I know it’s folly to complain about new stories just because they owe their existence to old ones, but sometimes when a film pays constant homage to other movies, it only leads to unwanted distraction. Case in point: a film like Chappie, which so eerily evokes our collective and vivid memories of Short Circuit, Short Circuit 2 and sometimes Robocop, that Neill Blomkamp’s latest sci-fi spectacular plays a little bit more like a retro mash-up than a fresh and exciting melody. But hey, at least Die Antwoord mixed it.