Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN

Sensual is not a word often thought of when one thinks of a Disney animated film. But this Disney short flows with it. But this isn't just any Disney short, it originated as a collaboration between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali. A seemingly unlikely pair of artists to work together. Disney wanted to experiment with the animation form and Dali saw animation as a perfect way to explore surrealism on film. The project started in the 1940s with Dali drawing dozens of images, but the film never came to be. Following the production of FANTASIA/2000, Roy E. Disney championed its completion using original storyboards and journals.

Like a Dali painting, the film is a dance through an absurd dreamscape. The film begins with a beautiful naked woman walking across the desert. Naked woman in a Disney film?! Gasp! Trust me, the real naughty bits are unseen. The images are driven by an original 1940s recording from Mexican composer Armando Dominguez and singer Dora Luz, which gives the blend of 2D and CG animation another level of surrealism. The animation style does so as well. The strobe-like movement of the woman is like watching flashes from a dream.

While in many ways FANTASIA/2000 tries to catch lightning in a bottle and doesn't catch a full bolt, but it does catch a great deal of sparks. The film works as an homage to the 1940 masterpiece rather than a companion. Many of the sequences seem to be a reflection of one from the original. While it doesn't feel as revolutionary as FANTASIA, the follow-up touches on the same animation magic.

Like the original, this film begins with an abstract piece; this time set to Ludwig van Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C minor-I. Allegro con brio." Shapes similar to butterflies and bats represent the battle between light and dark or good versus evil. The lofty themes are presented in a complexly animated way.

Read my review of FANTASIA.

For any film fan this release needs to be on your holiday wish list. Visually, both films are presented flawlessly in 1080p. In FANTASIA, the live-action sequences have never looks so rich. The silhouetted musicians are more dynamic because the blacks are so deep. As for the animated sequences, they look marvelous. There isn’t a hint of dirt or dust to be found. And unlike some restorations of Disney animated films, the cel painted frames retain their handmade quality. The landmark visual effects particularly stood out to me. The glow of the fairies in the “Nutcracker Suite” section felt more luminous than in previous presentations. The colors are rich and the true achievement of the film’s artistry has never been so crystal clear in a home entertainment release. The only slight issue is some color bleeding in the live-action sequences, but I’d argue that was from the negative.

Darren Aronofsky has made a darker version of THE RED SHOES. From a screenplay by Andres Heinz, Mark Heyman and John McLaughlin, he takes the basic premise of the famed ballet Swan Lake and brings it to this psychological thriller. In trying to become the White Swan, a ballerina becomes the Black Swan.

That ballerina is Nina Sayers (Natalie Portman, CLOSER), a naive and insecure dancer who dances with perfection, but lacks that passionate spark. Her company's impresario Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel, READ MY LIPS) is casting a new version of Swan Lake and is looking to replace the aging prima ballerina Beth Macintyre (Winona Ryder, EDWARD SCISSORHANDS). Nina desperately wants the role, but Thomas doesn't think she has what it takes to play the sensual side of the Black Swan. Could that be the new tattooed tough girl Lily (Mila Kunis, FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL)?

When so many movies are about nothing, TREKKIES director Roger Nygard makes a film about the biggest questions. Why are we here? Does God exist? What is our purpose in life? He travels the world and asks these questions of people of all walks of life. With a light, but respectful touch, he creates a charming film that answers all those questions and doesn't answer any of them at the same time.

He gives equal time for both the religious and scientific point of view and all that lies in between. Some of the big names interviewed include Indian holy man Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, renowned evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins, Islamic scholar Dr. Zakir Naik, 24th generation Taoist Master Zhang Chengda, co-discoverer of string theory Leonard Susskind, Mormon novelist Orson Scott Card, EMPIRE STRIKES BACK director Irvin Kershner, comedian Julia Sweeney and Carl Sagan's widow Ann Druyan.

This is the least rewarding of the cinematic HARRY POTTER experiences mainly because it doesn't satisfyingly work as a film on its own. Unlike the LORD OF THE RINGS series, each film worked as a solo film, while setting up the continuing journey. DEATHLY HALLOWS - PART 1 tries to find its EMPIRE STRIKE BACK moment to end on, but without making Voldemort declare he is Harry's father, this film left me wanting more, but not in a good way. And yet I want more.

This PART 1, PART 2 nonsense will mean nothing after July 2011. After that DEATHLY HALLOWS can be enjoyed on DVD or Blu-ray or whatever comes next in home entertainment as one complete film. But because I am not clairvoyant I can't comment on the complete DEATHLY HALLOWS, because I have only seen half the film. PART 1 is kind of like the equivalent of tantric sex; all build up and no climax. But for POTTER fans, it's still sex… unless they're kids, because it's a family franchise, right?

Since the beginning of cinema there have been adaptations of Charles Dickens’ classic holiday ghost tale. Many think of the 1951 version starring Alastair Sim. I have a soft spot for A MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL for its great humor. Director Robert Zemeckis makes his version with puppets as well, only digital puppets. Performance capture has allowed him to do anything with the tale.

Jim Carrey brings to life Scrooge, who here is sickly thin and more vulture-like than ever before. With the performance capture technology, Carrey is able to play the three ghosts as well. The Ghost of Christmas Past is a flicker of fire, who speaks with an ethereal tone. The closest to Dickens’ description I’ve ever seen. The Ghost of Christmas Present is as he has been portrayed before as a large jolly fellow. But I really like his haunting transformation as the hour chimes and he chuckles as he turns to bones. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is often just a shadow creeping on the wall and pointing a skeletal finger.

Read my review of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Whether you hate performance capture or like it, this Blu-ray release will only support your opinion no matter what it is. That’s because the crystal clear presentation shows off everything. The color palette is rich with festive reds and golds in the cheery moments. The darker scenes are balanced wonderfully as well. Blacks are bold and there is no digital problems as characters emerge from the dark into light. Overall the picture shows no signs of aliasing, banding or any other kind of digital distortion.

The audio equals the picture very well. The soundscape utilizes the more action filled moments well. In one screen Scrooge is overwhelmed with chimes and clocks and we understand his feelings. Directionality flows nicely across speakers as characters move across the environment. The soundtrack is presented in DTS-HD MA 5.1 lossless.

Before this Argentine film was released in the U.S., it surprised many by beating out frontrunners A PROPHET and THE WHITE RIBBON, both remarkable films. While I think those films are more accomplished than this police procedural meets romance, I can see why Academy members gave their votes to this film. It’s conventional in the way quality films use to be made. It also has an ending that comes to define the entire film, because it’s so unexpected.

Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin, NINE QUEENS) is a legal counselor who is now retired and writing a novel based on a case that has consumed him for 25 years. What has also consumed him is his boss, Irene (Soledad Villamil), who was involved in the case he is writing about. The case is that of Lilana Coloto (Carla Quevedo), a beautiful schoolteacher who has brutally raped and murdered. Two day laborers were arrested, beaten, confessed and imprisoned in that order. Esposito can’t bear to tell her husband Ricardo Morales (Pablo Rago) that he believes the real killer is his wife’s childhood friend Isidoro Gomez (Javier Godino, DECEPTION).

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is one of the absolute best films of the year. Its sequel is not nearly as good, but that's only because part of the joy of the first film was meeting the characters. The pull of the second installment is what do these characters do next. And just how badass can Lisbeth Salander get?

The film takes place a year after the events of the first film. Lisbeth Salander (Noomi Rapace), the gothed out superior hacker with the photographic memory, returns to Sweden after living aboard, giving time for the criminal heat that she's involved in to cool off. Her ally, journalist Mikael Blomkvist (Michael Nyqvist), has been trying to contact her to make sure she is safe. He knows Lisbeth Salander, so one wonders why he worries. She has a few reunions upon returning. She hooks up with her longtime lover Miriam Wu (Yasmine Garbi) and visits her court-appointed guardian Nils Bjurman (Peter Andersson), a sadistic man who Lisbeth has the upper hand on.