Beginners - Movie Review

Time for another semi-alcohol-fueled review!

I've said this before, but I LOVE The Vine in Livermore. I got to the theater, paid just $9 for a non-matinee. Ordered a Racer 5 and Arrogant Bastard beer (double fisting) and a burger, and had it delivered to my chair in the theater. You can't beat this!

Anyway, Beginners is a movie starring Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. The movie is narrated by Ewan's character, who most of the time uses a photo-essay form of giving you snippets about his family and life. Ewan is a late-30's bachelor, and he starts by telling you that his mother died a a few years back and after that, his father, at the age of 75, came out of the closet as a gay man.

He then tells you that his Father has already died as well. This is told to you in the first five minutes of the movie, so this is no spoiler. Despite all the death mentioned in the first few minutes of the film, the tone of the movie isn't of sadness.

Ewan has taken on the ownership of his Father's dog, who he can understand as the dog speaks to him through subtitles. I found this to be one of the funniest elements of the movie and fortunately it's not used too much. He meets a girl at a party, played my Melanie Laurent, and begins to date her.

In the movie, 'Beginners' refers to both the beginning of a new relationship for Ewan and for his father beginning his new life as a gay man and discovering that aspect of his life.

The movie cycles between flashbacks of Ewan taking care of his Father before he died, his relationship with his mother when he was a child; and of him in the present-tense dealing with the death of his Father and being in a new relationship.

There are points where this is a quirky and clever comedy, but at other times this felt like more like a serious drama. With there being a lot about new relationships in the movie, you could say this is a romantic comedy. It never really felt like one to me though, but that's not a bad thing. I just think the tone of the movie kind of shifted around a bit.

There are some emotional moments toward the end. I'm generally not brought to tears by a movie, but even I had to fight back some tears towards the end of this movie. I don't cry though. I'm wearing a Superman shirt. I only cry when I accidentally cause the death of Lois Lane when I'm not fast enough to stop the rocket from crashing into a California fault line. Anyway, the relationship between the Ewan and his Father should relate to anyone.

The movie features some very strong performances from Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer. They really made the movie for me and you walk away from Beginners wishing you had known both of their characters.

This was written and directed by Mike Mills, who also did Thumbsucker. I haven't seen Thumbsucker, but now I feel compelled to see that. I like when a movie makes me want to see other movies written by or starring other people from the same movie. I think that's the mark of a good movie.

Ultimately, I really liked Beginners. I felt it was a little uneven as far as the tone of movie, but overall I enjoyed it.

Most of you don't access to an art house theater near you, so I give this a rental for most people. If you happen to live close to a theater that is playing this, I recommend checking it out. Otherwise, I recommend you rent this once it comes out on DVD.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Review

Okay, this is this big one. All the hype has lead up to this. Does Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (that's a mouthful) live up to the hype? Well, sort of...

I start this review by stating that I watching this movie with D-BOX. You can learn more about it here:

http://www.d-box.com/en/movie-theatre/

Basically, it's like watching a movie on a roller coaster, where the seats will rumble and move with the action on screen. Actually, it's probably more like being on Star Tours. I thought it really worked in the scenes they used it in. It wasn't constant through the movie, so you aren't just getting thrown around the entire time. There was a part of the movie towards the end where I have to say I almost felt asleep, only to be awoken by the D-BOX, so I have to say that it helped me keep me in the movie. You pay an extra $8 for the D-BOX ticket, but you get a reserved seat. I thought it was fun and recommend checking it out.

Anyway, back to the movie. I did like Harry Potter. This is a pretty good conclusion to the series and story. It makes up for the action that was missing from Part 1, which I liked to call Harry Potter and the Boring-Ass Camping Trip. Part 2 doesn't waste much time getting to the action, which I liked. I didn't feel like there was a ton of story here, as most of the build up was in the Part I. As a result, this movie had more a thrill ride feel to me. It was definitely more entertaining.

However, I did have a few problems. The climax seemed a little too easy. The final fight between Harry and Voldemort just didn't seem all that epic. In fact, it felt like just a replay of their fight from The Goblet of Fire. I was a little disappointed in that.

At one point during the main battle, there was a bit of a deus ex machina to me. Maybe this was more of a cop out than a pure deus ex machina, but there was a point at the climax that made me go, "Where'd that come from?"

While they seemed to make a point to give a villain a good death, they didn't have the same respect for some of the heroes. You don't even see them die on-screen. This started in Part 1 with Mad-Eye Moody. They just causally mention he's dead and you're just like, "Okay. That just happened. We don't get to see it, I guess. That's kind of BS."

Then, in Part 2, there's two more significant deaths that also happen off-screen and you just see them lying dead on the ground after. What the hell?! I really don't like it when movies treat their side characters as fodder. These were important characters that had been in previous movies and you give them deaths that carry no emotional weight or impact. This is one of the things that bugged me about the Transformers movies.

I will say that I've never read a Harry Potter book. I'm suspecting that some of details and emotional weight of the events are explained better there than on-screen. I'm hoping that we get a director's cut that maybe explains this stuff a little better. Therein lies a problem I have with movies based off books; if you're requiring your audience to get details about the events on-screen from another source, then you really aren't going a great job of storytelling. I'm not saying this is a bad movie, but I shouldn't have to read a book to get more details about what happens in the movie. It's the whole 'show me, don't just tell me' thing.

On another note, what the hell happened to Neville Longbottom? All of a sudden, he's turned into a young Clive Owen. Seriously, talk about a awkward looking kid growing into a man. I find it kind of funny that this guy may end up being the guy that might have more of a film career as an adult.

Look, if you're a Potter fan, there's nothing I'm going to say that's going to stop you from seeing this. You probably already have by now.

If you're a casual fan, or not a book reader, save this for a matinee or rental (especially if they come out with a director's cut). If you have an opportunity to see it in D-BOX, I would recommend checking that out, but the cost might not be worth it if you're just a casual fan.

Last week in DVD through July 10th.

This was a bad week in DVD for me. Outside of Casino Jack, I really can't recommend anything I watched last week, and even that's not a strong recommendation. If fact, I would strongly recommend that you avoid most of the movies I'm talking about in this post.


Casino Jack

Based on real events. This is the tale of Jack (not Sparrow) Abramoff who was known as the 'super lobbyist'. It basically follows his involvement with members of Congress, Indian gaming, his purchase of SunCruz casinos and leads up to his eventual conviction.

Kevin Spacey as Jack Abramoff is really good here, but after a while, this movie felt like a vehicle simply for Spacey to show how many impressions he can do. While his impressions are actually quite good, it got kind of annoying after a while. It turns out the real Jack Abramoff was a one-time movie producer known for being a movie lover and actually doing impressions all the time, so it it actually makes sense in the context of the movie. Still, it felt like it was done a little too much.

The movie is actually pretty easy on the guy. It shows him as a charming, movie-loving guy, but if you compare this to Casino Jack and the United States of Money, he's much worse. I have to credit Spacey for making this a likeable enough guy.

Overall, the story just wasn't told very well. It didn't seem to focus on anything enough and jumped around too much to my liking.

However, I still think it's worth a rental just to watch Spacey's performance. If you're a fan of his anyway, you'll likely like the movie just for him.


Season of the Witch

Nic Cage and Ron Pearlman star as Knights fighting in the Crusades. However, they desert the Knights once they see that the Knights are massacring civilians. You know, cause they are honorable and stuff. Now they are on the run, but eventually captured by the Church. The Church asks them to escort a girl believed to be a witch, and the cause of the plague, to another monastery. They agree provided their charges as deserters are dropped and the girl gets a fair trial, cause, you know, honor and fairness.

Anyway, the quest ensues and the movie proceeds to suck the life out of you. It's joyless, coupled with bad effects and nothing to care about. You don't even get over the top Nic Cage here, which would have helped immensely. This is a movie that should have been made to be campy and funny, but you don't get any of that. This was clearly a lower budget movie by the quality of the effects, so it seems odd that it is trying to take itself seriously.

The climax of this movie just felt like a bad cartoon.

I say pass. There's just nothing here.


Beastly

"Embrace the suck." This is actually a line of dialog from the beginning of the movie. No truer words have been said though. It's amazing that a movie actually warns you that it's going to be bad in the opening minutes.

This is one of the worst films I can remember. It's just an awful retelling of Beauty and the Beast. The characters are poorly written, seemingly contracting themselves at various times. The plot is so 'what the hell?' that I can't even believe it's for real.

The opening scenes are just so awful that you're like, "How could anyone like this guy!" He announces to the class that he's rich, popular and good looking and you should all vote for him just because (I'm not even sure what he's running for. It didn't appear to be for class president). The student body erupts in applause when he says this. What?! Is this a school full of shallow idiots? It doesn't help that the setting of the school looked like a frigging ad agency, like it's the richest private school around. It probably was actually shot at an actual ad agency, seeing that this couldn't have had much of a budget based on the bad actors and story here.

The lone goth chick at the school, played by one of the Olsen twins, is actually a witch and nobody seems to be bothered by this fact. Yeah, and everyone knows she's a witch apparently, since they are just so causal about it. Anyway, the asshole lead character, played by Alex Pettyfer, is rude to the witch again at a party, but this is the last straw! She casts a spell on him to make him ugly and she says he has a year to get someone to tell him that they love him.

After this whole thing happens his Dad takes him to a doctor and they just go, "Sorry, there's nothing we can do." I guess doctors accept that there's magic in the world and nothing they can do about it. After this, his Dad sets him up in his own apartment with a maid and a tutor and buys him a motorcycle. What the fuck? Am I supposed to feel bad for him yet?

Also, is he really all that ugly on the outside? He's still rich and in shape, and they remind you of that constantly with seemingly endless montages of him without his shirt on. You see chicks go after dudes that are all tatted up with piercings all the time, so I don't see that being an issue. There are plenty of people where that's their thing, He could have just hung out in goth bars or something. Learn to sing or play an instrument and join a band and then there would be scores of women that would just throw themselves at him.

Then, in another tired trope in movies like this, the 'ugly', unpopular girl is played by Vanessa Hudgens. I guess in this world, she's 'ugly'. However, in a movie that's trying to say that being shallow is bad, she basically admits to being shallow, too, when she talks about how she used to have a crush on Alex Pettyfer even though he was mean.

Alex Pettyfer should never be in another movie. He's just an awful actor. Even his voice is annoying. Granted, there's only so much you can do with a poorly written character. He has no real growth at all and he never actually learns why he's an ugly person. There's never a single moment in the movie where he seems to get this.

What the hell was up with Neil Patrick Harris in this? He's plays the tutor that the Dad sets him up with. His character trait is that he's blind, yet consistently making eye contact with the actors. It's like he kept forgetting that he was blind. Who was directing this crap anyway?

Daniel Barnz wrote and directed this. I don't get it, he directed Phoebe in Wonderland, which I always recommend to people as a great movie to watch Elle Fanning in. How is this the same guy? There were four years between movies though. Maybe he had a lobotomy or something.

Everything about this movie is awful. I don't know how this got past anyone, let alone got a theatrical release. This wasn't even worth the money spent to put this on DVD.

This was made by CBS films, which reminds me of that old 'Men on Film' from In Living Color joke, "That's all you C...BS."

Pass on this with a vengeance.


The Warrior's Way

The movie stars Dong-gun Jang as a sword fighter who, as the film starts, has just become the best sword fighter in the world. However, they don't actually show much of him fighting. You just see like a flash of movement and then everyone he fights dies. Exciting, huh? Anyway, after killing all of his enemies, he hesitates to kill the last daughter of his enemy, who is just an infant. Instead he takes the child and flees to America to a town where an old friend of his lived. This does not sit well with his boss. I guess he's likes killing babies or something.

Once he reaches the town, he finds that it is run down and his friend has passed away. He takes over his friends laundry business, which may have been appropriate for the time, but isn't that a little too stereotypical? The town has become run down because of some thug, gang leader played by Danny Huston, but he's not around at the beginning. You see some flashbacks at how he ruined the town and the lives of some of the people that still live in the town. You have Geoffrey Rush playing the town drunk and this role and performance is just beneath him.

Kate Bosworth, who I still find cute as hell, just seemed corny to me. I'm not sure it was her bad southern accent or just that I have a hard time believing her in the action scenes holding her own with supposedly the best sword fighter in the world. She just didn't work in this movie for me. To be honest, everyone in The Warrior's Way just seemed corny or cliched.

As I mentioned earlier, for a movie that's about the best sword fighter in the world, there just isn't that much action. Most of the early action is over in an instant, it's basically a flash and the fight is over. There's nothing compelling about the action cause it all too easy for him. Then, once he reaches America, nothing at all happens and the movie is actually just kind of boring. When we finally get to the main action sequence at the end, it's just unsatisfying and too cartoony.

I will say that the sets are very colorful, but it also has that too much CG look. It feels like the whole movie was shot against a green screen.

This is a rental at best, but I would save it for streaming.


Daydream Nation

Kat Dennings and Josh Lucas star in some movie about nothing. At least that's what it feels like. Kat Dennings and her father move back to some small town where everyone appears to be on drugs and all the girls in the school think she's a slut, because they are all mean, I guess. After like school has been in session for a week, she hits on her teacher, played by Josh Lucas, and they start an affair. I guess hitting on a teacher in his 30's proves she's not a slut, right?

After a while, she realizes he's mental and breaks it off. Then, she actually starts to date someone age-appropriate. Josh Lucas goes off the deep end tries to sabotage her new relationship, which isn't weird at all.

I just kind of thought this was all over the place. There's some weird subplot about a serial killer in a white suit that's been abducting and killing children. However, if he's killing the children, then how does anyone know he wears a white suit? It's a small town. Maybe they should round up people walking around in white suits? It doesn't make any sense.

Josh Lucas' character is mental, yet I still didn't get his thought process.. He sleeps with his underage student, but initially resists it because he knows it's wrong. Yet at the same time, he has an age-appropriate teacher, played by Rachel Blanchard (from TV's Clueless), who is clearly into him and seemingly normal. Does he date her? No he chooses to sleep with a minor anyway. Then he gets whupped on the underage girl. I can't get behind his character at all.

The movie is slowly paced and just drags on. It's one of those movies that feels longer than it is. I really didn't like anything about it.

I say pass.


Elektra Luxx

I heard all of these great things about this one. It stars Carla Gugino as a 'retired' porn star that is pregnant with the child of some dead rock star. She is now teaching a sex class and writing a book. Sound great, huh? Well, that's about all I got out of it.

It's a shame because there are a lot of people I like in the movie (Timothy Olyphant, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Malin Akerman), but the movie just didn't do anything for me. This movie is billed as a comedy, but I didn't find anything funny about this. It just dragged on and just wanted it to end.

This is another pass.

Horrible Bosses - Movie Review.

My this week in DVD is coming. I've just been lazy the past week with the holiday and all. Plus, that effing Transformers 3 review really wiped me out. I'm still thinking of reasons why I hated that movie. Anyway...

Okay, so this one is going to be quick because I just don't have all that much to say about it. Not in a bad way; there just isn't that much to talk about it. Horrible Bosses is a funny movie, but it seemed lacking to me. For a movie about 'horrible bosses', I could have used more actual horrible bosses. The bosses felt like they were shitty, but not so shitty that I wanted to kill them. They were more like the type you put up with for a few years at the most and then you just quit or job.

The 'horrible' bosses are played by Kevin Spacey, Colin Ferrell and Jennifer Aniston, who is especially hot in this movie and really needs to play more roles like this. I complimented Cameron Diaz for her role in Bad Teacher, but I think Jennifer Aniston here was better than Diaz in Bad Teacher. I'd like to see both of them continue to take roles that allow them to play against type. Kevin Spacey was good, but I've seen him do this role before in better movies. We also needed more Colin Ferrell, who only seemed like he was in a scene or two.

I just felt like the plot itself was kind of weak and you didn't really get enough motivation for why they actually wanted to kill their bosses. However, you don't watch a movie like this for plot. Is it funny? Fortunately, the answer is yes!

The movie reminded me of Pineapple Express for some reason. Horrible Bosses seemed kind of random to me, similar to how Pineapple Express was. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. I liked Pineapple Express, so I guess that's something to consider.

There are some funny parts here and I laughed out loud several times, but overall I felt like this wasn't anything special. Maybe my expectations were set a little too high. I'm hoping this is a movie where I'll pick up on different things when I eventually watch it again.

This is the typical type of movie I say to have drinks and watch with a group of friends.

Otherwise, it's a matinee at best.

Transformers 3: Revenge of the Dark Side of the Fallen Moon.

If you're wondering why I got the movie title wrong, or jumbled it all up, it's because that's about how I feel about the movie. Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon, really isn't a new movie at all. It's basically a mashup of the first two films, but somehow not consistent with either of them.

Yes, it's better than Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen, but it's worse at the same time. It's still insultingly bad at times and a jumbled mess, but at least it's not as offensive as Revenge of the Fallen. The reason why I say it's worse is because of all of Michael Bay and Shia the Beef's assertions that they understood that Revenge was bad and they promised that Moon would be better. However, instead of going back to the drawing board, they just reguritated the same shit. Saying that Transformers 3 is better than Transformers 2 is like saying that someone throwing up in your kitchen sink is better than someone throwing up on the kitchen floor, simply because it's easier to clean up. It's still someone throwing up where they shouldn't.

Normally, I have rules about spoiling movies, but I'm about to pick this movie apart. If you just want my recommendation, I'll give it here and you can stop reading. There are some entertaining action sequences and the effects are still pretty top notch. Even the 3D is pretty good. It's more of the immersive type of the 3D that adds depth, rather than the type of 3D where they just throw stuff at the screen.

The story and dialog are still pretty bad and the attempts of humor are just silly and childish at times. The movie is way too long at 2 hours and 30 minutes and the middle hour of this movie just drags on. Ultimately, it's just not all that satisfying and ends up being kind of boring.

If you have to see in the theater, do a matinee (3D isn't a waste) but honestly, it's a rental at best.

Spoilers ahead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is going to be a long one. Read on if you dare!

We begin the movie with a shot of the final days of the war on Cybertron. You see a Autobot ship trying to escape carrying Sentinel Prime, which is odd because Revenge of the Fallen explained that all of the remaining Primes killed themselves thousands of years ago protecting the Matrix of Leadership, but I guess those were different Primes or something. Anyway, this ship is carrying some special technology that is supposed to end the war. As the ship escapes, it's shot down and somehow manages to crash land on our Moon. Convenient huh? Anyway, us humans detect the crash landing and this is what actually starts the space race to get to the Moon. Which actually, isn't a bad premise.

I'm not sure why this is called the Dark of the Moon, as this doesn't actually occur on the 'dark side' of the Moon. Also, there is technically no dark side of the moon either, but I'm not going to get into that. The 'dark' of the Moon refers to the fact that once the astronauts land on the Moon, they go communications dark, so they can investigate the crashed ship. They find the ship, some dead robots and technology. I guess they took notes and brought some samples back, but whatever they brought back gets hidden away in somewhere and then they never go back to the Moon again. This seems kind of odd considering you just found advanced alien technology and robots. You'd think we'd go back as much as possible, even if all the missions were top secret.

Plus, after the government was clearly aware that Transformers had been running around on the Earth for two films, you'd think someone that was around when all of this happened might have decided to dust off those old, top secret files, but it just seems like everyone had forgotten about that whole Moon thing.

Also, don't Transfomers have advanced sensor technology or something? None of them couldn't have just scanned the Moon at any point looking for familiar energy signatures. It's weird how all of this ancient Transformer stuff keeps crash landing on the Moon and Earth in all of these films. You'd think they would know better by now.

Anyway, so after the whole Moon opening sequence, we are brought to the present day. The Decepticons are hiding again, and the Autobots have placed energon detectors all over the place to help sniff them out. Oh wait, there's the advanced sensor technology it seems they should have had all along. I guess they do have the ability to detect their own technology. Um...okay. I guess placing a few of these on the Moon before coming to Earth wasn't an option I guess.

The Autobots have nothing to do while the Decepticons are hiding, so they are still working with NEST and Josh Duhamel, who seems like he really had nothing to do in this movie. The Autobots are now helping the US government find terrorists and kill them. This seems like a pretty fundamental shift in Optimus Prime's philosophy, because in the last movie it seemed that he wanted no part sharing weapon technology with humans because of our capacity for war. I guess they don't have problems helping them kill terrorists though. Oh yeah, Optimus said in the first film that they don't harm humans, too. I guess that doesn't apply anymore. It's a good thing the Autobots landed in America then.

The Decepticons are hiding in Africa and Russia, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. Why aren't they using the base they had on Jupiter in the last film? Did they dismantle it for parts? Megatron is still beat up from the last movie, and wears a hood now. Again, I'm a little confused why he wasn't able to repair since you see other Transfomers able to reattach limbs and such. I'm also not clear as to why a giant robot would need to wear clothing. I don't think the hood is going to do much to disguise that fact that he's a GIANT EFFING ROBOT! I guess that's why he's in Africa hiding with all the wildlife. There aren't any humans around to notice. Not that a large truck transforming into a robot would stand out in the middle of a desert.

Anyway, the Autobots finally track down a Decepticon in Russia, who turns into a giant, metal sand worm thing that's like ten times the size of any Autobot. Why this thing can't kill any of the Autobots, I don't know. Seems like that's a pretty big tactical advantage. Anyway, during this fight, the Autobots recover a piece of the technology recovered from the Moon all those years back. Optimus recognizes it and gets pissed at the government for not sharing what they knew about them. They decide to go to the Moon to investigate for themselves, and this demonstrates one of the many issues I had with the movie, as they just casually show that the Autobots had a ship that could get them to the Moon. Where was this ship when the came to Earth in the first place? If you remember, in the first two films, the Transformers always crash landed on Earth in a proto-meteor form without being in a ship, so they obviously had a way to leave other planets without needing a ship, but not Earth I guess. Sigh...

They get to the Moon, recover a few pieces of technology and a not dead Sentinel Prime. Optimus uses the Matrix of Leadership, which as you remember from the last film revived the then dead Optimus Prime, but was also needed to operate the sun exploding machine. This Matrix of Leadership is quite handy. Sentinel explains that the advanced technology is for a space bridge that originally was somehow going to end the war, but now is somehow going to save Cybertron. I guess this is another Swiss army knife technology. Very creative these Transformers are. However, Sentinel explains that the technology they recovered was just a fraction of what they needed to make the space bridge and the rest of it is missing.

Now, it's time to hang out with The Beef. We catch back up with Sam Witwicky, who's living with his new model girlfriend in some giant apartment in DC that I'm not sure how either of them could afford considering he's unemployed. Also, they show that they met at the White House after Sam was given a medal by Obama. It seemed a little odd to me that a Brit would have a job in the White House and be in the next room over from the President. I guess they did a quick background check or something.

Sam is depressed because nobody realizes how great he is. He has saved the world twice, you know. His girlfriend and his parents (oh yeah, they're back, too) just want him to move on a get a friggin job. You see a sequence of job interviews where he acts like a spaz and it seems pretty clear why he can't get a job. Eventually, he gets hired by John Malkovich to work in a mail room. Sam seems irritated by this, as this is clearly a step down for someone with his skill set. You even get to seem him working. Fascinating, I know. I guess when you call a movie Transformers, you have to show looooong, boring sequences of some douchey kid working in a mail room, moping around his hot girlfriend's apartment and arguing with his dorky parents. Makes for a great movie.

Megan Fox has been replaced by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who is no actress, but I didn't think she was as awful as I thought she was going to be. It's not like Megan Fox was a good actress either. She plays a character named Carly, or is it Marly? I swear you hear characters say both names. It's like they started with one name, filmed a bunch of scenes, decided to change it and then when asked if they should go back and redub the dialog on those other scenes, Bay said, "Fuck it! Nobody will notice. My movies aren't about things like consistency!" Anyway, the movie starts with a very long shot of her legs and ass going up a flight of stairs, which should tell you about how she's going to be used in this movie. Several times during the movie, you get shots of her basically being shot like a stripper and various cast members ogling her. Again, what any of this has to do with giant robots, I don't know. Bay sure likes his strippers though.

Anyway, she works for McDreamy who is some kind of auto collector or something. I'm not really clear as to what he does, other than he seems to be after Carly and Sam doesn't like him. Jumping ahead, we eventually find out that McDreamy has been working with the Decepticons for years. For something supposedly so top secret, it sure seems like there are just a whole bunch of random people walking around with full knowledge of their existence and carrying around evidence of it and it's all unchecked by anyone.

The Decepticons appear to be mobilizing again and the Autobots don't know why. The government doesn't either, but something is clearly up. Fortunately, we have Sam Witwicky, who despite being told by the government to take a hike, decides to investigate this himself with the help of his old buddy Agent Simmons, played again by John Turturro. Agent Simmons, who was disgraced and working in a deli in the last film, is now super rich after writing a book about the Transformers. Again, I guess they don't put a gag order on former heads of top secret agencies. Simmons has a gay, German assistant, played by Alan Tudyk (who I actually thought was kind of funny). Tudyk is also some kind of super computer hacker, which obviously comes in handy. It seems like characters in Transformers movies are always conveniently adept at random things when the script calls for it.

Anyway, they figure out the plan, which was basically that the Decepticons had the rest of the space bridge technology and Sentinel Prime has been working with Megatron all along. Sentinel is the only person that can operate the space bridge, so Megatron needs him. I guess Megatron's deal with Sentinel was not known to the rest of the Decepticons as they were the ones that shot him down in the first place!

Early in the movie, Optimus offers the Matrix back to Sentinel, but he declines it, which now seems very odd to me, because if Sentinel was planning on betraying him all along, you'd think he'd want to hang on to this very handy tool. I guess he didn't have a need for it, despite that it can resurrect dead Transformers and control sun exploding machines.

So the Decepticons activate the space bridge where suddenly all of these dormant Decepticons awaken on the Moon and go through the bridge to get to Earth. I'm not sure why they needed the space bridge to get from the Moon to Earth. If you argue that maybe they couldn't fly, then how did they get to the Moon? Were they all on the crashed ship? But, then that would mean they were all working with Megatron, too, since they were all Decepticons. None of this makes any sense! Also, several of these dormant Decepticons are ships. They couldn't have just flown to Earth on their own?

Plus, why were they hiding all this time? There's like a hundred of them and like ten total Autobots. Seems like they could beat them just through sheer numbers. Are Deceptions that ineffective at fighting? Between their numbers and the giant sand worm thing, I'm having difficulty understanding why they are having such a hard time with such a small resistance. Ugh...this is maddening!

Anyway, the Decepticons demand the Autobots leave Earth, stating that they only want to harvest resources and then they'll leave Earth alone. So the Autobots pile into yet another huge spaceship that government knew about. Hell, they even grafted a space shuttle to it, so I guess it wouldn't look suspicious or something. Here we find Tyrese is no longer a soldier and working on the space ship, which he describes an easy job. Anyway, the giant, alien, space shuttle-ship takes off with all of the Autobots in it and then Starscream immediately shoots it down with ease. Oh noes! All the Autobots are dead! Spoiler alert: They aren't dead!

Now it turns out the new plan is to use the space bridge to bring Cybertron here, and enslave humans to help rebuild it. Why they think humans would make good labor over the giant robots, I don't know. Also, if their plan is to enslave humanity, then why do they start out by killing thousands of humans indiscriminately. I guess they don't need all of us. Also, I guess nobody understands that if you introduced a giant planet next to our planet, the gravitational forces alone would destroy our planet. It makes sense maybe from the sense of bringing the planet here to take over Earths orbit, but maybe I'm giving them too much credit.

Oh yeah, wasn't the plan in the last movie to destroy our sun for energy? They didn't seem to be too concerned with human slave labor that time.

Anyway, McDreamy kidnaps Carly and takes her into the city. He reveals that his master plan to help the Decepticons is simply to 'not die'. So Sam rounds up Tyrese and some of his old soldier buddies, including Terry Tate: Office Linebacker (No, I'm not kidding. He's in this.), to go into the city and rescue her. Which begins the hour long action sequence that ends the movie.

You'd have to wonder why a small force of humans would think they have much of a chance against the Decepticons. Even Tyrese wants to quit the second they get to the city, but humans have apparently become much more adept at killing Transformers with small weaponry. They don't seem to have any problem running right up to a Transformer, placing a bomb on his foot and running away. Hell, even The Beef is able to kill Starscream by himself. Yes, Starscream, second in command of the Decepticons in every version of the Transformers you've seen is killed by a bratty little kid that probably couldn't beat up your sister.

Oh, and by this point, the Autobots have returned saying they had to let all this happen, so we'd understand the Decepticons could not be trusted. I guess you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs, right Optimus? Anyway, now the Autobots are back to fight the Decepticons and off they all go.

The humans find Carly, and this begins this insanely long sequence of the metal sand worm tearing up the building they are in and the humans sliding around everyone. Once they finally get on the ground, instead of getting Carly to safety, they just let her hang around. She's walking around, with her bee-stung-lipped mouth all agape as stuff is blowing up all around her. She's not screaming or taking cover or reacting to it in any way. You know, like normal people would. Then again, cool guys don't run from explosions.

She somehow happens to find Megatron, who's just chilling out against a building. Seriously, during the huge battle, Megatron is just sitting up against a building. Carly is not intimidated by giant robots, so she just walks up to Megatron and talks shit to him for like half a minute saying that he's going to be Sentinel Prime's bitch. That's enough to make him turn his back on Sentinel Prime. I guess advanced alien robots aren't immune to a girl getting in your head.

So as Sentinel is about to kill Optimus, Megatron (surprise!) shows up and shoots Sentinel. Then Optimus, is then able to kill both Sentinel and Megatron by himself in about a minute. Oh, and Optimus did this with only one arm, as Sentinel cut off his other arm a few seconds ago.

They destroy the space bridge and this destroys Cybertron along with it. That sucks.

That's pretty much it for the story. I have a few other points I'd like to make. I could keep tearing this movie apart, but I'm getting exhausted. I'll do this bullet point style.

- Once again, the Transformers, outside of Optimus, don't really have any actual character traits and aren't developed at all. In the first Transformers, you got the feeling that they actually had personalities and were friends. By the second and third films, their only character traits are that they have funny accents.

- What happened to Jolt? Did he get killed between the two movies. It just seems like Bay just randomly adds and subtracts robots from these movies. On the Decepticon side, Barricade seems to have returned, after being completely MIA from the second film and from the final battle in the first film. I guess he just shows up when he wants to.

- Also, they kill two Autobots, in very undignified manners. You're only upset, because it's all so pointless. If the Autobots had been developed better, these deaths might have carried more weight. Every time they kill a Decepticon, you don't care. Half of them don't even have names. There's nothing compelling about any of them.

- Bumblebee still can't talk, despite that he could at the end of the first film. For an advanced alien race, it seems they have difficulty fixing minor things. I guess it's just not that much of a priority. Still, you'd think after like five years, they would have figured it out.

- The racist Autobot twins aren't here, which is a good thing, but they are unfortunately replaced with two mini robots with weird voices. One of them is Wheelie from the past movie, back with his bad NY accent, and now he's joined by another mini robot named Brains, I think, who also spoke with a weird accent. I'm not sure why he's called Brains as I didn't remember him saying or doing anything even remotely intelligent. He did turn into a laptop though. I think these two were meant as comedy relief, only they aren't funny at all.

- I don't know how Bay has directed three movies about giant robots, while not understanding what robots are. Throughout these movies, the robots drool, bleed, spit, have hair and some of it sheds. There was more of it in Revenge, but it's here in Moon as well.

- In the first Transformers, it is established that Megatron crash landed on Earth several thousand years ago when searching for the Allspark, and the Allspark had been on Earth since 10,000 B.C. I thought it was established that control over the Allspark is what started the war between the Autobots and Decepticons in the first place, and they had been searching for the Allspark for several thousand years apparently. It just doesn't seem consistent with Megatron being around to make a deal with Sentinel Prime in this movie. Also, the whole thing with The Fallen from Transformers 2 happened in 17,000 B.C., so it's not like they weren't aware of Earth. Granted, there could be issues with the time here, as could have taken the Transformers thousands of years to reach Earth, but I shouldn't have to come up with excuses for them. This should be explained by the story.

- Plus, it seems like a lot of this completely retcons Sector 7 from the first film. In the first film, Sector 7 is established in the 1930's when they found the Allspark and built the Hoover Dam around it. Even though Megatron was discovered by Archibald Witwicky in 1897, he's been hidden in the Hoover Damn since the 1930's as well. It would seem that Sector Seven would have been involved in the space race somehow and I believe it's even stated in the first film that NBE-1 had something to do with the space race. Again, this just doesn't seem consistent with their own mythology.

- It seems like it might have been a smarter move to bring back Rachael Taylor's character from the first movie as Sam's love interest in this one. Here's a character that already knows Sam and is familiar with the Transformers. Plus, she's a known computer whiz, so when the script called for someone to hack into a system, you would have had an established character with those skills in the movie without having to tack them on to Alan Tudyk's character. You could have even brought Anthony Anderson's character back as well. Show them working on a government team working with the Autobots or something.

Hopefully, this franchise gets a reboot in a few years, with a writing and directing staff that actually understands things like consistency, what a coherent story is, and how to write characters with actual personalities. Also, it would help if they understand what a robot is.

After all of this mess of a film, people APPLAUDED as it ended! Seriously? You watched this and enjoyed on that level? Maybe they were clapping ironically? I really hope this isn't how far we have fallen that this passes for applause-level movie entertainment. I shudder for our future and the future of movies if this encourages more shit like this. It's just like how I die a little inside every time another Friedberg and Seltzer movie has a good opening weekend.

At the end of this trilogy, I've come to the realization that the Transformers movies are not about the Transformers at all. They are more about humans and some entitled brat named Sam Witwicky. This fundamental flaw, well, that and the fact that these are Michael Bay movies, are why this franchise was doomed from the beginning. It just goes to show you that just because Steven Spielberg puts his name on a movie, it doesn't mean it's going to be good. In fact, I'm shocked that at no point during the last six years or so he didn't step in and try do something.

One final point I wanted to make is...

Sam Witwicky: Worst Character in Cinematic History.

Well, maybe not the worst. I still think Bella from the Twilight series holds that title, but Shia the Beef's Sam Witwicky is a close second. Here's why.

In the first Transfomers movie, he's actually a normal, nerdy kid. He's thown into this crazy adventure and his reaction to it all is pretty realistic. I don't have a problem with that. He's fast talking and does that stammering thing he does, but it's not to a ridiculous level. He helps save the day and gets the hot girl that out of his league. This a typical nerd becomes the hero story and it works for the most part.

In the second movie, Sam's going off to college. He still with Megan Fox, who seems to love him way more than he deserves, yet Sam can't bring himself to say he loves her back. I guess he thinks he can do better, or something. Despite that she tells him that she loves him, he seems to think she's ready to break up him any minute now. So what does he do? He blows her off on scheduled dates. Yeah, that'll keep her around. She's so concerned after being blown off, that she drives out to the school to see what's up with him. I guess that's proves his theory that she's ready to dump him, right?

Another thing is that he seems to be upset with the Transformers, Bumblebee in particular, for cramping his style. You'd think he's be pretty thrilled about being an 18-year-old with a bitching concept Camaro that is also a giant alien robot, but he's not. He wants to go on his own. Only, every time he's about to get his ass killed by a Decepticon, he's screams Bumblebee or Optimus at the top of his lungs. I think I counted at least four times in Revenge of the Fallen when he does this. The first time is particularly annoying as he screams for Bumblebee to save him and after he does, he immediately starts to chastise him for making a mess. Um...okay. Thanks for saving my life for like the third time, but you made a mess! Get back in the garage, you bad robot, you.

Besides the screaming he stammers incessantly. Watch Revenge of the Fallen and notice the number of times he doesn't even speak words, but just goes something like, "No no no no no!" or "Go go go go go!" I don't know if the script actually called for this, or this is just Shia's idea of acting, but it's annoying.

In Dark of the Moon, he's now just moping around with a sense of entitlement. He's somehow managed to meet yet another hot, model girlfriend despite being unemployed and a whiny bitch. He's upset that nobody appreciates that HE (by himself, apparently) has saved the world twice and loves to remind anyone that will listen. His parents don't care and his girlfriend doesn't care. They just want him to get a job and move on with his life. Nobody in the government cares. Hell, even the Autobots have moved on. They probably got tired of Sam acting like an ungrateful bitch after the last movie. He's living in the past and that is generally always the sign of a sad person.

He doesn't stammer as much in this movie, except for when he's spazing out during his job interviews, but he does scream and shout a TON once the action gets going. It's embarrassing.

By the third film, there is absolutely to like about Sam or identify with. You almost want him to die just so you know he can't possibly be in another one of these movies. Someone had suggested that it would have been a better movie had they just completely gotten rid of the character after the second film and made this about Josh Duhamel's character. That would have made a lot more sense to me.

Anyway, the blame for this can go all around. He was written terribly, directed terribly and acted terribly. One of the failures of these films centers around this character and how they made him an unlikable douche.

The End.

Last week in DVD through June 26th.

Red Riding Hood

What a piece of junk! It's like fairy tales for the Twilight-loving, tween generation. Shot on the set of a Renaissance Fair...well, that's what it feels like anyway. The movie feels very small and low budget. They literally only have like two or three sets in the whole movie.

I don't really need go into the story, as there isn't much of one here and most of you are already aware of Red Riding Hood. It stars Amanda Seyfried. That's about all you need to know. She likes some guy, but is supposed to marry another guy. What this has to do with anything, I don't know. You know this movie isn't going for seriousness when the main love interest for Amanda Seyfried's character shows up with his hair styled up with all kinds of hair gel, yet everyone else is dirty and grimy. I'm surprised he wasn't holding a bottle of Axe during scenes for product placement.

The whole movie just looked generic to me, and it's BOOOOORING. If the werewolf isn't there, then there just isn't anything to care about. Speaking of the werewolf, it was pretty awful looking anyway. It looked worse than the werewolves from Twilight. At one point it's just bounding around the town and you can't even tell what's going on. It's killing villagers indescriminately and you don't who any of them are and you don't care either.

This movie wastes the talents of Gary Oldman and Colonel Tigh from Battlestar Galactica. I have to wonder why someone like Gary Oldman would even be in this, but I guess actors have to eat. I think he tried to have a little fun with this, but there just isn't that much to work with. The acting and dialog are just bad all around. I actually didn't mind Amanda Seyfried here, but again, she's not given that much to do except look pretty. She just had the right look for a movie and role like this.

Also, the soundtrack was awful and distracting. The songs sounded like modern songs that had no place in a movie like this, but again, I'm sure it's that they were targeting the movie at tweens, so you need a modern soundtrack so you can sell it.

It's just clear this is a movie made to get tweens to see it and make money. They don't even try to tell a good story or get good performances out of anyone. The awfulness of this movie shouldn't be a surpise considering it was directed by Catherine Hardwicke, who directed the first Twilight film, and we all know how terrible that was. Also this was written by David Johnson, who is also writing the upcoming Clash of the Titans 2, so you know that's just going to be great now.

Oh and the ending is just terrible!

Pass on this.

The Other Women

Natalie Portman plays, here's a shocker for you, the other woman. Only she's really only the 'other woman' in a flashback. She's actually married to the guy at the start of the film. Then they go back and show you how they met, which was confusing, because they just randomly switch to a flashback that lasts for like 15 minutes. Unless maybe I blinked when they said x month/years ago or something. Then you find out that Portman and her new husband had a kid that died I guess or had a miscarriage, it's not clear at first, but finally explained later.

I felt like this was about a bunch of unlikeable people. There are times where it seems like everyone in the movie is an asshole, even the kid. Eventually, they tone it down, but overall there's just not that much to like here as far as the characters.

You get decent performances by Natalie Portman and Lisa Kudrow, who plays the 'original woman', but that's about it.

This was written and directed by Don Roos, who wrote Marley & Me and Single White Female, so I was expecting a little more here.

This is a pass for me.

Somewhere

Yes, it goes 'nowhere'...hahaha...we all get it! I've heard that joke like ten times. Seriously though, this really just goes nowhere at all.

Sophia Coppolla wrote and directed this, and I believe this is intended as a companion to Lost in Translation. The difference is that with Somewhere you don't care about the lead or much of what's going on. Where Lost in Translation starred a charming Bill Murray, here you get a blank Steven Dorff. You're kind of behind the eight ball right off the bat when you get Stephen Dorff as your lead. I don't dislike the guy, but he's just not all that interesting or distinguishable. In fact, I bet if you showed the average person pictures of Stephen Dorff and then Ethan Hawke, I bet most people would get them mixed up. Hell, I almost wrote this starred Ethan Hawke. Anyway, it's hard to buy this movie because of the lead.

It's about an actor, and you're under the impression that he's a hot commodity (which is why the Dorff casting doesn't make sense), that just seems bored with his life. He's bored with partying, acting, and women. Hell, he's even falling asleep during sex a few times. It seems like everyone kisses his ass, but nobody really likes him. About the only thing he seems to enjoy is his time with his daugther, played by Elle Fanning, who once again is the strongest thing about this movie. Superstar, I tell you!

It's not a bad movie, it's just not all that entertaining or something that you get emotionally connected with. I mean, I get what they were trying to do here, but I just don't see many people watching this and sympathizing with the main character at all. Oh, you're bored with being rich, famous and having women throw themselves at you. Poor baby! Yeah, I get how it would be boring after a while if that's all your life was, but still, cry me a river.

Watch on streaming or cable, but I wouldn't go out of your way to rent it.

Vanishing on 7th Street

Uh oh...another one of my favorites, Hayden Christensen, stars in this one, along with Thandie Newton and John Leguizamo. I actually didn't mind Christensen here, but this isn't exactly a movie you watch expecting great performances. It's a horror/thriller.

It's starts with an interesting enough premise. Basically, there's a rapture-like event where nearly everyone on Earth disappears, leaving only their clothing behind. The survivors figure out that people seem to only disappear when they are surrounded by darkness and any light source, even a small flashlight protects them. Somehow, whatever caused this, also caused all power to fail everywhere and also is causing the days to be shorter and shorter. They eventually all meet up in a bar that is powered by a gas powered generator and is basically the only safe place left in the city.

The issue I had is that nothing is explained. It's never really understood who is doing this. It's just shadows. You don't know the motivation, the cause and there's ultimately no resolution. How are shadow beings affecting the power? How are they making the days shorter? Why is any of this happening?

It is kind of creepy in parts, especially if you have issues with the dark or shadows. I wasn't terribly invested in anyone in the film. Although, there was a short moment at the end that tugged my heart strings a bit, but that involves a kid who's only in the movie for a moment.

This actually feels like something that could have been a TV movie or just an episode of a show like the Twighlight Zone. It's kind of interesting that this was directed by Brad Anderson, who has mostly worked on TV shows, so I guess that explains the TV feel.

Ultimately, I'd only recommend watching this if you catch it streaming or on cable. It's available streaming on Netflix, which is about as far as I'd go out of my way to watch it.

Cedar Rapids

Ed Helms plays an insurance salesman from a small town. He's a sweet guy, but very sheltered. It becomes pretty clear that he's never been outside of the small town he lives in. He's sent to a work conference in Cedar Rapids, which for him is like a normal person going to the big city for the first time, except at the end of the day, it's still just Cedar Rapids. At first he seems to have a hard time acclimating and relating to everyone, but eventually losens up, makes friends and eventually finds himself.

If it feels like I'm kind of just glossing over the the plot, it's because the plot of this movie really isn't the point. It's more about the characters and their interactions. The story itself really isn't all that interesting, but the characters are.

Fans of either John C. Reilly or Ed Helms should like this. The rest of the cast, is great as well. There are many recognizable actors here that show up and bring a little something to the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed this. It had a great cast, it's funny, sometimes sweet, with a little bit of raunch (mostly provided by John C. Reilly), but it's not over the top with it. However, I can see people not liking this. It's one of those comedies that's a little different and I can see it not being liked by everyone.

This one is a good rental for me.

Brotherhood

Here's a simple one for you. This is basically about a fraternity prank gone wrong. Once the mistake is made, the frat boys continue to compound bad decision after bad decision. They keep doing stupid things to avoid getting in trouble, save for the one character that wants to do the right thing, but he still kinds of screws up himself.

If you want to see frat-boy douches screw up, then you'll like this all the more.

It has pretty good performances, despite it starring essentially a bunch of unknowns. Also, it's only about 80 minutes long, so it doesn't drag on too long and you don't have to invest a lot of time in this one.

This was written and directed by Will Canon and it looks like this was his first feature, so hopefully we can expect good things from him in the future.

I think it's worth a rental.

Ceremony

The main character, played my Michael Angarano, who appears to be an unsuccessful children's book writer, attempts to rekindle a friendship with an old best best and they take a road trip. However, it becomes clear the the main character is just a fast talking dude that was really masking the trip as a chance to sneak into a wedding to stalk Uma Thurman's character, whom he had a short fling with.

His best friend is a nice enough guy, but also the kind of guy that always lets a stronger friend or personality walk all over him, which happens here a lot. At times you want to sympathize with him, and later you might not like him for not standing up for himself enough. This is the thing I always have an issue with in a lot of Ben Stiller movies.

At times Angarano's fast talking character is amusing, and at other times I didn't like him cause he seemed like too much of a user. The drunk brother played by Jake M. Johnson was the bright spot for me. I thought he was consistently funny. It was also funny seeing Lee Pace (Pushing Daisies) playing kind of arrogant ass in this, but he's not in it much.

It's really uneven for me. There are times I thought it was funny and times I couldn't stand either of the main characters. This was written and directed by Max Winkler, and this also appears to be his first feature, so maybe he'll improve over time. It just seems like he wasn't quite sure what kind of movie he wanted to make here.

This is also probably not worth going out of your way to rent, but if you catch it on cable, it wouldn't be a complete waste of your time.

The Eagle

Master thespian Channing Tatum plays a Roman centurion who goes on a mission to find...you guessed it...an Eagle. Actually it's a golden eagle standard, which is a symbol of Roman honor and was lost by his father years ago. As his father lost this symbol of honor, Tatum's family honor has been tarnished and he's on a mission to restore it and prove that his father was not a coward. As it's too dangerous to take an actual force into Northern Britain, he decides to go only with the aid of his Briton slave, played by Jamie Bell.

This has some brutal fight scenes, but it's really not that bloody. Also, the fight scenes are a little few and far between. There are lots of scenic shots and all, but I was hoping for more action. It's just a little too slowly paced for me.

I'll give Tatum credit. At least he's trying. He's still got a long ways to go before being a good actor though. I thought it was weird that all of the actors spoke in American accents, even though most of the actors were English. I don't know if this was an intentional decision or forced by the fact that you cast Channing Tatum as your lead and he probably can't pull off the accent. It was just distracting. Oh Mark Strong (Sinestro from Green Lantern) is in this briefly and is almost unrecognizable. Seems like a waste of a good actor.

This was directed by Kevin Macdonald, who directed The Last Kind of Scotland and State of Play, which I both really liked. I was a disappointed in this as a result.

It's not bad, but there's just nothing to get excited about. As I mentioned above, there isn't enough action, and you really don't care about any of the characters one way or another.

I suppose there are worse things you can rent, but I wouldn't go out of your way. If you get it on streaming or cable, then I'd go that route.

The Tree of Life - Movie Review

Before I start, I'd like to give a little shout out to The Vine Theater and Alehouse in Livermore where I saw this. It's funny, I lived in Livermore for about 10 years and never once went to The Vine. It was a old theater that showed first run movies, when there were much newer and better theaters in the area. A few years back (I think after the new Livermore Cinemas opened), The Vine retooled the place into more of an art-house theater, but partnered with the Zephyr Grill next door. You can order food, and they have good beers on tap. I watched The Tree of Life while sipping on a pint of one of my favorite beers, Arrogant Bastard by Stone Brewery.

On to the movie...

It's funny that The Vine had a sign on the door that said, "No refunds or vouchers for The Tree of Life are given if you don't enjoy it or don't get it." That's your warning right there.

This is the latest movie by Terrence Malick, who also did The New World and The Thin Red Line. He's known for visually stunning, but somewhat polarizing movies. I don't think The Tree of Life will change that reputation.

So what is The Tree of Life about? Well for me, it was about life itself, and about family. The central story follows a single family, with the parents played by Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain. There's very little dialog to this movie. A lot of it is muted and even the narration is sometimes whispered to the point where you might not hear what is being said. As a result, you might find it hard to follow at points, but for the most part the story is told with the visuals.

As I have sort of hinted at, at times The Tree of Life can be a bit confusing to follow. I wouldn't blame anyone for not understanding what is going on when watching this. I took a bit to get into it. The first ten minutes or so for me were kind of a mess. Then, it launches into a good 30 minutes of a Discovery Science episode about the universe and the planet. This sequence is beautiful to watch, and I love science stuff, so I didn't go nuts, but I found myself wondering what I was watching. After the Discovery Science episode, you go back to the following the family. You see the birth of children, them growing up, and how they are raised.

During this sequence is where Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain really shine. Pitt plays a very stern father, but I still felt like he was trying to love and teach his kids. I really got a lot out of emotion out of Chastain's performance. Jessica Chastain, who appears to be from the Bay Area, hasn't been in much that I'm aware of, but with performances like hers, I expect her to be in a lot more stuff moving forward.

The movie is beautiful, with some interesting camera work. The score for me was also very appropriate and haunting at points.

However, I wasn't as emotionally invested in this as I wanted to be or thought I was going to be going in. At times there were moments that were very real and easy to identify with, but there were also moments where I felt lost. Maybe I'm just an idiot. This is one of those movies that I think is going to mean different things to different people and affect everyone differently.

Unless you live close to a theater that is playing The Tree of Life, I wouldn't make a huge effort to see this in the theater. It's not that it's bad, I just think this is something that is better suited to seeing at home.

I'm going to give this a rental.