Film Review: "The Tree of Life" (***1/2)

With the Cannes Film Festival landscape all wrapped up now, one could say that the festival hasn't truly ended yet. After all, the films that appeared there will continue to trickle into release over the next several months, and the feeling still inevitably lingers long after that. I remember last year's festival as a potent memory, and in fact last year was such a dynamic year in cinema that couldn't possibly be ignored or overlooked. And in the several months that passed after that, I became specifically jaded against Terrence Malick's "The Tree of Life". Mind you, that was a very negative time for me personally, and not necessarily the best time to be writing up film reviews.

Truth is, I never gave Malick's film a chance in the first place. I never really payed attention to it beyond the first screening, and in the several months that passed I allowed my view of the film to become distorted. I wanted it to be so, which kind of gave me a leg out of the hoopla that many found themselves in. The film registers different perspectives from nearly every person who sees it, which challenged me in a way I wasn't ready for. I'm a rather selfish moviegoer, and I expect a film to be something specific, even if it isn't my something. I just couldn't pin down the film, in all its ethereal mist, and it led me to landing on what seemed like a definitive condemning mark: Pretentious.

Ranking 2011's Oscar Nominated Films

I've had the feeling that I saw less Oscar nominated movies this year than in previous years. Not so. In fact I feel less complete in Oscar knowledge this year than in previous years when I had seen more films nominated. This year, it scales out to 24, only 5 of which I'd profess to truly love, and only one of those is nominated where it most matters. "Drive" only has one nomination to its name. The worst film I saw of the bunch, until today, was "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2", and it has three, which I suppose is somewhat deserving, but it only repeats the Academy's favoritism towards glitzy, gaudy, and obvious.

If nothing else, this gives me an outlet for ranking some of the other films that didn't make the cut past the top 20. I have no doubt people will think I'm crazy in ranking "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" above "The Tree of Life", "The Descendants", and "The Adventures of Tintin", but for the life of me I had more of an experience in Michael Bay's rampant actioner than I did with those that rank lower than it. Anything lower than 20, I did not like, so the majority of the films nominated that I've seen, I do enjoy them. I think that they are rather good. It doesn't change the fact that there are better films out there that simply aren't being represented here, and that's a shame.

And Here We Go: Final Oscar Predictions

In officially nailing down my final predictions, or in other words, the bets I'm going to be calling on Oscar night, I realized something rather fortunate. In the context of most of these categories, I'm rather fine with the winners. I rather love "The Artist", for all its wit and mindful pastiche, and it certainly stirred emotions in me a great deal more than any of the other contenders this year. I'm sure there are categories in which I'd rather "The Artist" win, but I don't have it down. The primary one, for me anyway, is cinematography, but I'm going to play the optimist in saying that the faith so many have put on "The Tree of Life" all season hasn't been wasted.

But I even have "The Artist" down for Original Screenplay, echoing the choice the BAFTAs made. I imagine that they're not going to look too superficially at it as undeserving because it's a silent film. And yes, I'm assuming "Midnight in Paris" will go home emptyhanded. Much as I enjoyed it, that's something I expect to happen. The performance categories are irreversible at this point, almost depressingly so in terms of that search for surprise. But let's reflect, shall we? This year, 82-year-old Christopher Plummer, who had not been nominated until last year, will receive his first, and deserving, Academy Award.

It'll be the first time two black actresses win in the same year, the second time two black performances win in the same year, but the first time the two winners would be from the same film. The first time was between Forrest Whitaker of "The Last King of Scotland" and Jennifer Hudson of "Dreamgirls". I don't mean to make it seem like more than it is, but this year is distinctly less prejudicial against race, age, or nationality. After all, a French comedy filmed silent and in black and white is about to sweep the major categories, and land Jean Dujardin with an Oscar. Maybe it's worth noting it as the first time a French man wins Best Actor. I think it is.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Best Picture

This is the absolute last race that anybody wants to talk about, because we all know inevitably what it's going to be. "The Artist" is going to win, and I still feel decidedly undecided in respects to that win. Why the hell do I feel that way? Because even though I love "The Artist" more than any other film in this category, I am still rather looking for some kind of adventurous buzz from the Oscars. I want something exciting to happen that will radiate vibes and talks to be bandied about for weeks. For several weeks, I did not have a film that I really wanted to champion. I look at the list of nine, and I honestly don't care enough about really any of them. Not even "The Artist".

Then last Friday I revisited "Moneyball", Bennett Miller's math-behind-baseball film that was well liked back in September, but lost its heat since then. It's easy to flash an indifferent eye its way, and in fact in many other situations I would. But I keep on circling back to a line that I believe defines the situation that the Academy Awards happen to be in right now. "I know these guys. I know the way they think, and they will erase us. And everything we've done here; None of it will matter." In going across every single category, I find the films that will win are never the ones I'd want. I don't have any feeling of satisfactions about the group that the Academy assembles as the best in these particular fields.

That's where I get off sore. "Moneyball" is a film that's entirely about the undervalued, and it's been greatly undervalued time and again this year. Mind you, it's far from my favorite film of the year, and in fact it didn't even crack the honorable mentions with me. I just adore the message it would send if it did win that impossible win. But I suppose I can't feel too bad about my favorite film of the bunch, "The Artist", winning on Sunday either. I just get annoyed with what they've fill the categories with this year. There is a far better group of nominees that have been criminally overlooked in this particular year. It seems so easy to make the right decision, but this year they just fouled up as hard as ever.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Director

I know that not a lot of people want Michel Hazanavicius to win, but setting aside their love for any number of the other directors below, did any of them do really extraordinary work? Not in the slightest. Woody Allen has never been one of directorial brilliance. His films are often reliant on his writing and the actors at work. Terrence Malick comes close, as you can't help but respect the ideas he has being thrown around, even if they don't align specifically with you. Scorsese's direction, though often lovely, is utterly inert this time around, and we don't get any of the flare he gave us in the past. And Alexander Payne? Seriously? Do we even have to discuss this? It's Hazanavicius' relatively extraordinary and playful direction that takes the championship here.

OSCAR 2011 PREDICTIONS: Cinematography

I'd rather like to think that this race isn't as up in the air as it actually is. I suppose any one of the films nominated could take it with good reason. Sure, "Tree of Life" has all the precursors going for it, and it probably should win in a decent world. Despite my reckless indifference to it, it is the most cinematographically sound film this year. But there's also the massive following on "Hugo" that could prove to sweep the crafts categories. There's buzz going for "The Artist", which as far as brilliant framing is concerned is the most deserving of the group. And some people may just think "War Horse" is just so pretty. To an obnoxious degree it is. There are two ways that this award SHOULD go, but as per usual, I'm not certain it will.

WILL WIN: "The Tree of Life"

COULD WIN: "Hugo"

SHOULD WIN: "The Artist"

SHOULD REALLY WIN: "Shame"

OSCAR 2011: My Reaction to the Academy Nods

Consider this your epic good-news-bad-news session, because a lot of people are salting their wounds with small nuggets of good tidings in this morning's Oscar nominations. We'll start from the bottom and work our way up to a crescendo of violence and anger, as per usual. As far as the shorts categories go, the only thing worth mentioning is that "La Luna", Pixar's latest short and sole nomination this year. It's nice to see that they haven't completely lost touch with their heart. However, I have no idea what got into the Doc branch's heads. I haven't even heard of most of them, and while I heard good things about "Pina", what dingus' gave the pass to "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory"?

The Animated Feature nods embellished what I wouldn't have much of a problem catching up with, like films such as "Chico and Rita" and "A Cat in Paris". "The Adventures of Tintin" was the biggest surprise omission, as the Academy clearly doesn't consider it animation, nor should they. And I'd just like to give them a hand for not nominating "Cars 2". They could have gone wrong a great deal there, but they steered clear of that bullet. Unfortunately they also took a detour straight into a bomb. Nothing greater to report beyond "A Separation" in Foreign Language, as most worth mentioning were already discounted last week with the shortlist of nine.

AWARDS 2011: "Hugo" Leads the Oscar Nods

Well, that could have gone a great deal better, couldn't it. I'm not happy about the Oscar nominations, but I'll save the endless rant till much later today. There's much work be done here. Until then, grind out your own grievances against this slate of nods while I go off in the corner and cry for an hour.

Best Picture

"The Artist"
"The Descendants"
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
"The Help"
"Hugo"
"Midnight in Paris"
"Moneyball"
"The Tree of Life"
"War Horse"

Indiewire's Survey Rises Above Precursors

In case you haven't noticed, I've all but abandoned the precursor season, at last for the time being. Why? Because I'm just sick of it. I'm tired and bored, not because it's so repetitive, but because it's so repetitive for films I just don't care about. I'm in a weird place regarding "The Artist", because it looks nice, but I'm not sure it looks good anymore. Nice does not constitute good. So I am glad that Indiewire has at least been able to partially return me to sanity with their survey. Do I agree with their top-tier assertion of "The Tree of Life"? Absolutely not! I get more and more ornery about it every second of my life that goes on. But what's great about it is that it raises interest towards the films that still don't have distribution. Somebody fix that already!

Best Film:

1. The Tree of Life
2. Melancholia
3. A Separation
4. Drive
5. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives

AWARDS 2011: Broadcast Film Critics nominations hit

If I'm pretty damn far behind the beat, it's because more important things in real life have taken up the place of my attention span, however cramped it may be. So now I get along to the BFCA nominations, which remain a mere glyph for what the Oscars might be. The nods are mostly predictable in the vein of what you'd expect. The only thing really worth raising a glass to is Nick Nolte being nominated for supporting actor for "Warrior". Still need to see that one, but I've heard solid things going for the man.

BEST PICTURE
The Artist
The Descendants
Drive
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

AWARDS 2011: San Francisco votes up "Tree of Life"

Is anybody else getting severely tired of these critics awards? I need a long break to regain my sanity after being numbed by repressive output. If nothing else, San Francisco made a great deal of more than just solid choices for their branch of critics. Sure, "The Tree of Life" reminded us once again of how blindly supportive its followers are, but in the film's defense there is heart to it. It's just buried under a heap of misguided non-narrative detour. Other than that, specifically in the performance branches, they get a lot of things right. It's nice to see Gary Oldman finally pick up an award, and it's even nicer to see Tilda Swinton continue on her march to the Oscars.

BEST PICTURE: “The Tree of Life”

BEST DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick, “The Tree of Life”

BEST ACTOR: Gary Oldman, “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”  

BEST ACTRESS: Tilda Swinton, “We Need to Talk About Kevin”

AWARDS 2011: LA Critics skew towards Malick

And finally ending the day of hasty awards recognizance, the Los Angeles critics managed to differ in a few slight ways from the rest of the general pot. Examples? "The Artist" isn't even in sight. In its place isn't so much as the rising "Hugo", but the still present "Tree of Life". Malick's film caught quite a few wins this time around. Other notable surprises. The Chemical Brothers won best original score for "Hanna", which is a no-brainer now that it's been brought back to our attention thanks to the wonderful LA critics. Also surprising? Yun Jung-hee won Best Actress for "Poetry". Certainly an obscure won, but who isn't happy about that? Take a look at the full list of winners and runners up after the jump!

BEST PICTURE: "The Descendants"

-Runner-up: "The Tree of Life"

BEST DIRECTOR: Terrence Malick ("The Tree of Life")

-Runner-up: Martin Scorsese ("Hugo")

AWARDS 2011: NY critics land on "Artist" & "Bridesmaids"

The New York Film Critics Online, the last film awards of the day to start was the shortest to conclude. A lot of the same going on, with another win for Albert Brooks in "Drive", further wins for "The Artist", a push for Michael Shannon in "Take Shelter", another "Tree of Life" cinematography win, and a surprising second award of the day for Melissa McCarthy for "Bridesmaids". Color us surprised, but I'm still guessing she won't make it into the Oscar shortlist. Just simple bias.

BEST PICTURE: "The Artist"

BEST DIRECTOR: Michel Hazanavicius ("The Artist")

BEST SCREENPLAY: "The Descendants"

BEST ACTOR: Michael Shannon ("Take Shelter")

BEST ACTRESS: Meryl Streep ("The Iron Lady")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Albert Brooks ("Drive")

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Melissa McCarthy ("Bridesmaids")

BEST ENSEMBLE: "Bridesmaids"

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMER: Jessica Chastain ("The Tree of Life", "The Help", "Take Shelter")

BEST ANIMATED FILM: "The Adventures of Tintin"

BEST DOCUMENTARY: "Cave of Forgotten Dreams"

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: "A Separation"

BEST DEBUT DIRECTOR: Joe Cornish ("Attack the Block")

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: "The Tree of Life"

BEST USE OF MUSIC: "The Artist"

Carpet-Bagging: Visual Effects Race Down to 15

The Oscar races are cracking down towards their endgame, with the longlist for the visual effects race finally announced. I'm not sure there are many notable absences from this list, but though it's no surprise that "Melancholia" isn't here, I personally have deeper appreciation for the visual effects in that film than sure-to-be-nominated "The Tree of Life". Yes, Lars' visuals are less "real", but that's most of what clinches them for me. But I didn't expect them to make the cut anyway, so lets move on to what is most definitely not going to end up nominated. I think we can rule out "Captain America", "Cowboys & Aliens", "Pirates", "Real Steel", "Sucker Punch", "Super 8", and "Thor".

From there I can narrow it down by axing "Sherlock Holmes", "Mission: Impossible", and "X-Men: First Class". The automatic response is "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2", "Hugo", "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", "The Tree of Life", and "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen". But again, this could all change ever so quickly. Check after the jump for the full list of potential candidates.

• Captain America: The First Avenger
• Cowboys & Aliens
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Hugo
• Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Real Steel
• Rise of the Planet of the Apes
• Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
• Sucker Punch
• Super 8
• Thor
• Transformers: Dark of the Moon
• The Tree of Life
• X-Men: First Class

Carpet-Bagging: Before the gates open

We are in the last seconds of the pre-awards season, with the New York Film Critics Circle just on the edge of announcing their victors. We can be ready for a handful of surprises when we see exactly where the critics actually swing in their decisions. At the same time, don't be disappointed if the cards land exactly where we expect them to. The current frontrunners are still "The Artist", "The Descendants", and now effectively "War Horse". The trailer placed it as a winning and simple crowdpleaser several months ago, and even then I knew this was a lock for a nod. If you know me well enough, that also means I despised it quite fervently.

It's not that it's not pretty, but I have a much stronger pull to see the stage play and all its unique design elements than this relatively simple and straightforward exercise in spine-chilling. In the meantime, I continued my general cynicism against "The Descendants", which it's a shame when you employ such against an Alexander Payne film and not for it. I quite liked "Sideways", but I can feel the strands that were leading Payne towards this sort of conclusion. George Clooney is the frontrunner in the Best Actor race, and I doubt that's likely to deflate. Who's going to come in and steal the spotlight?

Jean Dujardin? As interesting an idea as that might be, he's pretty much just a nominee here, in the same vein as Christoph Waltz came along in 2009. He's bound to get a lot of offers after this film, and maybe one of them will bring him back around here, but he's not going to gallop away with this one. "The Artist", in the meantime, does have a strong inclination towards Best Picture, but the closer an opportunity it becomes, the less I see in it. It's really starting to seem more disingenuous a treat than the trailer lets on. 150 seconds conveys perhaps everything that the 90 minute film does, if my cynical non-viewer take on it proves fruitful enough.

So what else has shifted? Well, in case you hadn't noticed, the entire Best Picture race has skewed to becoming almost entirely sweet and obnoxiously endearing, even beyond the three frontrunners. I've already lamented about "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close", but I have even more reason to complain now that "Hugo" has entered the conversation quite boldly in comparison. That does give me pause enough to question why I didn't see it while I had the chance over Thanksgiving, but even more over the overlap of the two films' plots. They're practically the same, with the core difference being that Scorsese's film uses breathtaking technologies in a way it's not been seen before and as a tool to give tribute to the past. Stephen Daldry's film is trying to yank those tears out of your eyes in the most manipulative and predictable of ways.

AWARDS 2011: Gotham Award Nominations favors "Descendants"

The awards season has finally gotten rolling with the Gotham Independent Film Awards' nomination announcement. Despite my malign of the predictions period, I really do enjoy the awards circuit, seeing what films make the cut, and what films don't. These nominees are the perfect example of such, with "The Descendants" starting its likely undeserving awards run by picking up three nominations here. "Beginners" and "Take Shelter" both doubled up in the Best Feature and Ensemble.

However, the two most surprising developments came from the Best Feature race. Mainly "Martha Marcy May Marlene" being an odd omission and "Meek's Cutoff" instead sneaking in there. Not sure I could have called that. And "The Tree of Life" got in there, but it's a slow start to what could be an extremely fortunate awards run. Glad we're finally starting things off, if a bit slowly. Excited to see what's next.

BEST FEATURE

• "Beginners"
• "The Descendants"
• "Meek's Cutoff"
• "Take Shelter"
• "The Tree of Life"

Carpet-Bagging: Holding out for a frontrunner

Every single year it feels like the scope of the Academy Awards becomes far more narrow in focus, and considerably less dangerous. Remember that landmark four-punch of "The Departed", "No Country for Old Men", "Slumdog Millionaire", and "The Hurt Locker"? I fear those glory days are behind us. Although I may hopefully be wrong, as there's still no clear winner as of yet. Even this time last year, "The Social Network" and "The King's Speech" were set as the ones to beat, with favor put in the latter's arena. Right now there's a lot of favor put in the arena for "The Artist" which, as charming as it looks, seems so soft and safe. Then again, I'm not entirely sure you'd expect anything else from it.

"The Descendants" too, while gaining an array of well sought adoration from Telluride audiences, is Alexandre Payne's kindest film to date, taking on a subject less cynical than he has in the past. And not to piss off any of my Hawaiian readers, but the Hawaiian locale has never been much of a compelling backdrop. I've heard plenty saying George Clooney gives his best performance to date in the film, and he will definitely be a name we hear a lot of in the months to come. It's just that I have a layer of hesitation about the film's chances when it comes to going for the win.

It does seem a tad early to talk about winners, but the race is usually over far enough before the actual telecast. "True Grit" came into the game too late to make enough news for even one win, and "Another Year" scarcely got a single nomination. Both that and its frontrunner status put "War Horse" in the position for a fall. It could be one of those things that swoops in and becomes the film of the moment, but I doubt it.

Carpet-Bagging: The Big & Loud Bracket

I'm officially kicking off this official segment to discuss any and all things Oscar and awards related, as last year was very loose with its designation. I'm still not into making predictions until September is well underway. In fact, I don't feel comfortable making guesses on films I haven't had the chance to see yet. The only mildly certain bet I can place is that Alexandre Desplat will be nominated in Best Original Score again, and he will, in all likelihood, not win. As far as what I've already seen, I wouldn't say his work on "A Better Life" has much traction, but he may find an unexpected push in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2".

In spite of my downtrodden pan of the film nearly a month ago, his score had me padding my eyes quite a few times. Unfortunately, it was whilst I was at home listening to it, wishing the film had only lived up to it. Talking of the massive blockbuster of the summer, Warner Bros. is clearly intent on a Best Picture push for their biggest cash-cow of the year. While I doubt it will get the 5% of the votes needed to secure a nomination, and sincerely hope that's the case, the film has insurmountable box office power and a frankly unbelievable critical backing to boot. It could get enough of a passionate vote to make it in.

However, I expect it to find more success in the technical categories, which I'd be so happy about if they weren't so poor this time out. Desplat's score is the best of the series, and that's the biggest recommendation I can push. However, I had nothing but contempt for the stale and obvious approach to the cinematography, and only a little less for the visual effects. They were competent most of the time, but the broomstick scenes in the Room of Requirement are the worst visual effects I've seen in the entire series. Art Direction is almost guaranteed, and it's been the film's strongest player in past years. No acting, directing, or writing accolades to be nominated here.