The Tree of Life

It’s directed by Terrence Malick, who’s considered a genius in filmmaking, it stars Brad Pitt, and it won the Cannes Palme d’Or this year. Do you need any more to convince you to seeing this movie? If so, then read carefully.

Terrence Malick has now directed only 5 feature films over the past 40 years or so. He’s currently working on his sixth film labeled “Untitled Terrence Malick Project.” He takes a lot of time to work on his films, but it always pays off. “The Tree of Life,” while not perfect, is still quite a miracle.

“The Tree of Life” stars Brad Pitt as Mr. O’Brien, a Texas father of three, and Jessica Chastain as Mrs. O’Brien. Sean Penn co-stars as one of the three boys haunted by the death of one of his brothers. He doesn’t get a lot of screen time.

The film mainly focuses on raising the O’Brien boys, but often cuts to cosmic, evolutionary images such as the beginning of time, cells uniting, or rides through space and time. It’s set in the 50’s, and the film feels very authentic. I think the production designer Jack Fisk is the one to thank for that.

“The Tree of Life” is also very well acted, especially by the boys portraying the O’Brien kids. Brad Pitt is very believable as the strict father and Jessica Chastain convincing as the mother, and the cinematography by Emmanuel Lubezki is gorgeous. I also really loved Alexandre Desplat’s score. It is as ambient and beautiful as the movie. You could just listen to it for relaxation.

“The Tree of Life” has a running time of 138 minutes, which isn’t particularly long compared to “The New World” which is at almost 3 hours. But it still feels longer than “The New World,” which entertained throughout and never dragged. “The Tree of Life” drags in the second half of the movie, and the ending is far too long.

At the 84th Academy Awards, “The Tree of Life” should merit consideration for a Best Cinematography, Best Original Score, Best Director, and Best Picture nomination. As for the acting Oscars, I liked the performances, but this isn’t that kind of movie.

I loved the cosmic imagery and the exploration of the meaning of life a lot. Though, I could’ve watched 138 minutes of that instead. Watching the children grow and the parents being parents was nice at the start, but after an hour and a half or so, I got sick of it.

But it’s refreshing to watch a movie that’s made with care for a change. This isn’t your average drama. For some it will evoke ideas for the meaning of life and other related themes. I just liked watching a film like this, dragged a bit, but the imagery of the cosmos and Earth hundreds of millions of years ago really appealed to me. And, did I mention… THERE ARE FRIGGIN DINOSAURS IN THIS MOVIE!

Rating: ★★★½

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXRYA1dxP_0

Super 8

J.J. Abrams’s “Super 8” is quite possibly the best film I’ve seen this year. It’s got everything, frenetic action, wonderful performances, gorgeous cinematography, a beautiful score, even Spielberg’s trademark troubled father. Everything about this movie is good, “Super 8” should merit a Best Picture nomination.

“Super 8” is directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by Steven Spielberg, who back in the 70’s and 80’s directed films that inspired Abrams into making this film. Those films seem to be “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.”

Abrams’s last directorial effort was “Star Trek,” the space adventure film that mostly drew inspiration from George Lucas’s “Star Wars,” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” directed by Steven Spielberg, so J.J. Abrams is definitely a Spielberg-inspired filmmaker, but some critics have said that “Super 8” draws too much inspiration from Spielberg. But you can’t say something like that about a film that is produced by Spielberg. Besides, this is clearly a homage to him.

“Super 8” stars Joel Courtney as Joe Lamb, a 13-year-old boy living in the fictional town of Lillian, Ohio, who has lost his mother. The year is 1979, and four months later, when Joe and his police officer of a father Jack Lamb (Kyle Chandler) haven’t quite yet overcome the loss. Joe has an eye for art and uses his gift to help his friend Charles (Riley Griffiths) finish his Super 8 short “The Case.” In case you didn’t know, Super 8 is an old motion picture film format. Educate yourselves here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_8_mm_film.

Once of the scenes in the boys’ film needs to be filmed at a train station at night with a girl, so the boys ask Alice (Elle Fanning) to play the part. She agrees and they happily film the scene. Then, a car drives onto the tracks and crashes with a train, from which something then escapes. That’s when the mystery begins. The U.S. military appears, the dogs escape from the town, there are frequent power outages, missing people. It’s very thrilling to watch as the story unveils. We also get the Spielberg trademark troubled father who wishes to improve the relations between him and his son, and also a love interest for Joe.

From the John Williams-inspired score by Michael Giacchino to the wonderful performances of the entire cast, J.J. Abrams’s “Super 8” sprouts greatness. It is one of the best films I’ve seen in 2011. Let’s hope that films like these begin to appear more often this year. So far, we haven’t seen a lot of good films. Sure, we’ve seen entertaining films like “Thor” and “X-Men: First Class,” but they aren’t even close to the caliber of “Super 8.” It should receive a Best Picture nomination.

Rating: ★★★★

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCRQQCKS7go

X-Men: First Class

Most of us loved “X-Men,” even more of us loved “X-Men 2: X-Men United,” but ever since Brett Ratner’s “X-Men 3: The Last Stand,” things have been looking bad for 20th Century Fox. I liked all of the X-Men films, even “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.” I thought that it was entertaining and I liked how cheesy it all was. Granted, it was never near the greatness of the first two X-Men and even a bit worse than the third movie, but still fun to watch. I’m happy to announce, however, that “X-Men: First Class” is not only better than “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” but that it is by far the best in the series.

The first two films were helmed by Bryan Singer, who did a great job with them. The other films apart from this one were badly received, they were also not directed by Bryan Singer. Here, they’ve hired the guy who was supposed to directed “X-Men 3: The Last Stand,” but eventually didn’t get involved. That guy is Matthew Vaughn. Known for co-producing films like “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” and “Snatch,” and directing films like “Layer Cake” and the more recent “Kick-Ass,” Vaughn is an undeniable talent in Hollywood, these days.

Having directed “Kick-Ass,” Vaughn is experienced in the superhero genre. And even though I can’t say that I enjoyed “Kick-Ass,” I love what he’s done here. “X-Men: First Class” tells the story of Charles Xavier and Eric Lehnsherr before they were Professor X and Magneto, respectively. The film opens with Eric being separated from his parents by Nazis, when he uses his powers of controlling metal to bust the gate that separates him and his parents open. The film’s villain, Sebastian Shaw, effectively played by Kevin Bacon, sees this and orders Eric to be brought to him. He “tames” Eric and becomes sort of an evil for him. Then, eighteen years later, Eric (Michael Fassbender) meets a British college-boy Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and together they begin to form the X-Men.

The film’s mainly set in 1962. The plot revolves largely around the Cuban Missile Crisis, and I think that they’ve taken proper advantage of that. The film feels very authentic, which is good, not many superhero films do. Vaughn co-wrote  the screenplay, which has clever lines for Fassbender, who doesn’t quite steal the show when McAvoy’s around, but does so when he’s not.

I really liked Jennifer Lawrence as Raven/Mystique. She is a great actor. I thought that the performance she gave in “Winter’s Bone” was the strongest female performance of 2010, and should’ve landed her an Oscar. She did get nominated though. Here, she doesn’t outshine anyone and still gives a great performance. She is believable as a mutant who wishes to get rid of her powers and her abnormal look.

The first superhero film we saw this year was the horrid comedy “The Green Hornet.” I respect Seth Rogen, but his films just aren’t funny for me. “The Green Hornet” wasn’t funny at all, and it wouldn’t have been a good movie to begin with. It was muddled, the action was incomprehensible, and although I like Cameron Diaz, she seemed out of place. The next superhero flick we saw was “Thor,” a very entertaining, well-made, and awesome film. “X-Men: First Class” is as good as “Thor,” perhaps slightly inferior. With the overwhelmingly negative reviews for “Green Lantern,” it’s beginning to look more and more as if “X-Men: First Class” is this year’s best comic book movie. I still have my hopes up for “Captain America: The First Avenger.” I love Joe Johnston’s work and I think that the film is going to be awesome. I hope it’s better than “X-Men: First Class” and “Thor” put together.

That doesn’t mean that this is, in any way, a bad movie. The direction is good, the script is good, the special effects are good. Henry Jackman’s score is also awesome here. But the film is perhaps a bit too cool. It has the same problems that “Kick-Ass” did, though they are considerably smaller here. “Kick-Ass” wasn’t funny at all, it was far too serious and violent. “X-Men: First Class,” while it isn’t too violent, it’s slightly too serious. I could’ve used more humor, but it was still entertaining throughout its 2-hour running time. A solid superhero flick.

Rating: ★★★

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frcCCHb9LHc