Animal Kingdom

NBC Pilot Orders Include a Roseanne Barr Comedy and Dramas from Jason Katims and Dick Wolf

by Dave Trumbore    Posted: January 23rd, 2012 at 6:03 pm

Currently ranked fourth among major television networks, NBC is hoping to find ratings gold in a new batch of pilots they recently ordered. Among them are the comedy Downwardly Mobile, which will mark the return of Roseanne Barr to a television series and additional comedies from writer Scott Silveri (Friends) and writer Scot Armstrong (The Hangover 2). Barr’s project with Eric Gilliland (Roseanne), which she will also write and executive produce, stars the comedienne as an owner of a mobile home park who becomes a surrogate mother to her hard-luck tenants. So far, the network has also ordered the drama County by writer/producer Jason Katims (Friday Night Lights) and the Dick Wolf (Law & Order) action drama, Chicago Fire. Hit the jump for more on each project.

Showtime Turning ANIMAL KINGDOM Into a TV Series

by Ethan Anderton    Posted: December 16th, 2011 at 2:26 pm

Though Showtime already has a fantastic crime drama in the form of Dexter and a great family drama with a bit of criminal mischief with Shameless, another felonious family will be heading to the cable network. THR has word that the cable network is working with Shameless writer John Wells to turn the Sundance selected, Grand Jury Prize winning drama Animal Kingdom into an hour-long TV series. Wells will executive produce the series which will follow a family of criminals as they struggle with the police and deal with their ordinary lives stuck in the middle of their criminal activities. Southland writer and co-executive producer Jonathan Lisco will script the series, but it’s going to take some hard work to measure up to the performances and quality filmmaking that made the big screen story so fantastic. Hit the jump to watch the trailer for the film.

Quentin Tarantino’s Top 20 Films of 2010

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: January 2nd, 2011 at 8:54 pm

As we enter 2011, Quentin Tarantino has revealed his top ten films of 2010.  The list includes the usual suspects (Toy Story 3, The Social Network) along with some fun surprises like Tangled and, shall we say “peculiar” surprises like Robin Hood.  Tarantino didn’t provide any comment on his choices, but said of his number ten pick, Enter the Void,

“Hands down best credit scene of the year? Maybe best credit scene of the decade. One of the greatest in cinema history.”

Hit the jump for Tarantino’s list along with a look at the opening credits for Enter the Void.

Best Performances, Directors, and Other Miscellany of 2010

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 29th, 2010 at 3:33 pm

In my profession, there are two very important things you must do: watch movies and keep notes.  I did an alright job with the first one, but admittedly fell short on the latter.  While last year I was able to confidently provide what I thought were the best kills and quotes, this year I didn’t do a good job with record keeping and so I’ve omitted those categories.  Next year I’ll be more meticulous and make it a point to see movie where people get destroyed while saying witty things.

However, I did see enough movies to confidently make a list of the folks I thought were the best actors, directors, and other miscellaneous greats.  Hit the jump to check out my picks.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK Named Best Picture by the San Francisco Film Critics Circle

by Brendan Bettinger    Posted: December 13th, 2010 at 10:12 pm

The San Francisco Film Critics Circle have announced their 2010 award winners and — you’re not gonna believe it — The Social Network took home Best Picture.  And Best Director.  And Best Adapted Screenplay.  The talent behind such fine films as The King’s Speech, Black Swan, Blue Valentine, Winter’s Bone, Animal Kingdom, Toy Story 3, and The Tillman Story also won some awards, but not quite as many.  Hit the jump for the full list of winners.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK Takes Top Prize at the Los Angeles Film Critics Awards

by Adam Chitwood    Posted: December 12th, 2010 at 4:40 pm

The critics’ lists just keep on coming. We already brought you the American Film Institute and the Boston Society of Film Critics’ awards for the best in film of 2010 earlier today, and now the Los Angeles Film Critics Association has announced the winners of their awards. The Social Network was, again, the big winner. David Fincher’s award-magnet picked up Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Music, and in a tie with Carlos’ Olivier Assayas, Best Director. In a bit of a surprise, the other big winner was the French-German television mini-series-turned theatrical film Carlos. The film took home the award for Best Foreign-Language Film as well as Best Director. Oscar heavyweight The King’s Speech only managed to pick up one award, Best Actor. Hit the jump for a full list of winners and runners-up.

THE SOCIAL NETWORK Takes Top Prize from the National Board of Review

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: December 2nd, 2010 at 1:22 pm

While different folks have their own dates for when awards season has officially “begun”, I set it at the date the National Board of Review announces their picks for the year.  In two of the past three years, the NBR’s pick for Best Picture has gone on to win the Oscar.  However, last year’s NBR winner, Up in the Air, went home empty-handed.

This year, the NBR has given the top prize to The Social Network.  The film also picked up the prizes for Best Director (David Fincher), Best Actor (Jesse Eisenberg), and Best Adapted Screenplay (Best Actor).  Other winners included Lesley Manville getting Best Actress for Another Year, Christian Bale winning Best Supporting Actor for The Fighter, and Jacki Weaver receiving Best Supporting Actress for Animal Kingdom.  Hit the jump for the full list of awards, including the National Board of Review’s Top 11 films, Top 10 Independent Films, Top 6 Foreign Films, and Top 6 Documentaries.

Jacki Weaver Interview ANIMAL KINGDOM

by Sheila Roberts    Posted: August 12th, 2010 at 6:53 am

Animal Kingdom features an outstanding ensemble cast portraying characters that run the gamut of the moral compass from Australian acting icon, Jacki Weaver, who plays Smurf, the deceptively sunny matriarch of the family, to international screen star, Guy Pearce, who plays an honest detective seeking justice for a cold blooded murder, to 17-year-old James Frecheville making his big screen debut as “J,” the naïve young nephew who moves in with his estranged family and finds himself in a world that is far larger and more menacing than he could ever imagine.

We sat down with Jacki recently at a roundtable interview to talk about her villainous performance in Animal Kingdom. A highly respected stage and screen actor with a slew of industry awards, she has been at the forefront of the Australian entertainment industry for over four decades, both on screen and on stage, and has starred in many seminal Australian films including Picnic at Hanging Rock. Jacki talked to us about why the moral ambiguity of her character makes it such an interesting story, what it was like working with David Michod, and how she kept it real, shifting effortlessly between normal, sweet and lovable one moment to monstrously cold and callous the next.

James Frecheville and Sullivan Stapleton Interview ANIMAL KINGDOM

by Sheila Roberts    Posted: August 11th, 2010 at 10:15 am

Welcome to the Melbourne underworld, where tensions are building between dangerous criminals and equally dangerous police. In Animal Kingdom, a menacing character-driven crime drama written and directed by David Michod, the Wild West is being played out on the city’s streets in a modern version of gangsters versus renegade cops.  Following the death of his mother, 17-year-old Joshua “J” Cody (James Frecheville) goes to live with his estranged family – a deceptively sunny grandmother, Smurf (Jacki Weaver), her hardened criminal sons, Pope (Ben Mendelsohn), Craig (Sullivan Stapleton) and Darren (Luke Ford), and Pope’s business partner, Barry ‘Baz’ Brown (Joel Edgerton). Before long, he finds himself naively navigating his way through this criminal world caught between family loyalties and the police who want his uncles dead or alive, including a senior cop (Guy Pearce) who attempts to lure “J” into the police fold.

We sat down with James and Sullivan to talk about their new film. James told us what it was like playing the young and impressionable “J” and to be cast opposite such an established Australian cast for his feature film debut. Sullivan, who plays the speed-addicted and volatile Craig Cody, described how he was attracted to the project by the caliber of script and cast and how he collaborated with Michod and his fellow actors to work out the unusual family dynamics and idiosyncratic behavior of his character.

Writer/Director David Michod Interview ANIMAL KINGDOM

by Sheila Roberts    Posted: August 10th, 2010 at 10:46 am

Animal Kingdom evolved over a nine-year period inspired by writer/director David Michod’s fascination with the colorful, criminal landscape of Melbourne and a strong desire to film the city in a way that it’s rarely viewed. The film tells the story of 17-year-old Joshua “J” Cody (James Frecheville) who, following the death of his mother, must navigate his survival between a violent criminal family (Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, Sullivan Stapleton) and the detective (Guy Pearce) who thinks he can save him.

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for World Cinema at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Animal Kingdom is smartly written, confidently directed, and features an outstanding ensemble cast. We sat down with David to talk about his new movie. He told us what inspired him to write the sprawling, multi-layered Australian crime story, how he assembled such a top-notch cast, and why it was important to make a crime film that took itself seriously and had a genuine and palpable sense of menace running through it.

Posters for Indies GET LOW and ANIMAL KINGDOM

by Matt Goldberg    Posted: July 1st, 2010 at 12:42 pm

We have posters for the independent films Get Low and Animal Kingdom for your viewing pleasure.  Get Low is “equal parts folk tale, fable and real-life legend about the mysterious, 1930s Tennessee hermit who famously threw his own rollicking funeral party… while he was still alive.”  The film stars Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, Lucas Black, and Sissy Spacek.  Animal Kingdom “Tells the story of seventeen year-old J (Josh) as he navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.”  I’ve heard both films are incredible and I can’t wait to check them out.

Hit the jump for the posters.  Get Low is due out on July 30th and Animal Kingdom opens on August 13th.

LAFF 2010 – The Final 2 Days: The winners are Announced and Reviews of ANIMAL KINGDOM, FREAKONOMICS, ONE LUCKY ELEPHANT, FOUR LIONS, MANDRILL, MONSTERS, and WELCOME TO THE RILEYS

by Ramses Flores    Posted: June 29th, 2010 at 1:00 pm

After running for 10 days and showing over 200 feature films, shorts, and music videos, this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival finally came to a close on Sunday.  In my final write up you can read which films won the major prizes and my thoughts on the festival along with my mini-reviews on a couple of films including the Australian crime film Animal Kingdom, the documentary Freakonomics, the Chilean martial arts film Mandrill, the British comedy about suicide bombers Four Lions, the recently much buzzed about Monsters, and Welcome to the Rileys starring James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart. My write up after the jump:

Joel Edgerton on THE THING Prequel; Plus Nash Edgerton on HESHER and Future Projects

by Sheila Roberts    Posted: April 5th, 2010 at 4:37 pm

We sat down with Nash and Joel Edgerton today at a roundtable interview for their new movie, The Square, a stylish twist-filled film noir which centers on an adulterous couple whose scheming leads to arson, blackmail and murder. While we’ll have the full transcript online soon, with Joel Edgerton starring in the prequel to the John Carpenter classic, The Thing (which is being directed by Matthijs van Heijningen), we got an update on that project as well as what else the brothers are doing.  Hit the jump for what they had to say:

ANIMAL KINGDOM Trailer

by Germain Lussier    Posted: March 26th, 2010 at 9:07 am

Winner of the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, Animal Kingdom, now has a full-length trailer.

The trailer combines great music, plenty of credible critic quotes and some beautiful imagery to sell the film as an intense and complex Australian family crime drama. Animal Kingdom stars newcomer James Frecheville as “J,” a teenager who is forced to move in with his extended family, including Joel Edgerton (Attack of the Clones) and Ben Mendelsohn (Knowing), who just happen to be murdering criminals. J then must choose between the law (a Detective played by Guy Pearce) or his family.

Sony Pictures Classics picked the film up out of Sundance and though the trailer promotes a release date of June 3 and an official Web site, each is for the Australian release. An American release date has yet to be set.  Hit the jump to check out the trailer and read the official plot synopsis.

Sundance Announces 2010 Award Winners: ANIMAL KINGDOM, THE RED CHAPEL, RESTREPO, and WINTER’S BONE Earn Grand Jury Prizes

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub    Posted: January 30th, 2010 at 8:52 pm

Sundance has announced the 2010 Award Winning films and Animal Kingdom, The Red Chapel, Restrepo, and Winter’s Bone earned Grand Jury Prizes while Contracorriente, happythankyoumoreplease, Waiting For Superman, and Wasteland won the Audience Awards.  Also, Homewrecker won Best of the NEXT Award.

While I attended the Sundance Film Festival for over a week and saw 20 something films, the only film I managed to catch from the above list was happythankyoumoreplease yesterday afternoon.  But after my screening ended, the audience was clapping.  Clearly, people really liked the film and since it hasn’t sold yet, winning the audience award should help Josh Radnor’s film land distribution.  Also, it’s a really sweet romcom with a good cast.  Hit the jump for more on the Awards winners including the complete list:

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