July Film Night: The Iron Giant, featuring Vin Diesel, this Sunday!

Question

The theme of July's movie night will be: Robots! 🤖

Your film should significantly involve, or be about, robots. At least one of them. Possibly, but not necessarily, giant robots. Mechas are counted. Cyborgs & organic robots will be counted, since there's fuzzy grey area I'd rather us be able to explore there. I'll leave it up to voters & common sense to figure out what is Robot-ish enough for the Robot film night.

Inspirational link for robots. (Has sound. 🎵)

Post your robot movie suggestions here!

Bonus points:

• +1 if there's multiple robots.
• +1 if it's available for us to watch together on Watch2gether or Rabbit.

Voting ended: Iron Giant wins!

Date and time:

• Saturday 15th July, 6pm UTC+0
• Sunday 16th July, 8pm UTC+0, time negotiable.

The Sunday session is a tradition from Arqade's film nights: they host informal Sunday sessions for those who couldn't make it to Saturday, and the same would work well for us here.

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Clarifications:

• You can nominate more than one film.
• It is OK if you cannot tell us about the robots because of spoilers. Just promise there's robots, and tell us about the film itself instead. :)

Answer 1

The Iron Giant

Before Vin Diesel was Groot, he was the Iron Giant. This is a 1999 animated film directed by Brad Bird. It tells the story of a friendship between a boy and an alien robot, who is for the reasons of miscommunication, antagonised by some people, despite being quite friendly.

Here is the synopsis from the Google blurb:

In this animated adaptation of Ted Hughes' Cold War fable, a giant alien robot crash-lands near the small town of Rockwell, Maine, in 1957. Exploring the area, a local 9-year-old boy, Hogarth, discovers the robot, and soon forms an unlikely friendship with him. When a paranoid government agent, Kent Mansley, becomes determined to destroy the robot, Hogarth and beatnik Dean McCoppin must do what they can to save the misunderstood machine.

The film has been very positively received by the audience and critics (Rotten Tomatoes, IMDB), as well as a family-friendly 7+ rating on Common Sense Media.

It appears to be available for streaming on Netflix and Amazon.

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• To the best of my knowledge (I haven't seen this film) it has only one robot.

• It's available for streaming in multiple venues. +1

Answer 2

Big Hero 6. It's for all people. Kids, adults. Males, females. Comics book geeks, sci-fi nerds, "normal people". It doesn't matter. The main and most popular character in the movie is Baymax, a robot with a dragon costume. It did win the Best Animated Feature award at the Oscars a few years ago, so I guess that means something. And besides, it has true emotion and humor that anyone can relate to. And yes, there are multiple robots besides Baymax. The plot of the film is based on little microbots (somewhat). So yeah, Big Hero 6. +1 for multiple robots

Here's a picture of the robot.

If not this movie, then Metropolis is what I'd go with. True classic.

Answer 3

Blade Runner

1982 two theatrical releases: USA and international
1992 director's cut
2007 the final cut

You know the story. Pollution has almost exterminated all non-human animal life on earth. Artificial organo-synthetic ‘replicants’ are built to take their place as domestic companions for the excessively abundant human population. They are also used in humanoid form, and are thus designed to perform dangerous or undesirable jobs in place of humans.
Four such humanoid replicants happen to escape from an interplanetary transport. ‘Blade runners’ are special cops who hunt down and apprehend rogue replicants; a blade–runner named Deckard, who may or may not be a replicant himself, is tasked with finding and capturing or killing the escaped replicants.

Directed by Ridley Scott, with Art Direction by David Snyder, from a screenplay, originally titled “Dangerous Days”, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples.
Inspired somewhat by Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? — i.e., from the premise therein of replicants and a detective tracking them down.

teaser for the Final Cut version.

+1 for multiple robots.
-1 because, in honest decency, most people are probably expecting metal or exposed electronics or some form of superficial differences to distinguish the robots. The replicants are strong, and can endure extreme conditions, but they only have their emotional immaturity to reliably distinguish them from humans.
They do have a crimson eye tapetum which is visible under some conditions, but that is only used ironically and for indicating replicant status to the viewer.

Answer 4

Metropolis (1927)

Directed by Fritz Lang, written by him and Thea von Harbou (his wife), starring Gustav Fröhlich, Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel and Rudolf Klein-Rogge.

This is one of the first science fiction films ever made. And it features a robot.

Answer 5

Short Circuit (1986)

Johnny 5's alive!

A former military robot gets struck by lightning and develops quite a personality... Some great comedic moments, memorable quotes and come on - it's got Steve Guttenberg (of Police Academy fame) and Fisher Stevens as Ben - what more could one want from a film?

Remember: failing to upvote for this film is a vote to disassemble Number 5 - and Number 5 says NO Dissassemble :)

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Apart from Johnny 5 - there are other robots (although only briefly) - alas, not as friendly or as cool as J5 (no spoilers) - and it appears it's available in full on youtube.

Answer 6

The World's End

This is a comedy about a group of friends reconnecting after many years to return to their hometown for a bar crawl, just like the one they'd done in their youth. It's a story of a man trying to hold on to his past, even when the rest of the world seems ready to forget it all and start something new. But also, and I don't want to spoil anything, there are robots. Lots of robots. To find out how the robots fit in, and to see if the heroes can finally make it to the World's End pub, you'll just have to watch the film!

Bonus Points:

+1 for multiple robots.

Answer 7

Now is not the time nor the place, but I must admit I have always been a fan or Ron Perlman, ever since Beauty and the Beast. In fact, he was the only factor that made the film Looney Tunes: Back in Action worth watching for me. Ehm, anyway, to cut to the chase,

I nominate Pacific Rim.

It may not be the best movie ever, but it has the redeeming feature of bringing mechas to mainstream. You know, if somebody not familiar with anime asks you "What's that, a mecha?" you can say, "you know, those robots from Pacific Rim."

It does feature multiple robots

and it's on Netflix, which means it can be watched through Rabbit, right? (Don't know anything about Rabbit, sorry).

Answer 8

WALL-E

In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.

I am not big fan of animated movies but I loved Wall-E. Film has lot of emotions and won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Wall-E is the main characte discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE.

Eve:

When EVE is first seen in the movie, she is hostile and dedicated to her task. However, after meeting WALL-E, she began to warm up to him and befriend him.

+1 Multiple Robots

Answer 9

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

You might have heard of this one. It's a true classic about two robots going on interplanetary adventures while saving the Galaxy!

_{…And the human and non-human sidekicks they pick up along the way.}

+1 Multiple robots (the two stars, plus some guests like the scene-stealing "Mouse Droid")

Answer 10

Partly because it seems so obvious...

Robots (2005)

Brief synopsis:

In a world of sentient robots, striving young inventor Rodney Copperbottom (Ewan McGregor) wants to work for the avuncular Bigweld (Mel Brooks), whose Bigweld Industries makes spare robot parts. But Bigweld has just been deposed as company head by the villainous Phineas T. Ratchet (Greg Kinnear), who wants to make all robots submit to profitable forced upgrades. In this animated adventure, Rodney and his friend Fender (Robin Williams) go underground to fight Ratchet's evil plans.

I watched it a while ago - I can't remember much of it but I had a reasonably positive impression of it. Any film which features Robin Williams can't be a complete right-off.

+1 For featuring multiple robots.
+1 (Arguably) For featuring nothing but robots and no non-robot characters.

It also seems to be relatively easy to access.

Answer 11

I expect that lots of you, know that movie. But I like it for a long time and it would be a great loss not to mention:

I, Robot

It is based on Isaac Asimov book of short stories called I, Robot, yet the movie itself is not a copy of any of the stories from the book (so no spoiler there, I suggest you to read the book as well as it is great too).
There is a really really large number of robots (not just one type of them though).

It is an action movie (there is Will Smith, so it has to be), but it also has a few great thoughts (and also cool cars, nice women, holograms, tattoos, funny product-placements, cyborg, police, a cat and a lot more).

Answer 12

THE BLACK HOLE (1979)

Plot Summary/Details

It is the year 2130 A.D. An Earth exploratory ship, the USS Palomino, discovers a black hole with a lost ship, the USS Cygnus, just outside its event horizon. The lost ship is generating an artificial gravity field, keeping it safe from the terrible forces of the black hole. Upon boarding the vessel, the crew of the Palomino learn that the Cygnus is under the command of the brilliant but fanatically-driven Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximillian Schell). The crew begins to suspect that things aboard the Cygnus are not right, and begin to unravel a terrifying mystery about the ship and the plans Reinhardt has for her.

Robotic Presence

There are at least 3 robots who are major characters. V.I.N.CENT (voiced by Roddy McDowell) is part of the crew of the Palomino. There is also B.O.B. (voiced by Slim Pickens) who is a similar, but older design to Vincent. And then there is Reinhardt's personal assistant and apparent enforcer, the sinister and utterly silent Maximilian. There are also some lesser robotic presences, but I don't want to give away any spoilers here.

(Maximilian)

Reasons for Submission

I'm not going to say The Black Hole is top-notch cinema. It's not. It has a 5.9 rating on IMDB, and while I think that's a little harsh, I wouldn't put the film above 6.5/10. So, why even suggest it? Because the film has a wonderfully surreal quality due to a very uneven vision of what the film is supposed to be.

This was the first film Disney made that wasn't "G"-rated all audiences fare, and it shows. There are very traditional elements of Disney film-making in the script, with some dialogues and visuals that are downright cornball. There are also elements of the film that are very dark and scary, to the point that they would have been more at home in a film like Event Horizon than a Disney film. It's as if the screenwriters decided that throwing parts from an "R"-rated film and parts from a "G"-rated film would balance out into a good "PG" film.

Likewise, the visual effects exhibit the same extremes. There are some truly breathtaking effects (for the era) in The Black Hole, and there are some incredibly cheesy ones, too.

And then there's the ending, which I (obviously) won't reveal here, but plunges into the deeply philosophical and unexpected.

To make a long story short (too late, I know), it's not a great film, but I've found it makes for some very interesting viewing all the same.

Answer 13

Terry Pratchett's Going Postal.

I have one word to say: GOLEMS!!!!!

The Golem is the pre-scientific ancestor of the robot, and the Discworld Golems hold a certain appeal (at least for me).

Whilst I have not seen this movie, I have read this book numerous times (it is my favourite Pratchett novel).

Its got comedy, its got drama, its got oodles of murder, and it is up to its armpits in Golems.

To honor the late Sir Terry Pratchett, I nominate this 2 part made for TV movie for the July movie night.

Answer 14

Silent Running

1971

In a future where the entire surface of the earth is covered by climate-controlled buildings, no plant life remains; all wilderness has been eradicated. All food is synthesized by artificial technology.
Giant space freighters are consigned to serve as the only remaining zoological and botanical gardens.

Okay, so there are three actual, factual, robots here, but they aren't anywhere near the focus of the story. They are not quite main characters, either — not until

Lowell (Bruce Dern) loses the other human crew members, and has only the robotic Drones as his most humanoid companions.

So…
Why do I nominate this? Anyone who tells me that the didn't cry when

Number 03, a.k.a. Louie, gets hit by the debris in Saturn's rings, and falls off the ship,

or when

Lowell destroys himself and Number 02 a.k.a. Huey, and Number 01 a.k.a. Dewey is the only one of the drones or humans to carry on taking care of the forests at the end,

should be kicked in the shin — if they don't cry at that, then they are probably a robot themself. And, a pitiful one at that, who lacks the ability to sympathize for a fellow robot.
Okay, so the robots were but one reason of many for the wealth of emotions at the finale — but they were so darn cute!

And, come on:

Why couldn't Number 02 be allowed to ride along with Number 01?

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+1 multiple robots
+1(?) there are quite a few duds and baits out there, but at least one bad copy on YouTube and is available on Netflix