Gosh I love Pitt and Blanchett and Fincher. Will have to watch this.

It has a Sweeney Todd vibe about it, the poster and the release date, lol.

Which film you think will?

Australia had 'timeline' and 'cool scenes.' Max Payne had 'cool scenes.' And No Country For Old Men didn't have 'timeline' nor 'cool scenes' and yet it won.

I really hated this movie. I really did. I don't understand the Best Picture nomination for it at all.

I hope some of you could answer these questions for me:
- How the heck did BB know about Daisy's crash? About all the little things happening that led to that tragic event? The whole movie were either told through his eyes or Daisy's and neither could know about these little little things?
- Struck X times by lightning? Again, what's the purpose?
- Why include Katrina?
- Born a baby, dies a baby? Come on! Why not die a sperm and an ovum, then?
- How much do we know or like about Benjamin Button? He likes Daisy, he ages backwards, his dad disowned him, he met THREE interesting characters (Captain, swimmer and piano teacher) but what else? I couldn't feel for his character nor did I really care for him as well.

I would have loved to love this movie especially seeing how beautiful it is to look at but it just felled empty. In a year where we have two great films being carried by two great performances, Benjamin Button isn't either one of the two films in my humble opinion.

Pitt's actually one of my favorite actors and I've admired Fincher up to Zodiac (well maybe Panic Room). But the last 3 have been underwhelming for me. If he directs Torso, I'll be

I watched it twice and still thought it was 30 minutes too long or rather, they could have used the 30 minutes to tell us about Benjamin Button and his feelings.

I did not feel anything at all through out the show, sure a tug at the heart when Button found out he was going to be a dad because he wouldn't be able to take care of his daughter but that's about it from Button. Second time I felt something was when he yelled out 'You f***ing liars.'

Was he subtle or just plain passive and dull? Oh and his name is Benjamin Button, do we know anything about him?

1. I mean exactly what I said. What do we know about Benjamin Button after 2h plus? He basically does nothing, NOTHING interesting in the movie. He observes life and lives it but how did the events that he went through affect him? Where's the character development? Benjamin Button seemed incredibly emotionally void. When 'Momma' died, you'd think that he'll feel something but no, he just stares blankly with Daisy.
2. Why would a normal man stuck with an abnormal body be cold? He showed very little emotion apart when he was caught sneaking out with Daisy at night and the old lady said "You should be ashamed at yourself." He cried and Momma tells him "You're not like other boys."

And I too have a problem when Benjamin Button talked to the lady who taught him piano when he told her that he was aging backwards and she said something along the lines of "I'd feel sorry for you having to watch all your loved ones go." Doesn't aging forward require the same thing? What's with the "struck by lightning seven times?"

What did you make of the hospital scenes? I thought that ruined the movie for me as well. Just when I wanted to know what happened next in Button's life, they stop for a couple of excruciatingly unnecessary tedious minutes before going back to the story.

But the trouble is for me, it's still an ordinary movie IN SPITE of him aging backwards which was/is my main gripe (make up aside). I mean, a person observing life, seeing people die and falling in love could be done with a man aging forwards. So why introduce the concept of aging backwards besides showing that it could be done on screen? Though not in the same category, it was like watching The Nutty Professor.

Contemplative? What did you get out of the movie? All I got was: WTF?!

He loved Daisy? I really didn't sense it especially how he screwed with one, two.....twenty, twenty-one women over the years as he 'longed' to be with Daisy. So I didn't really sense the love Button had for Daisy and when Button left Daisy, all she did was stare at him. What was she thinking?

The concept of two people aging differently having to wait for forty years to be together should be tragic, sad and heartwarming but no, it's COLD - as you mentioned. It shouldn't feel that way, at least to me. And you would think that love would be better expressed rather than:-

Daisy: Will you sleep with me?
Button: Absolutely.

I've not come across a movie where I cared so little about the title character, more so when it's an Academy Award nominated film.

Love? How could Button love people he had no connection with. They were just detached from him (too old and too young) bar the piano teacher. You may argue they were parental figures but I'd disagree. They were annoyed by him wheeling in and out of the house in his wheelchair and they certainly were annoyed with him playing with the forks and knifes at the dinner table, showing they didn't like him much. And the two deaths he was supposed to have connection with (piano teacher and Momma), he felt nothing.

I didn't get the gag, completely and utterly pointless and added to a painfully long running time. Make it a 2 hour film and perhaps, it would have been better. 2h 45m seemed a desperate attempt to seem 'epic.'

What was the purpose of including Katrina in the narration? Made no sense to me.

This post has been edited by kobe8byrant: Feb 23 2009, 07:55 PM

Emotionless =/= subtlety.
Yes, they didn't de-age after each scene but the transition from teenager to boy was definitely anything but slow de-aging. What happened in between would have been fun, seeing Button cope with Daisy being erased from his memory. Could you imagine the pain of him writing his memories in a diary to remember it? I would have liked to see something like that.

I think I made my point when I edited my post earlier (refer to above) but I liked Jamal-Latika more for the reason there was a sense of longing and fulfillment when he got her. It was certainly more wholesome to see two people go through hell to be together risking it all (millions of dollars and their lives) to be together than

Daisy: Will you sleep with me?
Button: Absolutely.

Where was the sense of longing we should have gotten from the scenes involving Blanchett and Pitt. Just as you didn't get Jamal-Latika, I didn't get Button-Daisy.


With its problems (overly long, underdeveloped characters and story), it's still a great film? I would have no problems if this movie was labeled a good film but I feel there's a great injustice when it's nominated over TDK for Best Picture.

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Added on February 23, 2009, 8:21 pm@ watching Mickey Rouke interviewed by Dominic Wong. He looks annoyed when he's called Penn's friend

This post has been edited by kobe8byrant: Feb 23 2009, 08:22 PM