*batteries not included (1987)

Excellent adaptation.

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Tons of spoilers ahead. So be warned. I'm not going to lie. I deeply disliked this movie for various reasons. I'm giving it a review simply because I disliked it so much. But I'm not going to try and present my objections to the film in any organized fashion. This movie is not worth that much effort. So right off the top off my head, in no particular order: 1. Where did the aliens come from? Why didn't we ever get to see their home planet? We didn't even get to see any cool phony shots of them descending to earth from outer space. I knew the premise of the movie before I ever watched it, so I knew that some aliens were going to show up. But when I saw Jessica Tandy's window open, I thought, "That better not be an alien flying through that window without so much as ONE lousy glimpse into outer space." But sure enough, it was. What lazy cinematography/special effects. I am forever disappointed. 2. The ships did not CONTAIN aliens. The spaceships WERE the aliens: What? WHAT?! What ridiculously unbelievable pablum is this? There are no sentient, hyper intelligent beings who are responsible for piloting these small clunky bits of tin across the galaxies? Instead, the robot hubcaps are themselves electricity-hungry, benevolent, artistic machines who are inexplicably sentient? Okay. Fantastic. -_-3. These robots were clunky, awkward and relatively brittle, but they somehow navigated themselves though the volatile, combustible ravages of space? We're supposed to believe that these robots can survive meteor showers. 1000s of degrees of heat when entering the Earth's atmosphere and withstand the crushing power of the sun's gravitational pull, when all it took was ONE good hit from Carlos's axe in order to "kill" the daddy robot? Something is amiss. 4. Where'd they get the bricks, leather and paint? Okay. So you're a little robot who knows how to work a screwdriver, and you like to eat nails (or so we're told by the senile old lady in the film. That's fine. I imagine that means you can fix a wonky toaster. But how in the world did you seamlessly and effortlessly "repair" torn, paper photographs? You can't fix a photograph with nuts and bolts. You can't repair old busted up leather chairs or windows with a screwdriver. So where did they get all of the materials they need to repair everything? Bricks? Mortar? Paint? Leather? Glass for new window? Fricking caulk and drywall? These robots could barely fly through the halls without bumping into the walls. But somehow they can magically flip an entire apartment building, complete with new plumbing and freshly painted walls in less than 24 hours? Okay. Fantastic. 4. These robots from outer space magically have outlets that fit 120V DC outlets. Okay. You can't even plug in a radio from the US into an Eu outlet without connecting a $50 power converter. But somehow these sentient, benevolent, space-traveling robots are designed to plug perfectly into US outlets? And how in the world did these robots travel a million miles across space, if they have to recharge themselves every 8 minutes? My cellphone has more battery power than that. 5. The robots had babies? Small ones? That will someone GROW? Whaaat? 6. The pregnant lady and the artist are falling in love. Right. Because we all know that selfish, 20-30 something self-absorbed artists are just WAITING in long lines to love and father the children of plain-faced women whom they barely know. 7. The artist called the "military" and "NASA" to see if they were "missing any robots or technology." Right, because our military intelligence is just waiting to field questions from random citizens so that they can disclose super-sensitive, highly classified information with you. And what number did he call? It took me 3 hours to even find the right number for the IRS to find out if my tax refund was ready, but somehow this unknown, unsuccessful, son-of-an-RV salesman artist knows just who to call to discuss a possible alien invasion. Okay. Fantastic. So yeah, I'm done. I was so annoyed with this movie. Just weird and stupid. Too insulting to one's intelligence in order to be enjoyable.

In 2017 I was having my 30th birthday, and I thought, what better way to celebrate than to watch a number of films also turning 30 years old, this was one I heard a little about, so I hoped it would be good, produced by Frank Marshall and Steven Spielberg. Basically in a dilapidated New York City, East Village apartment building, the tenants of the block are being forced to move out by the owner of a nearby property development, Lacey (Michael Greene), so it can be demolished. Elderly couple Frank (Hume Cronyn) and Faye Riley (Jessica Tandy) manage the apartment building, and the café below it, tenants in the building include artist Mason Baylor (Dennis Boutsikaris), pregnant single mother Marisa Esteval (Elizabeth Peña) and retired boxer Harry Noble (Licence to Kill's Frank McRae). Some of the residents are tormented by Lacey's thugs, led by Carlos (Michael Carmine), the assault convinces them to move out, including Mason's girlfriend Pamela (American Dad's Wendy Schaal) who is tired and advises Mason to quit being an artist and find a steady job, and the Riley's friends Muriel (Jane Hoffman) and Sid Hogensin (Tom Aldredge) who are bribed by Lacey and move to a retirement home in New Jersey. Things look bleak, with Frank thinking of giving in, and Faye's dementia growing, until the appearance of of a pair of small living space ships descending during the night, repairing many broken items as they fly around. In the morning, Frank is amazed to find the vandalised café repaired, putting him and Faye back in business, Faye was the first to see the two aliens, the other residents follow her to see, they take residence in a shed at the top of the building, the residents dub them "The Fix-Its". The Fix-Its scare away Carlos, then Faye and Marisa learn the female alien is pregnant, after consuming many metal and electrical objects, it gives birth to three baby Fix- Its, but one is still born. Faye buries the stillborn, but Harry digs it up, takes it to his apartment, and successfully revives it, taking apart his precious television set, while Frank and Faye have an increase of business, including from the demolition crew, the Fix-Its assist in the kitchen. Mason and Marisa grow closer, Mason feels better about his art, and Marisa's baby is due in 2 to 3 months, musician Hector (Charles Raymond) is the father of Marisa's child visits her, but leaves quickly, with a steady gig in Chicago, Marisa tells Mason their relationship was not working out, but she has developed feelings for Mason, and vice versa. Carlos is unable to prove the existence of the Fix-Its, Lacey is furious with the delays and moves to replace Carlos, in anger Carlos breaks into the building's basement and sabotages the building's pipework and electricity, badly damaging the "father" machine in the process. The residents discover the Fix-It children are missing, they search the city for them, while Faye stays with the "mother" and fixes the "father", when it is repaired the Fix-It parents search for their offspring, they are found with Harry, the reunited machine family then depart from the planet. Tired of the delays, Lacey's subordinate Kovacs (John Pankow), an arsonist, attempts to burn down the building in a staged "accidental fire", Carlos sees this and sabotages the plan to make the entire building explode, but Faye is trapped inside, Carlos manages to rescue her as the fire spreads, the other residents return to find the blazing building. The next morning, the apartment block has been reduced to a smouldering wreck, the construction crew, in respect to Harry, refuse to continue working, to Kovacs' fury. Harry is greeted by the mechanical family during the night, who have recruited countless other Fix-Its for repairs, by the next morning, the entire building has been seamlessly restored to brand new condition. In the end, Lacey's demolition plans are forever cancelled, Kovacs is terminated, Mason and Marisa settle into a relationship, Carlos tries to start a friendship with the Rileys, Faye finally accepts her son has passed away, and some years later, the apartment building still stands, surrounded by bigger developments, and the café has a roaring trade, with new employment brought into the area. Also starring John DiSanti as Gus, MacIntyre Dixon as DeWitt, Doris Belack as Mrs. Thompson and Luis Guzmán as a Bystander. Tandy, Cronyn and the other actors give nice gentle performances, the script is based on one of the episodes of a TV show called Amazing Stories, it is sort of a retread of elements from Cocoon, the special effects are reasonable, the plot very simple, it doesn't quite have the magic of other films about alien creatures making friends with humans, but it is something all the family can warm to, an average science-fiction fantasy. Worth watching!

Elderly couple Frank (Hume Cronyn) and Faye Riley (Jessica Tandy) who is suffering from dementia run a small diner in an old apartment building. The NYC neighborhood is being torn down. Thugs led by Carlos hired by property developer Lacey and his henchman Kovacs (John Pankow) are pushing the tenants out. The tenants include pregnant Marisa Esteval (Elizabeth Peña), former boxer Harry Knoble (Frank McRae) and starving artist Mason Baylor desperate to save the building. The cops refuse to help. A couple of small UFOs arrive and change everything.This definitely has the tone of an old Disney family film. Like those movies, this is strictly family fare which does tackle some slightly darker issues. The tone can be a little awkward at times for modern audiences but it absolutely works for this film. The special effects are terrific for the time. This features Brad Bird who contributed to his first theatrical screenplay in this.

Director Matthew Robbins and the Spielberg production company (Amblin Entertainment) present us with a movie that has been influenced greatly by the success of Ron Howard's "Cocoon". We have here two stars form that film (Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy), a very similar plot idea and almost the same music (same composer).The story, about tiny alien spacecraft who help save an old block of flats from being destroyed, comes across as silly, and the script is thin and poorly worked. Weak characterisation and blatant predictability don't help either, not to mention the lack of comedy. Not much to smile about.Monday, March 1, 1993 - T.V.