The only way to be happy is to love. Unless you love, your life will flash by.

The Tree of Life

(2011)

It's not going to convert anyone who's been on the fence about Malick's films, but this is probably the "most Malick" of anything he has done so far, again utilising the device of internal monologues that helped make The Thin Red Line so memorable and purposefully incorporating half-whispered remembrances to create a lyrical marriage of sound and image (for good reason there is a suggestion to turn up the volume before watching).

None of the conceits seem remotely out-of-place (the excursion to the dawn of creation), probably because the grounding of the film is so recognisably small scale (a family in '50s America). Performance-wise Brad Pitt and Jessica Chastain give insightful performances as the parents, while the cast of new faces as the children acquit themselves well.

Penn-wise, I can see why he's a tad pissed-off as he's hardly in it - and not particularly interesting when he is. As with all Malick's work, it resonates long after you've finished watching.

*****

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It's Dark Age, by Jupiter!

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Roswell was a smokescreen, we've had a half a dozen better salvage operations.

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Suspicions of destiny. We all have them. A deep, wordless knowledge that our time has come.

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By heaven, I’d thrash the life out of you… if I didn’t have to read the Nine O’Clock News.

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A subterranean Loch Ness Monster?

Doctor Who The Silurians No, I’m not going to refer to The Silurians as Doctor Who and the Silurians . I’m going to refer to it as Doctor Who and the Eocenes . The Silurians plays a blinder. Because both this and Inferno know the secret of an extended – some might say overlong – story is to keep the plot moving, they barely drag at all and are consequently much fleeter of foot than many a four parter. Unlike Malcolm Hulke’s sequel The Sea Devils , The Silurians has more than enough plot and deals it out judiciously (the plague, when it comes, kicks the story up a gear at the precarious burn-out stage of a typical four-plus parter). What’s most notable, though, is how engaging those first four episodes are, building the story slowly but absorbingly and with persuasive confidence.

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Now In Full Color, with a Happier Ending

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