Friday, January 28, 2011

Animal Kingdom (2010)

This was a terrific movie and one that flew way under the radar this awards season. Jacki Weaver did manage to get a rightfully deserved Oscar nomination, but the movie itself should have been nominated for something as well.

After his mother dies, J (James Frecheville) goes to live with his uncles and grandmother, Janine (Jacki Weaver). J's uncles are not in line with the law. Pope, Craig and Darrin (Ben Mendelsohn, Sullivan Stapleton, Luke Ford) are criminals. Pope is the one most wanted by the police in Australia. He is constantly on the run and rarely stays in the same place for long periods of time. Craig is a paranoid coke-head who is obsessed with not getting caught by the cops. He is terrified of prison. Darrin is the youngest and only two years older than J. They were best friends growing up. Ever since J moved in with the family, things have been starting to deteriorate, through no real fault of his. One by one, Leckie (Guy Pearce) and the rest of the detectives start going after members of the family with the ultimate goal being to finally get charges to stick on Pope. In the end though, mother always knows best.

This movie was amazing. I cannot say enough good things about it. My only problem with it was that we never really got a glimpse at their previous crimes. I know it's not part of the story, but it's just something I would have liked to see. All the performances were great, but all the praise of Jacki Weaver is well-deserved. She owns every scene she's in and you truly believe she loves her boys no matter what they do. Absolutely go out and see this. Grade: A

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