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THE TREE OF LIFE (2011)Movie Reviews
Fantasy drama about the eldest son of a 1950s small town Texas family who ponders his turbulent relationship with his father and his role in the world at large. Cast:Brad Pitt, Jessica Chastain, Sean Penn, Fiona ShawDirector:Terrence MalickRelease Date:May 27, 2011DVD Release:October 11, 2011From:Fox SearchlightRating:PG-13Length:2 hr 18 min
OCTOBER 11, 2011
The Tree of Life (2011), Excellent Reviews, Mixed Key Cities
The Tree of Life (2011) played in key cities to excellent reviews that at the same time were mixed. • Michael Phillips wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "I've seen it twice now, and though this childhood was not my childhood, and my spiritual yearnings are not Malick's, it already has come to mean a great deal to me." • And Bob Mondello said on NPR, "...astonishing in some spots, almost incoherent in others." More Reviews Below...
The Tree of Life (2011) Positive Reviews (51 Reviews, reviews below)
Richard Corliss, Time: OUTSTANDING "...essential viewing for serious moviegoers... Malick has captured the feeling of texture of his early films and those other '70s movies that mattered."(See all of Richard Corliss's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,712 words, 05/16/11
Christy Lemire, Associated Press: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Gorgeous and ambitious, pretentious and baffling, tightly controlled yet free-flowing... very much the culmination of everything Terrence Malick has done until now..."(See all of Christy Lemire's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 676 words, 05/26/11
Thelma Adams, Us Weekly: MODERATE(cg) "A serious Brad Pitt captivates as a father of three boys in 1950s Texas, but he's one of the few good things in this confusing (if gorgeous) art film.... extremely pretentious..."(See all of Thelma Adams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 90 words, 05/26/11
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: EXCELLENT(cg) "...both luminously precise (the family part, crowned by Brad Pitt's commanding performance as a disciplinarian but loving dad) and maddeningly without form..."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 340 words, 05/27/11
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...relies on visual impressions that connect a single family to nothing less than the creation of the universe... a personal vision that dares to reach for the stars."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 432 words, 05/27/11
Claudia Puig, USA Today: OUTSTANDING(cg) "A shape-shifting film, it resembles a poem. At other moments, it is closer to a symphony. Most often, it approximates a fervent prayer."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 407 words, 05/27/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It created within me a spiritual awareness... Some few films evoke the wonderment of life's experience, and those I consider a form of prayer."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,169 words, 05/18/11
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...if you open yourself to the film, it will get inside of you, and work on you, and make you wonder... If that's not the sign of a masterpiece, I don't know what is."(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,071 words, 05/20/11
James Berardinelli, Reel Views: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...falls short of masterful but retains a power that far too many motion pictures lack.... even when it fails, it does so in a manner that is interesting and not infantile."(See all of James Berardinelli's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,255 words, 06/09/11
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (13 Reviews)
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "There are very few films I can think of that convey the changing interior weather of a child's mind with such fidelity and sensitivity."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,550 words, 05/27/11
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: EXCELLENT(cg) "...consistently beautiful and challenging... long, often redundant and certainly on its own wavelength. But movies so rarely provoke serious consideration and debate."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 487 words, 05/27/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...its enormous advantages notwithstanding, it ends up a film that demands to be admired but cannot be easily embraced."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 883 words, 05/27/11
Lou Lumenick, New York Post: OUTSTANDING(cg) "While it's entirely possible to dismiss this philosophizing head trip of a movie... you may be doing so at your own peril."(See all of Lou Lumenick's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 875 words, 05/27/11
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: OUTSTANDING(cg) "I've seen it twice now, and though this childhood was not my childhood, and my spiritual yearnings are not Malick's, it already has come to mean a great deal to me."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,147 words, 06/03/11
Rafer Guzman, New York Newsday: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...not entertainment, but art, and of the most purely personal kind.... Still, even at its most ridiculous, it's a film that demands to be taken seriously."(See all of Rafer Guzman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 316 words, 06/17/11
David Edelstein, New York Magazine: GOOD "...doesn't jell, but it goes without saying that I recommend it unreservedly. Will you find it ridiculously sublime or sublimely ridiculous? Don't be afraid to find it both."(See all of David Edelstein's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,121 words, 05/23/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "It created within me a spiritual awareness... Some few films evoke the wonderment of life's experience, and those I consider a form of prayer."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,169 words, 05/18/11
J. Hoberman, Village Voice: POOR "...less profound than profoundly eccentric, while too solemn, pompous, and genteel to be truly crazy. The movie disengages the mind, even as it dulls the senses."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 538 words, 05/16/11
Peter Howell, Toronto Star: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...evokes wonder, dread, hope.... prompted by the cascade of images in something that's closer to epic poetry than to anything resembling narrative cinema."(See all of Peter Howell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 474 words, 05/16/11
Rick Groen, Toronto Globe & Mail: VERY GOOD(cg) "...like a divine pronouncement, cosmic in scope and oracular in tone, a cinematic sermon on the mount that shows its creator in exquisite form. Exquisite but frustrating."(See all of Rick Groen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 839 words, 06/10/11
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Malick's fifth and most ambitious undertaking not only aspires to change your life - it tries to explain it.... the film is impressionistic, revelatory, elliptical..."(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 760 words, 06/10/11
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Beautiful, baffling, poetic, pretentious, it's one big ball of moviedom.... won't be for everyone. Some will find it maddening, others beautiful."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 717 words, 06/10/11
Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Could a work of art be more handsome? Could it be more borderline profound? This movie weighs so much, yet contains so little. It's all vault and little coin."(See all of Wesley Morris's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,381 words, 06/04/11
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...at times trying and perplexing, but it also contains some of the most psychologically insightful and ecstatic filmmaking imaginable."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 655 words, 06/03/11
Moira Macdonald, Seattle Times: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Those looking for a clear-cut story and a snappy pace won't find them here.... But this film's rewards are many, for those with the patience to simply let it float."(See all of Moira Macdonald's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 512 words, 06/17/11
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...rooted in human nature but ascends to the infinite mystery. It's a dizzying climb with few footholds for the timid or cynical..."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 520 words, 06/10/11
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...flawed yet masterful... Malick argues that even the tiniest mote can have value. He sees miracles everywhere. You just have to make an effort to see them, too."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 750 words, 06/17/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (10 Reviews)
J. Hoberman, Village Voice: POOR "...less profound than profoundly eccentric, while too solemn, pompous, and genteel to be truly crazy. The movie disengages the mind, even as it dulls the senses."(See all of J. Hoberman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 538 words, 05/16/11
Katey Rich, Cinema Blend: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...an earnest and enormous movie that will take many, many more viewings to untangle.... a gobsmacking experience that earns its grandness."(See all of Katey Rich's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 746 words, 05/25/11
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: VERY GOOD(cg) "...an unlikely mix of the exquisitely sophisticated and the baldly ingenuous.... they combine to make it Malick's best work since his first film, 'Badlands.' "(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 600 words, 06/02/11
Scott Tobias, AV Club: OUTSTANDING(cg) "The simplicity of 'The Tree Of Life' will be mistaken for naïveté.... a genuine attempt to grasp the transcendent, and the rare religious film that deserves to be called spiritual."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 427 words, 05/26/11
Ed Gonzalez, Slant: OUTSTANDING(cg) "...like a spell, the film's mystified, sometimes glacial grandeur is such that it's memory becomes difficult to shake off -- even, one imagines, in death."(See all of Ed Gonzalez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,422 words, 05/18/11
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Director Terrence Malick tags all the grandiose bases in 'The Tree of Life'... a beautiful, affecting film, provided you have the patience to take it on its own terms."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 699 words, 06/03/11
MaryAnn Johanson, Flick Filosopher: POOR(cg) "Tree of life? Tree of sanctimonious mopey male egotism disguised as a search for meaning, more like. Or a search for God. Or for nostalgia.... Or for something."(See all of MaryAnn Johanson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 976 words, 07/08/11
HIGHBROW PRESS (7 Reviews)
Bob Mondello, NPR All Things Considered: OUTSTANDING "...epic -- and intimate at the same time.... grand, loopy, spiritual.... astonishing in some spots, almost incoherent in others."(See all of Bob Mondello's reviews...)(Listen to the full review...) 239 seconds, 05/27/11
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "...exquisite and also exasperating... a free-form meditation.... Daring in concept, occasionally daffy in execution and ultimately unforgettable..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 796 words, 05/27/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "There are very few films I can think of that convey the changing interior weather of a child's mind with such fidelity and sensitivity."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,550 words, 05/27/11
Anthony Lane, New Yorker: VERY GOOD "...a sharp, not unharrowing story of a father and son, and, amid one's exasperation, there is no mistaking Malick's unfailing ability to grab at glories on the fly."(See all of Anthony Lane's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,624 words, 05/23/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...its enormous advantages notwithstanding, it ends up a film that demands to be admired but cannot be easily embraced."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 883 words, 05/27/11
Dana Stevens, Slate: OUTSTANDING "...a testament to this reclusive, stubborn, visionary director's stunning achievement: Malick's films can change the way you look at the world..."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,109 words, 05/27/11
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: GOOD "...a puzzler, in that it blends uncanny clarity and extraordinary powers of perception with what sometimes seems like murky, pretentious chaos..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,787 words, 05/16/11
MOVIE INDUSTRY (6 Reviews)
Justin Chang, Daily Variety: EXCELLENT "...something extraordinary. Terrence Malick's long-awaited fifth feature is in many ways his simplest yet most challenging work..."(See all of Justin Chang's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,556 words, 05/16/11
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: VERY GOOD "...a singular work... releases waves of insights amidst its narrative imprecisions.... one of Brad Pitt's finest performances..."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,390 words, 05/16/11
Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...its enormous advantages notwithstanding, it ends up a film that demands to be admired but cannot be easily embraced."(See all of Kenneth Turan's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 883 words, 05/27/11
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: OUTSTANDING(cg) "Cosmic and metaphysical in its narrative, ambitious to a fault in its goal, and gorgeously beautiful... A provocative and challenging film on any number of levels..."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,450 words, 05/16/11
A.O. Scott, New York Times: OUTSTANDING "There are very few films I can think of that convey the changing interior weather of a child's mind with such fidelity and sensitivity."(See all of A.O. Scott's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,550 words, 05/27/11
Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: EXCELLENT "...exquisite and also exasperating... a free-form meditation.... Daring in concept, occasionally daffy in execution and ultimately unforgettable..."(See all of Joe Morgenstern's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 796 words, 05/27/11
21.2 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Tree of Life (2011)'s reviews are separated by an average 21.2 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Tree of Life (2011) (51 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Tree of Life (2011)'s reviews cover 101.5% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 42,798 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 839 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
The Tree of Life (2011) Coverage, Volume & Length (51 Reviews, reviews below)
Reviews Broke 23.8 Hours Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Tree of Life (2011)'s reviews on average broke 23.8 hours before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Tree of Life (2011)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Tree of Life (2011) (51 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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