*batteries not included (1987)

Brief: Five tenants of a building about to be condemned are visited by aliens who fix things and help them to save their building.

Largely exciting due to Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy as Frank and Faye Riley, who are residents of the building as well as proprietors of the café downstairs.

Can you really beat those two? I don’t think so. I love them both, and, in the grand scheme of things being unfair, they have both passed away.

As such, I treat this more as a recommendation than a review.

This movie is truly one of the best children’s movies I have ever seen. Sure, there are no actual kids in it, and there is some violence and some swears. Even so, a fantastic kid’s movie.

Made better if you watch it with someone who will react like a child would, which I think is the best way to watch movies anyway.

I mean, I don’t believe in aliens, and they don’t particularly interest me in terms of movie subjects.

The aliens in this case are actually composed of metal parts that they steal from the residents of the apartments and use to build themselves and their offspring. It’s quite an impressive sight.

In this movie’s case, obviously, you are better off suspending reality, at least some of it. I think that’s true of any movie: You need to suspend reality in order to find a home for it.

Meanwhile, I finally watched The Shawshank Redemption. Remember how pissed off I have been at Thomas Newman from continuously recycling his score from American Beauty? Turns out it’s actually his score from Shawshank. I’m disgusted.

Other than that, a very heart-warming movie. Just don’t do a school project about it.