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Pretty Good

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

I knew mostly what I was in for. I've seen a few of Malicks other work. So I expected basically another glorified cinematography showreel. And for the most part that is what I got. And yes, it is stunningly beautiful. Also, a couple of my favourite films of all time are the works of Ron Fricke. Beautiful imagery set to music and sound effects. So I'm no stranger to these "documentary" films. When they are left to their own devices they can be the closest thing to a transcendent experience that a stonehearted heathen like myself is ever going to achieve (hyperbolae, but I guess you get waht I'm getting at). This isn't the usual educational Macgivilray Freeman Docu short that usually has screentime at natural museums. So let's not expect that either.What really holds this film (I have only been able to see the feature length Cate Blanchett version) back is essentially the narration. If Malick could just let the images speak for themselves it would not feel nearly as vapid and navel-gazing. Imagine if we had a chance to take in what we are seeing instead of hearing the interruptions of the rambling infantile questions directed at a anthropomosised mother earth. Just imagine then what kind of conclusions we could get to if not hindered by a director that, I'm starting to suspect, have some serious parental issues. And on a smaller note I'd say that the random miniDV footage may have its place in the story that is being told. But I've seen quite a few IMAX documentaries and I suspect that in the giant screen 40 min version the miniDV is either not present at all, or if present the size of non IMAX footage is usually reduced to only a small part of the screen. This is done for two reasons, first, it lessens the dramatically pixelized and almost no dynamic range nature of the cheap miniDV. But mostly it helps contrast the grandure of the 15/65 footage. Having it as tall as the imax sourced parts does neither part any favor. Also. It may be just me. But I feel that the character cgi wasn't as jawdroppingly seamless as the dinosaurs in Tree of Life (where we first got a real peak at this long gestating project). I see in the featurette that Douglas Trumbul wasn't the VFX supervisor, so that may be it? The space stuff is flawless but the cgi animals were surprisingly lacking in simulated weight and realism. So yeah. Mostly jawdroppingly stunning visuals. Sound design will give a good home system a nice workout, the music is mostly christian church choirs which isn't really my thing but the main complaint is that darned nothingness of a narration. Some films are released with separate music and effects tracks... This one would greatly benefit from a bonus feature like that!

This is not a documentary, but one of my better screen savers lol.Yes, stunning visuals, but a documentary is meant to be informative and educational, and this is neither.The narrating (when present) is annoying. But, very stunning visuals.When I have a cocktail party at my home, this is my backdrop visual on my 65" screen and it's awesome! Of course the volume is off and I have elevator music playing from my stereo and the combined effect is perfect (you're welcome)!-5 for the docu, +5 for the visuals = 5/10 score

Disappointing work from Malick, who I admired so much in "The Thin Red Line", "Days of Heaven" and "The tree of life." The only saving grace in this work -- great choice of music as in all Malick films, mostly Arvo Part and Beethoven. I prefer Godfrey Reggio's "Qatsi trilogy" to this Malick venture. Even Kubrick surpassed Malick in the early man depictions in "2001--A space odyssey" compared to Malick in this film. The editing in this film and in "Song to Song" is incredibly pedestrian.

Terence Malick's abstract indulgence, "VOYAGE of Time~ Life's Journey", viewed at the 2016 Venice Film Festival, had lots of fascinating imagery --especially of African animals like giraffes in silhouette, gliding sharks with gaping jaws, and other underwater sea life -- (plus some horribly repulsive other creatures) -- but overall was as Pretentious as it's title, basically incoherent, and massively boring in spite of the interesting imagery --lots of volcano eruptions and lava flows apparently intended to convey the turbulence of Creation -- but this was more of a Big Bust than a Big Bang. Cate Blanchett's minimal "narration" limited as it was to what amounted to spare Italian inter-titles visually -- ("Madre" repeated over and over... ) was totally unnecessary and served only to trivialize the subject matter. The other abstract film this week at Venice, SPIRA MIRABILIS, was far more coherent and generally better if abstraction is your cup of tea. Malick got scattered unenthusiastic applause at the end but I think most viewers. were as underwhelmed as I was although there were pools of heated discussions among the cognoscenti outside of the massive Sala Darsena after the screening. It was the most breathlessly awaited film of the week with a turn-away crowd and also the biggest disappointment of the week as well. Certainly glad I didn't have to pay hard cash to see it and had to force myself not to walk out before the end. Basic Assessment: Cosmic Self Indulgence: More of a Big Bust than a Big Bang.image2.jpeg image3.jpeg