Catching Up with Robot Dreams and Elsbeth

Robot Dreams

We're now in Malta about to start our Mediterranean cruise (and getting away from the US presidential election at exactly the right time.) We flew Delta from JFK to Rome and then transferred to Malta Airlines to Valetta, Malta where our Oceania Cruise begins. The seven and a half-hour flight provided an opportunity to finally catch up with Robot Dreams, one of the few 2023 Oscar-nominated films I did not see before the awards. The charming Best Animated Feature nominee had very few if any screenings in NYC. This beautiful and touching film about friendship features colorful, eye popping drawings and deep characterizations. Totally silent, the film is set in an anthropomorphic NYC in the 1980s with robot technology. Single and lonely Dog orders a DIY robot for companionship. Their immediate connection could be a metaphor for gay relationships. The canine and mechanical man tentatively hold hands as they walk down the street and lay on the beach. Dog appears to be bisexual as well as interspecies-amorous since he later dates an adventurous female duck. It looks like all the intelligent, human-like animals in this version of Gotham will go out with any other species. Robot and Dog are separated and their separate adventures make up the bulk of the plot. Both search for nurturing friends but long for each other. It's a surprisingly moving plea for acceptance of love in all its forms.

Carra Patterson and Carrie Preston in
Elsbeth. Credit: Elizabeth Fisher/CBS

I also caught up with CBS' quirky crime series Elsbeth with falls into the kooky sleuth genre. Elsbeth (a delightful Carrie Preston) and her pals on the police force solve murders committed by upper-class Manhattanites who are involved in TV, the arts, sports or fashion. She's sort of a low-key, less annoying Columbo. I like that it's filmed in NYC and uses lots of theater actors. On the flight I caught the episode where Linda Lavin falls out her co-op balcony. Jane Krakowski is the prime suspect or is she? Last week I enjoyed the episode with Laura Benanti and Andre De Shields. (All Tony winners, BTW.) Also viewed: two episodes of I Love Lucy, the one where she stages an operetta (The Pleasant Peasant) and the one where she dressed up like a hep cat musician.

2023 Oscar Nominated Films Seen So Far
Oppenheimer (34th Street AMC and again on Amazon Prime)
Barbie (Regal Union Square)
Asteroid City (Angelika)
Golda (County Theater, Doylestown, PA)
Killers of the Flower Moon (Regal Kaufman Astoria)
Rustin (Netflix)

The Killer (Netflix)--Tilda Swinton could nab a Supporting Actress nod
Maestro (Paris Cinema mezzanine and again on Netflix)
May December (Netflix)
Past Lives (Amazon Prime)
Poor Things (Regal Kaufman Astoria)
The Holdovers (Regal Union Square--and again on Amazon Prime)
American Fiction (AMC Empire 25--Times Square)
Anatomy of a Fall (Amazon Prime)

Nyad (Netflix)

Napoleon (Amazon Prime)

Society of the Snow (Netflix)

The Zone of Interest (Angelika)

Perfect Days (Angelika)

El Conde (Netflix)

The Creator (Hulu)

Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 3 (Disney +)

*Still: A Michael J. Fox Film (Apple TV +)
Les Menus Plaisir--Les Troisgros (Film Forum)
20 Days in Mariupol (Frontline/PBS/Watched on the Passport app)
American Symphony (Netflix)

*Beyond Utopia (Independent Lens/PBS)

*Stamped from the Beginning (Netflix)

The Eternal Memory (MTV Documentaries/Paramount +)

Bobi Wine: The People's President (National Geographic/Disney +)

Four Daughters (Amazon Prime)

Elemental (Disney +)

The Boy and the Heron (AMC Empire 25--Times Square)

Nimona (Netflix)

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Netflix)

Robot Dreams (Delta flight 0132 from JFK to Rome)

The Color Purple (Max)

All of Us Strangers (Hulu) (BAFTA, Golden Globe, Film Independent Spirit nominated, National Society of Film Critic winner for Best Actor--Andrew Scott)

Short Films
Live Action
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix)
The After (Netflix)

*Yellow (YouTube)

Knight of Fortune (New Yorker/YouTube)

Red White and Blue (YouTube)

*The Shepherd (Disney +)

Invincible (YouTube)

Animated
*Boom (YouTube)
Pachyderm (YouTube, again at IFC)
*Once Upon a Studio (Disney +)

*Pete (YouTube)

Letter to a Pig (YouTube, again at IFC)

*Eeva (YouTube)

Our Uniform (IFC)

Ninety-Five Senses (IFC)

War Is Over! Inspired by the Music of John & Yoko (IFC)

*Wild Summons (IFC)

*I'm Hip (IFC)

Documentary

*How We Get Free (Max)

Island in Between (NY Times/YouTube)

*Deciding Vote (New Yorker/YouTube)

The Last Repair Shop (LA Times/Searchlight/YouTube)

*If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis (Independent Lens/PBS/watched on the Passport app)

*Between Earth and Sky (POV/PBS website)

The Barber of Little Rock (New Yorker/YouTube)

*Camp Courage (Netflix)

The ABCs of Book Banning (MTV Documentaries/Paramount +)

*Last Song from Kabul (MTV Documentaries/Paramount +)

*Black Girls Play: The Story of Hand Games (ESPN +)

Nai Nai and Wai Po (Disney +)

*short-listed but not nominated