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ROBOTS MOVIE REVIEW
In an almost Idiocracy “We’re doomed” not-too-distant future, the “big, beautiful” border wall has been completed, and 11 million people have been sent to the other side, leaving a massive non-complaining, non-raping workers hole to fill (the movie’s pointed satirical words, not ours). Tesla has advanced robotics technology to enable humanity to utilize lifelike androids as servants and manual laborers,. But before you go and assume, based on that setup, that this is some scathing and deserving mockery of a certain racist political party, it’s really just a rom-com. Affluent suburbanites Elaine (Shailene Woodley) and Charles (Jack Whitehall) use android doubles of themselves to avoid the time constraints of dating. But when their synthetic doubles realize that they are falling in love, the droids steal the identities of their self-absorbed owners and go on the run, forcing Elaine and Charles to team up and get their lives back. T.C. is joined by two Mikes from different manufacturers to discuss the romantic comedy tropes of this film and whether or not it leaned far enough into its premise.
DIRECTED BY: Anthony Hines and Casper Christensen
STARRING: Shailene Woodley, Jack Whitehall, Paul Rust, Nick Rutherford, Paul Jurewicz, David Grant Wright, Emanuela Postacchini, Chelsea Edmundson, Jackamoe Buzzell, Samantha Ashley, Richard Lippert, Kate Herman
YOUR REVIEWERS
T.C. De Witt (Screener Squad)
T.C. De Witt is a multi-awarded writer/director originally from Wisconsin and now based in Los Angeles. His life has been devoted to the arts since he was a child. He’s been a stage performer, playwright, stand-up comic, film and television actor, radio DJ, podcaster published author, recorded musician, and comic writer/illustrator. He is now a professional screenwriter and has been thriving for the past decade, regularly offering his talents to production studios in LA, Chicago, Milwaukee, and internationally in Sydney and Poland. He’s provided content for Amazon Prime, Netflix, and several YouTube partners. His films have screened internationally, and his stageplays have been performed across the country. In the last ten years, he has directed 57 films, 23 episodes of his series The One Minute Rewatch, 300+ episodes of podcasts, and his multi-award-winning short film Screen: Righter screened at the Festival de Cannes in 2016. He has released two feature films, The Princess Knight and A Christmas Sunset. He thrives on collaboration and the thrill of sharing stories in all forms.
Mike J. McAllister (Screener Squad, Staff Writer, Head Video Editor)
Mike J. McAllister is a filmmaker, editor, writer and animator. He is also a film junkie, dog lover and Surge-aholic (Hi, Mike). He grew up in a small town in Western Pennsylvania, where he earned the reputation as the “human IMDb” and was on a first-name basis with every video store clerk in town. He later studied film in Pittsburgh. He has since written several unproduced screenplays and TV pilots. He has also produced a number of short films, some of which have appeared in festivals across the country. He is a ninja with Final Cut Pro and is armed with a mind full of mostly useless pop-culture trivia. He also enjoys animation, MST3K, classic video games and being the “music geek” among his friends (which really just means he buys vinyl and listens to music that doesn’t come from an anime soundtrack). He resides in Austin, Texas, and can be followed on the Instamagrams at @ohheyitsmikejm.
Michael Riojas (Screener Squad, Highly Suspect Reviews)
The man with the ever-changing nicknames. Born in Austin, Riojas was rocketed to Del Rio, Texas, a literal small ville. In his youth, he was bitten by a radioactive… okay, look. Mike is not very good at this whole “talking about himself” thing. But he has been so obsessed with comics, video games, and anime since childhood- that if one has to choose between listening to Joe Quesada or Mike over any obscure Spider-Man trivia, they go to him (or, at least Martin Thomas once said so). He is also a big fan of “Ghostbusters” (he even owns his own jumpsuit and two, that’s right, TWO proton packs!), collects toys and video games, and will defend “Superman IV: The Quest for Peace” if provoked. He lives in Austin with his beloved Dachshund-Maltese and trusted sidekick, Dean. He can also be heard on RageSelect. He can be found on Twitter and Instagram.
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