercing glare bores into the sole of those in his gaze. Ths film’s other “big name” is probably Tilda Swinton as The Expert” who falls into The Killer’s vision. For a time she believes her air of refined elegance will charm him until we see her accept her “fate” with a resigned dignity. That’s unlike her partner, Sala Baker as “The Brute”, who proves to be the savage destructive force that may thwart The Killer’s quest. Charles Parnell is terrific as Hodges, “The Lawyer”, who truly believes that his logical arguments will force The Killer to spare him and come back into “the fold”. Ditto for Arliss Howard as the befuddled Claybourne AKA “The Client”, who realizes that his greed has led him to his probable doom. There’s also strong supporting work from Kerry O’Malley as the fluttery aide to Hodges and Gabriel Polanco as the “caught in the crosshairs” cabbie.

For director David Fincher, this film marks a return to his roster of stylized thrillers begun almost thirty years ago with SE7EN, after his most recent biopic MANK. But unlike those earlier films, this tale is “stripped down” to present a taut thriller via his frequent collaborator Andrew Kevin Walker’s adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel by Alexis Nolent and Luc Jacamon. Fincher’s “rat-a-tat” use of quick editing (foreshadowed in the splendid opening titles enhanced with 60s retro graphics) immediately pulls us in. It even makes the lengthy “stakeouts” full of foreboding menace. The excellent location shooting gives us a peek into the title character’s skills in any setting from the tropics to the chill of Chicago. All of this is ably accented by the rich score by other Fincher “regulars” Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Yes, the tension level is high, but there are great dollops of dark humor throughout (loved the roster of phony, but familiar aliases). This should stand alongside the great hitman thrillers like THE MECHANIC and DAY OF THE JACKAL, while also giving a nod to Soderbergh’s HAYWIRE. Fans of flashy crime capers, and especially Fassbender, should set their sites on THE KILLER.

3 out of 4

THE KILLER is now playing in select theatres