As a fan of most everyone invloved I really expected to like this film. I am quite happy to say that I was in no way disappointed my expectations were surpassed on every level.

In his own words Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) states “I was born under unusual circumstances while everybody else was aging, I was getting younger all alone…” , born not as an infant but as an old man, not expected live long the boy (who looks to be about 90) is left on the steps of an old age home where he is discovered by one of the employes, Queenie (Taraji Henson). Benjamin grows into his old and decrepit body gaining maturity as he does so, playing with soldiers, listening to stories and longing to play with the children he sees unfortunately he is still confined to a wheel chair.

Benjamin first encounters Daisy when she is about six or seven years old- mentally he is the roughly the same age as her but physically he is somewhere in his 80’s. As Daisy (Cate Blanchett) gets older and Benjamin gets younger there relationship grows stronger. However even when the two are about the same age (somewhere around 1970) and the relationship is strongest, there is still an underlying tension; Benjamin will get younger and Daisy will grow older the relationship can not last. Benjamin tells Daisy when she’s pregnant that she should find a real father for the child because she can’t look after both him (as he gets younger) and the baby.

Things come and go, as we travel through life physically nothing will stay the same. Benjamin grows younger knowing someday he will become an infant unable to care for himself, while Daisy grows older knowing that someday she will not be able to care for herself. However despite there physical infirmities the couple still love and care for each other until the very end.

The storytelling displayed is top notch, and the filmmaking epic. Apparently the screen play floated around for about 15 or 16 years before finally going into production and it’s quite easy to see why, the technical challenge of making an infant look as if he were 90 then aging backwards must have been enormous however the final product is flawless. It does not look CG, rubbery or unnatural in any way; if there was a baby born into a 90 year old’s body I suspect he would look very much like Benjamin did in this film.

I often find myself carefully scrutinizing shot composition, cinematography and other technical elements however I was so completely engrossed in the story it’s hard to accurately judge the film on a technical level. But from what I observed; technically, the film is a masterpiece as well. This is a serious Oscar contender.

‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ is a magical and moving film which depicts life’s challenges and triumphs told through the eyes of a man who is traveling the same path as everybody else, just in the opposite direction.

Written by Eric Roth, and Directed by David Fincher ‘The Curious Case of Bejamin Button’ also stars Jason Flemyng, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, and Tilda Swinton.

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written by Travis \\ tags: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, David Fincher, Eric Roth, Jason Flemyng, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Paramount, Taraji Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Tilda Swinton, Warner Bros

Well another Oscar seasion has come and gone this year was one of a few supprises but mostly it was pretty predictable. So here they are what won, what I thought was going to win and what I think shuld have won.

Best Picture of the Year: No Country for Old Men

No big supprises there, I was pretty shure it would eather be No Country for Old Men or There Will Be Blood however I think No Country was a slightly better film. Personally I was kind of hopeing for Michael Clayton.

Best Director: The Cohen Brothers for No Country for Old Men

Once again not too supprised by that although there was some compitition in this catagory from Julian Schnabel, Paul Thomas Anderson and Tony Gilroy however I think the Cohens was a good choice. It would have been nice if Jason Riteman had won but I feel he still has many more contenders in him.

Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis

DUH! This was pretty much a shoe in- I’m not going to comment on what I thought shuld have won beacouse I have not seen In the Valley of Elah or Eastern Promises, but I was not supprised that the Academy chose Daniel Day-Lewis.

Best Actress: Marion Cotillard

I’ll admit I saw none of the films in this catagory so I can’t really say but I’m not to supprised that Marion Cotillard won for La Vie en Rose.

Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem

No supprise there and I agree 100%

Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton

Wow- I was blown away by this out of them all this was the biggest shocker I thought shurely Cate Blanchett was a shoe in for her work in I’m Not There! Tilda Swinton did a great job in Michael Clayton but to me it seems like Cate Blanchett in I’m Not There would be a more favored choice by the Academy.

Best Original Screen Play: Diablo Cody

Supprised this did not go to Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton but I understand the vote for Diablo Cody’s writeing on Juno.

Best Adapted Screen Play: The Cohens

I’m pretty supprised this did not go to There Will Be Blood but as I have said before personally I thought No Country was slightly better and more engrosing then TWBB.

Best Cinamatography: There Will Be Blood

Supprised this did not go to The Diveing Bell and the Butterfly.

Best Animated Feature: Ratatoullie

An ovbious choice Pixar is a critics darling and rightly so they make beautifull images that work hand in hand with there wonderfull storys but I thought this year Persepolis would give them a run for there money.

Best Documentery: Taxi to the Dark Side I was not to up on the documentries I only saw Sicko, which was good but from what I’ve heard about Taxi to the Dark Side it deserved this.

Late is the hour, maybe I’ll finnish this someday.

written by Travis \\ tags: Academy Awards, Daniel Day-Lewis, Javier Bardem, Marion Cotillard, No Country for Old Men, Oscars, The Cohen Brothers, Tilda Swinton

Last night I finally got around to seeing Tony Gilroy’s (writer of the Bourne movies) directorial debut; Michael Clayton, and man it was a good film.  If you’re up on the movies you know that Michael Clayton has been out since October, and is coming to DVD, Blu-Ray and HDDVD (But who uses HDDVD?) in about 15 days.  Since it’s been out for a while I will not be doing a formal review but I will say that it is strongly constructed thriller from first time Director Tony Gilroy.  It seems a lot of people passed this film over in it’s first run so Warner Bros. rereleased it just recently after it received 7 Oscar nominations.   If you have not yet seen it I recommend it, but you may want to leave the kids at home it’s got some strong language. 

I was pleasantly suppressed to see that it was playing in my local theater, we don’t get a lot of films like this around here (one of the advantages of moving to Toronto, (see post below)). Kudos to my local theater for also finally deciding to play No Country For Old Men.

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written by Travis \\ tags: George Clooney, Michael Clayton, Sydney Pollack, Tilda Swinton, Tom Wilkinson, Tony Gilroy, Travis's Review