I'll watch this on VOD and save myself a trip to the theatre. Granted, Malick films should be seen on a big screen.

Yeah, not sure what to expect, but I'll also watch it on VOD.

42% on Rotten Tomatoes so far.

Where do I put all this love that fills my heart? Flows from me, touches you, touches me, love of all loves. Where where you??

A Terence Malick movie getting bad reviews? Surely a sign of the apocalypse .

By exploited, do you mean people will say that Terrence Malick killed Roger Ebert?

(Or maybe I just misunderstand)

from Rex Reed (which gave it 0 stars)
Talk about lousy timing. On the heels of his triumphant, Oscar-winning Argo, Ben Affleck now has the bad luck to have to suffer through the postponed release of To the Wonder, a lethally boring and relentlessly inert disaster by the pretentious writer-director Terrence Malick that he probably considered unreleasable. It was Mr. Affleck himself who, at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival press conference for Argo, warned the assembled critics and journalists “If you thought The Tree of Life was slow, wait till you see this one.” Plotless and almost mute, To the Wonder is the kind of fiasco that keeps film-festival programmers salivating and discriminating audiences stampeding toward the exit doors. It’s a simpering yawn that makes The Tree of Life seem like an action thriller with Bruce Willis. It is about … nothing.

That is awesome.


I've loved Rex Reed ever since he was destroying pop movies on The Merv Griffin Show back in the 70's.

I wasn't a fan of TREE OF LIFE, so I'll probably be skipping this one...at least until it hits pay cable and/or Netflix.

Malick seems to no longer worry about telling stories, and is more interested in images/conveying things which are personal to him. Nothing wrong with that, just not my cup of tea when it comes to movie-watching. One of the reasons I gave up on David Lynch about ten years ago, as well.

I thought this film was good, but The Tree of Life was much better. Still, the imagery was stunningly beautiful. I don't see how Malick's work is considered "pretentious," but I guess that's the default label given to any film that doesn't hold your hand through the entire running time. Rex Reed is a tool.
Yes, the voiceovers can be a but much, but I never got a sense that this film was trying to be more important than it is. This fits in with films like the Qatsi trilogy, but with more focus on specific people and their relationships with the grand landscapes and cities they inhabit as the stage for their most human moments.

It is eye candy first and foremost, although not of the cars, strippers, and explosions type. In that regard, To The Wonder is no more important than Bad Boys 2 or the latest Fast and Furious flick, but no less entertaining for the crowd that can accept it for what it is.

3.5/5

Pretentious usually applies to directors that linger on something that doesn't connect with a certain person. It isn't pretentious if you buy in to it, it is if you don't.

Stupid sounding? Sure, but it's all opinions.

So Rex Reed calls the last film that Roger Ebert saw "lethally boring"! Does he think this movie killed Ebert through sheer boredom???

I usually don't care what Rex Reed has to say about anything but he summed up every Malick Film post Badlands. This will be the first film of his that I don't see. After sitting through Tree Of Life I realized that I don't hate myself to go through that again.

Tree of Life was the last one for me. He has such beautiful imagery, but until he decides to get a screen writer and a halfway decent plot (or any plot for that matter), I'm done with him.

I think I agree with James S Rich after seeing this movie twice.

http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/60718/to-the-wonder/

TREE OF LIFE was an art film that would have worked wonders in a museum showing, an art gallery, a class on art, etc., but was not what one expects in a multiplex setting. TO THE WONDER sounds the same. Fine if you like art movies, not so fine if you don't have that kind of patience. (I don't.)

I can connect with certain films like that, e.g. a South Korean film from about 20 years ago called WHY HAS BODHI-DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST?, which I remember liking a great deal and writing a good review of it for the publication I was then working for. But then I've always had more of a taste for Zen Buddhism than other westerners. Whatever Malick's philosophical schtick is, I just don't relate to it. If you do, then you have every right to rave about his recent films. But just remember that the rest of us might have strong philosophical differences.

I'll be checking it out this afternoon.

I am over at my parents for a cookout and the commercial for the VOD came on and my mom said "that looks like a bigger piece of shit than that Tree movie we rented." I explained to her it was the same director. I doubt the parents will be watching it.

Saw it last night. Beautiful and poetic. Looking forward to seeing it again.

best thing I've heard all day

I can't get over this film, I think it is masterful. I can't understand the bad reviews because I think it is every bit as good as anything else he has made. I always admired his work and held him up as a great director but after this I will count him as one of my 'favorite' directors. It makes me see his earlier work in a slightly different light as well. Because in some ways it shows growth as a director because it is so heartfelt and personal. I just totally connected to the mood, characters and emotions being presented.

I love Malick's films but his contempt for narrative crosses a line here.

There's more to film than narrative.

Why has Bodhi-Dharma left For the East is painfully underrated!

Never thought this day would come but I really disliked the new Terrence Malick film " To The Wonder". I felt nothing but indifference and disdain towards every character. Even on a very basic level of how people behave it seemed completly false. Basically, it was 2 hours of visual doodling with barely an ounce of focus. Grown up's wandering around in nature playing as if they are children. 2 Hours of that! It was like pulling teeth trying to get anything out of this movie. Even if you can watch it for free, I'd say pass.