Film Review: To The Wonder (2012)

Considering that his last three films were an elliptical war epic, a retelling of one of the founding stories of America and a millennia-spanning chronicle of the warring halves of the human soul, it's hard not to view Terrence Malick's latest film (his sixth in a career moving comfortably into its fifth decade) as a little slight be comparison. After all, how can the problems of two people amount to more than a hill of beans when placed against the stunning grandeur of the infinite?

Film Review: Oblivion (2013)

In the year 2077, Earth has become a wasteland, ravaged by a war between humanity and alien invaders. The humans won, but the cost was immense. The devastation wrought on the environment as a result of the invaders' destruction of the moon and Earth's use of nuclear weapons forced most of the survivors to leave for a colony on one of the moons of Saturn. Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the few who remains as part of an operation to harvest the planet's remaining resources and send them to Titan. Jack is nearing the end of his contract, and while his partner Victoria (Andrea Riseborough) is excited about leaving, he has mixed feelings. He's plagued by dreams of a woman he's never met (Olga Kurylenko) and uncertain why the last surviving aliens, known as Scavs, continue to attack the remote drones and harvesting machines he maintains. What could it all mean, and how does his off-world commander, Sally (Melissa Leo) factor into everything?