Resurrecting the Movies thread...

[Ellemeno]

Wow, now I want to see Benjamin Button, Paul.

And I have always loved that meaning of the word "muddle."  I'll have a Sazerac too, when I see it. 

[serious crayons]

I drank a few Sazeracs back in my New Orleans days and can add my endorsement.

Paul, thanks so much for the TCCoBB review. I was extremely on-the-fence about it; I'd heard things both ways, and with a running time of 2:55 wanted to be more sure before I committed. Your recommendation has me jumping off the fence and all but striding immediately off to the multiplex.

[Ellemeno]

I drank a few Sazeracs back in my New Orleans days and can add my endorsement.

Paul, thanks so much for the TCCoBB review. I was extremely on-the-fence about it; I'd heard things both ways, and with a running time of 2:55 wanted to be more sure before I committed. Your recommendation has me jumping off the fence and all but striding immediately off to the multiplex.

I wish we could go see it together, K.

[Front-Ranger]

Thanks for your movie review, Paul and for the drink reviews, everyone! Tonight I saw "Were the World Mine" with friend Offline Chuck on the recommendation of Truman and Paul . It was outstanding and fun! Especially since I have a long relationship with the play A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare. I first saw it at the Denver Botanical Gardens on a midsummer's night with my husband and daughter, who was 2 years old at the time. I thought I would regret taking her to it because she was so young, but she was mesmerized and paid attention for the entire performance. Fast forward to 2005 when my daughter was chosen to play Puck in the high school performance of this play. So, as you can imagine, I was interested in seeing this musical about a young man's adventure when he was chosen to play the part of Puck and figured out how to create the mystical flower that sprays a love potion, bewitching half of his small town into becoming gay! As I was going out of the theater, I saw somebody I knew...a friend of my daughter's who had played the role of Demitrias in the play to her Puck. He was her first crush in high school but when he came out, they decided to be good friends. His name...Will!!

[delalluvia]

Hi there, cinemaphiles.  I just saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tonight.  **Not too spoilerish***

All I can say is WOW!  I haven't read any reviews, just the bare outline of the story.  It's an epic that holds your attention through the whole 2 3/4 hours--no mean feat.  I was on the verge of tears practically throughout the entire film.  Spanning eight decades, with not a cliche in sight.  Effective use of spare music, unintrusive voice-overs, interesting lighting add to the delight.  Not to mention special effects that are used for human purposes, not just to blow up stuff.  Hurray!

Brad Pitt is phenomenal.  You can't take your eyes off him.  I don't think I've ever appreciated him as an actor before this.  He makes great use of his eyes and his voice, in this case a quiet, slow, gentle New Orleans lilt.  He is gradually transformed from a little old man, eventually to Brad Pitt, to Brad Pitt of twenty years ago!

I always expect great things from Cate Blanchett and she doesn't disappoint.  From waif to Martha Graham-esque and beyond, she is a wonder.

A friend of mine went to see this over Xmas.  She did her graduate work in English Lit and loves F. Scott Fitzgerald.  She was anxious to see "Benjamin Button" too.

She thought it a big snooze-fest.

She doesn't know why the movie is getting all the buzz it is.  The acting, she said, was perfectly competent.  No more, no less.  Nothing really to write home about.  The movie was way too long at nearly 3 hours and as it was not an action movie where the action can keep one riveted, the movie she said was too slow and the story not sufficiently engrossing nor the dialogue interesting enough to keep one's attention. 

She gave it 2.5 out of 5 stars and definitely not award worthy.

[southendmd]

Having now read the Fitzgerald story, I could see how and English lit grad would not like it.  It's heavily adapted.  The original story seems satirical in nature, and the film is more fable-like.

I'm not surprised there are vastly different opinions of the film.  I recall many people finding BBM to be a snooze-fest too.

To each and every, their own!

[MaineWriter]

I just got home from seeing Slumdog Millionaire. Oh my. I went in knowing absolutely nothing about it. I hadn't read a single review which is unusual for me. It was good seeing it "cold" like that.

It's very very good. In fact, it's probably more than good, once I've had a chance to let it sink in a little bit.

There was a line (unusual) and everyone was seeing either Milk, Benjamin Button, or Slumdog. No one wanted to see Valkyrie. Poor Tom Cruise, I think his day has passed.

Paul...interesting review of Benjamin Button. I read the short story a few weeks ago (free on my Kindle!). It sounds like the only thing in common with the story is the title! They've changed the location (from Baltimore to New Orleans), the time frame (the movie goes up to 2005 according to the New York Times review), the War (in the story it was the Spanish American War and a little bit of WWI), and just about everything else it seems. If I see it, I'll forget about the short story.

Similarly, Lance and I just read Farewell to the Master, the 1940 short story that was the basis for The Day the Earth Stood Still (both of them). The 1950 movie had very little to do with the story and Lance tells me the 2008 version has even less. BTW, he didn't think much of the film and said Keanu Reeves had his bored/board expression in place all the way through.

L

[delalluvia]

Having now read the Fitzgerald story, I could see how and English lit grad would not like it.  It's heavily adapted.  The original story seems satirical in nature, and the film is more fable-like.

I'm not surprised there are vastly different opinions of the film.  I recall many people finding BBM to be a snooze-fest too.

To each and every, their own!

and

Paul...interesting review of Benjamin Button. I read the short story a few weeks ago (free on my Kindle!). It sounds like the only thing in common with the story is the title! They've changed the location (from Baltimore to New Orleans), the time frame (the movie goes up to 2005 according to the New York Times review), the War (in the story it was the Spanish American War and a little bit of WWI), and just about everything else it seems. If I see it, I'll forget about the short story.

Exactly what I had read prior to my friend seeing the movie. It's like Hollywood can't come up with its own concepts anymore, but takes them from existing stories, but then homogenizes them into crowd-pleasing box office palatables - which, of course, destroys what the author really intended to say with his story.

However, having said that, if put in the hands of a talented enough Hollywood story-teller, the story can take on a different life of its own.

I watched the DVD extras on the movie "The Golden Compass" and saw what the book's famous award-winning author thought of his story going Hollywood (the director was quite public in how he adapted the story).  Pullman was really strict on the difference between a movie and his story.  He replied, "They didn't change my story at all.  It's still in my book, right there on the shelf."

[Front-Ranger]

Wow, now I want to see Benjamin Button, Paul.

And I have always loved that meaning of the word "muddle."  I'll have a Sazerac too, when I see it. 

Reminds me of that scene in A Room With A View where that great actor who played the father said, "It seems to me like you're all in a muddle!!"

[southendmd]

..it's probably more than good,

Well, Leslie, I think that's a rave!  I hope to see Slumdog Millionnaire soon !