Robot & Frank

Set "in the near future," Frank (a terrific Frank Langella), a former cat burglar in the early stages of Alzheimer's, lives alone and is not much of a housekeeper. So his son buys him a state-of-the-art robot that can cook, clean the house, and advise Frank on how to take care of his body and mind. At first, Frank is reluctant, but then he realizes that he can train the robot to help him return to his old jewelry-thieving ways. Robot & Frank is less a sci-fi treatise than a meditation on loneliness, friendship, and the basic need for love under any circumstance. Even the robot — equal parts HAL 9000, R2-D2, and Yo Gabba Gabba's Plex — is given personality, thanks to expert voicing by Peter Sarsgaard. But this is Langella's movie, and he deserves an Oscar nomination.