GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY The latest cog in the massive Disney/Marvel machine is here—and man, Vince really loved it:

Hating Disney purifies my soul and simplifies my worldview, but despite being a mass-market product produced by an evil empire, Guardians of the Galaxy somehow feels like it was made just for me. It's so good! There's no way I'm going to be able to write about it without every word evoking the sound of saliva being sucked over a retainer. Adios, professionalism, you were no match for Chris Pratt and a talking raccoon.

MOOD INDIGO America finally gets Michel Gondry's new film, albeit in an edited-down form. I liked it!

At first, the film blurs by with the inconsequential joy of Gondry's videos: In a Paris infested with stop-motion animation, wealthy Colin (Romain Duris) revels in a world where dancing legs turn to rubber; where a "pianocktail" squirts out cocktails tuned to the notes struck on its keys; where, when characters experience euphoria, Gondry shoots them suspended underwater, smiling and slow as the world speeds on. Everything changes when Colin meets Chloé (Audrey Tautou), and everything changes again when Chloé becomes ill. As she sleeps near a broken window, a snowflake drifts into her open mouth, Gondry's camera following it as it comes to rest near her slowly beating heart. It's easy to think of that shot as one more moment of whimsy in a film full of them, but this is something more sinister.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS The new movie from Joe Swanberg features a fantastic cast (Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Lena Dunham), and is already available for your home viewing pleasure before it hits Cinema 21 next week. Alison liked it!

Twenty-six-year-old Jenny (Anna Kendrick) is reeling from a bad breakup when she decides to move to Chicago to live with her brother, Jeff (writer/director Joe Swanberg) and his wife Kelly (Melanie Lynskey). When Jenny gets so wasted on her first night in town that she has to be carried home from a party, Jeff's inclined to chalk it up to youthful indiscretion—but Kelly worries that Jenny's behavior might compromise the safety of their home, and of their (adorable) baby. This tension between responsibility and "fun" forms the film's major conflict, which unfolds in organic, unpredictable ways.

There are more reviews, as ever, in Film Shorts, and here are your Movie Times. Choose wisely.