The Secret Lives of Robots

If this film ever achieves cult status, the phrase "Does your robot dance?" could very well be catapulted into common parlance in nightclubs everywhere. The Secret Lives of Robots turns the machines-take-over-the-world sub-genre on its head: it feels like it's referencing the romantic teen comedies of the 80s to warn us that technology may not so much outsmart as out-feel us. Maybe that partially explains the black and white treatment and the imaginative use of cardboard and furnace ducts in place of the molded plastic and fiberglass and CGI we've come to expect from ILM and its ilk. But the low production values serve the high concept with a handmade charm that makes us root for the human spark inside every robot. (Ian Leung)