Finch Post-Review: Golden Touch edition
An original homage and review series: every character, robot, dog, piece of art and line of script is original, with no footage, stills or likeness from the film.
Short vertical clips, one review angle each. Tap play and enjoy.
Golden Touch
Pick any clip. Each one is about 17 seconds and takes a single scene apart: what the camera is doing, why it works, and where a little gold shows up.
The clips
Born Under the Clock
A warm, backlit lab sets up an origin story while one calm line explains telomeres as the shoelace tips of your DNA
Golden touch: A gold-lined repair band on her sleeveThree Hundred Years Young
A wasteland and a scruffy dog make room for a plain-English look at reprogramming as tidying the sticky notes on DNA
Golden touch: The gold seam on her sleeve glintsThe Last Orange Suit
How a wide empty frame tells you the rules of the world before anyone talks
Golden touch: Gold thread on her sleeve catches the first lightScavenger's Haul
Props that carry the whole emotional premise in one shot
Golden touch: Dog tin has a gold-foil labelNugget
Why the dog is the film's emotional anchor, shot at dog level
Golden touch: Gold stripe on her sleeve and warm gold light on the furPebble Rolls By
Tiny comic relief that sets up a later loss
Golden touch: Pebble has a gold-painted dented domeThe Decision
The 'one last project' beat and why it works
Golden touch: Schematic glows goldParts Bin Poetry
The tactile pleasure of practical-style robot building
Golden touch: Gold solder linesFirst Spark
The awakening shot: light as consciousness
Golden touch: Amber lens flares goldFirst Steps
Physical comedy as character introduction
Golden touch: Footfalls leave faint gold scuffsA House With Wheels
The vehicle as character and as home
Golden touch: Gold bell swingsWall of Dust
Scale shots and how to make a vehicle feel small
Golden touch: Lightning veins goldMore clips coming
New clips are added as they are finished. Check back soon for the next batch.
About
Meet Michael E. Brown
President and Managing Partner, GOTB Consulting, LLC · Chicago
Michael E. Brown has 20+ years of governmental and municipal consulting and lobbying experience. He was lead contract negotiator on the $8.5B O’Hare 21 program and the $800M O’Hare rail extension, and lead lobbyist and contract negotiator on the $400M Chicago Department of Water Management lateral redevelopment. (Dollar figures are program sizes, not GOTB fees.)
He has worked with the Illinois legislature and public officials on public-private partnership (P3) policy, and has consulted to the Cook County Commission on reducing duplicative administrative offices. He is a frequent speaker at governmental and municipal functions, focuses on good government and healthier social and economic solutions for safe, successful neighborhoods, lives in Chicago, and serves on the Board of the March of Dimes.
- M.S., Psychology (1997), University of Iowa
- B.S., Psychology (1995), University of Iowa
About
Meet Richard Butler
Partner, GOTB Consulting, LLC · Chicago
Richard (Rich) Butler is a partner at GOTB Consulting and a 38-year veteran of Chicago city government. From August 2019 to February 2020 he served as First Deputy Commissioner and Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Department of Aviation (CDA), responsible for day-to-day administration and operations of O’Hare and Midway, including finance, contracts, operations, legal, human resources, workforce development, concessions, real estate and vehicle services. CDA manages the two airports with a federally funded budget of $8.5 billion. (Dollar figures are budget and program sizes, not GOTB fees.)
Before that, Rich was First Deputy Procurement Officer at the City’s Department of Procurement Services and Chief Administrative Officer of the Chicago Park District, where he oversaw procurement, audit, finance, warehousing and general administrative services on an estimated annual budget of $385 million and established district-wide policies and procedures. His City career began at the Department of Aviation as Director of Contracts Administration, and he also served as General Superintendent of the Department of Streets and Sanitation.
He completed the Chicago Accounting and Purchasing System Training Program and the City of Chicago Executive Management Program, was a key team member on the design and implementation plan for the City’s new eProcurement system, and is a member of the National Institute of Governmental Purchasing and the Purchasing Management Association of Chicago. He has served on the board of the Chicago Municipal Employees Credit Union and on the US Communities board, representing the City of Chicago, and traveled to South Korea to represent Chicago in the Kotra Alliance to bridge contracting opportunities. A native of Englewood, he attended De La Salle High School.
- B.S., Northern Illinois University
Fictional characters from GOTB’s original stories. Real-world facts always link to public sources.