Tag Archives: The Tree of Life

Top Best and Worst Films of 2011

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We all had our fair share on films that made us smile and made us frown. To celebrate my recent Writer of the Year award and a step to a new year, I will reveal my list of best of worst films of 2011. I, however, did not get the luxury to see some of the films I would have liked to have seen (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Artist, Melancholia etc.) and this will be a mix of UK and North American release dates.

*BEST*

1) Drive – Nicolas Winding-Refn crafts an artistically pulpy film noir that delivers heart-stopping tension but also brings some humanity to the story. Ryan Gosling is compelling as the nameless driver but it is Albert Brooks that steals the spot-light as the menacing Bernie Ross. The car chases (especially the pre-credits sequence) are brilliantly shot and the editing is fluid. The cinematography brings the darkness to the Los Angeles glamour that we all have been acquainted to from many films set in the City of Angels.

2) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – The thought on making an English version of the novel when there’s already a Swedish TV/Movie made two years ago made us all cry in outrage. Then David Fincher came along and proved the nay-sayers wrong! Even if you’ve already read the novel or seen the 2009 foreign film, Fincher still delivers a dark and intense thriller. Rooney Mara makes a career-making turn as Lisbeth Salander and I honestly prefer her take on the character than Noomi Rapace’s (not saying Rapace’s was bad, just prefered Mara’s a bit more)

3) Black Swan – It is essentially Darren Aronofsky’s Swan Lake, though it’s about a ballerina (Natalie Portman) who gets chosen to play the lead of the new version of Swan Lake. The sense of paranoia from the cinematography, visual effects and even from Portman’s Oscar-winning performance is executed brilliantly. You really feel you are descending into madness, blurring the fine line between reality and fantasy. It’s also a body horror film, as Portman’s character slowly becomes the Black Swan. It was seriously a dark start for 2011 but it got me hooked till its perfect finale.

4) War Horse – Spielberg never ceases to amaze with his filmmaking skills (okay, Kingdom of the Crystal Skull aside). The trailer for this film came off (for me anyways) as a parody, so it’s incredible that a filmmaker like Spielberg was able to make that work! The ensemble British cast is astounding, from the likes of David Thewlis, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tom Hiddleston, Emily Watson, Paul Mullan and Liam Cunningham. The score by John Williams is one of the best he’s done since Munich and the cinematography by Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan) is breathtaking.

5) The Tree of Life – The biggest Marmite movie you’ll come across; you’ll either love it or you hate it! I, however, loved it and found it incredibly intriguing and ambitious. The film’s story is driven thematically and visually, being an expressionistic piece of work. Brad Pitt delivers one of his best performances in his career (along with Moneyball and The Assassination of Jesse James). A personal film that asks universal questions and it is such a beautiful and majestic piece of filmmaking.

*Honourable mention; Hugo*

*WORST*

1) Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Second highest grossing film of 2011 (behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2) but it comes up to my list as the most unbearable film to watch of 2011. The human characters are ungodly annoying, Shia LaBeouf has nothing we could relate to and constantly screams more in this film than the two previous films combined! The new girl in the block, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, is completely emotionless and nothing more to show than her looks. The action sequences are better executed this time around but the Transformers gets shoved aside in favour for the human characters. The film is also way too long, the rest of the film is just filled with filler and characters that don’t need to be in the film (i.e. Sam’s parents). Michael Bay said he didn’t care for Transformers before he made the first film and it still shows he’s not suited for this film.

2) Sucker Punch – This is an unfortunate case where you give too much money and creative freedom to a film director that’s all about style and no substance. The problem is, it tries to bring a message and empower women but there’s nothing to it to get and the women are no way represented in a positive note by wearing corsets and fish nets. The film is completely incoherent (both in story and style), the action sequences have no purpose but to be there and non of our heroines have any characteristics to make them any different from another. It is a complete mess of a film and hopefully Man of Steel will bring Snyder’s reputation back.

3) Green Lantern – Talk about being hugely disappointing. The marketing for this film was far superior than the final product (I have seen an Extended Cut version was released but heard it barely made any improvements). This really could’ve set a new movie franchise for Warner Bros./DC Comics; you had a director that’s competent in action and drama (both GoldenEye and Casino Royale are proof of that) and Ryan Reynolds being the likable cocky hero. This could’ve been as exciting and epic like Star Wars but the script and creative decisions got lost in the abyss. The film looks and feels so lifeless and artificial, you cannot help but feel underwhelmed this could’ve been a great film if more time and effort was put into it. The ending teased with a sequel baiting scene but this bombed at the box-office (even though Warner Bros. were convinced it would be a success that they green-lit a sequel. . . . Beware Green Lantern’s light? I think he should beware of our expectations).

*Dishonourable mention; Cowboys & Aliens*

*BEST BLOCKBUSTER*

X-Men: First Class – The X-Men franchise nearly had the last nail to its coffin, after the dull X-Men: The Last Stand and the terrible X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Matthew Vaughn, after his huge success with Kick-Ass, comes along and tells the story of the complicated friendship between Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) and Erik Lensherr (Michael Fassbender) and the origins of X-Men. The film is the best of the series, creating a huge sense of fun but not having the spectacle get in the way of character development (especially between the two leads). Both McAvoy and Fassbender are incredibly engaging from the start, though the project started on being another origin story but solely about Lensherr’s past and eventually becoming Magneto. Although the thing that brings the film down is January Jones as Emma Frost (strong contender for Razzie nomination) but that didn’t stop me from enjoying the hell out of this film.

*BEST TRAILER*

There was some huge decision making for which trailer would win this particular award, so it wasn’t easy to choose from previews of what is about to come in 2012. As much as the latest trailers for The Dark Knight Rises, The Avengers The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey were hugely exciting but I would go for Ridley Scott’s, Prometheus. All to do with Ridley Scott returning to the genre that got him on the Hollywood map (Alien and Blade Runner) and the fact it looks spectacular. Being an Alien prequel but not featuring any xenomorphs that we all know an love. Though it does show snippets of the origins of the derelict ship featured in the first film (and second film if you watch Special Edition version of Aliens). Also the cast looks fantastic, ranging from Noomi Rapace, Charlize Theron, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce and Idris Elba. The trailer even pays homage to the trailer of Alien (the title slowly fading in and the eerie sound effect that rings through-out the trailer).

Top Five Films Of 2011

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Well okay, maybe that title is somewhat inaccurate. These are my top five films of the year; the ones that moved me, thrilled me, chilled me and left me bowled over by the endless power of the movies. Obviously I didn’t get a chance to see everything that came out though I like to think I gave as much effort as I could to see stuff from across the spectrum of releases. I don’t expect everyone to agree with my choices; one of them I know has incensed arguably more people than it has awed. But like I say it is my humble opinion. Agree or disagree to your content…

1) THE TREE OF LIFE

Terrance Malick’s fifth and most ambitious feature to date, feels like something that we may never see again; a $30 million mainstream film that unashamedly confronts the meaning of life, the cruelty of death, the absence of faith and belief in the divine. Audiences today are so used to having narrative drip thread to them that the astonishingly loose and flowing construction of The Tree Of Life led to outright hostility from many critics and audience members. Despite my initial bewilderment at it through, it stayed with me through the months and on repeat viewings has grown into a profound and deeply moving work. Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain are extraordinary as a married couple bestowing their differing views on life to their children. What follows is overwhelming vision of the minutia of family life compared with nothing less than the birth of life itself. For me The Tree Of Life does what cinema should do; it takes the most intimate, recognisable aspects we understand and contrasts them against something unfeasibly epic, powerful and ultimately incredibly moving.

2) DRIVE

Roaring out of Cannes like the greatest Michael Mann film that Michael Mann never made, Nicolas Winding Refn’s sleek, blood splattered romantic fairytale captured the hearts of minds of critic and audiences alike. Ryan Gosling truly cements his star status with a near mute role as a stunt driver by day and getaway driver by night who goes up against the LA underworld (personified by a spectacular and unexpected villainous turn by Albert Brooks) when he falls for troubled Carey Mulligan. The two worlds of the story smack head into each other in a spectacular climactic scene in an elevator. The scenes of extreme violence could have been too alienating yet Refn directs with such flair and panache that nearly every scene makes you hairs stand on end. Throw in the best soundtrack of the year hands down and you have an instant cult classic. I walked out of it like i was walking on air.

3) MELANCHOLIA

It could have been overshadowed by director Lars Von Trier’s poor taste in humour at this year’s Cannes Film Festival but thankfully his intimate apocalyptic drama is strong enough to stand on its own feet as an astonishing singular vision of brilliance. Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg are terrific as two frigid sisters both thrown together by a disastrous wedding and then the arrival of a rogue planet on a collision course with Earth. Filmed in a woozy, dream like palette with very deliberate framing and hauntingly beautiful compositions it takes the difficult subject of depression and manages extraordinarily to turn into a transcendent and oddly uplifting experience.

4) WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN

Arguably the boldest novel adaptation of the year, British director Lynne Ramsey makes a stunning return to screens with a disorientating and devastating tale of a women living in the shadow of her monstrous son and terrible crime he has committed. Tilda Swinton is reliably brilliant conveying both the mother’s dawning horror at steadily disturbing events and the guilt that she feels for not showing the love she should have for the child. It’s a role that most actresses would have balked at yet Swinton plays it with such mesmerising confidence. As good as she is though the film arguably belongs to Ezra Miller as the teenage Kevin who beneath a seemingly innocent, sweet veneer chills to the very bone. Hopefully we won’t have to wait so long for Ramsey to release her next work.

5) CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS

Having dragged a steamer over a mountain, travelled to the furthest reaches of the Amazon and Antarctica acclaimed German filmmaker Werner Herzog goes into the depths of the Chauvet Cave in southern France to document not only it’s astounding geographical presence but also the oldest cave paintings known to man, perhaps they are the beginning of art itself. Shown in 3D at cinemas, I caught up with the film in 2D and was still floored by the beauty and skill with which Herzog examines these paintings as well as the brilliantly dry wit in his unmistakeable Bavarian drawl as he spends time with the familial team of scientists living in the shadow of the caves and simple yet deeply profound musings on the passing of time and the origins of these extraordinary drawings. When it comes to the vision of nature itself, Herzog is rarely topped.

The Tree of Life {Film Review}

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Terrence Malick has been a unique filmmaker, always distancing himself from conventions to bring his own artistic license. From his 38 years of being in the industry, he has only made five films. It took him a full 20 years from Days of Heaven (1978) to The Thin Red Line (1998). He is infamous for shooting footage the length of a football field and also not being part of the publicity spot-light. The Tree of Life is his new movie since 2005’s The New World, barely any details were released for the film. Only two posters and a trailer were only shown to various multiplexes. It finally got screened at 2011 Cannes Film Festival, and it was received mixed reactions of boos and applause. I, however, thought it was worth the wait.

The Tree of Life is quite simply a breathtaking experience, a beautifully crafted film that doesn’t really give you straight answers but really makes you think. The film will be, inevitably, be compared to Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey but it also reminded me of Koyaanisqatsi. The film deals with questions that the characters imply through-out; what is the meaning of our existance? What is our purpose in life? The story revolves around Jack (Sean Penn), who works as an architect in modern day America. He starts to think back during his childhood during the 50s, with his parents and going through different phases in his life. His parents are played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain, who resemble two things that runs the theme during the duration; nature and grace. Nature is unpredictable and harsh, which Pitt tries at one point make his sons strong and confident. Grace is the complete opposite, it is elegant and calm as Chastain becomes supportive to her sons. Young Jack (Hunter McCracken) is very conflicted from the two, he leans towards nature but as an adult, he starts to feel more empathetic (shown through his sub-conscious walking through a desert and eventually ends up in a beach)

The performances from the entire cast is superb. They are barely given any dialogue, but their natural reactions and expressions are subtle. It is the meaning of the phrase; show, don’t tell. McCracken impresses as the Young Jack, showing the childhood curiosity and frustration everyone deals with. Such as a scene where he walks with his mother in town and notices police officers taking convicts away in their patrol cars. Looks up to his mother and asks in a worried tone if he’ll ever be like them? Sean Penn doesn’t get as much screen-time but he makes a presence when he’s thinking about his childhood experiences.

The film has a non-linear narrative, often cutting away from Jack’s story to shots of the formation of the universe and how the planets are created. Then it views when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth, continuing Malick’s trademark on showing nature as a major element. All of these sequences are shot beautifully. Legendary special photographic effects supervisor Douglas Trumbull (who was responsible for the effects in 2001 and Blade Runner), was a consultant on the effects of this film. The effects in this film look organic and believable, a film to be big in scale requires believability (especially when dealing with a theme about creation and existence) The scenes with Jack’s family comes across as a family home movie, a sense of nostalgic memorabilia.

There is not much I want to say to reveal too much of the film, it really is something to see to believe. To put simply; if you are fan of Terrence Malick or want a film that has a deep message that is subtle, there is no excuse not to miss this film.

Overall; The film may divide opinions; some may find it pretentious, others may find it as a work of art. I, however, find it to be a meditating and philosophical film that is just as beautiful to watch. A huge change from the summer blockbuster season and strongly recommended.

5 out of 5

Top Most Anticipated Movies of 2011

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As we came to a close of 2010 and the awards season have been gone and dusted, I’ve decided to make a list of films that I’m looking forward to this year. I expected this list to be quite long, but there’s not a lot I’m looking forward or consider to be really excited to quite frankly. So I’m going to reveal my top 3 most anticipated films of 2011;

Sucker Punch: I’ll admit, I’m not a fan of Zack Snyder but I don’t hate him as well. His Dawn of the Dead remake back in 2004 was pretty decent, considering the shamelessly Michael Bay produced horror remakes we’ve been getting every year or so. Then he adapted Frank Miller’s 300, visually faithful to its source material but lacked on being a memorable movie altogether. Watchmen was the high-point of his career, especially since adapting Alan Moore’s 400+ page comic book had been in development as long you could remember! While some bits hit the mark (visual style, costumes, performances from Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Jackie Earl Haley), some completely missed (both Malin Akerman and Carla Gugino gave bland performances and some of the choice of music). Of course, his trademark is his heavy use of slow-motion. If you’d take a drinking game whenever the slow-motion was used, you’d either be in the hospital or the morgue!

Now Zack Snyder has decided to come up with something original, rather than being a remake or based on a comic book. It is inevitable to label it as ‘Alice in Wonderland meets Inception’ (or as Snyder describes it, Alice in Wonderland with guns) but Snyder at least has shown he’s not loosing his creative edge. The film looks fantastic, even more so than his previous films. Although slightly bizarre that the film is set in the 1950s psychiatric ward and they come up with anime-alike robot mechs, giant samurais with a mini-gun, futuristic city and transport that hasn’t existed yet! Maybe I’m thinking about it too much than needed, but this does stand-out from most other blockbusters this year. (Released on March 25, 2011 in USA and April 1, 2011 in UK)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo: Probably the most controversial choice on this list, as the Swedish original was praised by critics and audiences (even went to win a BAFTA for Best Film not in the English Language and 2 nominations including Best Actress – Noomi Rapace). The reason I put this relatively high on this list is because of David Fincher. I am a huge fan of David Fincher, and I personally think The Social Network is the best film made in the past decade. This sort of material is right in Fincher’s alley; a dark mystery thriller, the sort he’s done with Zodiac and Se7en.

The film stars Daniel Craig as Mikael Blomkvist, an interesting choice to play the troubled journalist and is accompanied by Rooney Mara as Lisbeth Salander. Mara worked with Fincher in The Social Network, as Mark Zuckerberg’s fictional ex-girlfriend. It is a bizarre choice but it really have to admire a beautiful actress as Mara to transform a character that looks both gothic and punk. If you have not yet seen the published photos of Mara’s transformation, I strongly you have a look before you make an judgements (http://www.wmagazine.com/celebrities/2011/02/rooney_mara_girl_with_the_dragon_tattoo_lisbeth_salander_ss#slide=3). She looks other-worldly and makes me fascinated how she’d portray the character that’d be different what we’ve already seen. Steven Zaillian is adapting the novel, which he has done very good movies in the past with Schindler’s List, Gangs of New York and American Gangster. So I am very optimistic on this English adaptation. (Released on December 21, 2011)

The Tree Of Life: This film being a complete mystery intensifies my anticipation levels through the roof! It’s slightly odd that a non-blockbuster such as this movie would be my number 1!? The synopsis on IMDb is only given very briefly; The story centers around a family with three boys in the 1950s. The eldest son witnesses the loss of innocence.

Probably a few reasons being that it is written and directed by Terrence Malick, who is known to shoot an unimaginable amount of footage and has made films such as Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The New World. Another reason is it features my favourite actors; Brad Pitt and Sean Penn. There’s not much to say about the film, except if you know Malick’s work then there’s everything to be excited about it. I strongly suggest to check out the trailer, the only preview of the film thus far! (Released on May 27, 2011)

If you’re excited about these films as I am or looking forward to any other films that didn’t make this (very short) list, send comments below!