The Tree of Life (2011)

If you want your art to hold a mirror to life, you better get a pretty damn big mirror.

In The Tree of Life, auteur director Terrence Malick attempts to frame all of existence into one two-hours-and-change film. When it works, the film’s sweeping scope speaks volumes on the nature of life and man’s endless quest for meaning. When it doesn’t work, the film drags, especially in the second half of the movie.

The Tree of Life is a movie tailor made for the arthouse audience and sure to confuse your average popcorn filmgoer. Malick tells the story of one man’s childhood, in the context of his family, in the context of the world and the universe as a whole. Again and again, characters question God, especially with the quandary that shapes the film: “What do we look like to You?”

X-Men (2011)

As an avid Mad Men fan, I had always wondered if January Jones was a terrible actress or if she was just really, really good at playing a flat, shallow character with no emotions or believable personality.

Wonder no more, everyone. In the role of Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class, Jones has proven her lack of acting skills, save her existence as a pretty, pretty princess with a fantastic figure.

In fact, January Jones‘s role in the film was reminiscent of the film itself: easy on the eyes and enjoyable to watch, but lacking depth or artistic vigor.

South Park “City Sushi” S15 E6 Review + Recap

Most South Park reviewers will fall into two camps regarding this episode. Either you love Butters, and love episodes focusing on Butters, or you don’t. This episode is a Butters episode.

That’s not to say Butters’s journey through an incorrect multiple personality diagnosis by a mentally deranged psychiatrist is the only storyline in “City Sushi.” As the title suggests, the episode also follows the travails of local City Wok owner and South Park’s only Asian, Lu Kim. A new Japanese restaurant, the aforementioned City Sushi, opens next door to Kim’s City Wok, causing Kim to scheme ways to destroy his new competition.