The Tree of Life

  
NOTE: This is the first of the ten Best Picture Nominees for the 2012 Academy Awards I am reviewing in my And the nominees are..... series. Hoping to get to see and review all the nominees before the telecast on February 26th.

NO STARS - The sky is black on this one.

I really did give it my all when watching this movie people, but in the end, it just did not work out for me at all.  I can still remember seeing the trailer for the first time and thinking, wow this movie looks beautiful.  And I thought it had the whole dark, dysfunctional family thing going which is one of my favorite themes in movies, and of course it has one of my favorite actors of all time: Brad Pitt.  So, we've all seen movies where after they were over, we told ourselves and/or others, "There's three hours of my life I will never get back."  So, there ya go.

Honestly, just go to he IMDB page to look up the synopsis and watch the trailer. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478304/  I really wouldn't know where to begin.  I can give it my best shot though.  It begins with Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain playing parents to two little boys in the 1950's.  Then it fast forwards to present day, where one of the boys, played by Sean Penn, is apparently hating his life. Then, and this is no lie whatsoever, we are taken to at least an hour worth of images from the beginnings of Earth, including dinosaurs roaming the land.  Now, I really did open my mind for The Tree of Life and I really dug deep and tried to channel my inner deep, dark, I am more enlightened than you will ever be, coffee drinking, non-bathing, banning anything mainstream in my life because it actually makes sense goth child but, alas, in the end it did not work.  Sorry people, I need to bathe and I do enjoy a good summer blockbuster.  I do understand what director Terrance Malick (awesome director of The Thin Red Line but also a known recluse) is trying to say with the film but I just wish the execution was a bit different, maybe some actual dialogue and not just the background voices would have been nice.

However, this is certainly all my opinion because the movie has won a number of awards already and it is now nominated for Best Picture by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (Oscars).  But I am sad to say, even with the beautiful images and awesome cast, this tree should fall on Oscar night.

Thank you and see you at the next blog.