meet joe gump

[bas_I_am]

just got back from seeing the curious case of benjamin button.

A COMPLETE PIECE OF CRAP!!!

how can this get 8.6 on IMDB????

[negative1]

thought it was AWESOME,
but then again, i LOVED GUMP to death also..

i'm a sucker for these time/aging/meta stories...

nice job brad pitt, its' about darn time you did something decent..

later
-1

[gambit]

Yeah, it was a great movie. Button was a little too much like Gump, but it takes a good story to keep my interest for nearly three hours.

[bas_I_am]

beginning of movie: "Mom, I didnt know your were a dancer. . . "
end of movie: [in flashback] Mom and 12 year old daughter meet bejamin button in dance studio [contemporary] "I remember that. . . that was him?"

She remembers the 10 second meeting, but cant remember that her mom ran a dance studio????

[beginning of movie] button born crippled with arthritis
[end of movie] teenage button inflicted with dementia

give me a break!

trite, contrived
BOO!!!!!!!!

[negative1]

the thing about the movie is,
you have to accept the premise for it at the beginning,
or you will hate the rest of it..

forrest gump was a lot more believable in most ways, because
you didn't have to suspend your belief as much..

again, anything that fincher touches is almost gold to me..

later
-1

[potatobroth]

Originally Posted by negative1

the thing about the movie is,
you have to accept the premise for it at the beginning,
or you will hate the rest of it..

forrest gump was a lot more believable in most ways, because
you didn't have to suspend your belief as much..

again, anything that fincher touches is almost gold to me..

later
-1

The Game?

[viddy]

I thought that while it was a great story, great cinematography, great production design, I did not feel emotionally engaged in the film. My mind kept wandering and thinking about filmmaking, and the fakeness of the CG Brad Pitt face, and Cate Blanchett's photoshopped-perfect-makeup face. The score was also good, but it lacked a clearly defined theme. I love Alexandre Desplat's style; very classical, very complex, very beautiful. I tend to like scores with very clearly defined themes, where I can hear them once and immediately know what film they're from.

[grady]

Originally Posted by potatobroth

The Game?

I'll defend The Game. Sure it's a one trick pony, but it's still a good film, and finely made one too, as all of Fincher's films have been.

[grady]

I haven't seen the film since an early screening December 1st, but I do want to return to it. Looking at the film as simply a piece work in the context of how it was made (acting, cinematography, editing, production design, score, etc), it's incredible, but that is to be expected when going into a film made by David Fincher.

The film requires you to buy into the conceit of Pitt aging backwards, you do and your fine, you don't, and you're going to be unhappy.

Sure there are similarities to Forrest Gump and both films share the same screenwriter Eric Roth, but I would say it stops rather abruptly at that. The type of filmmaker that David Fincher has become surprised me while watching Button. He never fully engages the sentimentality that say Spielberg or Zemmicks might have done with this film, but keeps the it at an arm's lengths away. Some of this distance I think is attributed to the cyncism and cold nature of exhibited in his films, but also helps this particular film not move into the heart string tugging, emotional manipulation that a filmmaker could capitalize on with this film and story.

That said, after seeing Zodiac for the first time I wanted to watch it again immediately to the point of trying to get my friend to go thread the film up again and watch it back to back keeping us at the theater until 5am. With Button I didn't feel this compulsion to watch the film again immediately. Case in point, the film has been playing for over a week now and I haven't been back to visit it.

Most likely I will see it again this weekend but I don't think I will be seeing Button five times in the theater like I did with Zodiac.