Simply the best. No debate.

Good morning Consumers. This is please consume, film newsletter that double butters your popcorn.

This is what we got for today 👇️

• Caleb talks about one of his favorite movies of all time.

• Catch up on all the new trailers you missed from last week. Including Zack Snyder’s newest feature.

Let’s get rolling…

This past weekend's release of Blue Beetle, and the upcoming release of Bottoms and Gran Turismo, it made us think about how the coming-of-age film has never and will never go out of style. It’s a fundamental type of storytelling throughout history. So this week we’re focusing on the films that make us who we are and make us reflect on who we were.

The Tree of Life (2011)

Written by Caleb Madden

I am of the opinion that the coming-of-age genre is often the best way to tell stories. And when directors decide to conquer a coming-of-age story it often ends up being a masterpiece.

So when I heard we got to pick our favorite coming-of-age film I was super excited. If you know me at all then you know my love for Terrance Malick’s movies.

And because of that love, I’m picking The Tree Of Life for this week.. It’s simply the best coming-of-age movie. No debate.

Wut?

In some ways, The Tree Of Life is a classic coming-of-age story. And in a lot of other ways, it very much isn’t.

The first 20 minutes of the film are just shots of the cosmos and cells developing, then all of the sudden you are taken to images of a young woman falling in love, and then we watch as that couple grows up and starts a family.

And at the end of the film, we watch Sean Penn wander through the desert until he winds up on a beach?

A warning must be given to future viewers of this movie: it’s a lot to take in. But nestled in the middle of all that confusing and beautiful imagery is a stunning coming-of-age story about a young boy in Waco, Texas.

Texas, Grass, and Dads

At the center of this coming-of-age narrative is Jack (played by Hunter McCracken) who we watch grow from an infant to a young pre-teen boy with his two brothers, mom, and dad. We see and hear Jack wrestle with so many of the things that nearly every human wrestles with: fairness, death, suffering, love, temptation, faith, anger, etc.

This is all without mentioning the incredible filmography, score, and editing that Malick perfectly executes. Malick does this amazing thing in The Tree of Life where he shows all of the growth experienced by the characters alongside shots of nature, dempnstrating the deep connection to human growth and the places around us. The grass grows, the leaves fall, the rivers flow, and we change alongside it.

It is hard to explain how magically all of these pieces come together, so for the readers’ sake I will just talk about one part of this movie that I love.

Redemption

This film encapsulates exactly what is so perfect about coming-of-age movies: the redemptive moment that is the culmination of what the main character has learned. The Tree Of Life does this moment perfectly.

All of the tension between Jack and his father comes to a point and it is just so powerful. When I watch this scene I think of my own father. It's hard not to. McKraken and Brad Pitt, who plays the dad, both give excellent performances.

You can tell that Pitt’s character doesn’t know how to admit what he’s trying to say, but therein lies the beauty. They are both learning and growing together and even though the father is a broken man who has made many mistakes he still loves his son.

Wow, I can't watch this scene without crying.

*mild spoilers for The Tree Of Life

Today’s Scene

Let’s take a look at this week’s new trailers…

She Came To Me

Good Burger 2

Rebel Moon

Here are a few things that we found interesting over the last few days…