An un-themed collection of four(!) films for this moofie blog. The films for review were the philosophical Tree of Life (2011) by Terrence Malick, the quintessential pop-corn muncher, Harry Potter and the Death Hallows Parts 1 and 2 (2010, 2011), and lastly the Facebook movie, The Social Network (2010). Thanks Wendy for hosting. Pizzas and a tonne of sweets kept us going into the night. So without further ado…
The Tree of Life (2011)
The Moofie Club has done a Malick before (The New World (2005), see the July 2010 Moofie blog), and comparing comments then with now, it seems we’ve not warmed to Malick’s style any further in this time.
The Tree of Life is described in Wikipedia as a chronicle of “the origins and meaning of life by way of a middle-aged man’s childhood memories of his family living in 1950s Texas, interspersed with imagery of the origins of the universe and the inception of life on Earth“. I struggled to find this premise credible as I watched for the first time. So as the film switched between these two vastly different stories, the film just seemed disjointed and unfocused, rather than running in parallel together to convey an overall message. It was only after I read many reviews that I could see the so called connections and deeper meanings.
If nothing else, Malick is a masterful aesthete. The cosmic and biological imagery of the creation and ends of life was divine. (I say again, if Malick ever decided to do a Baraka-style project, it would be an absolute revelation). The sequences of O’Brien’s family life were beautiful and portrayed touching family moments. The music matched perfectly and put you in the mindset to receive a film as vast as this aspired to be.
The Moofie Club were bewildered and frustrated by this film. While we could appreciate the aesthetic beauty, the experimental nature of the format and direction unsettled us. I do think we came to this with an open mind, hoping it would achieve the greatness it aspired to. However as Malick has done before, there came a point where we refused to accept anymore due to the directorial indulgences, pretentiousness and strangeness (e.g. the dinosaur scene, and the man in the attic).
Perhaps Tree of Life will grow in stature over time like Kubrick’s 2001 A Space Odyssey. I hope one day a Malick film will deserve indisputably the hype the reviewers give it. Maybe I’m being harsh. Put it this way, I’d rather have film makers like Malick and Kubrick exist in this world than have a hundred of who ever made No Strings Attached. Malick has nearly completed his sixth film. It is called The Burial and stars Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams, Olga Kurylenko, Javier Bardem, Rachel Weisz and once again, Jessica Chastain.
Scores
- Wendy 2
- Paul abstain
- Beck 1.5
- Sylvia 3
- Andy 4
- Jayne 3.5
- Renny 2
- Clint 3.5
Memorable Quotes:
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Beck on the cosmic scenes: I think I was having a microsleep at that point
Jayne: It was very beautiful…
Beck: .. as a screensaver
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Andy: There were only two things I didn’t get. The man in the attic with the bike and the mum floating in the air
Beck: do you think Malick went, “oh fuck it, just put it in“?
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Beck: I feel like I sat through a student film
Jayne: It felt overindulgent
—–
The Social Network (2010)
If you’ve ever watched The West Wing you’ll know about the chipmunks-speed word barrage that is an Aaron Sorkin script. It’s hard to get used to if you haven’t. They must train the actors by getting them to sing along to 33 LPs at 45 speed. The Social Network is the story of the founding of Facebook. The main characters all being real-life people, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), the ‘Winkelvi‘ (Armie Hammer) and Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake).
The outstanding feature is of course the Aaron Sorkin screenplay with his trademark sharp snappy dialogue, witty quips and good acting to deliver the lines. Several memorable scenes stand out as much as any action movie set piece, e.g. the opening scene where Mark Zuckerberg utterly crashes and burns with his ex-girlfriend, the rowing race, and the legal mediation scenes were singled out by the Moofie Club. The film is most sympathetic to Eduardo Saverin (he was a consultant for the book on which the film is based), and most critical of Sean Parker, portraying him as a parasite and wastoid. No character is particularly likeable, even Zuckerberg and Saverin, and I’m surprised that there hasn’t been any law suits regarding their portrayal. It is an interesting insight into the roller-coaster world of hyperambitious IT entrepreneurs and all the leaches that come out of the woodwork when success strikes.
It appears to have taken a few liberties (e.g. in reality Zuckerberg had a steady girlfriend throughout the period portrayed in the film. He also stated that there was far less partying in his real life) which is fine as long as it is entertaining. This is a clever and interesting film. If you can handle the verbal overload – highly recommended.
Scores
- Wendy 4
- Paul 4
- Renny 4
- Jayne 4
- Beck 4
- Andy 3
- Sylvia 3.5
- Clint 4
Memorable Quotes:
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Andy: I must admit when I first saw it I went “meh“, but the next day I was on Facebook and went, “oh wow, I know these people“
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Paul: I liked it because I use Facebook
Sylvia: I’m not on Facebook and I don’t want to be on Facebook
—–
Andy: unfriend me
—–
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 and 2 (2010, 2011)
There is no hope of fully appreciating the nuances and history of the Harry Potter story if you went into these two films as a total noob. It really should be considered a trilogy including the Half Blood Prince if you’re going to understand the crucial role of Snape, the circumstances surrounding the death of Dumbledore, and the background to the Horcruxes.
There was a mixture of HP experience within the Moofie club. For those in the group who had read and appreciated the relative richness of the books, this film was somewhat disappointing. One could argue that it is always impossible to provide the same richness of a book in film format, but then the Lord of the Rings trilogy came pretty close so you can’t say it can’t be done. For those in the group who had not followed the Harry Potter books, the films were always going to be hard to follow and these films in particular were widely criticised for being difficult in this way. Either way the Deathly Hallows 1 & 2 films did not fully satisfy either of these Moofie watching groups.
Visual effects, particularly the IMAX 3D version were fantastic. Good enough to almost distract from the fact that the acting by the three mains was typically crap. They might have been cute in The Philosophers Stone (2001), but they are seriously NOT cute anymore and its time these actors moved on to other roles now.
The Deathly Hallows may be a decent way to spend an evening but perhaps not the fitting end it needed to be to satisfy die-hard Harry Potter fans.
Scores (Part 1 / Part 2)
- Wendy 2/abstain
- Paul 3.5/3
- Beck abstain/abstain
- Sylvia 4/4.5
- Andy 4/4.5
- Jayne abstain/3.5
- Renny 3.5/3.5
- Clint 3/4
Memorable Quotes:
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Jayne: I was quite disappointed with the movie
—–
Andy: <Harry> loves his mom so much, and he looks at his father and goes “oh yeah, there’s dad as well“. What a snob
—–
Andy: I didn’t like the “Aliens” bit – where Mrs Weasley gets Belatrix and says “Get away from her you Bitch!“
—–
Jayne: I remember watching the first HP movie and they were so tiny!
Sylvia: and Daniel Radcliffe was such a terrible actor!
—–
Paul: It was good, if I cared more about the film it would have been really good.
Beck: If I gave a shit
—–
Clint: I liked it but I’m not sure if its only because I saw it at IMAX 3D
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So thats all for now. The Moofie Club meets again not too far away from now in late October for a night of fairytale and fantasy. The two films on review are Pan’s Labyrinth (2006) and Orlando (1992). In the meantime, I wish you all happy viewing and all the best until next time!
cj
