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"The Tree of Life"

I'm in the minority on this one. Yet when it comes to big questions about life and death, I'd rather watch "Melancholia" 20 more times--after which I'd still have new questions and thoughts--than see Terrence Malick's long, twinkly, superficial "poem" about family and the universe once more. Did the part of "Guy who pouts and walks around a lot" really require an actor on the level of Sean Penn?

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xshep1969 at 12:29 PM December 23, 2011

Thank you for speaking truth in the face of critical pieties. I agree that "Melancholia" is twenty times better and more existentially satisfying than the fairly-tale happily-ever-after-life ending pretentiously peddled by "Tree of Life." You also put your finger on problems with films I liked -- "Moneyball" and "Senna" -- but felt unarticulated qualms, i.e., they could have been better. Thanks, anonymous RedEye reviewer.