Rick's Flicks Picks on AWN

Writer/director Mike Mills based this drama on his own experiences with his father. That touch of authenticity washes over this sad and funny film. The story takes place over three time periods. The main character's interactions with his mother when he was a child, a few months after the death of his father and the years proceeding his father's death starting with his announcement that he is gay.

Ewan McGregor (MOULIN ROUGE!) plays Oliver, an artist who wants to create the history of sadness for a band's album cover when all they asked for was portraits in his signature style. The death of his parents has hit him hard and exaggerated his feelings of failure, which extend to his relationships. His father Hal (Christopher Plummer, THE LAST STATION) on the other hand didn't die sad at all. When this man came out, he came out. He posted personal ads for sex, he joined several gay clubs and activist groups, he went to dance clubs and learned what house music was, and he fell in love with Andy (Goran Visnjic, TV's E.R.).

This reboot of the venerable sci-fi franchise doesn't try to remake the original classic like the Tim Burton film tried. It takes a page from CONQUEST OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and starts the story with the rebellion of the apes against man, only without the time paradox element. The last part of that statement is for fans of the series, who will find great joy in this new installment. Like the original this is a film based around characters and ideas.

The film is the story of two characters -- one human and one ape. Will Rodman (James Franco, 127 HOURS) is a scientist working on a gene therapy that could cure scores of brain diseases, such as Alzheimer's. It's a personal cause for him because his father Charles (John Lithgow, TV's 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN) is suffering from senility disease. As part of his work, Will tests on chimps. After a disaster at the lab, he smuggles an infant chimp home. The young ape quickly shows signs of increased intelligence as a result of the drug his mother was given. Charles names him Caesar (Andy Serkis, KING KONG).

Paul Verhoeven's adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein's celebrated young adult sci-fi novel is a curious production. Like Verhoeven did with ROBOCOP, he weaves dark satire and extreme violence into the story. In the way he portrays the gung-ho soldiers and the government they serve he is essentially making us root for the Nazis. For the most part it works, but is it fair?

Set in the distant future, humans have colonized planets across the universe. They are having great difficulty putting down the Arachnids species living on the planet of Klendathu. Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien, SLEEPY HOLLOW), his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards, THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH) and best friend Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris, TV's HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER) are privileged teens living in Buenos Aires, who want to earn their citizenship. The only way to do so is to contribute to society or join the military. The threesome chooses the latter. The only problem is that Johnny doesn't score high enough to become a pilot like Carmen or the military intelligence like Carl, so he is relegated to mobile infantry and sent to the front lines to slaughter The Bugs or be slaughtered by The Bugs.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Steve Rogers is a 90 lbs weakling, but he has the heart and guts of a warrior. He keeps getting rejected at recruitment centers trying to join the fight in World War II. Chris Evans, who has experience playing superheroes, as he was the Human Torch in the FANTASTIC FOUR films, is an excellent choice to play this hero in the making before and after a super serum is injected into his veins to turn him into Captain America.

Evans is made the bullied Steve Rodgers through some remarkable visual effects. His heart and passion is what attracts the eye of Dr. Abraham Erskine (Stanley Tucci, THE LOVELY BONES), who is working on the U.S.'s super soldier program with Col. Chester Phillips (Tommy Lee Jones, MEN IN BLACK) and investor/entrepreneur Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper, MAMMA MIA!). But instead of going to the frontlines, he is used as a propaganda tool to sell war bonds. But on an USO tour, he discovers that his best friend James "Bucky" Barnes (Sebastian Stan, BLACK SWAN) has been taken prisoner and goes it alone to save him.