So, it's basically The Thin Red Line?

His style has become more focused with each film, particularly since The Thin Red Line, although there are clearly elements in the earlier films which in retrospect can now be seen as pointing the way. So is that good, for you, or bad? Have you seen this new one yet? If you haven't, and if TTRL was a bore for you, then you probably won't like this, as it seems to be viewed by those who have seen it (I'm not yet one of them) as his most "Malicky" film yet. 1John4:4

Hell no. The Thin Red Line is actually GOOD, unlike this sh!t he's been putting out since. Dude must have developed some kind of horrible drug addiction.

Is it strange that I had an erection during that scene?

Basically, it was A Big Brown Turd.

A group of monkeys could have written and shot an equally entertaining and meditative film with the help of a good soundtrack and editing. Malick has become a parody of a parody of himself. He should work with the Wayans and take it to the next level.

David Fincher's films look very much alike. What's your point again?

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It's actually a different film. I knew this because the title and everything else about it is different.

Not many people have basements in California.

However, there was less gunfire, explosions and stuff in this one!

"I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP!" - Daniel Plainview - "There Will Be Blood"

Well, no it is actually not The Thin Red Line. It is a film made by the same filmmaker that made The Thin Red Line though and so because Malick has such a distinctive style and uses some of the same methods to tell his story you can of course draw comparisons.

The big difference between the two films though is that The Thin Red Line is an adaptation of a novel by James Jones and To the Wonder is a story that is in many ways autobiographical and so more of a personal film for Mr. Malick.

Really, I think they are very different films but Mr. Malick's work is not for everyone. If carefully paced contemplative films are not something you enjoy I would say it is ok to skip anything directed by Terrence Malick. I'm not being nasty with that comment, all I mean is I understand that we all have different tastes and different things we enjoy when we watch a movie and because Malick is so specific in his work obviously there will be people that find it to their liking and those that don't.

I don't find that any different than enjoying the music of one band over another or preferring pecan pie to apple pie, or blondes to brunettes. It's not that one is better than the other or you are better for liking one over the other...we just have things that get to us in different ways.

That said and as a fan of Mr. Malick's work I think To the Wonder is a film that will annoy a lot of people including people that enjoy his previous films.

Do the characters whisper their "thoughts" over random images? Yes, they do and personally I think this is getting a little tired and has become a crutch and weakness in his films at this point.

Is the "whispering" more focused/specific in this film? Well, yes it is if you compare it to The Thin Red Line where at times people were not really sure which character was "whispering thoughts" at any given moment. Here we have a much smaller ensemble and so it is quite clear when we are hearing Marina, Neil, Father Quintana, or Jane.

Does Malick treat the actors as if they were just part of the scenery? Yes, in his films after The Thin Red Line this has become more and more pronounced and here Ben Affleck is pretty much a nonentity. Which I guess you could say of most of Affleck's performances but here he really is so not there his part could have been played by a mannequin. This really does not bother me because Affleck is not really a very emotive actor anyway. He just seems not to have the ability to project the inner life of his characters and has not yet learned to act with his face...which has all the emotion of a ball of uncooked pizza dough. Javier Bardem, on the other hand, is a fantastic actor that brings the film to life whenever he appears and is able to actually make you feel his characters struggles. The real problem with this is that you really become aware of how poorly used the actors are in To the Wonder. The two female leads in this are fine but are really not given much to work with. Jane seems a glassy eyed and needy head case and Marina an obviously childlike and disturbed piece of work. They both look great though and at least project their needy childishness quite well.

Being that this film is a bit autobiographical for Malick it does make you WONDER how he sees the women in his life.

This is my first Malick film since Thin Red Line (seen all his earlier work a decade ago), and all I have to say so far is that John Toll made Thin Red Line look good. That was a real film with real camera set-ups and preparation and lighting.

So far, I'm blaming most of the total lack of involvement between me and the film on the cinematographer. These are just about the most boring shots I've ever seen, period. Shoestring budget videocamera shots.