The Tree of Life (2011)

Terrence Malick directs a beautiful piece of something about creation, life and afterlife and a love letter to hard-ass fathers from the 1950s starring Brad Pitt, who overcomes his good looks, using his square jaw to suggest and different time and man.

d: Terrence Malick | imdb.com | trailer | Creation | Hit me.
Lived it | Brahms | Help each other. | Gone to the dogs

The Hangover Part II (2011)

The second “Hangover” is darker (with more male nudity) and better than the first, thanks to Bangkok, where Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis find violent monks and a drug-dealing monkey — and Helms reworks Billy Joel’s “Allentown.”

d: Todd Phillips | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose
I think it’s happened again. | Pig! | “The Hangover”

Bridesmaids (2011)

Kristen Wiig, a comedy virtuoso on “Saturday Night Live” for years, writes and stars in a vehicle tailored to her subtle talents, the story of a maid of honor for whom everything goes wrong. It isn’t just a great comedy featuring women. It’s a great comedy.

d: Paul Feig | imdb.com | trailer | First class | About last night

Your Highness (2011)

The stoner fantasy features a sorcerer’s tale and a sorcerer’s tail (Natalie Portman’s bare ass), but director David Gordon Green, James Franco and Danny McBride can’t recapture the high times of “Pineapple Express.” You may have to be stoned to enjoy it.

d: David Gordon Green | imdb.com | trailer | Advice for Isabel

Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011)

Lauded as the world’s most beautiful woman (Oh, those violet eyes!) and chided for her eight marriages (two to Richard Burton), Elizabeth Taylor could also act. She proved her mettle mostly as wanting women, full of drama and so good at being bad.

imdb.com | Time | The New York Times

Limitless (2011)

Bradley Cooper takes a super drug that helps him reach his full potential (as a writer and financial genius), and while the film doesn’t quite do the same, it’s an entertaining yarn and more than believable in the cynical present when (legal) drugs are cool.

d: Neil Burger | imdb.com | trailer | Charlie Rose