The Tree of Life

The Tree of Life (2011) starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain, Hunter McCracken. Directed by Terrence Malick. Director Malick produces another meditation on Life, the Universe and Everything. Also, at times, various characters in the movie do voice-over work in which they ask questions of God. The film has everything, including dinosaurs. The bulk of the movie, however, is made up of vignettes from the life of the O'Brien family of Waco, Texas. Pitt plays the overbearing father, Chastain the wife, and McCracken gets most of the screen time as the young son Jack. At the end, there's what seems to be a happy ending, with everyone winding up in heaven together -- though I'm none too sure about that. There's just enough good stuff to make the film watchable, but all of the metaphysical hooey is just wasted time. Subtitles are included, as well as closed captions. Grade: B-