Category Archives: Reviews

City of God

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IMDB Tagline: Fight and you’ll never survive….. Run and you’ll never escape

This is one gun happy film, both hard hitting and brutal in its portrayal of Rio’s slum gangs. Starts out as a total mess, where you find it hard to recognize who is who or what the heck is going on. But slowly the characters come out in the front. This is based on a true story in Brazil (I missed that part) so the whole movie had me going “Man, that is unexpected, who would have thought that would happen” but apparently true life is a much better and shocking screen writer.

Some of the scenes will shock our muted sensibilities, some scenes will ring hollow if only it was not based on a true story. But life is hard, very hard for these kids – and they respond back by violence, truckloads of it. Hard work, Money, Power, Loyalty, Vanity, Friendship are all easily substituted for a Gun, with it, you have it all. “Without the cold hard steel, you are a human football, the lowest vermin in the human food chain” – thats its underlying message.

The movie is shot with some extreme camerawork you will ever see. Handheld shots, follow focus, super saturation, swipes, PIP, key contrast with racy editing and pulsating music – this movie technically has it all. It offers a distinct visual signature – maybe coz it is taking us into an unknown territory.

This movie makes it to the top 24 fo all time movies – but it doesnt rate so high for me. But definitely worth a look.

*** (3.5/5)

Maria full of grace

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Maria full of Grace follows Maria, an innocent flower girl, as she steps into a dangerous world of drug trafficking. Before you conjure up blood soaked gun throttling mafia gang buster – no, it has none of that, what it has is a simple story of a strong willed girl surviving some of her darkest moments. The script is full of rich 3 dimensional characters, wonderful acting and some taut editing. Writer/Director Joshua Marston has scripted Maria’s character so well that we feel her anguish, feel her apprehensions and share her little joys.

Story: Maria is a small town girl, who supports her family single handedly. After a minor tuff with her boss, she storms out of her job only to find her family unsupportive of her decision. With pressures mounting on her from all sides (her unexpected pregnancy) – she does something dramatic – she agrees to smuggle heroine into United States as a drug mule. The rest of the story will keep you guessing.

Catalina Sandino Moreno is exceptional as Maria Alwarez in her debut feature. It is not surprising that she was nominated for the Oscars (The Oscar eventually went to Hillary Swank for Million Dollar Baby). Technically speaking – Camera is mostly handheld, and doesn’t do any gimmicks. Music is obviously South American and the background score is perfect. Debutant Writer/Director Joshua has taken time to flesh out the characters fully before jumping on to the rollercoaster of the main story. It works very well till the climax which turn out to be the weakest link of this otherwise wonderful picture.

**** (4/5)

See ‘Saw’

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Saw

‘Saw’ is a nail biting Indie thriller set in a single room with just 2 principle characters. One of the sleeper hits of 2004, this Australian film helmed by 27 year old debutant director James Wan, manages to keep you guessing with its riveting screenplay.

Written as an ultra low budget flick ($22,000) it got the attention of Hollywood thanks to it script. Luckily Lion’s Gate films, unlike ‘Ring’, didn’t muddle it with Hollywood ‘touches’ and unnecessary special effects. They let the film makers make the film as they intended.

As an implied terror film (much of the violence happens off-camera) it makes you more nervous. The script is very simple but has enough twists to keep your heart rate up and more importantly it plays well with your pre-conceived notions and stereotypes, then manages to outsmart you in the end. The climax is so well shot that it reminded me of Se7en (1995) and Usual Suspects (1995) but not anywhere near Se7en’s complexity nor Usual Suspects’ suavity, its still a tribute to be compared favorably with those films.

Story: Two principle characters are chained to the wall in a industrial complex bathroom with a definite purpose – they need to kill the other one to survive!. They are ordinary men, so they find it impossible to kill each other off, instead they form an alliance and try to outsmart their captor. Unlike the thrillers where we see the movie from the detectives point of view, here we see it from the victim’s point of view. It does have some sillyness usually not associated with mainstream movies – like stupid puzzles, confusing continutity and forced characterization (why does the cop go bananas?)

Technically the film is adequate. Camera is almost exclusively handheld, no expansive establishing shots, no fancy cranes/trollys. But sometimes circular camera movements are overused. The white balance seemed a bit off as the film consistently had a green cast (maybe due to fluorescent overhead lighting). Car chase scenes are shot in a static car with camera shaking (indie!) – but is effective. There is no recognizable faces except Danny Glover. One of the principle actors is one of the writers of the movie. The villain has done a good job in ‘looking’ like a villain. So no great shakes here. Music compliments the onscreen tension very well.

Direction: Debutant student director James Wan shows a lot of promise. He shows mastery in underplaying terror. He shows a natural penchant for timed terror, much like M Night, where you know something is about to happen, and you wait and wait for it, thereby heightening your anxiety. Its not a horror movie per se, as it is widely publicized – its a decent serial killer thriller.

Watch it.

**** 4/5

Interpreter

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IMDB Plot Outline: Political intrigue and deception unfold inside the United Nations, where a US Secret Service agent (Penn) is assigned to protect an interpreter (Kidman) who overhears an assassination plot.

Sydney Pollack ‘s Interpreter is the first movie to be shot inside the UN Complex in NYC (even Hitchcock was denied permission for his 1959 thriller ‘North by Northwest’), and it stars Nichol Kidman and Sean Penn. Best known for his Tom Cruise thriller “The Firm” (1993) Pollack takes on a script with as many holes as a Mosquito net, but manages to salvage it to a decent nailbiter in the second half.

Hole 1) The plot is about an attempted assassination of an cruel evil African dictator to be staged in UN General Assembly. The characters (Kidman, Penn) don’t care if he lives or dies – and he is portrayed as a evil man, so we as audience don’t care if he lives or dies. We don’t feel sorry for the lead character as she doesn’t seem to be in trouble, and she is not accused of anything – so why do we care what is unfolding in the screen ? Apathy is a deadly sin in Screenwriting.

Hole 2) Implausibility of the plot. With a closed house like UN General Assembly cant the US Secret Service give protection to a visiting Head of State ? Instead they go about stalking the informer (Nicole) and trying to verify her story. If that is indeed the way it works (Where the one giving a tip is investigated) rather than investigating the threat, then it is bound to fail. Again, how believable is it that an assasin is able to smuggle in a semi-automatic into a General Assembly floor ? The same smart ass fails to see throught the obvious double cross ? A man so smart, but he doesn’t have an exit strategy – and pray, how the hell does Nichol know all this before hand and hides inside the ‘Safe room’ – Please!

On the positive side Pollock’s direction is A Grade. The music by M.Night Shymalan regular James Newton is fantastic.

*** (3/5)

Parineeta music mesmerizing!

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Vidhu Vinod Chopra‘s films are known for its music. 1942 A love Story (RD Burman), Kareeb (Anu Malik?), Mission Kashmir (Shakhar Ehsaan Roy) had extraordinary music. His latest film based on Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyaya‘s classic bengali novel Parineeta, simply rocks! Listen to it at Raaga.com.

Sonu Nigam croons, lulls, mesmerizes and Shreya Ghosal transports you 2 feet off ground. Perfect rhythm and lullaby from first time composer Shantanu Moitra – as promising as Ismail Darbar on his debut Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam – future looks very bright for him as long as he keeps his higher standards. Listen to the song Kasisi Paheli Zindgani a titlating number where he takes AR Rehman’s Hello Mr.Edhirkatchi (Iruvar – Tamil) head on, and even manages to upstage it thanks to Sunidhi Chuahan’s sexy rendition.

Worth every kb in gold.

This is the second time in as many years that a Bimal Roy – Sarat Chandra film have been remade, the first was Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Devdas, and now this -

 devdas.jpg Parineeta.jpg

Dan Brown’s magnum Doopus ‘Digital Fortress’

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Digital Fortress

Maybe creators get better with time and experience. I always like to see older work of my favorite creators. In books, I love certain authors Sidney Sheldon, Chase, Alistair MacLean, Ludlum, Crichton and latest to join the list is Dan Brown with his spectacular page turner Da Vince Code – that book was so well written which made it hard to put down. But that was not the first book I read from Brown, I read his earlier work ‘Deception Point’ – it had all his standard ingredients, an earth shattering discover that, if let out, will change the world as it is. His magic works in making you believe that everything you believed till this point is totally wrong. If he lived in 14th century, he would have written a world is round book.

So I was thrilled to grab a copy of his internet/digital thriller – Digital Fortress (1998). What an absolute crap - totally technically drab, and tries hard to create a calamity when there is none. You keep hanging with a faint glimmer of hope that it will pick up the pace – you secretly hope David will get out of Spain and do something interesting, and pray boss Stathmore doesnt turn out to be the villian, you would think that it is too cliched for Dan Brown to work on plot twists so dumb – but yes, he did, he went over the top. His climax is dumb squid, characters unidimensional, and greatest crime of all – made up crisis – you almost feel sorry for him when he tries again and again to whip up the tempo – he throws insane roadblocks, predictable twists, and you can hear him plead “Please be afraid – this is the end of the world” – Sorry Dan, maybe yours, not ours.

Next I plan to read his ‘Angels & Demons’ – lets see which one is he.

500 week run!

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05ddlj2.jpg

One of the evergreen Indian films of all time – Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge (The one with pure heart will conquer the girl) released in 1995 completed its 500th week in Bombay’s Maratha Mandhir Cinema Hall. Apparently it is still running full houses on weekends and public holidays!

This is the film that started the trend to pander the NRI’s and tug their purse strings in the guise of nostalgic entertainment. This one did it the best – lush beautiful locales, catchy music, wonderful screen chemistry and high production values. This film worked at all levels, like Hum Aapke Hain Kaun (Who am I to you?)

‘Lets Talk’ – review

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Poster DSR-PD100

I came across an indie movie ‘Let’s Talk’ from India at my local Mercer Island Library. The premises sounded interesting, so I picked it up last week and watched it yesterday. It is a small budget movie, shot with 3 actors and 2 rooms. I have a fascination with movies shot with limited resources, locations and characters. I like to see how they pull it off. This movie was shot with a $2,500 Sony DSR-PD100 3-Chip DVCAM with anamorphic adapters. The movie was then reverse telecined to 35mm after being shot full digital. Apparently this is the first reverse telecined movie in India.

The story is simple: Radhika bears a child out of wedlock, and mentally conjures up different ways her husband Nikil (Boman Irani) would react when she tells him. I was immediately reminded of Harold Ramis’ excellent Groundhog Day (1993) – one of my fav all time movies. Lets see if it is an inspired effort or an original one.

Structure
Why am I talking about its Structure ? Coz it is so unique that it forms the backbone of this movie. It is a straightforward ‘non-linear’ format (pun intended). It is based on Indian Classical Musical form Tumri – where the same lyric is repeated over and over in different moods. So here the lead character imagines how her husband will react when she breaks him the news. So we go through a cycle of Depression, Denial, Disbelief, Anger, Understanding, Violence and Jealousy. Each non-linear transitional portions are musically overlapped with tumri music with “Do you know what is love?”. There is also an unnecessary sub-plot as jarring as bad rock music.

Review:
As a new-age movie, the dialogues were excellent – so natural and flows like a normal conversation between two people. It was almost impossible to believe the dialogues were simply rehearsed lines spoken by actors. It had overlaps, casual mannerisms, off track dialogues. Full marks to the dialogues team (which comprised of both lead actors and director) to have perfectly captured the lingo of upper middle class Mumbaiites.

Boman Irani (famous for Munnabhai MBBS) is excellent as Nikil – but sometimes his acting goes over the top or he looks uninterested. But to his credit many times I almost forgot he is an actor, he was just Nikil (the scene in which he demands Radhika to discuss the issue with him right now – he shows irritation which looks so real that it made me clench my fist uneasily – excellent). Miai as Radhika was very good – but very hollow – I don’t know if it is the character which she plays is hollow or her acting was.

Direction by Ram Madhavani was unfortunately very visible. He used a few gimmicks which took away the sophistication from the movie. Use of digital camera gave the director a good opportunity to extract spontaneous performances from his actors – as digital productions tend to have smaller crew and un-intimidating equipment which relaxes the actors. Lighting and cinematography was poor – and as usual the blame was shifted on Digital Medium. Poor composition, blown out highlights, and glaring lighting doesn’t give the film makers an excuse to blame the medium. But that is exactly what they did. You can easily spot the cinematographers shadow in the screen and lighting from odd places. Who would keep a bright light on the top shelf of a kitchen cabinet ? Only those who require sidelight to fall on actors face. So obvious mistakes like these distract the viewer and take us off track wondering about whose shadow was it on screen – like I was.

Sound design was very good, and so was sound mixing. They had a few blue screening – which also was a bit gimmicky but I guess it was a necessary gimmick to show overlap. Overall a good novel effort – pushed to big league due to extremely natural dialogues, and situational simplicity – but the overall movie didn’t impress me as I had a hard time trying to figure out who the real Nikil was, and what would have really happened in those 6 scenarios had the real character been present. Good to know indie films are getting decent distribution in India (Shringar Films), and how well they stand is up to the content of the movie. For a movie like this, once the novelty falls off the content should keep people glued. But due to the lack of any impending foreseeable resolution as audience we lose interest in the characters.

Credits:
Director: Ram Madhvani
Producer: Shift Focus (Ram Madhvani and Sumantra Ghosal)
Actors: Boman Irani, Maia Katrak, Anahita Uberoi
Scriptwriters: Maia Katrak, Boman Irani, Sanjay Sipahimalani, Ram Madhvani
Music: Ram Sampath
Cinematographer: Sumantra Ghosal

*** (3/5)

Photoshop CS2 Review

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Today I upgraded my trusty old Photoshop CS into CS2.

After initial installation (took forever) the interface popped up. Very sleek, the first thing you notice is smooth icons and well rounded tabs. Looking under the hood, I found the menu has changed a lot – CS had a lot of options CS2 has a lot more options.

As with any review – negatives or quirks first. I am sure after a while I will get used to it.

Font Preview in Drop down menu –
At last photoshop caught up with the rest of the software world. But unfortunately the font is preview with a static ‘Sample’ word. It would have been much cooler and usefull if it actually previews the word (if there is an active selection). For example, if I select “Bombay” and want to preview different fonts – I still have to cycle through all the fonts in my system, the new font preview features doesnt lead a helping hand, it just previews the words “Sample” not “Bombay”

Layers –
Linking layers are gone! I almost panicked, but found that now you can control or shift select layers and ‘click’ on Link button to link’em together. Hmm… I am not sure that was a good idea, I usally run my mouse over the link layer area to link or unlink the layers – now I have to select each layer and press a button.

Talking of layer selection, it loses focus pretty quick, I am not sure what triggers it – but if I have an active layer and do something – my layer selection is gone! I have to manually re-select it again after getting “No Layer selected” warning.

Status Bar -
The status bar is gone – so the whole interface looks unframed. The status bar is now sticking under the open image. Not sure I like that either.

Bridge –
This feature is much touted as a rocket powered File Browser. I never liked File Browser – so I was hoping this one is fast – but alas – no! its still bloated, slow unlike my superfast ACDSee 3.0 (not the new version – but 4-5 year old version)

Adobe Raw –
There is a marked improvement in ACR – now it has curves! Awesome!

Vanishing Point –
Another well touted feature – it does work – but its applications are limited, and I am not sure of its usefullness. How many times do you have to paint or clone in flat prespective – I have never done it, but i guess it would save some time if the need arises.

Animation!
Photoshop treads into ImageReady territory with Animation pallette. I havent played with it yet – so I donno what it actually does different from IR.

Next, I will play with ‘Smart Layers’ and update the review.

As far as I can tell, this is not a revolutionary upgrade – but worth the $149 for its new media orientation. Now it recognizes the need of graphic design in video, digital photography and special effects domain, and tries to meet their needs. A step in the right way.

Forbes top 10 Airports

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Forbes today released its Top Airports in the World for 2004. I was casually reading the report, and to my surprise I have visited all but 2 of the top ten airports worldwide!! I didn’t even realize I was a world traveler ;)

So I thought I’ll write what I felt walking thro these fine airports.

Top 10 Forbes Ranking   My Comments
1
 Hong Kong International Airport Hong Kong [Visited in 1998,1999,2000,2002,2004]
Definitely the best. I visited when it first opened its doors – following the heels of then president Clinton. The old HK airport was scarier, it was right inside the city, so the pilot almost have to ‘navigate’ into the skyscrapers! The new airport is verrry far from the city – might as well be closer to singapore than hongkong ;)    9/10
2
Changi International Airport Singapore [1998,1999,2000,2003]
Home Airport for sometime. So I knew the ins and outs of beloved Changi. Their dropping golden fountain never ceases to amaze me. On my recent visit, I was pleasantly surprised to find they are going to have a train connection from downtown. Sweet. Old but still Gold.   8/10
3
Incheon International Airport Korea [2003]
I was dead tired on arrival. I remember they had good lounge chairs for me to sleep. So I remember this airport in a dreamlike state. Or was it Taiwan.. ? hmmm :)
4
Munich Airport Germany [2001]
This one is a surprise entry. It was one tiny teeny airport. It reminded me of San Jose airport. I wonder how it made it to the list.   4/10
5
Kansai Airport International Japan —Not yet visited—
6
Dubai International Airport UAE [2003]
All that glitters is gold. The keyword in this airport is duty free shopping. But I hunted twice for a good deal here, without any success. Maybe shopping is made for oil soaked sheiks.   6/10
7
Kuala Lumpur International Airport Malaysia [1998,1999,2000,2003]
One of my favorites, imho it belongs to the top five. The new airport is a modern bold statement of Mahathirs commitment to Multimedia Collidor. Very nice airport.   8/10
8
Amsterdam Schiphol Airport Netherlands [2001]
Very efficient airport, had many product placements, parked cars inside the airport!. It was under construction, so didnt explore it in detail.    7/10
9
Copenhagen Airport Greece —Not yet visited—
10
Sydney Airport Australia [1999]
Very cultural airport had works of abroginies and local artists.   7/10

Missing from this list but my favorite is SFO International (Very nice architecture), Hartsfield International (Busiest Airport in the world) and LAX (very crowded, but has character)

Pana and JVC unwrapped

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Panasonic HVX200 becomes the first camera under $100,000 to record high-definition 1080/24p. The ONLY other camera is Sony’s CineAlta, a $100,000 camera which, Lucas and Rodriguez used in ‘Star Wars II’ and ‘Once upon a time in Mexico’. They both use Sony exclusvely

Also this $5995 camera does what a $65,000 Varicam does – variable frame rates! It can shoot any framerate from 4 to 60fps!.

Yes it is a wonderboy cam – it does all ‘good’ flavors of HD without its nasty after effects.

What does that mean ?
HD as HDV is popularly called, is a horrible format. Wait, before you flame me, hear it out. HDV is a consumer format, plain and simple. It has low color sampling (4:2:0) , high compressions. Also HDV specs dont have the indie favorite 24p recording. So smarter companies (read JVC, Panasonic) take the HDV standard and customize it.

JVC customized HDV as ProHDV – it made two simple changes – added 24p and relaxed the compression algorithms. Instead of compressing a group of 15 frames, it grouped only 6. But Panasonic went further and threw out interframe compression altogether and compressed each frame individually in its DVCPRO-HD format. Also it doubled color sampling from 4:2:0 it made it 4:2:2.

JVC and Panasonic has released their respective versions now. Its called HD100 and AG-HVX200

  Panasonic AG-HVX200 JVC HD-100 Sony Z1u Winner
Shoots in

1080/60i
1080/30p
1080/24p

720/60p
720/30p
720/24p

 720/30p
720/24p		 1080/50i/60i Clearly Pana
Progressive ? Yes Yes No, Interlaced JVC & Pana
Real 24p ? Yes Yes NO! JVC & Pana
Default Lens 13x 16x interchangeable   Clearly JVC
Lens Fixed Real HD Manual Lens Fixed Clearly JVC
HD Flavor DVCHD-PRO PROHDV HDV Clearly Pana
Color Sampling 4:2:2 4:2:0 4:2:0 Clearly Pana
Recording P2 Media & HDD MiniDV Tape, HDD MiniDV JVC & Pana
Shutter Variable! (4-60fps)     Clearly Pana
Audio Less compressed Compressed Compressed Panasonic
Compression Within 1 frame With group of 6 frames Group of 15 frames Clearly Pana
Form Handycam Should Mount Handycam JVC
Looks Non Pro Real Pro looks Looks cool JVC
Positives

720 & 1080
4:2:2 color
Variable Shutter
Slow motion
Green Screening

Interchangeable HD Lens
More Resolution
Records to Tape

Shoots both NTSC/PAL  
Negatives

Fixed Lens
P2 Media Expensive (8gb $2000)

HDV Compression
no 1080
4:2:0 Color

No 24p
No Progressive
15 frame compression
4:2:0 Color

  
Price $5995 – Available Oct $6295 – Available June $5949 – Now!  
   

Can it get any better than this ?

Yes, how about a 4:4:4 HD interchangeable 35mm lens camera !! – enter DRAKE… more details on it when it becomes available

Mumbai Xpress non-stop

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WOW – what a ride!

This is one of the hilarious movies I have seen in recent times – I don’t ever recall laughing so much for 3 full hours.
The script is so expertly weaved from a simple story – not even an unique story, but the dialogues, timing and excellent supporting cast push Mumbai Xpress into ‘star’osphere! Full Marks to Kamal for an original entertaining story.

Though I am a big Kamal fan, I didn’t like his last few comedies – they were just borderline … Pammal K Sambandam , Panchathantram, Vasool Raja MBBS.. maybe coz of the fact that they were not originals – but Mumbai Xpress is on the right track. This ranks as high as Micheal Madana Kamarajan, Kadala kadala and Saati Leelavathi.

One of the biggest concerns I had was Crazy Mohan was missing from the crew list. For Mumbai Xpress Kamal had taken up dialogues himself – Thankfully Kamal is a not a slouch in dialogs dept – he was on par with Crazy Mohan (whose dialogues range from kadi to silly to really hilarious) Very simple and elegant when delivered with perfect timing, highly effective.

Sidharth’s Cinematography is a big let down. This film is supposed to be an all-digital film. They had shot with a prosumer 24p camcorder Panasonic DVX100A ($3,500) – and it shows. The resolution was very bad, worst at times. It had bad composition, blown out highlights and a horrible green screening with loads of unnecessary f/x.

Raaja’s music was adequate, and so was Singeetham’s direction. This isn’t a shining example of a good digital film – but thankfully the cast keeps you fairly engaged with their antics, so you can try to turn a blind eye towards horrible cinematography.

Another interesting point was Kamal’s mention of ‘Dogme 95′ in one of his interviews. He said this was shot in the lines of ‘Dogme 95′ and was planning to apply for a compliance certificate. The interviewer wasn’t smart enough to point out that Mumbai Express does not qualify for a Dogme 95 certificate – no, not even close.

What is Dogme 95 ?
In 1995, a set of european filmmakers were sick of the direction film industry was going. Big artificial sets, elaborate musical score, full of special effects – but no soul. So they set out to cleanse the film industry of all impurity. Their set of rules were called “Dogme 95 rules”

  1. No Special Effects
  2. Only Handheld camera
  3. No Special Lighting – only sunlight
  4. No Sets, everything should be on location
  5. No Music score – Music can be included if it is played during filming. That is, music and image should be captured simultaneously
  6. Director should not be credited.
  7. Linear story telling
  8. ……..The last 2 I forgot :)

So if a film adheres to all these rules – then it is given a certificate ‘Dogme 95′ which can be proudly displayed. Mumbai Xpress doesnt qualify for even one of the rules. I guess Kamal was trying to say they didn’t do any special lighting and that they shot handheld most of the time (But they had used Crane shots liberally)

But it shows Kamal does know his art – and is a cut above the rest in the knowledge department

But all said and done – Mumbai Xpress is a wholesome family entertainer. Now, I am eagerly waiting to watch the Hindi one… can’t wait to see how Vijay Raaz performed in Pusupathy’s role.

**** 4/5

The Aviator

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DiCarpio was magnificent as Howard. He captured the man’s characteristics extremely well. Other notable performances included Alan Alda (M*A*S*H) he is so creepy and sneaky that he reminded me of Rummy

*** 3.5/5

Robots – a review

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I went in not expecting much, as I would be extremely dissappointed in this movie manages to unseat Pixar’s wonderful ‘Monsters Inc.’ I wasn’t dissappointed, ‘ROBOTS’ was a boring, plain story with forgettable characters. Even Robin Williams wasnt able to inject any life into ‘Fender’ hero’s sidekick.

Another coming of age movie… *Sigh*. Believe it or not, it still has the age old cheesy dialog which goes like – “Son, you must believe in yourself, go after your dreams – you are special!”. How original is that ?! I was rolling my eyes and was sorely dissappointed with such predictable popcorn fare.

Yes, it did have its moments – Britney’s ‘Hit me baby one more time’ spoof was hillarious! That 5 second spoof was so damn well done. Such stories can redeem itself with a kickass climax, but sadly ROBOTS didnt have one. Another lame, the ‘town stands up hand in hand with the hero’ routine (Which was wonderfully excecuted in Pixar’s A Bugs Life)

Skip this.
** (2/5)