The Tree of Life (2011) – I am a fan of Malick’s work, the
Thin Red Line is among my absolute favorite war films, and I respect his style and unorthodox storytelling technique. He is a peerless master of composition and color. Not surprisingly, this film has some of the most beautiful shots of nature ever put to film by anyone ever. That said, unlike some of his earlier work, this film isn’t really very compelling beyond the visual splendor. I get that a film doesn’t have to have a strong central plot – but the problem is that this one is clearly trying to say something about transcendence, enlightenment, a connection with god and nature, good and evil, etc. with a central set of vignettes that do little to express these at all. Much more moving is the nature footage (all of which is set to a brilliant sweeping score), which collectively gets across Malick’s message much clearer than Brad Pitt and his family do. As a whole this is not one of the strongest films nominated, even if it is arguably the most beautiful from an aesthetic standpoint.
Grade: 3/5
My ranking of best Picture films:
1. The Artist
2. Hugo
3. War Horse
4. Midnight in Paris
5. Moneyball
6. The Help
7. The Descendants
8. The Tree of Life
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Best Director:
1. Hazanavicius
2. Scorcese
3. Malick
4. Allen
5. Payne
Best Actor:
1. Dujardin
2. Clooney
3. Pttt
(didn't see Oldman or Bichir yet

)
Best Actress:
1. Davis
2. Mara
(didn't see Streep, Close, or Williams

- Streep looks like she did a great Thatcher though and might win)
Supporting Actor:
1. von Sydow
2. Hill
(didn't see the others yet, unfortunately, and didn't think the above two were THAT special - so I am not really sure what to think about this category)
Supporting Actress:
1. Bejo
2. Spencer
3. Chastain
(Bejo and Spencer were both good, not sure on the two I didn't see)