Super 8 + The Tree of Life

J.J. Abrams, the wunderkind best known for Lost and the Star Trek reboot, has done it again with Super 8. The film is a rich nostalgia trip to the Spielberg (who cops a producing credit here)/Amblin films, evoking most unabashedly E.T. and The Goonies; the movie thus far has been overshadowed by the film's marketing campaign, which placed a shroud of mystery over the entire production. It would have been smarter to build the campaign around the perfectly cast clan of children attempting to film their own low-budget zombie picture (stay during the credits), led by adorable newcomer Joel Courtney and the future superstar Elle Fanning. I'll give no spoilers here about the monster mystery Abrams has held very close to his chest, but the film is equal parts moving testament to childhood wonder and thrilling blockbuster; Abrams mixes the two wonderfully - the child actors give the film a giddy momentum (with wholly individualized quirks and hilarious quips), but they also carry off the emotional scenes with understated power and strength. It's hard for me to imagine someone disliking Super 8 if they had a childhood at all, let one one peppered by some of Spielberg's classics from the 70s and 80s; so much unbridled glee runs through this film, a celebration of what summer blockbusters once were. Abrams has pieced together a gleeful summer flick, the sort of perfectly executed slice of sci-fi escapism that's also rooted in very real feelings and family relationships. Super 8 is the kind of movie that's hard to find in summers now populated by Michael Bay movies - this is a endlessly entertaining ride that thankfully has a healthy heart at its center. A-

The thought of reviewing the two-and-a-half-hour epic fragmented existential searching in The Tree of Life is daunting. Anyone accustomed to Malick's previous work will know that he takes a lot of patience, but if you can stick it out, the journey of this tedious film is gloriously rewarding. This is not an experience for everyone, and by no means a perfect film, but I can't shake the awe-inspiring ambition. The broken narrative in Tree of Life centers on a family in the 1950s, opening with tragedy before flipping back to the family's first moments... However, Malick rewinds all the way to the beginning of the universe, in a bizarre segment that shows swirling nebula and the arrival of dinosaurs; the stunningly gorgeous cinematography brings to mind Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Placing the cosmic on the same plane as the intimate presents a interesting challenge as Malick wrestles with the origin and meaning of life, nature vs. nurture, faith vs. science. The story is told mainly in whispered voiceovers, and pure image used to capture feeling and essence. Every actor is stripped raw, from Bad Pitt's intense passion and Jessica Chastain's quiet grace to the stunningly realistic performances of the three young boys that play their sons. Every scene flares up before drifting away, a poem that will either enthrall or absolutely drive you away. Malick presents his search to understand love, fear, memory, hope, family, and awakening like a slow wave of glory, messy and terrifying and strikingly different. A narrative frame shows the oldest son Jack (Sean Penn), now an adult, dealing with the products of his childhood; it's in these final moments that Malick reveals the full sprawl of his piece, connecting the intricate moments to the ragged whole. It's daunting, self-indulgent, pretentious, staggering, emotional, flawed, beautiful - it's a lot like life itself. A