In what will surely come as a surprise to many people who don’t follow the Internets (also, most likely to mainstream audiences), Terrence Malick’s The Tree Of Life was the top film at the 15h annual Online Film Critics Society Awards. The awards are given out by the Online Film Critics Society, an organization made up of film reviewers, journalists and scholars based in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America and the Asia/Pacific Rim region.

Malick’s film took the top prize for best picture as well as director, supporting actress (Jessica Chastain), editing and cinematography. No other film won more than one award.

Michael Fassbender took best actor for Shame and Tilda Swinton was best actress for We Need To Talk About Kevin. Best supporting actor went to Christopher Plummer for Beginners.

Click through for the full list of winners:

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How do you even begin to describe a film like Tree of Life? Words such as “art-house film,” “sweeping,” and “transcendent” are accurate, but misleading in their connotation. Typically they evoke the image of a self-important, storyless mess, mired in ambiguity and bereft of substance.

In its defense, the tone is humble. The story is of a son recalling childhood memories of his father and reconciling the differences between them. The clarity is in the simplicity and beauty of its scenes. And the substance is in the detailed moments it creates to evoke our own similar experiences.

With an opening shot of the universe itself, director Terence Malick (Badlands, The Thin Red Line) implies mammoth importance, but he avoids pretension by never forcing a message. This shot and others show an awe and respect (to say nothing of their magnificence) for the subject matter that ask us to appreciate rather than tell us what to think.

Similarly, Tree of Life has a message, but it doesn’t preclude the audience from appreciating its scenes on their own terms. A small sequence accompanied by Gorecki’s Symphony number 3 had a very deep impact on me. Other audience members laughed and were then were quiet when one of the boys tries to accompany his father on the guitar.

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Breathtaking.  Profound.  Beautiful.

I can see why this film got mixed reactions at the Cannes Film Festival this year, yet still managed to win the Palm d’Or, the most prestigious award of the festival.  To some, this film might seem a bit melodramatic and abstract for their taste.  But to others, like myself, I found Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life to have a rare and honest beauty to it that can only be described as fine art.

What you have to realize going in is that this feels more like a visual poem than a film.  A cinematic ballet that brings together stunning imagery with powerful storytelling.  Writer and director Terrence Malick is only one of the few remaining auteurs left in filmmaking, meaning that all his films consistently reflect his personal creative vision.

Sure, some could argue that a little more dialogue added to the film could have made it more relatable to a wider audience, but that is not the film Malick wanted to make.  His film is elegant and sophisticated, told both with expertise and creativity.

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Box office analysts expected this weekend to be a pretty huge draw, bringing in families with Kung Fu Panda 2 and everyone else with The Hangover Part 2. Nobody, however, expected the R-rated sequel to The Hangover to pull in over $100 Million since Thursday.

That’s precisely what happened, as Todd Phillips’ film grossed roughly $137 Million since Thursday in the domestic box office and pulled in just under $200 Million worldwide.

Also hitting theaters this weekend, Kung Fu Panda 2 opened to good box office grosses, just not as impressive. The Dreamworks sequel pulled in an estimated $68 Million locally and upwards of $125 Million worldwide.

In third place for the weekend, Pirates 4 dropped off over 50% since last weekend, bringing in an estimated $40 Million for the weekend. This may sound low, but it helps top the film off at $634 Million worldwide over the 10 days. Not too shabby.

Also opening this weekend is Terence Malick’s Tree of Life, which only hit 4 theaters across the country, and still managed to pull in roughly $373,000, which averages out to nearly $100,000 per theater.

Next weekend we’ve got another heavy hitter as Fox’s X-Men: First Class hits over 3,000 theaters. Expect to see big things from that film.

It has been an exciting couple weeks at the Cannes Film Festival, which a number of talented filmmakers showcasing a high number of films to be excited for.  Last night, the official jury for the 64th Festival de Cannes revealed the prize winners during the closing ceremony.

Some highlights from the list include Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life winning the most prestigious award, the Palme d’Or, despite half the crown booing at the screening while the other half cheered with enthusiasm, Kirsten Dunst winning Best Actress after her film’s director Lars von Trier made some anti-Semitic comments at a press conference earlier this week, and Nicolas Winding Refn winning best director for his film Drive, starring Ryan Gosling, proving that he is one of the most prominant up-and-coming directors.

He previously directed Bronson, starring Tom Hardy. Take a look at the full list of winners and award winners after the jump.

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Last week the official selection for the 64th Cannes Film Festival was announced.  49 films will be screened this year across all four categories: Competition, Un Certain Regard, Out of Competition, and Special Screenings.  But out of all that, which of these films should you be most excited to see?

Here is my list of the top 5 film to be stoked about:

1. The Tree of Life - dir: Terrence Malick

2. Sleeping Beauty - dir: Julia Leigh

3. Midnight in Paris - dir: Woody Allen

4. Melancholia - dir: Lars von Trier

5. Restless - dir: Gus Van Sant

Please continue after the break for a full breakdown of these films.

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There has been a lot of talk about Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life film of late, and Fox Searchlight has announced that it has acquired the U.S. rights to the highly anticipated film. Tree of Life is written and directed by Malick, who’s past credits include Badlands with Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek back in 1973.

That film went on to become a respected and iconic film about the true life Starkweather-Fugate killing spree in the 1950′s. More recently, Malick directed such films as The Thin Red Line (1998) and The New World (2005.)

Tree of Life stars Brad Pitt and Sean Penn and has been finished for a while (it was first announced back in 2005.) It was originally supposed to appear at the Cannes film festival earlier this year, but was not ready.  Some people were hoping it would debut at Telluride last week since Brad Pitt attended the festival, but it did not.

Now there are some hopes/rumors (unsubstantiated) that it could sneak into Fantastic Fest. Guess we’ll find out in a few weeks.

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