Tree of Life - Cindy

A brief reflection to begin. The point and substance of movie-making has changed over my life-time from feel-good story telling – all tied up in a beautiful bow by the end (“It’s a Beautiful Life,” etc.) to real life, not necessarily pretty, figure it out yourself half-stories (“Tree of Life”, etc.). This subject always makes me remember one of Goldie Hawn’s first movies (maybe her first), “Butterflies are Free.” She played a young, bohemian, aspiring actress with a butterfly tattoo somewhere. (I forget where, specifically.) Her character, much to her mother-in-law’s dismay, was caste in a then considered raunchy off Broadway play. In an argument about it Goldie explained, “But this play depicts real life.” The mother-in-law retorted, “So, does diarrhea. But, I don’t consider that entertainment.” I loved that movie 30 years ago. What’s the deal with that?

The point of all this rambling is to say that I sometimes still struggle with being entertained by movies and allowing movies to define life and life’s realities and disallusions.

So… abrupt transition…

After watching the trailer for this movie I was sort of afraid to see it. Grace and nature have been engaged in mortal combat within me for a long time – perhaps three or four years. So, when I heard the words that we all make a choice for one or the other – grace or nature – I shuddered a bit. Really, we have a choice? Isn’t it just in our “nature” to live by grace or nature? Lots of thoughts. And, then, when I heard that faith in God was going to be a theme, I really wanted to save this one for rental. Theology, grace, nature – I have so little to say these days, and kind of like it that way.

But, I wanted more than attempting to escape the uncomfortable, to spend time with Kyle doing what he likes to do best or almost best, watching a movie. And, I was intrigued by the title and trailer, albeit still “chicken.” So, I employed my usual mantra when movies get too scary or disturbing or real, “It’s just a movie, right?” But, then, on the way to the Esquire as Kyle was sharing with me the discussion he had with James about the writer and director of the film, Terrence Malick, and his attempt in his studies to capture life in the context of God my mantra was being smashed to smithereens. “Oh no, this movie is some really smart, existential guy’s attempt to ‘voice.’ Help!”

Happily, I loved the movie. Many scenes were emotionally trying, especially those that captured the mother’s love for her sons in the throws of abuse from the father. You would need to be a mom of a son to get it. Really tough to watch. The scenes of mother and son playing made the opposite bearable. Watching boys play with reckless abandon was heartwarming. Loved it. However, seeing the angst that interrupted innocence was hard on the heart.

Ultimately, several thoughts came to mind that reflected where much of my theological thinking goes today, at least. In an effort to really review the film, I’ll resort to bullets in the negative.

So, finally,

You should not see this film if…

* …you think you have any vocabulary that in any way speaks honestly or adequately about God. You will be bored.

· …you pretend to understand what it means to define, give, or accept grace. You’ll find the film theologically shallow.

· …your definition of nature stops with trees and flowers. You will be intellectually confused.

You should see this film if you are willing to emotionally, intellectually, or theologically hash out what it means to live, to love, to hate, to know, to doubt, to hurt, to celebrate, to die; being content to have not one conclusion, one truth, or one definitive word to utter.

Top 100 - Matt

MJ.s Top 100

100. Memento

99. The Sting

98. Full Nelson

97. The Departed

96. Slumdog Millionaire

95. Inglorious Bastards

94. Rainman

93. Avatar

92. It’s a Wonderful Life

91. Last of the Mohicans

90. Gone Baby Gone

89. Encino Man

88. The Social Network

87. Cloverfeild

86. The Great Escape

85. The Bourne Supremecy

84. The Bourne Identity

83. The Bourne Ultimatum

82. The Last King of Scotland

81. Aladdin

80. Rocky IV

79. Children of Men

78. Disney’s Robin Hood

77. Ferris Bueler’s Day Off

76. Money Pit

75. That Thing You Do

74. Home Alone

73. The Truman Show

72. Dumb and Dumber

71. This is Spinal Tap

70. Best In Show

69. Love Actually

68. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

67. Rushmore

66. City of God

65. Dancer in the Dark

64. Life is Beautiful

63. Moon

62. Once

61. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

60. The Mexican

59. Meet Joe Black

58. American History X

57. Fight Club

56. Bottle Rocket

55. The Pianist

54. Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels

53. In Bruges

52. District 9

51. An American Tale

50. Good Will Hunting

49. Billy Madison

48. A Time to Kill

47. The Godfather

46. Mr. Mom

45. Multiplicity

44. Terminator

43. Terminator 2

42. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure

41. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (original)

40. Blazing Saddles

39. Zero Day

38. The Wizard of Oz

37. Match Point

36. The Royal Tennenbaums

35. Dan in Real Life

34. The Patriot

33. Man On Fire

32. Big Fish

31. Hitch

30. Walk the Line

29. Jarhead

28. When Harry Met Sally

27. Mean Girls

26. Count of Monte Cristo

25. Vanilla Sky

24. Notting Hill

23. Three Kings

22. Saving Private Ryan

21. Seven

20. Patriot Games

19. The Muppets Take Manhattan

18. Tommy Boy

17. Apollo 13

16. Father of the Bride

15. The Jerk

14. Casino Royal

13. Rookie of the Year

12. The Mighty Ducks

11. Jurrasic Park

10. The Fugitive

9. The Goonies

8. Groundhog Day

7. The Dark Knight

6. Shawshank Redemption

5. Forrest Gump

4. Romeo and Juliet

3. Turner and Hooch

2. The Sandlot

1. Band of Brothers

Top 100 - Kyle

We have reached 100 reviews. Here are my top 100 movies. Some are just great. Some are not great but I like them.

1.) Lawrence of Arabia
2.) Band of Brothers
3.) The Right Stuff
4.) Wild Strawberries
5.) There Will Be Blood
6.) Pan's Labyrinth
7.) Life Is Beautiful
8.) Lord of The Rings
9.) Black Swan

10.) E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

11.) The Wizard of Oz

12.) Gangs of New York
13.) Apollo 13
14.) Good Morning Vietnam
15.) The Godfather
16.) Seventh Seal
17.) City of God
18.) Saving Private Ryan
19.) Tree of Life
20.) The Dark Knight
21.) Big
22.) The Great Escape
23.) Moon
24.) Big Fish
25.) Oldboy
26.) The Bicycle Thief
27.) Catch Me if You Can
28.) Gladiator
29.) Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
30.) The Departed
31.) The New World
32.) The Last of the Mohicans
33.) Casablanca
34.) Encounters at the End of the World
35.) Rumble Fish
36.) The Big Lebowski
37.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
38.) Blade Runner
39.) Guns of Navarone
40.) Casino Royale
41.) Good Will Hunting
42.) American Beauty
43.) In Bruges
44.) Mesrine: Killer Instinct
45.) Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
46.) Coco Avant Chanel
47.) Cinema Paradiso
48.) Gomorrah
49.) King's Speech
50.) The Social Network
51.) Blood Diamond
52.) Great Escape
53.) Letters From Iwo Jima
54.) The Last Samurai
55.) Apocalypse Now
56.) Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
57.) The Wrestler

58.) The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

59.) Dune
60.) Hunt for Red October
61.) Star Wars
62.) Waltz With Bashir
63.) Escape from Alcatraz
64.) Babel
65.) Band of Outsiders
66.) Seven Samurai
67.) The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
68.) Home Alone
69.) Field of Dreams
70.) Che
71.) Edward Scissor Hands

72.) The Sound of Music

73.) Wall-E
74.) Motorcycle Diaries
75.) Purple Rose of Cairo
76.) Hoosiers
77.) Tin Cup
78.) Michael Clayton
79.) Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
80.) Rear Window
81.) The Thin Red Line
82.) Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure
83.) The Man Who Knew Too Much
84.) Gran Torino

85.) Drive

86.) The Princess Bride
87.) The Fountain
88.) Never Ending Story
89.) Caddyshack

90.) The Graduate

91.) Hustle and Flow
92.) 2001: A Space Odyssey
93.) Rocky
94.) Avatar

95.) Bridge Over the River Kwai

96.) Groundhog Day

97.) Perfume

98.) The Bad News Bears

99.) Le Petit Soldat

100.) Joe vs. the Volcano

The Tree of Life - Tim

Directed by Terrence Malick, 2011

In the opening scene of this film, mother tells us there are two ways through life: the way of nature and the way of grace. Grace though is a word of many meanings: Decency, elegance, beauty, a prayer. In the sense of this last meaning, the film is narrated in the form of a whispering prayer to goodness. That nature is abundantly filled with grace is illustrated by Mr Malick's breathtaking shots over volcanoes, in the sea, the desert, and outer space (magnificently shot through a telescope), representing the four elements, each of which is crucial for most, if not all forms of life.

A life that is controlled by our constant struggle for dominance and control (father) on the one hand, love and surrender (mother) on the other. Not only in the natural world (see slightly bizarre dinosaur scene) but also in what we call civilization, or society. Not even at first glance is this solely a drama about a family losing one of its three sons. Nor is it an autobiographical reckoning. What Mr Malick has attempted is to demonstrate, to toy with the discrepancies and irreconcilable opposing forces that make up life: the human ability to love and hate the very same person at the same time, the constant interdependence of life and death (without the other, each is nothing), remembrance and forgetting, ugliness and beauty and creation's vain attempts to overcome nature.

I don't (yet) believe there is one correct way to interpret this film (though I'd be interested to hear it). You may take from it what you want, or need. Maybe you'll fall asleep halfway through. Maybe it will not raise questions or give answers in the way you were hoping. Maybe you will find it long, boring, pretentious and exuberant. The good news is: there's only one way to find out.

Fast Five - Kyle

There are a few movie franchises that have delivered, repeatedly. Star Wars, LOTR, Harry Potter, some of the Batman stuff, (new) Bond (though still nervous about this whole Sam Mendes thing), and a few others. I can unashamedly say that no franchise has made me more happy than The Fast and the Furious.

There is an emotion that is evoked in music, film and whatever else wherein the viewer/listener is carried along by an interplay of crescendo and decrescendo. Sigur Ros fires you up, brings you back down, then hits you with the mother load. There comes a point though, when some movies and some other forms of entertainment just hit you with too many high points. It is like, how many times can Predator and Alien top themselves? How many times can Jack Bauer save the world? How many times can Bruce Willis look awesome? Often times, the greats, like Motzart and Sylvester Stallone, know exactly how many times the topped can be topped. This is what makes them great.

So, when I first heard rumblings about Fast Five, I was immediately like, 'OK, how many times can you top the top?' After all, Jack Sparrow is all but ruined at this point. But then... I saw Fast Five. I only needed about 4 minutes of DPL action to know that the top has been topped and immediately started to worry about the making of Super-Fast Six. They topped the topped and I loved every minute of it. I'm nervous about Vin driving cars that fly but I think I am ready for it.

Super 8 - Matt

You like movies? You like movies like The Goonies, ET, Stand By Me, and The Sandlot, with some sci-fi stuff mixed in? Mash 'em all up, add the 2011 version of child actors that convincingly deliever entertaining dialouge, and a winning performance from Coach Taylor, and you have Super 8.

This movie did what the latest Indiana Jones failed to do a couple of years ago...mix some straightforward classic movie adventure with sci-fi and make it enjoyable to watch. The key is to allow only the science fiction characters to be capable of science fictionesque feats. If you wasted your money on that Indiana Jones, you were lucky enough to see Shia Lebouf swing on vines next to CGI monkeys to catch up with army jeeps going 60mph through the jungle...(it was unredeamable at that point). But in Super 8, kids are kids, and the sci fi stuff is sci fi stuff, and they interact in reasonable way.

I reccomend seeing this movie one of two ways...

1) on a Friday night, with someone who likes to be entertained, after killing a Bloomin Onion, Aussie Cheese Fries, and an Outback Special (med. rare)...go ahead and round out the experience by spending extra $ on popcorn.

2) the way that I saw it...out of work early on a Monday aternoon, 12:55 mattinee, 2 cheeseburgers in my pants pockets, 1 small order of fries and a 4-peice Chicken McNuggets in my shirt, and the limited-time-offer Rolo McFlurry in my hand (because I'm gutsy like that).

Midnight In Paris - KJ

*Spoiler Alert*

(For Matt)
Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams carry-over their engagement from Wedding Crashers and pick up the witty dialogue in a less rom-com arena in Woody Allen's newest installment of upper-class folks figuring out life in a major European city. The voice overs and paradigm breakers that make-up a Woody Allen movie are at the base of this one. Owen Wilson plays the disenfranchised searcher. He writes Hollywood blow-em-up features and is engaged to McAdams, the daughter of a Tea Party CEO. She wants a house in Malibu and he wants a loft in a rainy Paris. She likes the pedant (Woody Allen must really hate pedants). Wilson hates the pedant and hates wine tasting and hates the Tea Party. The movie gets exciting and less about crappy relationships and more about awesome relationships when Wilson is taking a walk. The clock chimes midnight o'clock and Wilson finds himself in 1920s Paris. He meets Scott Fitzgerald, Picasso, Dali, Hemingway and all the other artists that made up his image of a nostalgic Paris. For the first few time travels, Wilson has found his place. It is not until he meets Marion Cottliard, the mistress of a bunch of famous artists. She, herself, wants to be swept back to 1890s Paris. It is there, in the 1890s that they meet other artists that are musing on their nostalgia for a renaissance Paris. It is then that the movie comes full circle. Wilson, the writer and the person, realize what every good writer in every good movie realizes, in the words of Sean from the movie Orange County, would Faulkner have written great novels if he had left the South? Wilson makes peace with himself and dumps McAdams decides to move to 2010 Paris and finish his novel (complete with Gertrude Stine's notes).

I really liked this movie so per Stephen's suggestion I snuck into another theater and saw X-Men: First Class. It was awesome, too.

X-Men: First Class - Stephen

x-men: first class - i just watched it last night online -- holy shit, i think it totally redeems the franchise! brings to my mind questions of violence, autocracy/fascism, mutation as diversity, mutation as the good, thought/mind/ideas (culture) vs biology, governments especially their military industrial complexes as evil, but human nature to recapitulate these evils.

Hundred Reasons For Desperado - JAK

Hashing Out Movies is a creature of the growing kind, composed of 100 opinions, reviews, tributes, and other movable parts. Although aspects of itself often disagree, HOM has always found unification within itself through the singular movement of its being: forward, towards a movie-talking space. As part of the celebration centering around HOM’s first 100 reviews, I thought it would be fun to take this to the atom-level by looking at the top 100 reasons to watch the best movie ever made.

Hundred Reasons to Watch Desperado:*

(*Note: This list is composed of lesser gems culled from my previous “100 Reasons Why Tecate is better than Corona”)

12. Salma Hayek: A frisky, bookshop owner who holds her own not only in the violent chaos of gang-torn Mexico but also in the arms of Banderas. I refer, of course, to that scene with the flame and the spur and the all-too-quick camera cuts.

17. Los Lobos: There are no sexier, more dangerous, just plain cool guitar licks anywhere on the planet.

42. Banderas: He deserves a tribute all his own. See Costner tribute and times it by 2.

43. Steve Buschemi: “….” . “…3”.
44. It’s smoother and has less carbonation.

64. Mexico: Officially known as the United Mexican States, the land mass commonly refereed to as “Mexico” is bordered to the north by the United Sates of America and to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean. It spans nearly 2 million kilometres and is the 14 ^th largest independent nation in the world. It speaks Spanish and has a vibrant culture.

67. Quentin Terrantino: Teller of the best joke in any movie, ever. It’s all in QT’s manic delivery and bizarre voice.

73. Cheech: The Corsican Brothers was a great film.

77. Robby Rodriguez: According to his autobio, Rebel without a crew, Rodriguez wrote the screenplay to Desperado’s precursor, Il Mariachi, during his months in the hospital, earning money for his film by being a guinea pig for pharmaceutical companies

81. Mariachi Bands: We always knew that it took a bad-ass to put on such a crazy get-up.

91. VHS: This type of movie never made the transition to DVD. It looks like we’ll never be able to rewind to the good old golden days of action movies; which reminds me, never under any circumstances watch Desperado on TBS, TNT or any channel other than Cinemax.