"Animal Kingdom": All gangster, no glamour

I also managed to see two very compelling documentaries on my final day at the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival, but they were each, in their own way, so grim that they sort of canceled each either out in my mind, leaving me kind of mentally battered and bewildered.

Which certainly doesn't make them any less successful at telling important stories extremely well. The first was "Mugabe and the White African," which from the title alone you can tell is probably not going to have the happiest of endings. It follows the story of Mike Campbell, a white farmer in Zimbabwe who has taken leader Robert Mugabe to court to block Mugabe's land grab of all farms owned by white people. Using hidden cameras, the filmmakers get extraordinary access to Campbell and his family as they fight their fight and are menaced by Mugabe's thugs at every step. Hard to watch, but well worth catching when this hits DVD on Dec. 14.

After that, and for the last movie of the festival for me, I watched "Last Train Home," but like I said, I was unfortunately way to emotionally drained by that point to really enjoy it. The movie follows the misfortunes of one family in particular as it takes a look at the exodus of China's migrant work force back to their home towns for each Chinese New Year, described at the outset as the largest human migration in the world (and watching people fight for spots on the train, it's impossible to doubt that.) It hits very hard as it follows one married couple who work in the garment industry as they simultaneously fight to keep their children from following in their footsteps. Not sure when this might be coming to DVD, but check it out when it does.

Sandwiched in between these two grim affairs, thankfully, was "Animal Kingdom," an Australian gangster movie of sorts that I'm fairly certain will find a home on my list of the top 10 movies for the year.

As the movie begins, you can tell that our protagonist, young Joshua "J" Cody, has already had much of the life drained out of him as he calmly calls his grandmother to report that her daughter, his mother, has died of a heroin overdose as she sits on the couch beside him. From there, he's taken in by the Cody clan, a low-level Melbourne crime family with many of the trappings of crime families throughout movie history, but still a unique group to watch for both their savagery and, often, their ineptitude.

The Cody gang is made up of three brothers and a cousin as the soldiers, and a matriarch played by Jacki Weaver who is someone to keep your eyes on (though it will be impossible not to anyway.) As we meet them, they're clearly already on the downside of their rather petty criminal careers, and watching their fall is one of the many things that makes writer/director David Michod's debut feature film so grimly but thoroughly entertaining.

I don't want to give too much away, but the story here is about how Joshua (James Frecheville) is slowly drawn into their desperate world, and what measures he will go to to escape it. It always annoys me when gangster movies get compared to "The Godfather" (calling, for example, "Un Prophet" the French "Godfather," as I've seen many times), but in its lack of convenient catch phrases or stylish action set pieces, Michod's movie is, if anything, the anti-"Godfather."

Instead of resorting to any of these usual gangland conventions, Michod instead lets his movie be driven by a constant mood of terror that only increases as the flick unfolds, and by natural performances throughout from his cast, particularly Weaver and Ben Mendelsohn as the rather seriously unstable Andrew "Pope" Cody.

Even its ambiguous ending was a satisfying wrap up for me, and I think you'll be hearing at least Weaver's name with the Oscar nominations as Best Supporting Actress, and "Animal Kingdom" is so good that I'd have to think it's a dark horse for Best Picture too, since there will once again be 10 competitors.

I have no idea if this is still playing in theaters anywhere, but if it is, definitely check it out, and look for it in on DVD in January. I've included the trailer, which makes hilarious use of Air Supply's "All Out of Love," below. And with that, I've got to pack and return home from the first leg of my vacation. Peace out.

The grand art of the epic movie

I have serous doubts that Baz Luhrmann's "Australia" will ever end up on this list, but I'm still fairly certain that any attempt to create the Australian "Gone With the Wind" should at least be maddeningly entertaining when I get to see it tomorrow (since Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," getting perhaps the slowest rollout of all time, won't even hit ATL until next week.)

Even though I'm certain that most of the rest of the world surely has better things to do than sit in front of a computer on the day after Thanksgiving, I have to work a half day so I thought I'd spend a little time on this beforehand.

And before anyone point out that my definition of epic is just too loose to even be considered (or that I almost completely omitted war movies, which just aren't my cup of tea in general), remember that this is my list, so I make the rules. So, in honor of the return of Baz Luhrmann (surely a reason to cheer in my little corner of the world), here are my 10 favorite "epic" movies of all time. Please feel free to add any of the many, many, many I have omitted.

"The Godfather"
Though I certainly have respect for the "The Godfather: Part II," the inclusion on this list ends with the first movie, which is still simply the best movie about a crime family ever made (though you'll soon see another on this list too.)

"The Last Emperor"
There's so much to recommend in Bernardo Bertolucci's tale of Pu Yi, the titular last emperor of China, but what I enjoy most each time I go back and watch it again is the humor that comes in the proposition of handing the supposed reigns of a crumbling empire to a child. Priceless.

"Seven Samurai"
If the traditional epic has to have at least one hero, I'd argue (and be far from alone) that Toshiro Mifune's Kikuchiyo is still the best of the bunch. And though it brings me no pleasure whatsoever, it's still my duty to share that the IMDB still has a "Seven Samurai" remake listed with this rather ominous synopsis: A town in Northern Thailand recruits seven Blackwater-type paramilitary contractors from around the world to defend against an imminent attack. Don't get me started ...

Once Upon a Time in America
My parents surely wish I wouldn't share this story, but when I was 14 (old enough, probably) and my brother 11 (surely not), they took us to see Sergio Leone's rather amazing but more than occasionally tawdry gangland saga in the theater. We ended up leaving as Robert De Niro's Noodles was raping Elizabeth McGovern in the limo, a fact which still shames me to this day, because there are very few better American crime stories on film, if you're old enough to appreciate it.

"Apocalypse Now"
"The Deer Hunter" almost made this list too, but as far as Vietnam movies go this one is rightly heralded as the best because no other war movie showcases the futility and - of course - madness of war quite like it.

"Boogie Nights"
Paul Thomas Anderson drew what I felt was at least slightly more acclaim than he deserved for last year's "There Will Be Blood," certainly an epic American tale in its own right, but one that just left me a little cold. A well-made movie for sure, and both Daniel Day Lewis and an underrated Paul Dano were exceptional, but I'll take the fun of those tawdry "Boogie Nights" (and Don Cheadle selling stereo equipment in Western attire) every time.

"Bonnie and Clyde"
Though it at first comes close to romanticizing a truly notorious pair of criminals (and how could you not with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty on board?), but by the end Arthur Penn manages to craft probably the best movie about America's obsession with violence. And just still a lot of fun to boot.

"Malcolm X"
If you haven't seen Spike Lee's "Miracle at St. Anna" yet, I'd still recommend watching it on DVD, even though it's a maddeningly uneven movie. It shows touches of Spike throughout, but they were all harnessed into a single movie three times: For "Do the Right Thing," "When the Levees Broke" and here, in the movie that still stands as the single biggest Oscar snub ever in my book.

"The Fifth Element"
As long as we've been hearing the name Luc Besson, I was amazed to find he only has 15 finished or coming feature films to his credit as a director (though tons more as a producer), four of which are in the "Arthur and the ..." children's series he's now fixated on. I can still remember seeing "The Big Blue" in a French movie theater and falling for it instantly, but this goofy space opera that combines just about everything I love in movies is still my favorite Besson flick (with "Nikita" and "Leon" getting a very stylish honorable mention.)

"Nashville"
For a story that takes place over just a few days in one city, the late Robert Altman's flick captures America in a certain time and place as well as any I can think of, and though his skill at weaving multiple story lines into a single quilt is often imitated, it's never been close to re-created. Rest in peace, Mr. Altman.

So, there you have it. Please feel free to add any that hold a place in your movie heart, and have a great weekend.