DVD picks of the week: "Rio" and "Soul Surfer"

Along with the promise of fall movies just around the corner, late summer brings something else for movie lovers: Some of the year's best movies finally start to trickle onto DVD.

This week brings two of mine, the best animated movie I've seen this year and the inspiring story of Bethany Hamilton.

First up is "Rio," and on paper at least, there's no way this movie should be as good as it is. The story is at once very familiar, that of fish (well, actually birds) out of water, this time a blue macaw raised in comfortable domesticity until forced to fend for himself (with, of course, the help of new friends, this being a children's movie) in the streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

But what sets "Rio" apart from the animated pack is vibrant color, both local and overall. The streets of Rio spring to life in vibrant hues rarely seen in animated movies these days, especially if you watch them in muddied 3-D. Add to that a cast of memorable characters led by Jesse Eisenberg and Anne Hathaway as the macaws and also featuring voice work by the likes of Jane Lynch, Tracy Morgan, Wanda Sykes and other funny people, and you've got a great rental idea for this week.

My second weekly pick is "Soul Surfer," a nominally Christian movie that, even without that quality, couldn't help but be inspiring as it tells the tale of Bethany Hamilton, the Hawaiian girl who lost an arm in a shark attack but still went on to a successful career as a professional surfer. What it isn't, however, is mawkishly sentimental, dealing much more with life than dwelling on tragedy.

The movie has two principal strengths, starting with the performance of AnnaSophia Robb as Bethany. Her passion for the character shines through, and she gives Bethany an infectious spirit that makes this great story even better. And secondly, the surfing action throughout is first-rate, and beautifully shot in Hawaii and Tahiti by director Sean McNamara.

Add all that together and mix in just a good story very well told, and you've got a movie well worth a rental.

Guild to climb the 'Tree of Life'

The Macon Film Guild has some very interesting movies coming up in the next few months, starting with the Kelly Reichart Western "Meek's Cutoff" on Aug. 14 and then the Italian psychological thriller "The Double Hour" in September. It's in October, however that the guild has scored a real coup with Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life."

The great director's immensely personal movie won the Palme D'Or for best film at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and having seen this, I can confirm it's well deserved. In an at least partially autobiographical tale, Malick tells the story of a boy growing up in a suffocating family in Texas in the 1950s, and uses this springboard to ask powerful questions about faith and the meaning of life.

Believe me, it's all much, much better than I can make it sound here, so go ahead and mark your movie calendar for "Tree of Life" on Oct. 9 at the Douglass Theatre, and note that because of its 138-minute length, there will only be two screenings, at 2 and 7:30 p.m.

Woody Allen's next European advenure takes final shape, plus the first big-screen Jeff Buckley

If I could be anyone in the world other than myself (though I'm usually pretty content in my own rapidly aging skin), I'd have to say it would be Woody Allen.

The septuagenarian filmmaker has made, for my money, the best movie so far this year with his City of Lights valentine "Midnight in Paris" (though Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life" is a more ambitious and close second), and now comes word that he's finalized the cast for his next cinematic adventure, this time in Rome (hey, why not?).

"The Bop Decameron" will begin filming in the city July 11, and the latest additions to the cast are Greta Gerwig and Alison Pill, who played Zelda Fitzgerald in "Midnight in Paris." They join Alec Baldwin, Roberto Benigni, Penelope Cruz, Judy Davis, Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page and Allen himself, who will appear in one of his own films for the first time since 2006's "Scoop."

So, what's it about? Well, "The Bop Decameron" will apparently be a modern-day riff on Giovanni Boccaccio’s medieval tale "The Decameron," a collection of erotic love stories. Sounds like perfectly lascivious material for Woody Allen to play around with, and the man is on a real roll right now, so definitely go see "Midnight in Paris" if you haven't yet, and stay tuned for more on "The Bop Decameron" as soon as I can find it.

In other movie news, this solidly middle-aged man shouldn't admit that he watches "Gossip Girl," but I do, and I find it to be just the perfect, way-lighter-than-air comedown from Monday, always my longest workday of the week.

Well, for you "Gossip Girl" fans, it seems that lonely boy himself, Penn Badgley, has signed on to plays Jeff Buckley in what is apparently one of two biopics in the works about the late singer. This one, titled "Greetings from Tim Buckley," is directed by Dan Algrant and is about the days leading up to Jeff Buckley's breakthrough performance at a 1991 tribute to his father. Per the movie's press release:

"Through a romance with a young woman working at the concert, he comes to understand the father who abandoned him. Culminating in a cathartic performance of his father’s most famous songs, Jeff’s debut stuns the audience and launches his career as one of the greatest young musicians of his time."

That last bit can easily be dismissed as a bit of cinematic hyperbole, but you really can't dispute that with "Grace," Jeff Buckley did manage to record one of the all-time great rock albums during his short time on this planet, so this movie should be nothing but a treat.

And since nothing in Hollywood happens in a vacuum, director Jake Scott is currently at work on a rival Buckley biopic, to based on David Browne‘s book “Dream Brother: The Lives and Music of Jeff and Tim Buckley,” but as far as I know has yet to cast his choice to play the doomed singer.

OK, now on to one video, and then to close a word about the progress of a new movie from one of my favorite young filmmakers, Martha Stephens. First up, the video, which in a very quick and funny style wraps up the three truly convoluted but also sporadically very entertaining seasons of HBO's "True Blood" that have unspooled so far. The show definitely pales to the grandeur of "Game of Thrones," which just finished its first season in superb style, and the continuous liberties that it takes with Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels can just be thoroughly maddening, but for campy TV fun it still manages to satisfy. Enjoy this three-season wrapup, and keep an eye out for the season four premiere of "True Blood" this Sunday on HBO.



Finally today, I was one of five or so people lucky enough to catch the screening of Martha Stephens' "Passenger Pigeons" at the 2010 Macon Film Festival, and I'm certainly glad I did. That movie, a multi-layered drama that centers on the death of a coal miner in Eastern Kentucky, is a quiet winner, and if I ever see it out on video, I'll certainly spread the word.

And this morning, I woke up to find in my g-mail box word from producer Nick Case about the progress of Stephens' next movie, "Pilgrim Song." Also set in coal country, this new movie is about a teacher who gets pink-slipped and sets out to walk Kentucky's Sheltowee Trace Trail. Filming is set to begin July 6, which is very exciting news indeed. Below is a fundraising pitch from Stephens and producer Adam Tate that tells you more about "Pilgrim Song," and to learn even more, visit the movie's site here. Enjoy the clip, and have a perfectly passable Tuesday. Peace out.



http://www.indiegogo.com/PILGRIM-SONG

A Thursday clip show, closing with the funniest thing you'll see today

Starting with some movie news, having been thoroughly burned by Matt Reeves' soulless, shot-by-empty-shot remake of one of my favorite movies, "Let the Right One In," I should just run screaming from this, but there's news today that still gives me hope that another unnecessary remake of a modern European classic might actually be pretty good.

Guillaume Canet's "Tell No One," based on the American novel by Harlan Coben, actually came out in the same year as Tomas Alfredson's "Let the Right One In," and as a duo, they were my two favorites movies of 2008.

So there's nothing more representative of Hollywood's bankruptcy of ideas than the fact that they're both so quickly targeted for remakes, but in spite of that, I still have hope for the upcoming American take on "Tell No One" for exactly one reason: Ben Affleck.

He's now at work on "Argo," the odd thriller he's directing based on the true story of how the CIA and the Canadian government teamed up to rescue six U.S. diplomats who had been taken hostage by Iranians in 1979, developing a ruse that involved convincing the Iranians that the diplomats were a Hollywood film crew scouting locations for a movie called “Argo.”

That should be nothing but wicked fun, but today comes word that after that, he'll direct the American remake of "Tell No One," and though like I said I should know by now not to get suckered in so easily, the hard-boiled mind-bender would indeed seem to be perfectly catered to his directing style, if this remake needs to be made at all.

OK, enough of that. I promised clips, and the movie-related ones today are actually pretty sensational in my estimation, followed by three doses of pretty solid funny.

First up today is the first trailer I know of for the upcoming baseball flick "Moneyball," which, even with the thoroughly annoying "Entertainment Tonight" voiceover interruptions, looks like nothing but great. I love a good baseball movie, and this one starring Brad Pitt as Oakland A's bean counter Billy Beane, Jonah Hill as his assistant and, though he makes virtually no appearance in the trailer, Philip Seymour Hoffman as A's coach Art Howe, should be a real winner. Enjoy the trailer, and if you like baseball movies as much as me, keep an eye out for this in September.



Next up, if you take one piece of movie advice from me ever, it's go see "Tree of Life" if you have the chance. By far Terrence Malick's most personal movie, and in my opinion, his best, too. But don't take my word for it. In what I have to assume is a leaked DVD extra, Christopher Nolan and David Fincher eloquently make the case for why this is such a uniquely entertaining movie, emphasizing its naturalism as one of its chief strengths. Enjoy, go see the movie if you can, and stick around for three doses of good comedy, with the very best for last.



Part of my newspaper job (the one that actually pays me a bit of scratch) is to look for movie reviews of the week's opening releases, if there will be any. Well, this week, I just assumed several folks would step forward to review "Green Lantern" in time for inclusion in our entertainment publication, but only Rene Rodriguez took the plunge, and slightly too late, promptly giving the movie one star. With "Super 8" still to catch up with and perhaps Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" to see again (yes, it's just that good), I think I'll just say no, but just in case you're feeling tempted, here are the Onion folks to get you amped for the sure-to-be-phenomenon that is "Greg Lantern." Enjoy.



I read this book while in a Minneapolis bookstore last week, and even though I have no rugrats of my own to deal with, it was an amusing enough little ditty. I had no idea, however, that Adam Mansbach's "Go the F#$% to Sleep" was about to debut atop the NY Times bestseller list. Reading it is indeed a bit of fun, but believe me, hearing Samuel L. Jackson read it is at least 15 times better. Enjoy this audio-only clip, and then stick around for what is by a very wide margin the funniest thing I've seen today.



By himself, Karl Pilkington, the tormented genius of Ricky Gervais' podcasts and now his Science show "An Idiot Abroad," is pretty friggin funny already. But what happens when you combine him with Warwick Davis, the "Harry Potter" star who's also featured in his own upcoming Gervais series, "Life's Too Short"? Not surprisingly, comic gold. On the podcasts, Pilkington has made it clear that he fears just about everything even slightly out of the ordinary, especially little people, so when Davis sits on his lap in this clip, it's a riot. If you like this, be advised, it's only part one of four, and the rest can be found at YouTube by searching for "When Karl Meets Warwick." Enjoy, and have a perfectly pleasant Thursday. Peace out.

Leonard Nimoy channels The Dude for pretty pure bliss

OK, a short, rather lazy post today because I've got the chance to see Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life" if I can make it to Atlanta's fabulous Regal Tara Cinemas by 12:45, and I'm most certainly not going to let that pass me by.

I will, however, pass on my quick word that you can certainly believe every ounce of the hype surrounding "X-Men: First Class," because it really is just that good. "Kick-Ass" director Matthew Vaughn keeps things moving at a smart and very brisk pace, and if you're reintroducing well-known characters, it certainly helps when you've got James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender to play them. Super campy, silly and just ultra-fun summer fare.

And after that today, I just have a couple of videos, but when the first one has Leonard Nimoy channeling The Dude, it's well worth a few minutes of your time. The song itself by Bruno Mars? Like so much of today's breezy radio pop, it just quickly passes through one ear and out the other of this middle-aged dude, but the video is a hoot. Enjoy, and then stick around for a clip from one of the comedy's I'm most looking forward to for the rest of this summer.



Finally today is a clip from the upcoming Ruben Fleischer ("Zombieland") movie "30 Minutes or Less," starring Jesse Eisenberg and veryfunnyman Aziz Ansari and set to drop Aug. 12. Just in case you somehow didn't know the plot, Eisenberg lays it out in this clip, after some very funny stuff with Aziz as a school teacher. Enjoy the clip and the rest of your weekend. Peace out.

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