Empire Online says:
A full blog is to follow, but in the meantime here is Damon Wise' immediate reaction to Terrence Malick's Tree Of Life.
"There were loud boos and some muted applause at the premiere of Terrence Malick's Tree Of Life, a year after it was first mooted to show here. The critical opinion was just as divided; some saw a poetic meditation on life as filtered through the prism of childhood, while others simply saw one of the great arhouse duds of all time, a sprawling mess of disgressions so convoluted it even pauses to consider the beginnings of life itself.
There is a fight at the heart of all of Malick’s films, a fight against the medium itself.
MediaStinger: "These movies didn’t necessarily have trailers that blew you away, but at the very least they all had potential to be much better than the actual final product."
Cowboys and Aliens was not a big disappointment to me or anyone else that I know that saw it. We all loved it and for the same reasons. The characters, the actors that played them, the fresh storyline that's not been done...it wasn't a reboot or sequel or prequel..just a new story and different.
I guess we have to agree to disagree on that one.
CO - Let’s be honest… it’s always a good time to be Brad Pitt. One of the sexiest men alive, rich and powerful, and an extremely underrated actor, he’s considered a shoe-in for a Best Actor nomination for Money Ball, out on DVD and Blu-Ray this week. He’s excellent in the film, which reminded us that beyond his good looks he’s appeared in a number of modern classics worthy of mention in our ongoing series Five Great Movies.
I think I found a new respect for his acting in Lengends of the Fall. That is when I started to like his acting a little. Seven was very good though.
Naturally, Malick's film is going to be divisive. Some are going to unconditionally love it. Others are going to despise it, claiming its "pretentious." I'm not going to discuss the merits of either claim, but I do want to state that I'm a staunch proponent of Malick's genius...thus I'm in the former group.
I'm trying to avoid any in-depth reading of the film because I like to watch Malick's movies (how few are they) unfettered and unspoiled by scrutiny. I can't wait till Tree of Life hits the States.