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Animal Kingdom, a review by Jon

Animal Kingdom
4 out of 5



One of the things I appreciate most in cinema is when someone takes an genre story and strips it bare, right back to a basic character piece. It doesn’t happen often, but can be very special. Animal Kingdom at least aspires to this and despite any criticism I may have, it is substantial and memorable. Sadly, I was still largely disappointed.

You can’t please some people, eh? I’d be the first to bemoan the state of the Gangster film, a genre that had slipped into self-parody so far that even the best examples of recent years were still predictable and desperate. Animal Kingdom‘s approach is so refreshing that I wanted to like it very much. And up until about halfway, I really did.

The story follows J, a docile teenager who has just lost his mother to a heroin overdose. He’s literally numb to the situation and turns to his grandma, who he hasn’t seen for years. She takes him to live with her and her sons, who are all career criminals. He joins the family as they are starting to implode, with too much police attention frustrating them. The most notorious of the brothers, Pope, is in hiding, but he soon returns and that’s when the trouble really starts. So it’s an interesting twist on a dumb, impressionable teenager, surrounded by a hedonistic outlaw lifestyle, leaving him with a choice of glory or normality? Actually it’s better than that. Far more subtle. Nowhere near as much fun either.

It would be easy for any potential viewer to read that and second-guess the plot and I’d bet they’d be wrong. You could also try and imagine which stereotypes the characters fit into and you’d still be wrong. Well, “ish”. The plot is very indistinct and the acting naturalistic, largely humourless and quiet (which is a good thing) and some early moments are very powerful. There’s a noticeable and welcome lack of irony, another staple ingredient of the genre. The title as a metaphor for the world J is trying to fit into is about the most obvious thing about the film. There is an incredible early scene where J is persuaded to threaten someone with a gun and he does so, terrified and silent. Of course, he wins the stand-off. He’s the guy with the gun.

I wish the film could have built on that, but it seemed to just tread water from then on. Despite that fantastic moment, J remains passive and emotionless (a twist on a typical teen, I suppose!) for almost the entirety of the film and I found it numbing. Also, a lack of plot is one thing, and that really supports the idea of this family who can’t move in any direction, but a couple of developments felt very contrived to force something to happen. Add to this too many attempts to catch the audience out (including the ending, which is so obvious it might as well have been narrated) and suddenly it felt unfocused and disappointingly obvious. That was especially frustrating in a film so fresh as I certainly didn’t expect it to be predictable, if you pardon the expression.

While I found J monotonous, that was clearly the intention and James Frecheville is perfectly cast. Only time will prove if that’s a back handed compliment! All the brothers are good with their own personalities, especially Ben Mendelsohn as Pope. I wish he’d had more to do and wasn’t given such a weak last act, but more than once he’s the best thing on screen (see the simmering tension as he watches the ‘All Out of Love’ music video!). If there was any reason at all to watch this film again, it would be for him and Jacki Weaver as Janine, the mother. Hers is the most well written and satisfying role, which you might assume is similar to Billie Whitelaw in The Krays, but Weaver’s is a more interesting perspective. Best of all though, despite having the least screen time of the main characters, is Guy Pearce as Leckie, the detective. He really is superb, working the scene for all its potential while seemingly doing nothing. A late moment between him and Weaver is a brilliant one.

As a debut, as a film-making achievement, this is a great piece of work from David Michôd. I really enjoyed his balanced approach and I wish it could have been sustained for the full running time, but for me it collapses in the middle quite badly. There’s no rule to say you must like or hate a film absolutely on first viewing, but I wonder if such seemingly fundamental issues can be smoothed over by time? Despite the hugely positive reaction (97% on Rotten Tomatoes? 2010 Sundance winner?) I find I appreciated it more than enjoyed it. It pales significantly against other recent examples of dialled back raw film-making, such as Monsters or especially the wonderful Winter’s Bone. Still, Animal Kingdom is indicative of a thoughtful, measured style of film I hope takes a stronger hold.

(From Animal Kingdom **** on February 9th, 2011)

The Wolverine, a review by addicted2dvd

The Wolverine (2013/United States) IMDb |Wikipedia |Trailer | Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Director: James Mangold Writing: Length: 136 min. Rating: Rated PG-13 : Sequences of Intense Sci-Fi Action and Violence, Some Sexuality and Language Video: Widescreen 2.40:1 Audio: English: DTS-HD Master Audio: 7.1, German: DTS: 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: 5.1 Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Stars:
Hugh Jackman as Logan
Tao Okamoto as Mariko
Rila Fukushima as Yukio
Hiroyuki Sanada as Shingen
Svetlana Khodchenkova as Viper
Brian Tee as Noburo

Plot:
Hugh Jackman returns as The Wolverine and faces his ultimate nemesis in an action-packed life-or-death battle that takes him to modern-day Japan. Vulnerable for the first time and pushed to his limits, Logan confronts not only lethal samurai steel but also his inner struggle against his own immortality; an epic fight that will leave him forever changed.

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Feature Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes
• Digital Copy
• X-Men: Days of the Future Past set tour
• Second Screen App

This is another one I borrowed from the library. The first thing I did was watch the trailer for the film. Going by the trailer... I must admit I was a little concerned if I would like this one or not. But it didn't take long at all for me to get into the story. Before I knew it I was enjoying it quite a bit. Now compared to the other X-Men films... I must say this one is probably my least favorite. But don't take that wrong... this one is still well worth the time put in to watch it. I just prefer the others a little more. But this is one I hope to add to my collection before too long.



(From What Movies I Been Watching on January 22nd, 2014)

Smallville Marathon #2, a review by DJ Doena

Smallville Marathon #1

I've never read a DC comic (or Marvel for that matter) and I've only watched the four "Reeve" Supermans and Superman Returns. Thus I have no idea what does or doesn't contradict Superman mythology when I watch Smallville, which is an advantage I think.





Synopsis: A meteor shower hits a small town in Kansas: Smallville. But with that shower a spaceship arrives and it contains a small boy that is adopted by the Kents. 12 years later. Clark Kent, Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross are freshemens on the Smallville Highschool. And Lex Luthor, son of Lionel Luthor takes over the management of the Smallville fertilizer plant. But then an accident happens where Lex nearly gets killed - if it weren't for Clark. And a man awakes from a coma in which he had laid for twelve years.

My Opinion: I really liked the homage to the first Superman movie, when Clark missed his school bus and ran across the fields again. I also liked most of the cast from the start. I also thought it to be interesting that Clark didn't already possess all of his abilities. But the pilot plot also introduces the scheme of the show for at least the first season: Freak-of-the-Week. But they also have some minor arcs from the beginning.

Synopsis: The story continues on the day after the Homecoming. Lex still possesses Lana's meteor rock necklace and intends to help Clark with it. But not only Clark and Whitney are interested in Lana but also Greg. He's stalking her until he's stung by a swarm of meteor-infected bugs. Then he becomes dangerous and only Clark is strong enough to stop him.

My Opinion: An ordinary FotW episode. But also the first where Clark has to accept his fate: He may be the rescuer but often he won't be able to take the credit for it. He has to conceil who he is and that will bring him in as much trouble as facing his opponents will do.

Synopsis: The football coach uses a sauna with meteor rocks which gives him the ability to burn things at will. He is also very ambitious and wants his team to win no matter the costs. And Clark wants to join the team even against the will of his father. Meanwhile Lex's father wants his son to fire 20% of the employees in the fertilizer plant.

My Opinion: A good father-and-son-confrontation episode but both confrontations where totally different of course. If I were to imagine Jonathan Kent's early years I can't help but to think of a certain Bo Duke (The Dukes of Hazzard). To watch Lex over the course of the years is also interesting bceause they choose to portray him as "not so bad" guy in the beginning. If he were bad from the start I don't think it would have been that interesting. There's one problem though: Lex is supposed to be 6 or 7 years older than the others (IIRC he was 10 when the meteors hit Smallville) and although Michael Rosenbaum (29 in 2001) is actually 5 years older than Tom Welling (24 in 2001) it doesn't feel that way. When they both face each other they both seem very adult, but Clark is only a 16-year-old Highschool student.

Synopsis: After sudden flashes of headaches, Clark is able to see through things though he can't really control it. But this new ability helps him to uncover a plot to blame Lex for a bank robbery he didn't commit. A girl who has become a bad copy of Lana has the ability to shape-shift and she can fool everybody but Clark. Meanwhile a reporter tries to blackmail Lex with knowledge about his past in Metropolis.

My Opinion: This episode starts several things. Firstly, the tradition to introduce one new ability in every season, in this case his X-Ray vision. Secondly, Lex's obsession with Clark that will presumably never end. And thirdly we see that he has both a past that is at least greyish and that he becomes ruthless when he's threatened.
I doubt I would have noticed it before Buffy but that was the second time in only four episodes that had at least one scene in a cemetery.

(From Smallville Marathon #2 on May 22nd, 2008)