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Read my review of RIO.

Whatever your opinion of the film is, there is no doubt the quality of this Blu-ray release. I liked the film in its theatrical release, but this AVC encoded 1080p transfer made me appreciate it a bit more. The vibrant color palette just radiates. The picture is gorgeous with detail and no signs anywhere of digital compression issues of any sort. You can make out the individual feathers on these CG birds. No aliasing, even in lively action sequences in lush jungles, was witnessed by me. I was thoroughly impressed.

The picture quality is matched by the soundtrack. The lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 soundtrack puts the viewer on an audio tour of Rio whether it’s the subtle ambience of the jungle or the lively music and crowds of Carnivale. Sound moves across the soundscape precisely. All the audio elements are balanced perfectly. Dialogue is clear, the music is sensational and the sound effects are natural when they need to be and dynamic when that is call for. Again I was thoroughly impressed.

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I watched the animated SMURFS TV series religiously as a child. I was like many kids who grew up in the 1980s. Outside of the general facts – they’re blue, they’re names match their personalities, there is only one girl in the whole village – I don’t remember their adventures at all. For this live-action/animation feature, I wasn’t expecting much going in and I didn’t get much coming out. Like the TV series, I won’t remember much about this film either.

The Smurfs live an idyllic life in their magically protected village. The wicked wizard Gargamel (Hank Azaria, MYSTERY MEN) wants to steal their essence in order to increase his magic powers. Clumsy Smurf (who looks a lot like Dopey Dwarf) is left out of the Blue Moon festivities being planned because of what his name implies. In trying to help out, Clumsy (Anton Yelchin, STAR TREK) inadvertently leads Gargamel and his cat Azrael right to their village. On the run, Clumsy and four other Smurfs end up getting sucked through a vortex and land in New York City.

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I’m not the first person to draw the parallel between this Israeli film and the German classic DAS BOOT. Instead of a submarine, the story takes place inside a tank. The claustrophobic environment creates tension by limiting our view of the horrors going on outside. While its use is more as a gimmick than DAS BOOT, it certainly makes for an engaging experience.

Shmulik (Yoav Donat) is the new gunner brought into the tank. It’s his first taste of combat and he is scared out of his mind. Assi (Itay Tiran, BEAUFORT) is the commanding officer in the tank, but he is weak and his nerves are rattled. Hertzel (Oshri Cohen, AGORA) is the loader who questions every decision that Assi makes and only thinks about getting out of the war. Yigal (Michael Moshonov, LATE MARRIAGE) is the young driver who just wants his mother to know he is okay. Riding them every chance he gets is the commanding officer on the ground Jamil (Zohar Shtrauss, BEAUFORT), who makes it abundantly clear that the lives of the ground troupes are in the hands of the tank crew.

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Alain Resnais has always been an enigmatic filmmaker. This film is him whether you love it or hate it. The criticisms of his work, even his most acclaimed work like LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD, call his films style without substance and lacking real human emotion. Same could be said about this film. His films are more philosophy, especially the philosophy of cinema. While I became more and more baffled by this film as it went along, I still found myself captivated.

Marguerite Muir (Sabine Azema, SAME OLD SONG) goes shopping for a particular pair of shoes. On the way out of the store, her purse is snatched. Georges Palet (Andre Dussollier, AMIELE) finds her wallet in the parking lot. He takes it to the police and leaves his number for Marguerite to call if she wants to. When she calls he is rude to her and then he becomes obsessed with her, writing and calling constantly.

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Based on David Lindsay-Abaire’s award-winning play, the story deals with a couple following the death of their four-year-old child. From that description, you might have certain expectations going in. This film from John Cameron Mitchell (HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH) will challenge those expectations at every turn. While it has a somber tone, the story finds a lot of humor in human behavior.

Nicole Kidman received an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of Becca, a woman trying to move on from her grief. Her husband Howie (Aaron Eckhart, ERIN BROCKOVICH) wants to move on too, but he’s afraid his wife is trying to erase their son from memory. Though it’s been eight months, their friends and family tread lightly around them. Becca’s sister Izzy (Tammy Blanchard, THE GOOD SHEPHERD) is pregnant, but she doesn’t tell her. Becca’s mother Nat (Dianne Wiest, LOST BOYS) tries to relate to her daughter with her own experiences losing a son, but Becca resents the comparison between her innocent four-year-old chasing a dog into traffic and getting hit to a 30-year-old drug addict who ODed.

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In all honesty it’s surprising this wasn’t done sooner. Beginning with STAR WARS, the sci-fi genre has been borrowing Western motifs. Jon Favreau’s comic book adaptation puts sci-fi smack dab into a Western. Even the sci-fi has a Western tingle to it. The heart of this film is in the Wild West and most importantly with its characters.

Jake Lonergan (Daniel Craig, CASINO ROYALE) wakes up in the Arizona desert without a memory of who he is or how he got there. A strange metal bracket is locked on his wrist. Outlaws stumble upon him and with the violent way he handles them, we know that the black hat he puts on suits him well. He comes to a small town to take care of the wound in his side. Due to a wanted poster and a band of deputies, he discovers he is a man on the run. He is arrested and handed over to the marshal, but he doesn’t get taken very far because aliens attack and lasso citizens, taking them hostage. Turns out, Jake’s mysterious bracelet has the power to blast an alien spaceship out of the sky.

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Miranda July makes a sophomore film that stands up well to her inspiring debut film ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW. Where her first film could be qualified as quirky romantic comedy, her new film is more surreal and sad. It could be called a romance. It could be called a comedy. But not a romantic comedy.

Sophie (July) and Jason (Hamish Linklater, TV’s THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE) have found a stray cat. When they first take it to the vet, they are told that it only has six months to live. They believe they can handle that amount of commitment. But when they go back to pick Paw Paw up, the new vet says the cat needs to stay there for another month and could live for another five years if they take good care of her. Sophie panics. They won’t be able to go out anymore. A cat is like having a baby for them. If Paw Paw lives for five years, they will be 40 by then and their lives will be over.

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Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, the directors of the Jim Carrey comedy I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS, have tackled an ambitious romantic comedy for their second directional effort. The story attempts three multigenerational love stories. Because of it, the film never delves deep under the surface. What the story lacks in depth, though, Dan Fogelman’s script certainly makes up for in craft. How all the pieces come together is crazy.

The story wastes no time getting right into it. Cal (Steve Carell, THE 40-YEAR-OLD VIRGIN) is having dinner with his wife Emily (Julianne Moore, THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT) and while they are deciding what to have for dessert, she decides to serve him up a divorce. Cal, your Average Joe accountant, is devastated. After he moves out, he starts frequenting a bar, where he tells everyone in earshot about his woes. Jacob (Ryan Gosling, THE NOTEBOOK), a 20-something, immaculately dressed, rich lady’s man, takes pity on him and decides to help Cal fix his look.

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Joe Cornish’s film begins with a group of teens, predominately black, mugging a white woman. Then they witness something fall from the sky and when they go to investigate are attacked by a horrible alien creature. In a lesser film like this one, those black kids would be dead before the title card popped up. But that’s not what happens in Cornish’s spitfire horror sci-fi comedy. You know right from the start that this film is working on a different level.

Moses (John Boyega) is the de facto leader of this gang. An intimidating looking 15-year-old who looks a lot older than he is. The woman they rob is Sam (Jodie Whittaker, VENUS), a nurse who lives in the same poor neighborhood as the boys. During this fateful night, it will not be the only time their paths cross. More aliens are coming and the teens decide they need to defend their block.

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The script for this film comes from acclaimed writer Don DeLillo, the author of WHITE NOISE, UNDERWORLD and COSMOPOLIS. This is his first screenplay produced, having had several plays produced before. His experience shines through here in literate dialogue, but there is a level of artifice here that works better on the stage than on the screen.

Nicky Rogan (Michael Keaton, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING) describes himself as a craftsman rather than a playwright. Rogan’s latest play is about to open, but it’s also game six of the 1986 World Series and he is a long-suffering Red Sox fan. He has a pessimistic outlook on both the game and the reaction to his play by the notoriously harsh critic Steven Schwimmer (Robert Downey Jr., IRON MAN). Rogen’s friend and fellow playwright Elliot Litvak (Griffin Dunne, AFTER HOURS) says that he once opened a one-night one-act play about fishmongers in a fish market and Schwimmer found it and trashed it. He believes die-hardly the critic ruined his life. By his disheveled appearance you believe him.

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