Transformers 3 is a Patriotic Powerhouse of Summer Excitement!

At any given point in a "Transformers" film there is a situation where Optimus Prime gets into fighting stance and issues some tough guy (robot?) line along the lines of "Let's rock" or "Let's finish this Megatron!" If you buy the fact that there is a talking truck with a weapon in the middle of a street getting his John Wayne on then chances are the other stuff (sensical plot, "acting") is secondary to the thrill ride. And boy is "Dark of the Moon" a wild ride.

Shot in 3D by action cinema God Michael Bay the film follows the friendly American Autobots as they fight another Decepticon attack. This new threat involves NASA cover ups, evil human counter-parts on earth, and the invasion of Chicago. Watching the incredible action in the film, it's clear that Michael Bay saw "Avatar" and said....."Ohhhh yeah that's pretty cool Jim...but you know what audiences like better than blue aliens in 3D...Optimus Prime fighting Megatron in 3D!" Bay is already an incredible technical director and even though this is his first time directing in 3D...visually the film is breathtaking. The sound design is chest rattling as well.

What makes the film enjoyable though is the fact that Bay clearly took what didn't work from the previous films and fixed them. Shia who in the past films was kind of passerby to robot insanity, now has to deal with another human who is on the decepticon side. The commandos who in the past just looked good and yelled now have some awesome sequences where they fight (and win) against the robots. And finally the robot battle scenes with the bots are easier to follow and have some real stakes with notable characters dying surprising deaths (lotta robot blood here).

Ultimately though the film wouldn't exist without director Michael Bay. This is the film where he really comes into his own not only as a director, but as a true cinematic auteur. Themes of patriotism, courage, and peace through superior firepower are rampant. There is the obligatory spinning camera shot, the shot of the babe in the midst of the chaos, and rapid fire but still comprehensible editing. Simply put the guy is a legend, the movie kicks ass, and if you want to be entertained go to the multiplex, get a coke and popcorn and enjoy it. When you get it out....enjoy the 4th of July....it's what Michael Bay and Optimus Prime would want you to do!

Buckle up for Transformers 3!!!

I'm so insanely hyped for this movie it's not even funny. It literally could be robots fighting for 2.5 hours and I would love it (I expect it to be). This video is correct...MICHAEL BAY owns. If you don't agree go back to your Wes Anderson... hippie.

Another Sunday.....Another Excellent HBO Show

Hard to believe just last week, "Game of Thrones" was ending and I was depressed that I had a long wait until it returned in 2012. And then Sunday rolled around we had a brand new episode of "True Blood." Say what you will about the season opener, but the show is trashy, funny, and....way more enjoyable than most network dramas. And that's what HBO is really all about: Quality.

It seems like from now to the end of time there will be shows that I want to watch on HBO. When "True Blood" ends, viewers will have a new season of comedies "Entourage" and "Eastbound n' Down" to look forward to. And then there is "Luck," which has gotten a shockingly minuscule amount of press. From "Deadwood" creator David Milch and action mastermind Michael Mann, the show focuses on the seedy world of horse racing. Did I mention it starts Dustin Hoffman, Nick Nolte, and John Ortiz among others.

Finally there is "Boardwalk Empire," one of my favorite shows. Last night they released the season 2 trailer and dayum does it like awesome. No other network has the money to make shows like these (The "Boardwalk" pilot supposedly cost 30 million and the "Game of Thrones" pilot was similar as well), and no other network has the amount of quality talent both in front and behind the camera. Some folks say that HBO is a prison for actors, but if it is....then I'm enjoying the show.

New Captain America Trailer is All About America and Kicking Ass

Not sure if this is a good thing, but I get a serious American Bro vibe from this trailer. Heroes get chicks love rock and roll, and care about their bros so much they'll jump on a grenade. USA USA USA!

10 Good Things About Green Lantern (They're hard to find)

I managed to catch "Green Lantern" in 2D at a drive in Northern California this past weekend. I'll keep this polite and say I didn't care for it.....but I'm all about the power of will/positive energy so here are ten things that I liked about Green Lantern

1. It made me realize how awesome "X-Men First Class" is.
2. Mark Strong plays Sinestro in the film and he's great, the film made me appreciate what a presence this dude is on screen. He was great in "Sherlock Holmes" and  I'm looking forward to seeing him in more roles.
3. It made me realize how much I liked "Thor."
4. Seeing alien landscapes and galaxies on the screen never gets old and I'm pumped that the far out shit I see on "Astronomy Picture of the Day" is closer to becoming a reality (but I guess it's already real).
5. Peter Sarsgaard
6. It made my realize that we are just about a year away from The Dark Knight Rises
7. On some magical business, I really want a green lantern power ring, the possibilites of what you can do with it are endless, however I would mainly stick to conjuring up pizza and free x-box games
8. Reynolds is still pretty funny and likable and the scenes of him flying fighter jets made me wish he starred in the Top Gun Sequel, why cause Top Gun is one of the greatest flicks of all time
9. Seeing Tim Robins on the screen made me think about "Arlington Road" which is in my top 10 movies of all time
10. Captain America comes out soon.

Iron Man as a High School Principal?

This video comes from Jon Favreau's twitter feed. I'm particularly fond of it because it's like the perfect storm of my brothers. One brother is an engineer and big time Iron Man fan and the other is Principal (and an Iron Man fan). Iron Principal!

TPG's Game Time: Episode 10 "Fire and Blood" (SPECIAL DRAGON EDITION)

Last night's season one finale of "Game of Thrones" entitled "Fire and Blood" found us with many characters in interesting places DRAGONS DRAGONS DRAGONS! YES YES YES! THEY'RE FINALLY HERE! Dude.....I love dragons so much...."Dragonheart" is the shit....but this....whoah...gotta do a recap here, let's fire em up and dive in!


Direwolf Badasserry - 2...we got our first glimpse of the Rickon's ferocious wolf Shaggydog (great name huh) and we also got a story about Robb's direwolf killing twelve people in battle. Excellent.

MAGIC! - See above

1. There was a serious outpouring of hate after the show killed Ned Stark. After all he was the face of the marketing for the show, fans were pissed that he was dead....but HBO showed that didn't care about the haters, opening the episode with his blood dripping off the sword. The scenes of the grieving Stark family was so intense though I thought there we gonna cut to a Game of Thrones finale viewing party of people crying while wearing custom bedazzled "Winter is Coming" shirts.

2. I really like that Bran is now buddies with Osha, the crazy woman from the woods, (aka Tonks). She seems to have knowledge of the winter that is coming, knows a lot about magic (and DRAGONS) and in the future I imagine that she will prove crucial in defense against the white walkers.

3. It's hard to believe that lil' ol' Jack Gleeson, the cute kid from "Batman Begins" (see left) would play the most hated character on TV right now. Between cutting out musicians tongues, making Sansa stare at her loved one's rotting heads, and having his mutant/knight slap around his bride to be....I cannot wait til this little shit gets his. My dream is Arya Stark stabs him with "needle."Also was Syrio Forel's head up there on the pike? Will the legendary afro swordsman return, perhaps riding a DRAGON?

4. Speaking of Arya Stark, not only is she rocking an extremely hip hair cut and a new name but she's fallen in with the bastard son of the king, you remember him, his name is Gendry and he's badass blacksmith. The odds that he and Arya will be legendary warriors are about as high as the height DRAGONS fly at.

Alright I'll cool it with the dragon talk.

5. If there is one thing that "Game of Thrones" does particularly well, it's scenes of people making proclamations and oaths. In this episode we had a whole host of victorious knights taking an oath to Robb the King of the North and then we had another version of the ultra cool Night's Watch oath in the woods by torchlight. Oaths...proclamations....always kick ass.

6. Let's pump the brakes to talk about the ever popular Tryion Lannister. He's now going to become the hand of the king and while he needs to listen to more Dr Dre Chonic 2001, but his scene where his father finally accepted him was kind of touching. Also my buddy at the Night's Watch (aka work) pointed out that his girlfriend could be a Dothraki.

7. While it really pained me to see Khal Drogo go out withput an epic throw down battle at least we got to see him rip out someone's tongue through their throat, but I can't help but dream of what he could have been. Hopefully we'll get more of this is this summer's Conan the Barbarian where he plays Conan...the Dothraki....I mean Barbarian....same thing right?

8. As much as I'm literally salivating at the thought of full blown dragons kicking ass next season what really got me going was the entire Night's Watch riding out to meet the white walkers face to face. Way back when this season started we got our first glimpse of the white walkers I knew these bastards were gonna be hard to kill, Seagal style, and now finally those cold little blue eyed demons are gonna get a healthy dose sword/fire to make em wanna sing.....I would like to point out that Thislalife reader Young Hyatt esquire predicts that only the dragons will be able to defeat the white walkers. Three words about that prediction......SIGN ME UP!

It's ben a real pleasure writing these recaps for you this season. And with season two not starting for a year (Dragon CGI is time consuming...no doubt) it will be a while til Game Time returns. That being said if you like my recap style stay tuned as I will be recapping "Breaking Bad" this summer as well as "Boardwalk Empire" in the fall.

SEE YOU IN 2012 !

Moneyball Trailer

I'm hearing that 1) This is this year's "Social Network" 2) Jonah Hill is fantastic in this.

The Hype Train: Prometheus aka Alien Prequel

I recently watched Ridley Scott's "Alien" for the first time and scared the shit out of me. I had seen every film in the franchise and none of them really struck me as scary, cool, but frightening...not so much. But dayum, the 1979 Ridley Scott "Alien" is straight terrifying son. Maybe it's the fact that you don't see the creature in full to late in the story. Perhaps it's the shocking, much hyped but still effective chest burster scene. Or it's the Ian Holm rage-filled smackdown on Ripley, but all these things shivered my bones. Don't believe me, check out the original trailer, which is 99% scarier than any feature film in the theaters now.

But these are only part of the reasons that I'm excited for "Prometheus" aka The Alien Prequel. Let's start with the creative forces first.. It's written by sci-fi wunderkid Jonathan Spaihts who's Black List topping script "Passengers" is one of my favorite scripts ever. But that's not all, "Lost" creator and "Stark Trek" writer Damon Lindelof did a re-write of the script as well. And finally it's director Ridley Scott's return to science-fiction a genre he is a pioneer in (See "Blade Runner" and "Alien for evidence).

The cast is also on point for this film. "X-Men First Class" star Michael Fassbender is on board as some type as android. The original "Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" star Noomi Rapace is playing a badass female and Charlize Theron is joining her as well. As if the film couldn't be more loaded with cool actors, Idris Elbra and Guy Pearce are also in the cast. But wait, yeah I get it TPG, it's a dope cast and writer/director combo, but what exactly is it about?

No one knows really knows....yet. Scott has said that the film will focus on the monster dude in the chair in the original film, aka the chap on the on the top of this article. For some hardcore nerd shit you can read about him and his many nicknames here. After that tidbit, there has been talk about the film being about humans who experiment with DNA replication, terraforming technology, and a host of other cool science-fiction business, but generally everything is being kept under tight security. For more information perhaps intrepid readers should look at the Greek legend of Prometheus, who stole fire from the Gods (or are they aliens?).

With an incredible cast, writing team, and director you should be fully on board the hype train for this one. The film comes out July 8th 2012 and will be rated R or PG-13 it hasn't been decided.

**I used the great ALIEN PREQUEL NEWS website as a source for this article, check it out for more info**

How Nostalgia Almost Ruined Super 8

One of the buzz words that circulates around the new film "Super 8" is "nostalgia." This sentimental longing for the past is almost a universal human emotion. I mean facebook is essentially a nostalgia machine, don't believe me, go to your profile, click on photos of yourself and go the first one ever posted, yuppp....Nostalgia! However I found the nostalgia in "Super 8" to be a little un-necessary? Why did this movie have to be set in the past? Have kids changed so much since the 1979 or is it that in our modern world, we've lost our sense of Spielbergian cinematic wonder?

The central story of the film is brilliant. Five kids on the cusp of being teenagers set out to make a film and end up capturing a monster on camera. The monster (and the military who come to find it) begin to terrorize their small town and they're caught in the middle of it all and may even hold the key to saving the town/world/each other. If that sounds a little hokey, it's because it is, but in the best possible ways. Newcomer Joel Courtney as Joe, is a standout amongst the stellar young cast. Each one of them has their own personality, tagline, and skill-set which aids in the story and gives the film a magical "Goonies" vibe.


Director J.J. Abrams has a great handle on how to direct the young kids and to stage the havoc and mayhem the military/monster causes. Say what you will about Abrams but the guy is a highly underrated action director, the scenes here are crisp, clear, and refreshingly devoid of "shakey cam" syndrome which can ruin a film. The explosions, special effects, and monster design are all top notch. Wait, speaking of monster design, the monster looks like a cousin of the "Cloverfield" monster, which looked like "Star Trek" monster, so you gotta wonder if all these creatures are related and JJ is going to reveal this in future and systematically make nerds explodes all at once.

Ahh nerds, not the candy, but the primary audience for this film. This is a film the deliberately conjures up the sense of wonder of everybody felt while watching "E.T.," "Jurassic Park," and "Close Encounters." That sense of wonder is THE NERD IN YOU, the childlike fascination in the unknown and awesome. Because JJ/Spielberg try so hard to appeal to this, they make a choice in the ending which I didn't agree with. I don't want to spoil it, but let's say it involves our hero and the compassion that "Old Man Woodward's Research" supposedly has. It felt un-earned and too heavy handed with it's emotions, too much designed to appeal to the old school nerd wonder and not the story the film had told so well up to that moment. It felt like a red flag that said "see, we're just like those movies from your childhood you love!"

This simple decision didn't ruin the movie at all, it's still great, but it made wonder just why it had to be in there. Are we as viewers craving nostalgic wonder so much, we cannot create create or appreciate it in the present? Kid's these days may not shoot films on Super 8 cameras, but they still make them and they're still awesome. They still get nervous around the opposite sex, are impressed fireworks and destruction, and possess amazing courage in the face of the unknown. "Super 8" is great film, but it could have been a legendary one if Abrams and Spielberg trusted the kids of 2011 a little more and made it about them*



**"Attack The Block" is a film about a group of teenagers fighting aliens in a london Housing project in 2011, it's getting rave reviews and comes out July 29**

Old School Captain America Poster Is Lights Out

This is been burning up the internet today, but I had to post, it's just so damn awesome!

TPG's Game Time: Episode 9 "Baelor"

Sean Bean! Talk to your people man, you deserve better than having to play the guy who gets killed in the first part of the fantasy epic. Just kidding, you're a tremendous actor and your two scenes in this episode were straight legendary! Sucks you had to go out like that instead of fighting to death like in LOTR.  However, there are other things to brew on in this episode, included but not limited dead animals, hilarious comedy, and another Harry Potter actor appearance!

Direwolf Badassery - .5 (we got a mention of direwolf and custom sword)

Magic! - 1 (evil demon witch doctor messing with my boy Drago)

1. With Ned Stark having his final date with a sword, I'm trying to figure out if he was a "good" guy. At the end he sacrificed his belief in the one true king in order to save himself and his family. Kinda weak to back of your convictions of a "soldier" if you ask me. Two weeks ago he put two much trust in the last will of the King, which he doctored in a semi-shady move and prior to that he refused get his family out of the castle. He's a noble man who seems to make terrible decisions, and for this reason I wasn't that destroyed by his death. Am I alone in this sentiment?

2. MILD MIND MELT WITH LIGHT JALAPENO- Readers will know I'm constantly going on about the animal metaphor thing that the show has going on. So this week, we got to see another raven, frequently associated with Bran Stark getting shot out of the sky. Then before we know we get a Stark parting with his head. Also this week we got a horse, frequently associated with the Dothraki getting it's throat slashed. Besides "Game of Thrones" strange fascination with killing horses, does the horse death bode poorly for Khal Drago? I love the guy but he was hurting this week!

3. Jon Snow maynnnnnne. If this dude couldn't get any cooler he has a custom blade with his direwolf on the hilt. And the blade is named "Longclaw," which is also just extremely cool. When the winter comes (which I'm pretty sure it is) Jon Snow will be the medieval version of a space heater. Just straight burning shit up!

4. First we get Tonks on the show and now we get Filch! That's right David Bradley who plays Argus Filch in the Harry Potter films popped up as an old horny Gatekeeper Walder Frey.  Hopefully in future seasons we'll get even more Harry Potter actors. Perhaps the great David Thewlis?

5. Can we please acknowledge how funny this show is? First we got Walder Frey bashing on his family members with colorful insults.. Then we get Catelyn Stark trying to describe a future wife to her son, but failing. We follow that with the latest episode of legendary buddy pairing of the show - Tryion and Bronn, in this episode they meet a sassy asian stripper and get drunk.....cue the laugh track.!

6.  Last week I wondered if they were going to show the epic battles that we see people getting hyped for. Now we have our answer and it's NO....but we will show you the aftermath, a good creative decision on the part of the creators that I'm cool with.

7. Throughout this episode there was a theme of "acting" or "pretending." We had the Eunich talk about how he wanted to be an actor until he "got his balls cut off with a hot knife." Then we had Tyrion's heartbreaking story about the whore who was hired to pretend to care about him. And finally as I mentioned above, we had Ned Stark pretend to care about the King and pay the ultimate price. As we head into the finale we should keep in mind the speech of the elder Targaryen, everyone has to make a choice and stand by it, not pretend to be something their not. CANNOT WAIT FOR NEXT WEEK!

Here's a better death for you Sean Bean!

The Comic Book Joys of X-Men First Class

When I heard first heard about "X-Men - First Class" I was still recovering from the epic disappointment of "Wolverine." Was I ready to trust X-Men again? I loved "X2", shit, I kinda enjoyed "X-Men:The Last Stand" in a popcorn way, but another ensemble flick? I wasn't sure. Well, I can report that "X-Men:First Class" is ass kicking comic book film and highly effective piece of blockbuster entertainment.

Two of the integral pieces of the film are James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender as Professor X and Magneto. I've always dug McAvoy since the one-two punch of "Atonement" (yeah I saw it!) and "Wanted" where he was shooting holes in people's heads and using their bodies as shields. But Fassbender man, talk about living up to the hype. About I year ago I wrote about how badass he was in the under-appreciated genre film "Centurion,"and he continues to deliver with the menace/compassion combo. The combo of these two actors from across the pond are the heart and soul of the film. There climatic physical/mental/spiritual showdown (that's not a spoiler y'all) at the end is earned and awesome.

But what about everything else? The other members of team work well together, and the scenes of them hanging out and demonstrating their powers are cheesey fun. If I had to pick, I thought Lucas Til and Caleb Landry Jones as Havoc and Banshee were standouts. (Note, viewers might know Jones from this funny scene from "No Country For Old Men"). The action in the film is not as epic as director Matthew Vaughn's work in "Kick-Ass" but it's got enough Oh Shit Moments to keep me happy.

So in the super hero showdown of the summer 2011, I'm going to go ahead and put "First Class" above "Thor" if only because First Class has got the one-two punch of Fassbender and McAvoy, and "Thor" only has the hammer smash of Hemsworth. Check out "First-Class" it's high rate summer movie goodness with some decent substance and extraordinary (sorry, had to) leads at the helm.

TPG's Game Time: Episode 8 "The Pointy End"

Zombies, tongue rips, vikings oh my! "Game of Thrones" is really firing on all cylinders right now and Sunday's episode entitled "The Pointy End" was another blood drenched kick ass episode of television. It's only been 8 episodes and I'm super invested in these characters and their stories. So let's call up our red eyed direwolf and explore. Also peep the new categories that reader James suggested:


Direwolf Badassery: 2
Magic!!!! - 1

1. Finally Khal Drago steps up to the plate and shows us just why he's the resident badass of the Dothraki/television. Let's break down how it all played out:

• Scenes of devastation that the Khal ordered oh, hey there, Khal Drago good to see you again, what's that your seated next to - A pile of heads? +1 for head pile.
• Here comes your wife, no problem, you are willing to proclaim that you are so whipped by her hotness/warrior womb that she can command your men. +2 for admitting your whipped.
• Someone challenges your authority by putting a scimitar to your chest, you promptly moved forward to let them cut you. +3 for resistance to pain.
• A constant stream of insults including but not limited to beetles feeding on eyes, winds tearing people to pieces etc. +4 for creativity with insults.
• Ripping out someone's tongue through their throat. +5 for topping Rambo and a creative kill.

2. I want to apologize to my readers for you overuse of the phrase "Blue Eyed Demons," it is now clear there is some type of magic that the "White Walkers" have that turns normal people in Mr. Freeze clone zombie killers. On the left is what I think is an original "white walker," and I, like Jon Snow's fat friend am convinced that they're different from the human with the blue eyes, pale skin, and lack of body odor. That being said if heat kills the white walkers/ cold zombies, people are really screwed if "winter is coming."

3. A big question I have is just how epic is this show going to get? Forget winter, WAR is coming! We have two sides building armies with vikings who like sex jokes on the Lannister side and old knights who fight with three fingers on the other on the Stark side on the other. Are we going to get some "Braveheart" level carnage?

4. I'm always impressed by the set decoration on this show. Let's take a time out to compliment set decorator Richard Roberts on his work. Sweet tapestries bro!

5. There can only be one Alfred Molina lookalike with a killer accent, adept sword, and even more deadly afro so with the death of Syrio Forel, one must wonder when his kind going to appear on other TV Shows? I'm looking at you "Phineas and Ferb!" 

6. While I love pretty much everything on this show, I have to say the stuff at the white wall is my favorite. The mystery of white walkers, the blue eyed people, Jon Snow's direwolf with the red eyes, the band of outcasts vibe, and creeping dread are all awesome.

7. A great character on the show is Sir Barristan Selmy, who was dismissed of his duties to the realm by bitch ass King Joffrey. Hopefully we'll see him again soon.

8. Ned Stark is trapped in a dungeon with occasional visits from a eunuch, things are not looking good for a redemption for Boromir!

Do recent Dark Knight Rises viral videos hint at Knightfall inspired Story (Plus a mega-rumor!)

Alright, folks this is going to come at you quick so pay attention. One of the many well known Batman stories is "Knightfall," where Bane breaks Batman's back and takes the caped crusader out of the game. How does he best Batman? He breaks a whole host of prisoners out of Arkham Asylum, Batman has to round em all up, and then in his weak state Batman is no match for Bane and snap crackle pop spine snap. So here we go! Today two new viral videos dropped for "The Dark Knight Rises," they are below

Here is the second one

And another one!

So what exactly is happening here? An Arkham breakout? Sounds a lot like the Knightfall story to me. Casting reports have pegged Bane in the new script to be as intelligent as he is strong so this breakout story is looking to be just in line with Knightfall. So if we're following that story, that what do we make of the the fact that Batman has his back shattered in the storyline. HERE COMES THE MEGA rumor. 

There is speculation that Joseph Gordon Levitt will not be playing just a "detective" in the film, but a detective who takes up the cowl when Bruce Wayne is incapacitated. Further speculation indicates that at the film end the Dark Knight has risen, but with Gordon Levitt wearing the mask and Bruce Wayne dead or broken. This would match the news that Nolan is staying on board to produce the next "reboot" of the franchise. It would be a "reboot" only in the fact that a new person is taking up the cowl, but not a total kick-start of the franchise. If you don't think DC/WB would go for something this daring, consider this: The Dark Knight Rises is more than year away, and people are already going bat-shit for it. They can do anything they want. 

My Most Anticipated Summer Movie Oh Shit Moment

This sounds insane! In 3D!

Tree of Life With Shake Your Soul

Terrence Malick's "Tree of Life" is one of the best films I have ever seen and nothing short of modern masterpiece. Now to understand how I got to that point, let's take a voyage back through time:

• April 2010 - I first blog about the "Tree of Life" and it's potential for dinosaur induced madness. I'm a dinosaur fan so I was intrigued. 
• December 2010 - The first trailer for the film drops and I'm determined I want to see and board the hype train!
• February 2011 - I start to feel like a real sucker because I've never seen a single Terrence Malick flick, so I begin to prepare
• March - May 2011 - "Badlands," "Days of Heaven," "The Thin Red Line", and "The New World" are all watched. Have to prepare. Malick worship begins
• May 2011 - I realize that I'm super deep in Malickville. This is also amplified by constant conversations with my buddy Hendawg over at the website LIFTING FOG. We determine Malick is a nature based deity/filmaker 
• May 29 2011 - I see the film. World is changed.

Brad Pitt & Jessica Chastain play the parents to three boys growing up in 1950's Texas. The core narrative of the film is about this family throughout their life, we get brief snippets of the their joys, sorrows, hopes, and dreams. But the family itself is just a way for Malick to question nothing less than the meaning of life itself. What does one family mean in the fabric of the Universe? How did as humans get here to live these moments? How does nature impact our destinies? What is God? 

The one line that sticks with me from the film is "the glory around us."  I found the film to be about the glorious mystical power that the natural world has over us. We are just creatures being shaped by our planet, man, think about that! This idea is supported by a lengthy sequence in the film that shows the creation of the Universe from the big bang to dinosaurs. While the sequence has been hyped endlessly, it the most visually striking thing I have ever seen on film, and yes that counts, all the epic Avatar shit that I love. 

From the incredibly use of classical music, to Brad Pitt's excellent performance, to the way that Malick captures child actors just being kids (utterly incredibile when you think about it), "Tree of Life" is unlike any film before it. Some reviewers are calling it a "prayer," while others are befuddled by it. Speaking of befuddling, this is no doubt sometimes a confusing film. There are shots that are really out there and the structure can be difficult at times, yet there is no doubt that this is confident, well acted, and beautifully shot film-making of the highest accord.

I've resisted using this word in this review before, but "Tree of Life" is extremely heady, aka dealing with everything from life, death, space, time, fabric of the universe, love and everything else. Simply put it is the ultimate MIND MELT and profoundly moving at the same time. I highly recommend this moving, sometimes difficult, film for anyone who is open minded and wants to explore one man's take on what he thinks life is.