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+---- Thread: Finch (2021) (/showthread.php?tid=6625)
Finch (2021) - Greg - 11-07-2021
When I saw the trailer for this film about Tom Hanks building a friendly robot in a post apocalypse hellscape I thought it would be bad but maybe a little bit charming. Boy, was I wrong. I mean it is Tom Hanks building a friendly robot in a post apocalypse hellscape, but it is not charming. Much like Clooney's turn in Midnight Sky (It's almost the same film just substitute dog for child), Hanks is dying and he has to get from point a to point b in order to solve a problem. Best of all he built a self aware robot pretty much overnight because they have to get out of St Louis before the mega-storm hits that will kill us. But put it down to fantasy that he could build this robot and have it have awareness overnight.
In order to escape the storm, they drive west to California. Wait what? Because of the earth's rotation, storms proceed from west to east or south to north in the northern hemisphere. Especially if it is a storm that lasts 41 days. My list of questions about the plot of this film would be very long if I cared enough to write it. Life is too short.
The film is relentlessly grim. Everyone appears to be dead. All the plant life is dead. Radiation is everywhere. Going out into the sun will cause your skin to burn instantly if you are exposed to it. And here is Finch (Tom Hanks) trying to build a robot to take care of his dog because he is about to die. And they are on a road trip.
RE: Finch (2021) - thatguy - 11-07-2021
Asimov’s Robot Laws + 1: protect the dog.
When finch issues those instructions, and then learns that there’s a massive storm coming and they don’t have supplies to survive it where they are, my first thought (and what might have been a good horror movie) is that he is forced to eat the dog which causes the robot to go haywire (as per most of the I, Robot stories) and the rest of the movie is finch vs his creation in a bunker…. This is not that movie
This is Castaway with robots and a dog. The cast for finch is actually smaller than castaway. Perfect for filming during COVID lockdown.
The robot “becoming” story has a Chappie/Short Circuit feel. I don’t know if it was written that way, or it’s just a trope.
—tg
PS: “Dewey” (drone 1) was the maintenance robot in Silent Running left to manage the forests after Freeman Lowell blows himself and Huey (drone 2) up.
RE: Finch (2021) - Greg - 11-08-2021
I did catch the Dewey reference or at least I thought it referenced Silent Running. 5 is alive!
RE: Finch (2021) - King Bob - 11-08-2021
I'm surprised no one has remade Silent Running yet. Probably Bruce Dern's best work. Except for maybe Psych Out - which also has Jack Nicholson as a Jerry Garcia-ish character, and snippets of a performance by Strawberry Alarm Clock, and maybe a few seconds of The Seeds, although I may be wrong on that last.
RE: Finch (2021) - thatguy - 11-08-2021
(11-08-2021, 10:39 AM)King Bob Wrote: I'm surprised no one has remade Silent Running yet. Probably Bruce Dern's best work. Except for maybe Psych Out - which also has Jack Nicholson as a Jerry Garcia-ish character, and snippets of a performance by Strawberry Alarm Clock, and maybe a few seconds of The Seeds, although I may be wrong on that last.
Agreed....Silent Running is ripe for remake. It never really landed in the original release and most of the current green movement generation probably has no idea it exists. Also, like Finch, you can get away with a pretty minimal cast...great for filming during COVID.
Dig out Joan Baez and Peter Schickele (PDQ Bach) to redo the soundtrack and you've got gold...
--tg
RE: Finch (2021) - Drunk Monk - 11-08-2021
I’ve been meaning to rewatch Silent Running for years. I have fond memories of it and want to know if it holds up today. I’ve had it in various streamer queues until it vanished behind a paywall. Next time it appears, I really must revisit it.