Grooving to Samba beat.

DVDS RIO (Cert U, 92 mins) Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Animation/Family/Comedy/Romance, also available to buy DVD pounds 19.99/Blu-ray & Combi-pack pounds 27.99/3D Blu-ray & Combi-pack pounds 33.99 Featuring the voices of: Jesse Eisenberg, Anne Hathaway, Leslie Mann, Rodrigo Santoro, Jemaine Clement, George Lopez, Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, Carlos Ponce.

BLU (voiced by Jesse Eisenberg) is a domesticated blue macaw who lives in relative luxury in the sleepy community of Moose Lake, Minnesota, with owner and best friend Linda (Leslie Mann). Brazilian conservationist Tulio (Rodrigo Santoro) persuades Linda to bring Blu to Rio de Janeiro, so the rare bird can mate with the only known female blue macaw, Jewel (Anne Hathaway). No sooner has Blu met Jewel than the birds are kidnapped by greedy animal smugglers led by the nefarious Marcel (Carlos Ponce) and his conniving cockatoo, Nigel (Jemaine Clement). However, since Blu is unable to fly, the macaws have limited escape options and as Nigel and the smugglers give chase, Blu and Jewel must rely on the help of a Toucan called Rafael (George Lopez) and wise-cracking city birds Pedro (Will.i.am) and Nico (Jamie Foxx) to find their way back to Linda and Tulio. Rio is a joyous computer-animated romantic comedy set to intoxicating Brazilian rhythms.

Rating:*** MOTHER'S DAY (Cert 18, 107 mins) Optimum Releasing, Horror/Thriller, also available to buy DVD pounds 15.99/Blu-ray pounds 19.99 Starring: Rebecca De Mornay, Jaime King, Patrick Flueger, Warren Kole, Deborah Ann Woll, Matt O'Leary, Frank Grillo, Shawn Ashmore, Briana Evigan, Lyriq Bent, Kandyse McClure, Tony Nappo, Lisa Marcos.

IKE Koffin (Patrick Flueger) and his brothers Addley (Warren Kole) and Johnny (Matt O'Leary) bungle a bank heist and head for their childhood home, which they intend to use as a hideaway from the cops. However, the Koffin boys are unaware that their mother has lost their house, and young couple Daniel (Frank Grillo) and Beth Sohapi (Jaime King) have snapped up the property in a foreclosure sale. The robbers burst into the house in the middle of a party thrown by the Sohapis and take everyone hostage including Treshawn (Lyriq Bent) and his wife Gina (Kandyse McClure) and mutual friend Annette (Briana Evigan). Soon after, matriarch Natalie Koffin (Rebecca De Mornay) arrives with her daughter Lydia (Deborah Ann Woll) in tow and it's clear that momma is running the show.

* MOVING: Conspirator Natalie ' Mother's Day is a stomach-churning remake of Charles Kaufman's low-budget 1980 trash horror of the same name. Rating:*** THE CONSPIRATOR (Cert 12, 123 mins) Universal Pictures (UK) Ltd, Drama/Thriller, also available to buy DVD pounds 12.99/Blu-ray pounds 15.99 Starring: James McAvoy, Robin Wright, Tom Wilkinson, Danny Huston, Evan Rachel Wood, Alexis Bledel, Justin Long, Colm Meaney, Kevin Kline, Johnny Simmons, Toby Kebbell, Jeremy Paul Tuttle, John Michael Weatherly, Marcus Hester, Norman Reedus.

FOLLOWING the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth (Toby Kebbell) is hunted down with his co-conspirators including Samuel Arnold (Jeremy Paul Tuttle), George Atzerodt (John Michael Weatherly), David Herold (Marcus Hester) and Lewis Payne (Norman Reedus). Police also arrest Mary Surratt (Robin Wright), who owns the boarding house where the men concocted their heinous plan. Her son John (Johnny Simmons), one of the alleged plotters, remains at large. Idealistic lawyer Frederick Aiken (James McAvoy), a protege of southern senator Reverdy Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), is hired to defend Surratt against the bombast of prosecutor Joseph Holt (Danny Huston) before a military tribunal headed by General David Hunter (Colm Meaney).

The Conspirator is a fascinating true story of a shameful episode in America's legal history when the Constitution was torn to shreds in the name of so-called national unity.

McAvoy puts fire into his defender's belly and Wright curries sympathy for her mother, who is willing to sacrifice herself for her child.

Rating:*** * YOU NEED WINGS: When Blu, a domesticated macaw from small-town Minnesota, meets the fiercely independent Jewel, he takes off on an adventure to Rio de Janeiro

CAPTION(S):

* MOVING: Alexis Bledel as Sarah Weston in The Conspirator and, inset, Rebecca De Mornay as Natalie 'Mother' Koffin in Mother's day, both on DVD

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Title Annotation:	Features
Publication:	Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England)
Date:	Oct 21, 2011
Words:	696
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