I almost forgot about the logos. I thought those looked great.

I saw it tonight. Very funny at parts, pretty heartbreaking at others...but it was just very, very long.

It was a <i>good</i> movie. A good movie that I won't ever watch again.

= J

This sums it up for me. Ebert was right when he said (more or less) that this is a movie that people aren't going to remember long into the future. I doubt many of us will be here 10 years from now saying "Benjamin Button" was one of the best films of the first decade of the new century.

I don't even think this is among Fincher's best work - Zodiac, The Game and Seven were all stronger, more sastifying films.

Liked the film, not Fincher's best. Of the three films that he and Pitt have done together this is third in my book. Blanchett is great in this.

Nice to see Julia Ormond.

I'd pretty much agree. I think it's one of the best of this year and it is a downright beautiful film, but Se7en and Fight Club are just so much better. I put this 4th after those two and the Zodiac Director's Cut in terms of Fincher's best.

Can't speak to this, as I haven't seen the DC of Zodiac yet. Still agonizingly waiting for the Blu-ray to be released which I think is right around the corner.

January 27th.

I think that I'll remember it in 10 years; hell, I think I'll remember it in 20.

I agree. I think it's the only movie I've seen this year that is on the same level of 2007's wonderful crop of great movies.

Saw this today with my girlfriend. Really enjoyed the film and it definitely had it's charms.

The Forrest Gump comparisons were apt; it was a well-crafted film, but not a good one. There were entirely too many character or story arcs that went nowhere or had little emotional substance If they'd been cut completely or expanded upon significantly, the film would've worked better. As it is, it left me frustrated by the storytelling, which is in turns moving and inept. The deaths of some pivotal characters are also passed off with hardly a word or tear. The story is too cold, the characters too remote and character-ish to be taken seriously. And This cut is too saccharine, too much in need of major revision.

Much has been made of the effects as well, and for the most part they make the film. There were a few problems, though, particularly with the early shots of Benjamin, most of which made him look like Gollum in a wrinkled suit. Blanchett's aging was perfect, as was Pitt's youth-ing toward the end. Some of the dubbing for the child actors was downright awful, though, on the level of Space Cowboys.

The performances were sound. Pitt does the best he can, as always. Blanchett pulls off a difficult character very well, in turns charming and self-centered and irritating. Many of the minor characters were thinly veiled stereotypes, but no one phoned in a role. Even the child actors were good (dubbing aside).

I didn't dislike the film, but I can't offer any great praise for it. Fincher isn't cut out for maudlin magical realism, and TCCOBB is a step back from Zodiac and Fight Club.

To me the main problem with this film was the love story.

I didn't care at all whether Pitt and Blanchett were going to get together. Their characters didn't make me feel like they deserved love, which is a necessity to me if a love story is going to work

Grrrr - seriously? That lightning stuff was great, brought some well needed laughs to the movie.

Saw it last night. Of all the "top" movies this year it was by far the weakest for me. Ive skimmed through this thread and haven't seen it brought up, did anyone else think it stole from Titanic a lot. The beginning with the flashback to the clock and the narration to me was so close to Titanic it was ridiculous. The look and the storytelling techniques were so by the book for this type of movie is was comical.

Also, as mentioned above, how he regressed to a baby it made no sense. He was born a baby, just old, why wouldn't he have grown into a baby. I could just see them writing this and get to the middle and realize "aw man, a giant baby would look stupid and people would laugh. Lets just make him shrink back down."

Ultimately i think it tried to come off as an epic, but in the coming years will easily be forgotten by most

I thought the film was passable, but it was nowhere near a great film. It's not something I would want to watch again.

I too felt it was too much like Forrest Gump... way too many similarities. There were many times in the film where I would automatically be reminded of a similar scene or dialog from FG.

I saw it last night and liked it a lot. I still have to check out the other Oscar contenders, so I can't say how it compares. I thought Pitt was great in it and the visuals were superb throughout. It did not feel like a 3-hour movie -- I thought it was well-paced and overall, quite satisfying.

The effect felt stagey and false to me, and the vignettes themselves had nothing to do with Benjamin. I'm glad others liked it, but I would've liked to see them end up on the cutting room floor along with another hour or so of the movie.

I saw it tonight. I thought the characters were rather bland and they didn't flesh them out enough. For a movie that was as long as it was, you would expect them to get that right. They did not.
Hollow epic.

Well it's settled - 99% here are disappointed and critical of the film. It's going to win Best Picture by a mile. ;)

Good, but I agree with a few others that it's not the best I saw this year. Liked the first and last halves of it. Didn't care for the late 1940's/mid-1960's sections at all. Though I felt there was a missed opportunity involving the daughter's first birthday which definetly could've brought the tears out in me.

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

I seen it tonight and I loved it. While i was never bored and never lost interest it did feel like a long movie. Not really a negative but you could feel it was a 3 hour movie.

I didnt really feel that it was too close to Forest Gump, besides being there for some events in history. the tone of both movies felt very different. Visuals were excellent. One of the better movies I seen in a while.

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Good. Count me into the 1% that enjoyed it and will be happy to see it win Best Picture. :)

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

I saw it a second time and still love it but the Gump similarities are really heavy... (for me it's mostly about the odd childhood, the importance of his mother, falling for a young girl, having her be a 'free spirit' and the timing isn't right for their love...finally years later it is their time, they have a kid, things can't last due to their circumstances etc....) All that aside, it is still my pick for the Oscar.

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I really didn't like the movie much at all. It's Gump meets Titanic. It's so trite and Hollywood-feel-goody. It feels like Fincher sold out with this one.

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

:up:

I still have quite a few contenders to see, but I didn't think that it had the shortcomings that others have pointed out. For the record, I disliked Forrest Gump and Titanic. I do see the comparisons to Gump, but, in my opinion, Button is a better overall film because, for me, it seemed much more authentic.

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Feel goodies are good but this didnt make me feel good or uplifted or think about Life or Death. It was a mishmash of scenes that amounted to nothing.
And, I still don't get what Katrina had to do with the movie or the characters.
Was this a symbolism of some sorts?

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

I saw this last night. I liked it, but I have most of the same complaints as everybody else. Too many similarities to Gump for my taste. I liked the lightning guy, thought that was funny, but some of it was just.. I guess too sappy, or over-the-top sappy for my tastes. It was just fucking weird towards the end there.. eh.

Definitely not the Best Picture of 2008.

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See, that was actually one of my issues with the movie. To start I liked the movie as a whole and do see the similarities to Gump. However, in Gump the theme was that everyone left and abandoned him and he had to endure and continue on and deal with life in his own special way.

Ben Butt seemed to be the one doing the running. I know the theme is kind of like go find yourself. But I really don't think he needed to leave at the end. What was the reason? He was still in his forties so he would still have plenty of time with his daughter and by then she would be old enough to understand and accept his unique qualities. They got it right be showing him exploring the world early on because of his young mentality but when he looks 40 he should be winding down and settling.

Overall the movie was good but for this type of movie to really work you really have to buy into the motivations of the characters and I think that was lacking. And I too am confused as to what Katrina had to do with anything.

Boy Julia Ormond looks quite old. I still remember how beautiful she was in first knight. Of course I would rather her age naturally and gracefully then fake and plasticy

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

hehe..one of my friends whispered "finally" whenever they didn't age him. She enjoyed the whole movie but I think she liked the last third a lot more.

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Thought this was the best film I've seen in a long time. Completely disagree with the detractors on this board. I hope to see it win Best Picture this year.

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It was decent and mostly entertaining, but too long and kind of trite/sappy. I can't foresee wanting to sit through it again. Fincher is a great visual stylist, and his cinematography is always a work of art... but not much more than that I'm afraid.

Best Picture? Not by a long shot. Not when "Synecdoche, New York" is around. Too bad no one saw it and it's likely to be ignored for the awards.

In 20 years when no one's watching "Benjamin Button", they'll be studying "Synecdoche" and shaking their heads just as we shake our heads at "Oliver!" winning the year "2001" came out, or "Forrest Gump" winning over "Pulp Fiction".

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

First I'll say that I thought Benjamin Button ,along with the Dark Knight, tie for the best film of the year. I found Button to be a truly moving and interesting film that rolled right along at a great pace and barely felt two hours despite running closer to 3.

I also did love Synecdoche, New York and have that one in my top 10 of the year as well. Both have similar themes about aging and death. But Synecdoche can at times be frustrating and can feel like it lasts 3 hours long even though it lasts closer to two. It wasn't widely seen and most people will be incapable of appreciating it. There is no easily comprehensible plot or conclusion. I didnt mind that though and still felt deeply moved by whatever it was I was seeing. It would make a good double feature of "WTF" with Southland Tales.

I do truly hope Synecdoche is nominated for some Oscars this year. It would be a crime if it wasnt AT LEAST nominated for Make-up, Set Design, Original Screenplay and (most importantly in my eyes) Original Song for "Little Person". Hoffman in particular gave one of the best performances of the year in that film and was much more powerful than Pitt in Benjamin Button I will admit (Hoffman was also much better than Langella in Frost/Nixon) . Sadly his performance wasn't really acknowledged for whatever reason and has no hype built around it which is a damn shame since he was better than Langella and Pitt who will probably be nominated while Hoffman misses out on a deserved nom.

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First of all, "Button" is Best Picture material and worthy. The problem is, there are so many great films this year that it'll be tough to narrow it down to five. Including "Synecdoche". Which I finally saw and is truly one of this year's best too. As I mentioned in another thread, it's studio dropped the ball on it BIG time. Little to no PR for it. It came and went in no time and I live in a major city. Not even knowing it came and went. I pray people will discover this gem on video and cable. But you're wrong when you say no one will remember "Button" in 20 years. Fincher is one of our best directors and it has two of our very best actors in it. Not to mention, it's a terrific movie. And word of mouth is very very strong.

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Wow...maybe I'll have to try and track down Synecdoche... I like Kaufman but most of my trusted reviewers all said this one was a piece of shit - so I didn't go way out of my way to see it... I'll usually judge on my own but I would have to drive like 1.5 hours to catch this one so I haven't as of yet... maybe I should.

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Finally saw this today, and I agree. Wasn't much to it imo.

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I saw the flick a couple of weeks ago. Good, but overrated for sure.

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I finally saw this.

I liked the movie. For a lengthy movie it seemed to whiz by, and I was involved through much of it.

But I was left kind of feeling like it should have had some more impact and meaning by the end. It should have had a little something more to say, or a more profound point to make than it actually did.

I really enjoyed watching it, but just felt like it came off a little light. Lighter than it could/should have been IMO.

Good acting was the norm throughout, even in the small roles. Fincher played a big part there I'm sure.

If this were to win Best Picture it would be a damn sight better than many Best Picture winners in the past, but I can think of several other films this year I consider better.

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Fincher certainly did make a Big Movie and its beautiful to look at but take that away and I don't think there's much else to put it in the Best Picture Catagory.
The characters are thin. The screenplay needed a lot of work and the film needed a good editor.
Didn't the studio try to get Fincher to edit it down before release to no avail?

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

From funnyordie.com

I liked The Curious Case of Benjamin Button the first time around when it was released under the title Forrest Gump. Our friends at Funny or Die have put together a great video comparing the similarities of the two films....http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1d7...p-from-fgump44

Re: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Fincher, 2008)
 

:lol: Pretty funny.