Doughy-eyed Burt
Over heels for the dame.
Lost in the smoke
Broken but not beaten
Can't see the truth.

Great opening, killer ending, and one of the wildest and surreal heists I can think of. But the center forty minutes is bogged by one central problem: Yvonne De Carlo is no Ava Gardner, both in terms of her acting as well as her looks. To imagine getting Lancaster to go puppy eyed head over heels for her is a lot…

Sing out echoes of my past
Of the warmth that family made.
A kiss in the shadows
A gentle pass of hands.

...So wow.

Maybe I do need to be a little more discerning with my grades in general (this is my third 10 this month) because how often do you walk out of a film in which you 1) cry multiple times at the most subtle of gestures and most expressive of compositions and 2) decide that you need…

Daughter of the sky
"What else is life
But being near you?"
Lost in eternal search
Words never replace gesture.

One of those times where you think "Damn it, why didn't I bring my notebook." So here's some discarded thoughts. This was my first Malick back in 2005 and it struck me back then as it strikes me now as monumental, much more than the visually ambitious but not as philosophically ambitious Tree of Life. Something of magisterial power being…