‘Movie Corner’ Archives
Animal Kingdom & Centurion
by Howard McQuitter Crime Drama Sony Picture Classics Running Time: 113 Minutes Rated: R Writer/Director David Michod Jacki Weaver as (“Mommy”) Jannie Cody matriarch of the Codys, a low-level crime family of sons, gives an excellent performance, Ben Mendelsohn as Andrew ”˜Pope”' Cody, one of her most devious sons””a psychopath””the lean crook went into hiding from the cops. Craig (Sullivan Stapleton) and Darren (Luke Ford) are the other two brothers. The Codys live in one of the working class suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. Center Stage is Joshua (or “J”) Cody, Janny Cody”'s grandson, who lost his “mum” to a heroine overdose, staying with his conniving grandma and drug dealing and bank robbing uncles. Joshua is seventeen years old and not involved in their crime sprees but is sucked into it by default. Smurf, nickname for Jannie Cody, overprotects “J” trying to shield him from her [...]
Winter”'s Bone & Despicable Me
By Howard McQuitter Winter”'s Bone ***** Anonymous Content Drama/Thriller Uptown Running Time: 100 minutes Rated: R Director: Debra Granik If ever there was a heroine from opening to closing scene in a film, it”'s a new actress named Jennifer Lawrence, 18. Her character Ree Dolly lives in the Ozarks of Missouri, a harsh country with tin can houses, junk cars in backyards, an occasional horse or cow, and in this backwater, more than a few dogs. Miss Dolly has plenty on her plate, taking care of two younger siblings, Sonny (Isaiah Stone) and Ashlee (Ashlee Thompson) and a mentally incompetent mother. Times are so hard Ree gives her horse Ginger, who hasn”'t eaten in four days, to her neighbor Sonya (Shelley Waggener). Ree is saddened by leaving her horse in another”'s care. When Sheriff Baskin (Garret Dillahurt) shows up at Ree”'s front yard, asking for her dad, Jessup, who may have slipped bail after being arrested for setting up a meth [...]
Ondine & Holy Rollers
Ondine (2009) ***1/2 Wayforce Entertainment 111 minutes Director: Neil Jordan Syracuse (Colin Farrell) makes a living by fishing off the coast of his native Ireland free of a catastrophic BP oil spill, with untainted fish at the end of his line. One day Syracuse unexpectedly catches in his net, a woman likened to the Celtic myth of the selkie ”“ a seal that can shed her skin and transform into a human. Syracuse”'s bright 10 year old daughter, Annie (played extremely well by Alison Barry) realizes her dad”'s past tense story of the mythical mermaid Ondine, is real in the present tense. Syracuse”'s new guest seems bemused by her surroundings as well as insisting on being away from people. He hides her in his deceased grandma”'s cottage in a cover. Almost reading her father”'s mind, his physically challenged daughter Annie visits the cottage, and finds Ondine swimming in a pool. Colin Farrell has shown on several occasions his [...]
