For Roger Ebert,
it's a prayer that made him "more alert to the awe of existence." For Rober Koehler,
it's a kitschy New Age con. For Richard Brody, it perfectly captures the essence of a generation by depicting a character thinking
"back to the musings and fantasies of childhood, which are the product of a wondrous and fantastic view of science formed by popular-science books for children and by the commercial artists whose illustrations adorned them." For Stephanie Zacharek, it's
"a gargantuan work of pretension." For Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, it's
"a creation myth in the guise of a crypto-autobiography" that invents a universe of its own only to destroy it. For J. Hoberman, it's lifeless and dull,
"essentially a religious work and, as such, may please the director's devotees, cultists, and apologists." It spent thirty years in development,
three in editing and, yes,
it contains dinosaurs.
The Tree of Life, written and directed by
famously reclusive Zoolander fan and
"JD Salinger of American movies" Terrence Malick , won the
Palme d'Or at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Tomorrow,
it comes out in the United States.
[more inside]
posted by alexoscar
on May 26, 2011 -
64 comments
Lorenzo Semple, 84, has been a screenwriter for more than 50 years; his credits include "Papillion," "The Parallax View" and "Three Days of the Condor." Marcia Nasatir, 81, is a longtime agent and production executive, was the first female VP of production at United Artists, and produced films like "The Big Chill" and "Hamburger Hill." Together, they are the "
Reel Geezers," offering irresistible film reviews on YouTube. To wit:
Superbad,
Iron Man,
Sex and the City,
Lars and the Real Girl,
No Country for Old Men,
There Will Be Blood.
[more inside]
posted by jbickers
on Jun 11, 2008 -
27 comments
Ten best film list a critique of the U.S? The venerable [some say notorious] French film magazine
Cahiers du Cinema unveiled their
ten best films of 2004 list recently.
Other than their list typically leaning toward films by
auteurs - such as
Ingmar Bergman and
Hou Hsiao-hsien [and
Tarantino] - they also included
The Village by M. Night Shyamalan. With that choice are they rewarding the artistic merits of the film [which
most critics view as minimal] or are they making a statement about The United States? In short do they view the U.S. like the characters in the film - an isolated bunch of paranoid [Puritan] villagers living and acting off of their fears? Or is there some other reason they would choose the film as one of the year's best?
posted by Rashomon
on Feb 24, 2005 -
38 comments
