I'm just not that into Benjamin Button
Monday, 2 March 2009 14:09![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
claidheamhmorWe went off to see a couple of movies this weekend.
First up was He's Just Not That Into You. I wasn't that impressed. It seemed like an episode of some Friends-like TV series that had been stretched by 90 minutes or so. It was too long, there seemed to be very little connection between the different groups of connection, and many of the characters were dull or downright dislikeable. Jennifer Aniston was a tragic figure, condemned to wander about with bad hair and an about-to-burst-into-tears expression. Justin Long's character was amusing though, and I really liked the OCD of Jennifer Connolly's character. Too many stereotypes and cringe-worthy moments for my liking generally though.
Then we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Sunday (fortunately, fully rested and awake). It was blatant Oscar-bait; a pity more time wasn't spend on making it interesting. It was over three hours, a good 60-90 minutes too long. There were things to like: make-up and ageing effects were excellent; nice cinematography; a few interesting characters (like Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Jared Harris and Rampai Mohadi); some nice subplots (like Benjamin's father, and also Benjamin's affair) and some very moving moments (especially the last few minutes).
On the downside: there were whole bunch of completely unnecessary or unrelated subplots that added nothing to the story; the characters of Benjamin and Daisy (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) had zero chemistry (and Daisy was a thoroughly unpleasant character anyway); plenty of racial stereotypes combined with some odd historical revisioning (like there not being any racial segregation or even racial tension in old-age homes and trams in the 1920s); the 2005 New Orleans bookending (used a number of times during the story) was really, really annoying; and again, too long.
First up was He's Just Not That Into You. I wasn't that impressed. It seemed like an episode of some Friends-like TV series that had been stretched by 90 minutes or so. It was too long, there seemed to be very little connection between the different groups of connection, and many of the characters were dull or downright dislikeable. Jennifer Aniston was a tragic figure, condemned to wander about with bad hair and an about-to-burst-into-tears expression. Justin Long's character was amusing though, and I really liked the OCD of Jennifer Connolly's character. Too many stereotypes and cringe-worthy moments for my liking generally though.
Then we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button on Sunday (fortunately, fully rested and awake). It was blatant Oscar-bait; a pity more time wasn't spend on making it interesting. It was over three hours, a good 60-90 minutes too long. There were things to like: make-up and ageing effects were excellent; nice cinematography; a few interesting characters (like Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Jared Harris and Rampai Mohadi); some nice subplots (like Benjamin's father, and also Benjamin's affair) and some very moving moments (especially the last few minutes).
On the downside: there were whole bunch of completely unnecessary or unrelated subplots that added nothing to the story; the characters of Benjamin and Daisy (Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett) had zero chemistry (and Daisy was a thoroughly unpleasant character anyway); plenty of racial stereotypes combined with some odd historical revisioning (like there not being any racial segregation or even racial tension in old-age homes and trams in the 1920s); the 2005 New Orleans bookending (used a number of times during the story) was really, really annoying; and again, too long.
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Date: Monday, 2 March 2009 19:19 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 2009 21:13 (UTC)no subject
Date: Monday, 2 March 2009 22:48 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 2009 08:11 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 2009 02:51 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 2009 08:12 (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, 3 March 2009 09:52 (UTC)I watched TCCOBB last night and thought it was shit. I seriously hated it. 1/10 from me.