Chappie

A movie about a robot. Named “Chappie” (2015). Gotta be a kids’ movie, right? Umm, no. Not unless I missed the fairy tale about the dude who gets cut in half and thrown into a brick wall by a robot named Moose. Anyway, this is basically a gory action movie with a kids’ movie title and a subplot that attempts to deal with how we define humanity and consciousness and how we reconcile that with artificial intelligence. In other words, it’s plaid pants and a striped shirt – you gotta be something special to pull that off. And “Chappie” is not.

Ghostbusters

I first saw “Ghostbusters” (1984) at a theater in Waikiki. Needless to say, I enjoyed it. Even though Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis wrote it and Bill Murray and Aykroyd star, it isn’t considered a classic “Saturday Night Live movie.” It doesn’t have as many belly laughs as “Animal House,” “Caddyshack” or “Stripes,” but from a plot construction standpoint, it might be better written than those three. It makes sense, is fast paced, there’s Annie Potts and Sigourney Weaver – what’s not to like? And there are some classic one-liners, like when dickless gets blamed for shutting off the power grid.