"Robot & Frank" Directed by Jake Schreier This odd, low budget little movie is probably my favorite of the new releases this week, starring Frank Langella as the coincidentally titular Frank, an ex-burglar who lives alone and has early signs of some form of dementia or memory loss and a diminishing ability to take care of himself. His son Hunter (James Marsden) makes onerous weekly visits to clean the house and make sure he’s OK, while his daughter Madison (Liv Tyler) pursues social justice causes in remote spots around the world. Faced with the possibility of needing to place his ailing but reluctant father into a care facility of some kind, Hunter instead buys a robot that’s programmed

‘Savages’ film review by Gary Chew The narration for “Savages” begins with Blake Lively putting herself in a place similar to Kevin Spacey's when he opened in the voiceover for the start of “American Beauty” (1999). Lively, as Ophelia, or O for short, lays it out that her character may not be alive at the end of the movie, even though O is speaking in past tense about what's about to happen. Spacey didn't allow us to know that his character would be dead at the close of “American Beauty.” "Savages" is playing at the Century Stadium 14, 1590 Ethan Way and Century Greenback 16 at 6233 Garfield Ave, Sacramento. O is the live-in girlfriend of Ben (Aaron Johnson) and Chon (Taylor Kitsch). Sh

A veteran of the Vietnam War, writer, director and producer, Oliver Stone began his movie career as a screenwriter in the late 1970s with credits that included “Midnight Express,” “Conan the Barbarian” and “Scarface.” He won an Oscar for best director for “Platoon,” his semi-autobiographical film about the ground war in Vietnam. He went on to make a string of successful and controversial films like “Salvador,” “Born on the Fourth of July,” both Wall Street sagas, and “The Doors.” His historical dramas “JFK” and “Nixon” earned Stone a reputation as a historical pragmatic and paranoid conspiracy theorist. Stone is currently producing a movie to be released this summer, “Savages.” The stor

The Crocker Art Museum will present “Dreams,” the visually stunning film from Academy Award-winning director Akira Kurosawa, on Thursday, Dec. 1 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets include Museum admission and are $6 for museum members and $12 for nonmembers. Comprised of eight separate vignettes inspired from actual dreams of the world-renowned filmmaker, “Dreams” is a collection of fantastic and evocative stories, separate in narrative, but intertwined with themes of nature and spirituality, life and death, and peace and war. Born in early-20th-century Japan, Kurosawa made his international directorial debut in 1950 and went on to receive numerous accolades throughout Asia and the U.S., including an