Click here for the review of The Tree of Life

SPOILERS must be tagged with the "SPOILER" tag!

I saw this the other day and oddly enough agree with most of what James has to say in his review. However, I can't say I especially cared for the film. It has grand ambition, but never really comes close to achieving what it sets out to do. I've been calling it a fascinating failure of a film. Only because I like alliteration with the letter f.

I'll take a relatively-flawed-but-highly-ambitious film over one that's perfectly-crafted-but-totally-run-of-the-mill any day of the week.

For a movie that he claims is the best film of the year, James seems to spend far more time in this review discussing the flaws than he does the strengths. At times, this feels like a *** review as opposed to a ***1/2 one. Typically, when James lauds a film so highly, he keeps discussion of the flaws to a minimum. Not trying to criticize the review, just making observations.

Simply can't wait to see it.
Just dunno when as work is insanity these days
Rob

Here's my recap of James' review: "This film is flawed so deeply that it required me to spend three paragraphs detailing it all, but it's still the best movie of the year!" Man oh man, I could get booted off for this!

This review is too preoccupied with the degree to which the film falls short of being a masterpiece, with a correspondingly disproportionate concern with what it lacks, and not enough about what makes it worthy of three-and-a-half stars.

Fair enough, but my reading of JB's review is that the flaws represent a relatively minor component of the movie, and the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses. I haven't seen it yet, so I can't comment.

I've been anxiously waiting JB's review on this one. I disagreed with his review of Days of Heaven. I thought that movie was magnificent, but his review was short and brutal. On the other hand, I completely agreed with his thinking on The Thin Red Line and The New World, where the strengths and weaknesses of both movies were right on the money, IMO.

Like him or not, a Malick film is a must-see for me.

Saw this last night and was disappointed.

A lot of that feeling has to do with the first 45 minutes, which are absolutely terrible. Think about all the things that Malick has been criticized for in the past, amp all that up to 11, and you get the opening of this film. This basically means that there is nothing but whispered voice-overs of vaguely philosophical rambling, people walking around contemplating while looking dejected, and overbearing music mainly consisting of choir chanting. It goes without saying that the film is amazing to look at, but there's really only so far a film can go before I stop taking it seriously, and The Tree of Life crosses over this line right out of the gates.

Once the film settles down into the 1950s setting, however, things start to improve. I would say there were about 45 minutes of the film where I was actively engaged. This is mainly due to Brad Pitt, who gives the best performance in the film as the strict disciplinarian father. The relationship between him and his sons, mainly the eldest son Jack, is interesting and compelling, But even this section is stretched to the limit. For example:



There is also one line, where the mother points in the sky and says to her son, "That's where God lives," that made everyone around me, and me as well, groan (all atheists, by the way). Still, overlong as it is, this section of the film is where it is the best. And then we get to the final moments, which are about as heavy-handed as you can get. Sean Penn is absolutely wasted in this film, amounting to little more than a cameo. I guess my big problem was that I was completely unmoved by anything in the film; a lot of this has to do with Malick's style, but I think a part of it may be that the message isn't anything that profound or original.

I don't know. I left the theater shocked at just how completely underwhelmed I was. Malick is someone who I desperately want to appreciate more, but his latest stretches his style well past the breaking point and into self-parody. It may sound harsh to say 4/10, but I can't lie to myself. I'll take Midnight In Paris any day of the week.

We seem to have pretty similar taste (which I'm sure we both think is excellent taste), so I can't say that I'm surprised by your reaction. We seem to have many of the same issues with the film (weirdly, given his rating, James did too). When people ask me what a prententious film is, from now on, I'm using this Malick film as one of the definitive examples. Because, you know, people frequently ask me what films I think are pretentious.

Arghhhh! I had no interest in seeing this movie after snoozing through The New World many years ago. Now it seems the more reviews I read of it, negative or positive, the more intrigued I am to go see Malick's take on the whole thing. The reviews have caused me to ruminate on the death of a 19 year old from the spiritual perspective, natural perspective, and the perspective of one raised in the middle. Now I'm afraid I'll actually need to go see how Malick visualized it - even though I'm pretty sure I'll need to prop my eyes open to make it through.

James you're my second favorite movie critic (next to Roger Ebert), but i seriously don't get why you disliked The Fountain. I'm always reading your sci-fi reviews and you're always pointing out movies that belongs in an art house rather than a multiplex, with an emphasis on ideas over action and The Fountain was exactly that kind of movie. I think you must rewatch it, it has some similarities with Tree of Life and i think that one day it will get much deserved masterpiece status, just like 2001 did (It was similarly misanderstood by many critics in it's release days).

I have watched THE FOUNTAIN three times. The first time was at a film festival, so I re-watched it a second time at a "regular" press screening. I then re-watched it after it came out on video. I don't recall much about how I reacted to it in Toronto - film festivals can turn into blurs. But I recall that I almost fell asleep during the press screening and I DID fall asleep during while watching it on DVD.

LoL
Everyone has his own taste, so i will not start arguing and James which one you recommend to me to watch in Theatre: X-Men: First Class, Fast Five, Thor

Yeah, The Fountain was a real snoozefest for me too, and i'm getting sleepy just reading the synopsis for Tree Of Life.

Argh...voiceovers.

Used properly, they can be effective (SUBMARINE). Most of the time, however, they are not used properly.

Well he gave Thor 3 stars and the other 2 2.5 stars so that should say something about which one he would recommend.

Underwhelming.

I continue to hope for overwhelming.