list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Forrest Gump on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Forrest_Gump/89480/default.aspx Title: Forrest Gump
Year: 1994
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Plot: "Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump (played by Tom Hanks in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches Elvis Presley to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable shrimping business, becomes an original investor in Apple Computers, and decides to run back and forth across the country for several years. Meanwhile, as the remarkable parade of his life goes by, Forrest never forgets Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes her own journey through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that is far more troubled than the path Forrest happens upon. Featured alongside Tom Hanks are Sally Field as Forrest's mother; Gary Sinise as his commanding officer in Vietnam; Mykelti Williamson as his ill-fated Army buddy who is familiar with every recipe that involves shrimp; and the special effects artists whose digital magic place Forrest amidst a remarkable array of historical events and people. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 212
Number of Lists: 141
Number of blog posts: 20
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SpoutRating: 4
]]>Wed, 27 May 2009 18:51:07 GMTForrest Gump1994Robert Zemeckis"Stupid is as stupid does," says Forrest Gump (played by <a href="/players/P____93341/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Tom Hanks</a> in an Oscar-winning performance) as he discusses his relative level of intelligence with a stranger while waiting for a bus. Despite his sub-normal IQ, Gump leads a truly charmed life, with a ringside seat for many of the most memorable events of the second half of the 20th century. Entirely without trying, Forrest teaches <a href="/players/P___107032/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Elvis Presley</a> to dance, becomes a football star, meets John F. Kennedy, serves with honor in Vietnam, meets Lyndon Johnson, speaks at an anti-war rally at the Washington Monument, hangs out with the Yippies, defeats the Chinese national team in table tennis, meets Richard Nixon, discovers the break-in at the Watergate, opens a profitable shrimping business, becomes an original investor in Apple Computers, and decides to run back and forth across the country for several years. Meanwhile, as the remarkable parade of his life goes by, Forrest never forgets Jenny (<a href="/players/P____77633/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Robin Wright Penn</a>), the girl he loved as a boy, who makes her own journey through the turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s that is far more troubled than the path Forrest happens upon. Featured alongside <a href="/players/P____93341/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Tom Hanks</a> are <a href="/players/P____89714/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Sally Field</a> as Forrest's mother; <a href="/players/P___111667/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Gary Sinise</a> as his commanding officer in Vietnam; <a href="/players/P____76595/default.aspx" style='text-decoration:underline'>Mykelti Williamson</a> as his ill-fated Army buddy who is familiar with every recipe that involves shrimp; and the special effects artists whose digital magic place Forrest amidst a remarkable array of historical events and people. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide212Tag Target (>10)14120204http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/t12881veoki.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Forrest_Gump/89480/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2009/11/26/44429.aspx Post By: pippin06
Post To: Reel Thoughts
Post Date: 11/26/2009 11:34:56 AM
Body: What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here:http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx Forrest Gump is on the following AFI lists: The Original Top 100 (#71)100 Movie Quotes (#40 - Forrest Gump: "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.")100 Most Inspiring Movies (#37)The Revised Top 100 (#76) I believe that Forrest Gump happens to be one of the most polarizing films in the popular film lexicon. Take any sampling of people who have seen this film, and, almost guaranteed, half will say this is a modern masterpiece, while the other half will claim that it is melodramatic and manipulative tripe with a problematic protagonist. For the record, I am of the former category. This is one of my favorite films for so many reasons. On the most basic level, it holds up to repeat viewings so well, I actually notice aspects of it with each new viewing that I missed on previous attempts. It's endlessly quotable, even if you ignore that life is like a box of chocolates. It features Tom Hanks in a performance that is neither pandering and offensive nor ultimately that manipulative. And, unless I'm much mistaken, it's probably Robert Zemeckis' best film, a peak he would have reached fifteen years ago. I am unable to see why people have come to hate it so, and I suppose they have a right to their opinion, but for me, Forrest Gump as a film and as a piece of art is actually quite a masterpiece because it's collectively self-reflective. It invites Americans as a culture to revisit where we've been and consider where we're going, all in the space of 2.5 hours. Plus, it's simply an entertaining film, which I am proud to have in my collection (the test passed with flying colors on this one). Forrest Gump (Hanks) is a special man. He has a below-average IQ, but he is never wanting for an interesting life. Based on a novel, the film follows Forrest from his childhood with his doting mother (Sally Field) to adulthood. Without trying, Forrest finds himself a witness to some of the most significant historic events of the twentieth century, even as he finds his way to college (and the University of Alabama after Brown v. Board of Ed was rendered by the Supreme Court) through a football scholarship, the Vietnam War via choosing the army for his career, a shrimping boat via a promise to his war buddy and "best good friend" Benjamin Buford Blue aka Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), an investor in Apple Electronics thanks to his former Vietnam lieutenant and shrimping boat first mate Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise), around the world as a ping-pong champion, and cross-country just because he felt like running one day. He meets presidents at the White House (on multiple occasions), the King pre-fame, and John Lennon post-Beatles. And all Forrest ever cares about, despite all of these things he has seen, done, and been a part of, is his girl, his peas-and-carrots most special friend, Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), whom he loves with all his heart, and whose parallel life is quite the opposite of his idyllic, happenstance journey. Perhaps it's difficult to see past the fact that Forrest is "below-average" in intelligence. Maybe viewers find him to be too much of a caricature and distraction from the more profound aspects of the film. To this viewer, Forrest's intelligence is incidental to his state of being. He has only firm feelings about three things: his mama, his Jenny, and God; everything else floats past him like the feather that opens and closes the film, and whether the film represents advocacy for this bliss or merely offers up a different perspective to the harder, more cynical attitudes our country has adopted in these modern times is left for the viewer to judge. That's why Forrest Gump is a movie masterpiece. Forrest is the charismatic main character, and the film would lose its whole purpose for being if he weren't in it, or if Tom Hanks had not given his entirely Oscar-worthy performance as this man, but Forrest is as much a bystander in his story as the rest of us. The film is about perspectives, lessons learned, and love, and though told through dramatic historical events of the past 40-50 years, the film becomes the looking glass to our Alice. I think Zemeckis knew that when he agreed to direct this film, which is why he did such an amazing job. While the movie was commercially exploited to death by Paramount and everyone else, that doesn't mean that because of its "mainstream" position, its unusual main character, or its commercial success, that the film has lost any of its profundity, even as the years pass (if anything, it has become more profound with each new historical development in the 21st century). The characters that represent the viewer are the people who sit at the bus stop with Forrest, on that Southern park bench, listening to him as he weaves the story of his life, which is all at once fantastic and yet wholly believable simply because, as Jenny often says, he doesn't know any better. They are us - each new member of his limited audience offers a different reaction within the broad spectrum possible in response to a story like his, and quite succinctly parallels the broad spectrum of reactions to the film in general that its release has garnered since 1994. Besides the wonderful and touching performances of Hanks, Sinise, and Buttercup, I mean, Robin Wright Penn, and the wonderful story of life and love, Forrest Gump has so many other strong points. The soundtrack is completely awesome and kudos to Zemeckis and his creative team for picking recognizable and perfectly period-synced tunes that move the story along at a consistent and entertaining pace. It's one of the best soundtracks to own ever, by the way. Also, the visual effects are stunning, intermixing Forrest into footage of bygone figures, such as John F. Kennedy and George Wallace and John Lennon (and the editing must be truly superb to seamlessly interweave these scenes into the overall story arc). The attention to detail in art direction is truly magnificent; I could spend hours trying to find all of the little hints and nods to the event or occurrence at hand: consider that when Forrest goes to meet Kennedy after his stint on the All-American football team, he uses the restroom, wherein you hear strains from the musical Camelot and see a signed picture of Marilyn Monroe on the sink. Forrest Gump is one of those rare movie vehicles that really does have it all, from superficial entertainment values to deep and meaningful artistic symbolism. The only flaw I ascribe to the film is the fact that the Republican Party took the film up as its poster child of the American dream and wholesome values (Forrest, in his simplicity of wants, represents the success of conservatism, while Jenny, who experiments with sex, drugs, and rock n roll, represents the degradation of liberalism). I don't think there is any political propaganda to be drawn from this film; in fact, I think the implications are far more philosophical, even metaphysical, and moreso than even the filmmakers realized, but it all hearkens back to love and the pain and wonder of life moving forward. I think Forrest Gump is that modern masterpiece, as you may be able to tell from my preachy review, so count me in that half of the population. As such, I'm inclined to give it a 10 for masterpiece! And for the two people who have not seen this film, please do not be put off by its "simple" protagonist and controversy. Watch the film and decide for yourself whether you find the film to be melodramatic and manipulative or having more layers than a casserole. For me, Forrest Gump will always be one of my favorite films because the whole of what it represents is so much greater than the sum of its extraordinary parts.
]]>Thu, 26 Nov 2009 16:34:56 GMTpippin06Reel Thoughts11/26/2009 11:34:56 AM What's the AFI Project, you ask? For more information, or if you just enjoy my bemused ramblings, read here:http://www.spout.com/blogs/pippin06/archive/2008/3/1/25756.aspx Forrest Gump is on the following AFI lists: The Original Top 100 (#71)100 Movie Quotes (#40 - Forrest Gump: "Mama always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.")100 Most Inspiring Movies (#37)The Revised Top 100 (#76) I believe that Forrest Gump happens to be one of the most polarizing films in the popular film lexicon. Take any sampling of people who have seen this film, and, almost guaranteed, half will say this is a modern masterpiece, while the other half will claim that it is melodramatic and manipulative tripe with a problematic protagonist. For the record, I am of the former category. This is one of my favorite films for so many reasons. On the most basic level, it holds up to repeat viewings so well, I actually notice aspects of it with each new viewing that I missed on previous attempts. It's endlessly quotable, even if you ignore that life is like a box of chocolates. It features Tom Hanks in a performance that is neither pandering and offensive nor ultimately that manipulative. And, unless I'm much mistaken, it's probably Robert Zemeckis' best film, a peak he would have reached fifteen years ago. I am unable to see why people have come to hate it so, and I suppose they have a right to their opinion, but for me, Forrest Gump as a film and as a piece of art is actually quite a masterpiece because it's collectively self-reflective. It invites Americans as a culture to revisit where we've been and consider where we're going, all in the space of 2.5 hours. Plus, it's simply an entertaining film, which I am proud to have in my collection (the test passed with flying colors on this one). Forrest Gump (Hanks) is a special man. He has a below-average IQ, but he is never wanting for an interesting life. Based on a novel, the film follows Forrest from his childhood with his doting mother (Sally Field) to adulthood. Without trying, Forrest finds himself a witness to some of the most significant historic events of the twentieth century, even as he finds his way to college (and the University of Alabama after Brown v. Board of Ed was rendered by the Supreme Court) through a football scholarship, the Vietnam War via choosing the army for his career, a shrimping boat via a promise to his war buddy and "best good friend" Benjamin Buford Blue aka Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), an investor in Apple Electronics thanks to his former Vietnam lieutenant and shrimping boat first mate Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise), around the world as a ping-pong champion, and cross-country just because he felt like running one day. He meets presidents at the White House (on multiple occasions), the King pre-fame, and John Lennon post-Beatles. And all Forrest ever cares about, despite all of these things he has seen, done, and been a part of, is his girl, his peas-and-carrots most special friend, Jenny (Robin Wright Penn), whom he loves with all his heart, and whose parallel life is quite the opposite of his idyllic, happenstance journey. Perhaps it's difficult to see past the fact that Forrest is "below-average" in intelligence. Maybe viewers find him to be too much of a caricature and distraction from the more profound aspects of the film. To this viewer, Forrest's intelligence is incidental to his state of being. He has only firm feelings about three things: his mama, his Jenny, and God; everything else floats past him like the feather that opens and closes the film, and whether the film represents advocacy for this bliss or merely offers up a different perspective to the harder, more cynical attitudes our country has adopted in these modern times is left for the viewer to judge. That's why Forrest Gump is a movie masterpiece. Forrest is the charismatic main character, and the film would lose its whole purpose for being if he weren't in it, or if Tom Hanks had not given his entirely Oscar-worthy performance as this man, but Forrest is as much a bystander in his story as the rest of us. The film is about perspectives, lessons learned, and love, and though told through dramatic historical events of the past 40-50 years, the film becomes the looking glass to our Alice. I think Zemeckis knew that when he agreed to direct this film, which is why he did such an amazing job. While the movie was commercially exploited to death by Paramount and everyone else, that doesn't mean that because of its "mainstream" position, its unusual main character, or its commercial success, that the film has lost any of its profundity, even as the years pass (if anything, it has become more profound with each new historical development in the 21st century). The characters that represent the viewer are the people who sit at the bus stop with Forrest, on that Southern park bench, listening to him as he weaves the story of his life, which is all at once fantastic and yet wholly believable simply because, as Jenny often says, he doesn't know any better. They are us - each new member of his limited audience offers a different reaction within the broad spectrum possible in response to a story like his, and quite succinctly parallels the broad spectrum of reactions to the film in general that its release has garnered since 1994. Besides the wonderful and touching performances of Hanks, Sinise, and Buttercup, I mean, Robin Wright Penn, and the wonderful story of life and love, Forrest Gump has so many other strong points. The soundtrack is completely awesome and kudos to Zemeckis and his creative team for picking recognizable and perfectly period-synced tunes that move the story along at a consistent and entertaining pace. It's one of the best soundtracks to own ever, by the way. Also, the visual effects are stunning, intermixing Forrest into footage of bygone figures, such as John F. Kennedy and George Wallace and John Lennon (and the editing must be truly superb to seamlessly interweave these scenes into the overall story arc). The attention to detail in art direction is truly magnificent; I could spend hours trying to find all of the little hints and nods to the event or occurrence at hand: consider that when Forrest goes to meet Kennedy after his stint on the All-American football team, he uses the restroom, wherein you hear strains from the musical Camelot and see a signed picture of Marilyn Monroe on the sink. Forrest Gump is one of those rare movie vehicles that really does have it all, from superficial entertainment values to deep and meaningful artistic symbolism. The only flaw I ascribe to the film is the fact that the Republican Party took the film up as its poster child of the American dream and wholesome values (Forrest, in his simplicity of wants, represents the success of conservatism, while Jenny, who experiments with sex, drugs, and rock n roll, represents the degradation of liberalism). I don't think there is any political propaganda to be drawn from this film; in fact, I think the implications are far more philosophical, even metaphysical, and moreso than even the filmmakers realized, but it all hearkens back to love and the pain and wonder of life moving forward. I think Forrest Gump is that modern masterpiece, as you may be able to tell from my preachy review, so count me in that half of the population. As such, I'm inclined to give it a 10 for masterpiece! And for the two people who have not seen this film, please do not be put off by its "simple" protagonist and controversy. Watch the film and decide for yourself whether you find the film to be melodramatic and manipulative or having more layers than a casserole. For me, Forrest Gump will always be one of my favorite films because the whole of what it represents is so much greater than the sum of its extraordinary parts. http://www.spout.com/groups/Weekly_Theme/Re_Weekly_Theme_for_May_25_The_American_Soldier/625/42424/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: mercurial
Post To: Weekly Theme
Post Date: 5/27/2009 2:51:07 PM
Body: At first, I was going to say that I'm not really a fan of the genre, but after thinking about it, I actually am. Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb are two of my favorite films. Both films just capture the many facets of war and the American fascination with it. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) was really one of the first pre-1970 films I had seen as a teenager and completely blew me away. Definitely made me look at Angela Lansbury in a whole new way. Forrest Gump was just an all around great film. Infinitely quotable and probably one of my favorite depictions of an American soldier. Andersonville, Gone With The WInd and Dances With Wolves are all great Civil War films. I still can't get over Andersonville which really struck a chord with me and woke me up to the true horrors of war and how miserable being a POW must be. The Patriot was corny but I still find myself watching it every time it's on television. G.I. Jane, Courage Under Fire, Your Mother Wears Combat Boots and Private Benjamin are some good (or interesting) films about women in the armed forces. And lastly, the more slapstick portrayals of soldiers are Down Periscope, Sgt. Bilko, and my personal favorite, In The Army Now.
]]>Wed, 27 May 2009 18:51:07 GMTmercurialWeekly Theme5/27/2009 2:51:07 PMAt first, I was going to say that I'm not really a fan of the genre, but after thinking about it, I actually am. Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb are two of my favorite films. Both films just capture the many facets of war and the American fascination with it. The Manchurian Candidate (1962) was really one of the first pre-1970 films I had seen as a teenager and completely blew me away. Definitely made me look at Angela Lansbury in a whole new way. Forrest Gump was just an all around great film. Infinitely quotable and probably one of my favorite depictions of an American soldier. Andersonville, Gone With The WInd and Dances With Wolves are all great Civil War films. I still can't get over Andersonville which really struck a chord with me and woke me up to the true horrors of war and how miserable being a POW must be. The Patriot was corny but I still find myself watching it every time it's on television. G.I. Jane, Courage Under Fire, Your Mother Wears Combat Boots and Private Benjamin are some good (or interesting) films about women in the armed forces. And lastly, the more slapstick portrayals of soldiers are Down Periscope, Sgt. Bilko, and my personal favorite, In The Army Now. http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/3/4/40820.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 3/4/2009 4:01:17 PM
Body: Director Zack Snyder has succeeded in doing the impossible: he has adapted the “unfilmable” graphic novel, Watchmen, to the screen. While there’s no doubt that he has made the movie with surprisingly little deviation from the source material, that doesn’t mean he has made a good film. In many ways, Watchmen is a case study in the inherent differences between the comic page and the screen. Success on screen, even if the adaptation is faithful, is not guaranteed. The story (in case you didn’t piece it together from the constant barrage of trailers and posters clogging the internet since last summer) revolves around a group of costumed super heroes whose fates intertwine with the events of the twentieth century. Set in an alternate 1985, the world is on the brink of nuclear holocaust. The action is set in motion by the murder of The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a retired hero with dubious morals. The outlawed heroes fight to avert impending doom, and spur to action the only one among them with the power to single-handedly save the world, Dr. Manhattan. Played by a blue CGI mock-up of a naked, impossibly ripped Billy Crudup, Dr. Manhattan is the result of an experiment gone wrong. He is the only hero with supernatural powers, which are inconceivably vast, and has become the lynchpin in the United States’ defense strategy against the Soviets. His powers have gradually separated him from the plight of humanity, illustrated by his failing relationship with Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), a sexy, second-generation heroine. There’s a concern that the web of back-stories and sizable cast of characters could render the film inaccessible to those who haven’t read the graphic novel. On the contrary, I think the Watchmen virgins are at an advantage going into the film. Snyder covers a dizzying amount of material, staying true to the core of the original story even while making some significant cuts. For Watchmen fans, I think the problem is not the cuts, but rather the treatment of some of the material that’s left in. Hollywood seems to assume that comic books are ready-made storyboards, in need only of several million dollars of CGI to come to life. In many ways, Watchmen is a collection of examples which show why the formula is much more complicated than that. The opening credits stride through several decades of alternate history, showing how the Watchmen, and their predecessors the Minutemen, fit into American history. Rather than produce old-looking photos, or depict Dr. Manhattan shaking JFK’s hand in the grainy film of the day, a la Forrest Gump, Snyder sets up nearly still live action scenes. The camera pulls out of these mostly frozen moments, giving a nostalgic feeling of living within the photos. It’s a nice effect, but it’s also extremely fake looking. There’s something very odd about seeing actors you know were told to hold very still, like they’re faking slow motion. At first this really turned me off, but then I began to like it. As the montage went on, it began to feel self-consciously fake, as if these scenes are not depictions of the actual events, but rather glorified memories, existing only in the minds of aging super heroes. After the credits, the film continues to make drastic jumps in tone and pace. Some of these work quite well, while others do not. About half way into the film, after being pulled in repeatedly by stunning sequences and shunted back out by unsuccessful ones, I found a pattern: the movie works really well when it doesn’t try to be an actual movie. Many passages, the majority of the film even, are a delight to watch. But when the film needs to slow down and just let a scene play, a scene which needs no visual flourishes but is still important, it seems bored with itself. A perfect example is The Comedian’s burial. Rather than inner-cut wide shots of somber figures gathered around the grave with contemplative close-ups, Snyder instead decides to use movie magic to make the camera fly from a tight shot of a stone angel statue back, back, flying over the mourners, cutting through the rain, until the camera itself passes through an impossibly small hole in a wrought-iron sign that reads “Cemetery.” Scenes like this made me wish Snyder could have somehow kept the entire film in music video mode, where it really sings. For every dramatic visual improvement the film offers, there’s a lack-luster chunk of dialog that sounds as though the actors are reading the comic aloud. There’s plenty of voiceover, the filmic version of comics’ ubiquitous narration boxes, with Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a grizzled anti-hero with a simmering contempt for the city he’s trying to save, each narrating portions of the film. Alan Moore, who wrote the graphic novel but has distanced himself from the film, penned passages that are now canonical in the graphic novel world. These passages are adhered to where ever possible, which works in certain scenes, but in others the translation to screen feels awkward. Some of Rorschach’s ponderings, which come off as masterpieces of noir prose in the book, feel hokey here. While Dr. Manhattan’s voiceover, with an epic calmness, makes his scenes some of the strongest in the film, due in no small part to Crudup’s stellar voice work. Plenty of scenes are given the justice they deserve, but others, particularly near the beginning, feel like the abridged version. In particular, a dialog between The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan in a Vietnam bar, a key foreshadowing of the central conflict the blue demi-god faces, plays like a sped-up dress rehearsal. Ozymandias, a hero who has cashed in on his fame and turned his attention toward global energy reform, underscores the futility of placing humanity’s hope in Dr. Manhattan. If the full volley of Soviet nukes come, he explains, “even Dr. Manhattan can’t be everywhere at once.” Watchmen, as thorough an adaptation as it is, suffers from the same fate. It can’t be everywhere at once. In some ways, it’s too complete a retelling of the graphic novel, as it sets itself up for easy panel-to-scene comparison, making the film’s inadequacies that much easier to measure. It’s clear that Snyder has found a kindred spirit in Dr. Manhattan. As Silk Spectre II distances herself from her big, blue, supernatural lover, she says a line that could just as easily be meant for the director himself, “You know how everything fits together, except people.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 04 Mar 2009 21:01:17 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com3/4/2009 4:01:17 PMDirector Zack Snyder has succeeded in doing the impossible: he has adapted the “unfilmable” graphic novel, Watchmen, to the screen. While there’s no doubt that he has made the movie with surprisingly little deviation from the source material, that doesn’t mean he has made a good film. In many ways, Watchmen is a case study in the inherent differences between the comic page and the screen. Success on screen, even if the adaptation is faithful, is not guaranteed. The story (in case you didn’t piece it together from the constant barrage of trailers and posters clogging the internet since last summer) revolves around a group of costumed super heroes whose fates intertwine with the events of the twentieth century. Set in an alternate 1985, the world is on the brink of nuclear holocaust. The action is set in motion by the murder of The Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan), a retired hero with dubious morals. The outlawed heroes fight to avert impending doom, and spur to action the only one among them with the power to single-handedly save the world, Dr. Manhattan. Played by a blue CGI mock-up of a naked, impossibly ripped Billy Crudup, Dr. Manhattan is the result of an experiment gone wrong. He is the only hero with supernatural powers, which are inconceivably vast, and has become the lynchpin in the United States’ defense strategy against the Soviets. His powers have gradually separated him from the plight of humanity, illustrated by his failing relationship with Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), a sexy, second-generation heroine. There’s a concern that the web of back-stories and sizable cast of characters could render the film inaccessible to those who haven’t read the graphic novel. On the contrary, I think the Watchmen virgins are at an advantage going into the film. Snyder covers a dizzying amount of material, staying true to the core of the original story even while making some significant cuts. For Watchmen fans, I think the problem is not the cuts, but rather the treatment of some of the material that’s left in. Hollywood seems to assume that comic books are ready-made storyboards, in need only of several million dollars of CGI to come to life. In many ways, Watchmen is a collection of examples which show why the formula is much more complicated than that. The opening credits stride through several decades of alternate history, showing how the Watchmen, and their predecessors the Minutemen, fit into American history. Rather than produce old-looking photos, or depict Dr. Manhattan shaking JFK’s hand in the grainy film of the day, a la Forrest Gump, Snyder sets up nearly still live action scenes. The camera pulls out of these mostly frozen moments, giving a nostalgic feeling of living within the photos. It’s a nice effect, but it’s also extremely fake looking. There’s something very odd about seeing actors you know were told to hold very still, like they’re faking slow motion. At first this really turned me off, but then I began to like it. As the montage went on, it began to feel self-consciously fake, as if these scenes are not depictions of the actual events, but rather glorified memories, existing only in the minds of aging super heroes. After the credits, the film continues to make drastic jumps in tone and pace. Some of these work quite well, while others do not. About half way into the film, after being pulled in repeatedly by stunning sequences and shunted back out by unsuccessful ones, I found a pattern: the movie works really well when it doesn’t try to be an actual movie. Many passages, the majority of the film even, are a delight to watch. But when the film needs to slow down and just let a scene play, a scene which needs no visual flourishes but is still important, it seems bored with itself. A perfect example is The Comedian’s burial. Rather than inner-cut wide shots of somber figures gathered around the grave with contemplative close-ups, Snyder instead decides to use movie magic to make the camera fly from a tight shot of a stone angel statue back, back, flying over the mourners, cutting through the rain, until the camera itself passes through an impossibly small hole in a wrought-iron sign that reads “Cemetery.” Scenes like this made me wish Snyder could have somehow kept the entire film in music video mode, where it really sings. For every dramatic visual improvement the film offers, there’s a lack-luster chunk of dialog that sounds as though the actors are reading the comic aloud. There’s plenty of voiceover, the filmic version of comics’ ubiquitous narration boxes, with Dr. Manhattan and Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), a grizzled anti-hero with a simmering contempt for the city he’s trying to save, each narrating portions of the film. Alan Moore, who wrote the graphic novel but has distanced himself from the film, penned passages that are now canonical in the graphic novel world. These passages are adhered to where ever possible, which works in certain scenes, but in others the translation to screen feels awkward. Some of Rorschach’s ponderings, which come off as masterpieces of noir prose in the book, feel hokey here. While Dr. Manhattan’s voiceover, with an epic calmness, makes his scenes some of the strongest in the film, due in no small part to Crudup’s stellar voice work. Plenty of scenes are given the justice they deserve, but others, particularly near the beginning, feel like the abridged version. In particular, a dialog between The Comedian and Dr. Manhattan in a Vietnam bar, a key foreshadowing of the central conflict the blue demi-god faces, plays like a sped-up dress rehearsal. Ozymandias, a hero who has cashed in on his fame and turned his attention toward global energy reform, underscores the futility of placing humanity’s hope in Dr. Manhattan. If the full volley of Soviet nukes come, he explains, “even Dr. Manhattan can’t be everywhere at once.” Watchmen, as thorough an adaptation as it is, suffers from the same fate. It can’t be everywhere at once. In some ways, it’s too complete a retelling of the graphic novel, as it sets itself up for easy panel-to-scene comparison, making the film’s inadequacies that much easier to measure. It’s clear that Snyder has found a kindred spirit in Dr. Manhattan. As Silk Spectre II distances herself from her big, blue, supernatural lover, she says a line that could just as easily be meant for the director himself, “You know how everything fits together, except people.” Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/2/27/40699.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 2/27/2009 6:01:44 PM
Body: Two more days until we find out who wins this year’s Academy Awards! Okay, so the exclamation point is more than forced. It’s been quite awhile since we’ve had even an ounce of excitement about the Oscars. But we mustn’t let predictability get us down. Sure, even the still-uncertain races (Penn vs. Rourke; Winslet vs. Streep; Man on Wire vs. Trouble the Water) are anything but interesting, because the everyman of 2009 couldn’t care less about who gave the year’s better performance and would probably be fine shrugging his shoulders at the TV screen in the event of a tie (or, better yet, irresolution). However, there’s one thing people keep forgetting about the Academy: they’re full of surprises. So, rather than just go with the easy, “predictable” predictions, we attempted to guess who and what will Crash the Oscars this year with a surprise victory — preferably the kind that adds an “ing” to “upset.” And once again, we’d like to extend the forecasting fun to you. What surprises do you expect and/or hope for? Or, if you’re down with the boring route, what “certain” winners do you truly believe in? And why? The most accurate comments will be reprinted in our final Oscar column on Monday. Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button If the Academy didn’t continually cause controversial commotion with Best Picture picks like Shakespeare in Love and Crash, we wouldn’t have very much to talk about the morning after, or years later. So, in a way it’s exciting and somewhat necessary to have the occasional baffling or infuriating upsets in the top category. The one film that would piss off more people this year than any other, even more than The Reader, is Benjamin Button, especially since it pretty much already had the (dis)honor of being an undeserving Best Picture winner 15 years ago. Best Director: Stephen Daldry (The Reader) If Benjamin Button is to win Best Picture, then Danny Boyle should probably still win Best Director, because often in the years of controversial Best Picture upsets the director’s prize still goes to the (critical) favorite. Think of Steven Spielberg in ’99 and Ang Lee in ’06. But just to prove the Oscars are completely out of touch, we have to go with the Academy favorites of Daldry and the Holocaust. Both Fincher and Boyle are Oscar newbies and may have their turn with some future, more lackluster effort. Best Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) For this category, we’re looking to the 2008 presidential election. Let’s consider Meryl Streep to be the older, more experienced, and typically well-respected candidate, who will lose to the young novice in her very first bid. Where that puts thought-to-be-a-lock Kate Winslet in the analogy is not important. As long as people keep mentioning Obama in their reasoning for why Slumdog Millionaire will win Best Picture, it’s just as fair to recognize Hathaway as the most Obama-like choice for Best Actress. Best Actor: undetermined As much as a tie in this category would be a surprising and slightly satisfying turn of events (even though it would be more appropriate in the Best Actress race, since Streep will forever be compared to Katherine Hepburn, who tied with Barbara Streisand 30 years ago), we’re looking to another political race of last year for the Best Actor decision. All we’ll know Sunday night is that it’s still down to Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. But don’t worry, we’ll find out who actually wins in a few months. Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) Just as Judy Davis probably deserved the Supporting Actress Oscar more for her performance in a Woody Allen film 16 years ago, Penelope Cruz probably deserves it more this year, also for a Woody Allen film. But Tomei is the champion of Oscar surprises, and we could very well see a repeat of 1993. At least this time she’s a little more worthy. Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) Okay, there’s no chance of a surprise here. Because if the Oscar goes to anyone but Ledger, a crazed fan will likely blow up the Kodak. And the Academy must presume that Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister won’t conveniently have access to the detonator this time. Best Adapted Screenplay:  Eric Roth and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Never mind the tremendous amount of work Roth put into expanding a very short story into a very, very long film. His and Swicord’s true triumph is in how they were able to rewrite Forrest Gump and repackage it well enough to fool $242 million-worth of moviegoers. Hollywood is surely obligated to reward the duo for pulling off such a double-tiered adaptation and such a well-played moneymaking scheme. Best Original Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter (WALL-E) Yes, a lot of people are predicting this to win the Oscar, and so it won’t be quite as much a surprise as a win for Frozen River would be. But the real shocker is going to be when Kung Fu Panda wins Best Animated Feature, a repeat of its glory at the Annies, and Academy logic once again goes completely out the window. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:01:44 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com2/27/2009 6:01:44 PMTwo more days until we find out who wins this year’s Academy Awards! Okay, so the exclamation point is more than forced. It’s been quite awhile since we’ve had even an ounce of excitement about the Oscars. But we mustn’t let predictability get us down. Sure, even the still-uncertain races (Penn vs. Rourke; Winslet vs. Streep; Man on Wire vs. Trouble the Water) are anything but interesting, because the everyman of 2009 couldn’t care less about who gave the year’s better performance and would probably be fine shrugging his shoulders at the TV screen in the event of a tie (or, better yet, irresolution). However, there’s one thing people keep forgetting about the Academy: they’re full of surprises. So, rather than just go with the easy, “predictable” predictions, we attempted to guess who and what will Crash the Oscars this year with a surprise victory — preferably the kind that adds an “ing” to “upset.” And once again, we’d like to extend the forecasting fun to you. What surprises do you expect and/or hope for? Or, if you’re down with the boring route, what “certain” winners do you truly believe in? And why? The most accurate comments will be reprinted in our final Oscar column on Monday. Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button If the Academy didn’t continually cause controversial commotion with Best Picture picks like Shakespeare in Love and Crash, we wouldn’t have very much to talk about the morning after, or years later. So, in a way it’s exciting and somewhat necessary to have the occasional baffling or infuriating upsets in the top category. The one film that would piss off more people this year than any other, even more than The Reader, is Benjamin Button, especially since it pretty much already had the (dis)honor of being an undeserving Best Picture winner 15 years ago. Best Director: Stephen Daldry (The Reader) If Benjamin Button is to win Best Picture, then Danny Boyle should probably still win Best Director, because often in the years of controversial Best Picture upsets the director’s prize still goes to the (critical) favorite. Think of Steven Spielberg in ’99 and Ang Lee in ’06. But just to prove the Oscars are completely out of touch, we have to go with the Academy favorites of Daldry and the Holocaust. Both Fincher and Boyle are Oscar newbies and may have their turn with some future, more lackluster effort. Best Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) For this category, we’re looking to the 2008 presidential election. Let’s consider Meryl Streep to be the older, more experienced, and typically well-respected candidate, who will lose to the young novice in her very first bid. Where that puts thought-to-be-a-lock Kate Winslet in the analogy is not important. As long as people keep mentioning Obama in their reasoning for why Slumdog Millionaire will win Best Picture, it’s just as fair to recognize Hathaway as the most Obama-like choice for Best Actress. Best Actor: undetermined As much as a tie in this category would be a surprising and slightly satisfying turn of events (even though it would be more appropriate in the Best Actress race, since Streep will forever be compared to Katherine Hepburn, who tied with Barbara Streisand 30 years ago), we’re looking to another political race of last year for the Best Actor decision. All we’ll know Sunday night is that it’s still down to Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. But don’t worry, we’ll find out who actually wins in a few months. Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) Just as Judy Davis probably deserved the Supporting Actress Oscar more for her performance in a Woody Allen film 16 years ago, Penelope Cruz probably deserves it more this year, also for a Woody Allen film. But Tomei is the champion of Oscar surprises, and we could very well see a repeat of 1993. At least this time she’s a little more worthy. Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) Okay, there’s no chance of a surprise here. Because if the Oscar goes to anyone but Ledger, a crazed fan will likely blow up the Kodak. And the Academy must presume that Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister won’t conveniently have access to the detonator this time. Best Adapted Screenplay:  Eric Roth and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Never mind the tremendous amount of work Roth put into expanding a very short story into a very, very long film. His and Swicord’s true triumph is in how they were able to rewrite Forrest Gump and repackage it well enough to fool $242 million-worth of moviegoers. Hollywood is surely obligated to reward the duo for pulling off such a double-tiered adaptation and such a well-played moneymaking scheme. Best Original Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter (WALL-E) Yes, a lot of people are predicting this to win the Oscar, and so it won’t be quite as much a surprise as a win for Frozen River would be. But the real shocker is going to be when Kung Fu Panda wins Best Animated Feature, a repeat of its glory at the Annies, and Academy logic once again goes completely out the window. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/groups/missing_a_film/Re_driving_me_nuts/263/40671/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: missing a film
Post Date: 2/27/2009 2:05:39 PM
Body: My friend Andy was able to answer this for me. It's from Forrest Gump: FORREST (V.O.) Lt. Dan sure knew his stuff. I felt real lucky he was my lieutenant. He was from a long, great military tradition. Somebody in his family had fought and died in every single American war.
]]>Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:05:39 GMTRisseladamissing a film2/27/2009 2:05:39 PMMy friend Andy was able to answer this for me. It's from Forrest Gump: FORREST (V.O.) Lt. Dan sure knew his stuff. I felt real lucky he was my lieutenant. He was from a long, great military tradition. Somebody in his family had fought and died in every single American war. http://www.spout.com/groups/FilmCouch/Re_other_negative_Benjamin_Button_reviews/302/39939/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: Risselada
Post To: FilmCouch
Post Date: 1/26/2009 7:38:42 PM
Body: [quote user="seely"] Thats good to know. I haven't seen it, but the whole premise seems to be rather like Big Fish meets Forest Gump meets Jack. It really didn't look that interesting, and truthfully even the preview bored me, not to mention left me wondering what exactly the film was *about*, other than a guy who ages backwards. I'll still see it eventually, due to all the buzz, but I'm full prepared to be under-whelmed. [quote user="Risselada"] There are some other negative reviews of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button out there. The Onion AV club gave it a "C". [/quote] [/quote] Ok, I still haven't seen it, nor have I ever read the original F. Scott Fitzgerald story, nor have I read the original Forrest Gump novel. So I can't say where he pulled all of this stuff from, but screenwriter Eric Roth certainly has a lot of story elements in him that he just can't help repeating http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1d76506803/the-curious-case-of-forrest-gump-from-fgump44
]]>Tue, 27 Jan 2009 00:38:42 GMTRisseladaFilmCouch1/26/2009 7:38:42 PM[quote user="seely"] Thats good to know. I haven't seen it, but the whole premise seems to be rather like Big Fish meets Forest Gump meets Jack. It really didn't look that interesting, and truthfully even the preview bored me, not to mention left me wondering what exactly the film was *about*, other than a guy who ages backwards. I'll still see it eventually, due to all the buzz, but I'm full prepared to be under-whelmed. [quote user="Risselada"] There are some other negative reviews of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button out there. The Onion AV club gave it a "C". [/quote] [/quote] Ok, I still haven't seen it, nor have I ever read the original F. Scott Fitzgerald story, nor have I read the original Forrest Gump novel. So I can't say where he pulled all of this stuff from, but screenwriter Eric Roth certainly has a lot of story elements in him that he just can't help repeating http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/1d76506803/the-curious-case-of-forrest-gump-from-fgump44 http://www.spout.com/blogs/tenenbaums/archive/2009/1/22/39808.aspx Post By: Tenenbaums
Post To: Tenenbaums Blog
Post Date: 1/22/2009 10:30:25 PM
Body: David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a remarkable film and the best of 2008. It's been nominated for 13 Academy Awards, more than any other film this year, and deserves at least one more for Cate Blanchett. Yet despite being the 6th most positively reviewed film of the year, there has been an inordinate amount of critical backlash toward it.For all the snobiness inherent in so many film reviewers, the hatred makes sense. Buzz has been surrounding the film for nearly a year when the first trailer appeared and Benjamin Button was anointed the Best Picture front runner long before its release date. Critics hate hype, especially when it comes from a star-studded, big budget film begging to be lauded with awards that it may or may not deserve. A film like that is the equivalent of the Patriots in last year's Super Bowl: no one, besides die hard Patriots fans, wanted an undefeated, record-setting team to win. The team was too loaded, just like to many critics Benjamin Button is too loaded to warrant being a respectable film. "Real" sports fans retained their reputation by bashing the Patriots and critics who champion purely independent and foreign films have already begun the crusade against Benjamin Button. They want to see the film fail and they'll take any shot possible to knock it down.The current favorite critical noogie is to closely link Benjamin Button to Forrest Gump and claim that little separates the two. Critics make this claim because the films share a screenwriter (Eric Roth), and, according to Spout's Karina Longworth, they "both put groundbreaking special effects to the service of sprawling stories, spanning many decades and weaving a breadcrumb trail through modern American history, in which a man holds a torch for a woman who can’t reciprocate his love until her dreams of autonomy are spectacularly dashed."For Longworth, "the Gump comparison is a pejorative, a shorthand way to say, 'This film will likely make a lot of money and win a lot of awards, and yet is so phony and cloying and gimmicky that its success will some day be seen by some as a tragedy,'" just as "true" cinema fans (myself included) cry foul that Gump beat out their beloved Pulp Fiction for Best Picture in 1994. Longworth furthers her attack by saying that "[i]t’s a film about the feat of its own whiz-bang, Frankensteinian digital imagery, drunk on its own accomplishment to an extent that feels quasi-ethical."While the effects are stunning, critics like Longworth are missing the point of the film. In turn, these viewers deny themselves the wondrous discovery that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is far too complex to be a child of Gump.Exceptional effects are capable of furthering a film's story and making audiences feel deeply about the characters. In a story as unusual as Button (for those who don't know, Benjamin, played by Brad Pitt, is born an old man the size of a baby, and gets younger on the outside as he grows older) , why shouldn't the effects play a major part? How else are we to experience the unique feeling of being around Benjamin without us, too, being in awe of him? Never is this more true than when he shows up in Daisy (Blanchett)'s studio as a beautiful-faced teen. Benjamin is a one-of-a-kind human being, and it takes likewise original effects to fully flesh out his story.Additionally, Longworth is perturbed by very small pieces of the film, including the 4-second scene of Benjamin and Daisy resting on his sailboat off the Florida coast while a NASA launch is seen behind them. However, it's scenes like this that distance Benjamin Button from its Best Picture predecessor. Forrest Gump hit audiences over the head with its protagonists' interaction with history. In Benjamin Button, the references, like the NASA launch, are far more subtle. Additionally, Benjamin and Daisy watch the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan" from their living room and, as discussed later, Benjamin has a refreshingly anonymous brush with war. In Gump, Vietnam took up a bulk of the film, and if placed in Benjamin's situations, Forrest would have accidentally blasted into space or accidentally kept an astronaut from going on a doomed mission, and would certainly have made a dim-witted reference to insects to inspire the Beatles' name. Even telling the story from Daisy's death bed via Benjamin's journal with Hurricane Katrina rapidly approaching (another of Longworth's thorns) is more of a tribute to New Orleans, the story's primary setting, than an arbitrary plot device. No other piece of the city's history is worthy to be symbolically linked to the end of Benjamin's (as filtered through Daisy's) life. Each was a titan in its own right, and the demise of both is notably tragic. When minute details begin to affect one's reviews, it's time for such critics to stop nit-picking and focus on why they love film in the first place.Ironically, one of the more remarkable things about Benjamin is that he never does anything that remarkable in the sense of teetering on celebrity. Unlike Gump, he doesn't come across many famous people. Instead, they're mostly ordinary folk, many of whom are poor blue collar workers. When WWII hits, Benjamin accidentally becomes a part of the combat and is involved in only one major scene. Even there, the heroism is largely accidental and Benjamin is refreshingly quick to deflect chances to wax nostalgic (as opposed to Forrest's "Jenny and the sky" montage). With the exception of the lone rousing battle scene, all we see of Benjamin's time "in" the war is his affair with Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton), a clear indication that Fincher is concerned with the nuances of his characters and not merely CGI. Additionally, it is through Benjamin's first major interaction with someone outside of his New Orleans bubble that the film introduces its primary conflict: Benjamin's role in the world.As such, the underlying piece of fascination is how Benjamin is able to stay below the social radar. His condition is one that the media (or the circus) would love to get a hold of, and yet he is able to live a somewhat normal life.How is one who knows Benjamin supposed to act? Is his "curious case" one that should be shared or kept secret? Apparently, it's the latter. As it happens, Benjamin surrounds himself with a cluster of loyal friends who keep his secret (though he doesn't ask them to) and people who either die (the old folks' home residents, who give him ideal cover, and his tugboat employer, Captain Mike, played by Jared Harris) or who he never sees again (Elizabeth Abbott; Daisy's husband) and therefore cannot discover his secret. Most significant is Daisy. The secret is the center of her life, yet she keeps the truth from her daughter until she's on her death bed. That's dedication! Benjamin's general course of action is that he lives a fitting life in his current backwards age situation, lets it run its course, and then moves on so that he isn't discovered. His resulting inability to make many lasting relationships is as heartbreaking as his unusual demise.There is a lack of strong sadness in the film, with the exception of the final, tearful few minutes, but therein lies one of the film's strongest pieces. Director Fincher, he of such dark fare as Se7en, Fight Club, and Zodiac, and, interestingly, sentimental target Roth (perhaps weaned off the sap by working on The Insider and Munich) are to thank for that. Growing up in the old folks' home, Benjamin becomes accustomed to death, and when it strikes his loved ones, he's able to not let it slow him down. In such scenes, Fincher and Roth keep the film from becoming overly sentimental by keeping the story moving and focusing on Benjamin and Daisy's relationship. In the sepia-tinged world that Fincher depicts, and through the honest, blunt statements Roth scripts for his characters, none such sappiness can endure. As a result of this dynamic team, Benjamin's situation is more than extraordinary to carry the film, and with equally superb performances and technology surrounding said story, the film cannot help but soar, even when it winds down. As Benjamin's life nears its end, he embraces his isolation and travels the world with the body of a teenager and the soul of an old man. The montage of his treks to what appear to be India are visually and emotionally rich, and serves as the perfect preamble to his decay into dementia and death in an increasingly youthful vessel. In the above sequence, Benjamin completes his personal bucket list completely alone and without fanfare, and the "just-so" attitude with which he has conducted his life carries him and us through to his final chapter. It is as if both parties are coming to accept that precious little time is left, and yet for us (and Daisy), letting go is terribly difficult. The resulting climactic feeling is so strong because we are emotionally invested in Benjamin throughout the film. The entire time, we know that Benjamin is going to die, and yet, like our own unavoidable death, we put off thinking about it until it's on top of us. Then, when it hits, it's stunning and beautiful. Saying goodbye to Benjamin is the hardest thing to do this year in cinema, and one of the most difficult in the history of film. As a character, he is so magnetic that we cannot help but love him, just as Daisy and those who take the time to know him do. To accompany his story with visuals so appealing that they beg to be lived in, and to firmly trust in an auteur behind the camera, one in such complete control of a fragile story because he too loves film, is sublime. To experience The Curious Case of Benjamin Button over and over, with the same satisfying results, is simply a gift.
]]>Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:30:25 GMTTenenbaumsTenenbaums Blog1/22/2009 10:30:25 PMDavid Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a remarkable film and the best of 2008. It's been nominated for 13 Academy Awards, more than any other film this year, and deserves at least one more for Cate Blanchett. Yet despite being the 6th most positively reviewed film of the year, there has been an inordinate amount of critical backlash toward it.For all the snobiness inherent in so many film reviewers, the hatred makes sense. Buzz has been surrounding the film for nearly a year when the first trailer appeared and Benjamin Button was anointed the Best Picture front runner long before its release date. Critics hate hype, especially when it comes from a star-studded, big budget film begging to be lauded with awards that it may or may not deserve. A film like that is the equivalent of the Patriots in last year's Super Bowl: no one, besides die hard Patriots fans, wanted an undefeated, record-setting team to win. The team was too loaded, just like to many critics Benjamin Button is too loaded to warrant being a respectable film. "Real" sports fans retained their reputation by bashing the Patriots and critics who champion purely independent and foreign films have already begun the crusade against Benjamin Button. They want to see the film fail and they'll take any shot possible to knock it down.The current favorite critical noogie is to closely link Benjamin Button to Forrest Gump and claim that little separates the two. Critics make this claim because the films share a screenwriter (Eric Roth), and, according to Spout's Karina Longworth, they "both put groundbreaking special effects to the service of sprawling stories, spanning many decades and weaving a breadcrumb trail through modern American history, in which a man holds a torch for a woman who can&rsquo;t reciprocate his love until her dreams of autonomy are spectacularly dashed."For Longworth, "the Gump comparison is a pejorative, a shorthand way to say, 'This film will likely make a lot of money and win a lot of awards, and yet is so phony and cloying and gimmicky that its success will some day be seen by some as a tragedy,'" just as "true" cinema fans (myself included) cry foul that Gump beat out their beloved Pulp Fiction for Best Picture in 1994. Longworth furthers her attack by saying that "[i]t&rsquo;s a film about the feat of its own whiz-bang, Frankensteinian digital imagery, drunk on its own accomplishment to an extent that feels quasi-ethical."While the effects are stunning, critics like Longworth are missing the point of the film. In turn, these viewers deny themselves the wondrous discovery that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is far too complex to be a child of Gump.Exceptional effects are capable of furthering a film's story and making audiences feel deeply about the characters. In a story as unusual as Button (for those who don't know, Benjamin, played by Brad Pitt, is born an old man the size of a baby, and gets younger on the outside as he grows older) , why shouldn't the effects play a major part? How else are we to experience the unique feeling of being around Benjamin without us, too, being in awe of him? Never is this more true than when he shows up in Daisy (Blanchett)'s studio as a beautiful-faced teen. Benjamin is a one-of-a-kind human being, and it takes likewise original effects to fully flesh out his story.Additionally, Longworth is perturbed by very small pieces of the film, including the 4-second scene of Benjamin and Daisy resting on his sailboat off the Florida coast while a NASA launch is seen behind them. However, it's scenes like this that distance Benjamin Button from its Best Picture predecessor. Forrest Gump hit audiences over the head with its protagonists' interaction with history. In Benjamin Button, the references, like the NASA launch, are far more subtle. Additionally, Benjamin and Daisy watch the Beatles on "Ed Sullivan" from their living room and, as discussed later, Benjamin has a refreshingly anonymous brush with war. In Gump, Vietnam took up a bulk of the film, and if placed in Benjamin's situations, Forrest would have accidentally blasted into space or accidentally kept an astronaut from going on a doomed mission, and would certainly have made a dim-witted reference to insects to inspire the Beatles' name. Even telling the story from Daisy's death bed via Benjamin's journal with Hurricane Katrina rapidly approaching (another of Longworth's thorns) is more of a tribute to New Orleans, the story's primary setting, than an arbitrary plot device. No other piece of the city's history is worthy to be symbolically linked to the end of Benjamin's (as filtered through Daisy's) life. Each was a titan in its own right, and the demise of both is notably tragic. When minute details begin to affect one's reviews, it's time for such critics to stop nit-picking and focus on why they love film in the first place.Ironically, one of the more remarkable things about Benjamin is that he never does anything that remarkable in the sense of teetering on celebrity. Unlike Gump, he doesn't come across many famous people. Instead, they're mostly ordinary folk, many of whom are poor blue collar workers. When WWII hits, Benjamin accidentally becomes a part of the combat and is involved in only one major scene. Even there, the heroism is largely accidental and Benjamin is refreshingly quick to deflect chances to wax nostalgic (as opposed to Forrest's "Jenny and the sky" montage). With the exception of the lone rousing battle scene, all we see of Benjamin's time "in" the war is his affair with Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton), a clear indication that Fincher is concerned with the nuances of his characters and not merely CGI. Additionally, it is through Benjamin's first major interaction with someone outside of his New Orleans bubble that the film introduces its primary conflict: Benjamin's role in the world.As such, the underlying piece of fascination is how Benjamin is able to stay below the social radar. His condition is one that the media (or the circus) would love to get a hold of, and yet he is able to live a somewhat normal life.How is one who knows Benjamin supposed to act? Is his "curious case" one that should be shared or kept secret? Apparently, it's the latter. As it happens, Benjamin surrounds himself with a cluster of loyal friends who keep his secret (though he doesn't ask them to) and people who either die (the old folks' home residents, who give him ideal cover, and his tugboat employer, Captain Mike, played by Jared Harris) or who he never sees again (Elizabeth Abbott; Daisy's husband) and therefore cannot discover his secret. Most significant is Daisy. The secret is the center of her life, yet she keeps the truth from her daughter until she's on her death bed. That's dedication! Benjamin's general course of action is that he lives a fitting life in his current backwards age situation, lets it run its course, and then moves on so that he isn't discovered. His resulting inability to make many lasting relationships is as heartbreaking as his unusual demise.There is a lack of strong sadness in the film, with the exception of the final, tearful few minutes, but therein lies one of the film's strongest pieces. Director Fincher, he of such dark fare as Se7en, Fight Club, and Zodiac, and, interestingly, sentimental target Roth (perhaps weaned off the sap by working on The Insider and Munich) are to thank for that. Growing up in the old folks' home, Benjamin becomes accustomed to death, and when it strikes his loved ones, he's able to not let it slow him down. In such scenes, Fincher and Roth keep the film from becoming overly sentimental by keeping the story moving and focusing on Benjamin and Daisy's relationship. In the sepia-tinged world that Fincher depicts, and through the honest, blunt statements Roth scripts for his characters, none such sappiness can endure. As a result of this dynamic team, Benjamin's situation is more than extraordinary to carry the film, and with equally superb performances and technology surrounding said story, the film cannot help but soar, even when it winds down. As Benjamin's life nears its end, he embraces his isolation and travels the world with the body of a teenager and the soul of an old man. The montage of his treks to what appear to be India are visually and emotionally rich, and serves as the perfect preamble to his decay into dementia and death in an increasingly youthful vessel. In the above sequence, Benjamin completes his personal bucket list completely alone and without fanfare, and the "just-so" attitude with which he has conducted his life carries him and us through to his final chapter. It is as if both parties are coming to accept that precious little time is left, and yet for us (and Daisy), letting go is terribly difficult. The resulting climactic feeling is so strong because we are emotionally invested in Benjamin throughout the film. The entire time, we know that Benjamin is going to die, and yet, like our own unavoidable death, we put off thinking about it until it's on top of us. Then, when it hits, it's stunning and beautiful. Saying goodbye to Benjamin is the hardest thing to do this year in cinema, and one of the most difficult in the history of film. As a character, he is so magnetic that we cannot help but love him, just as Daisy and those who take the time to know him do. To accompany his story with visuals so appealing that they beg to be lived in, and to firmly trust in an auteur behind the camera, one in such complete control of a fragile story because he too loves film, is sublime. To experience The Curious Case of Benjamin Button over and over, with the same satisfying results, is simply a gift. http://www.spout.com/blogs/moviebuff1234/archive/2009/1/20/39692.aspx Post By: moviebuff1234
Post To: moviebuff1234 Blog
Post Date: 1/20/2009 12:41:30 AM
Body: Watching Forrest Gump was like reading a totally engrossing novel. I guess that goes to the talents of Robert Zemeckis in the way he translated this story, from the novel by WInston Groom and the wonderful screenplay by Eric Roth, to the screen. And certainly to Tom Hank's memorable performance as Forrest Gump. Great performances all around. There are many scenes in this that were just simply delightful to watch. It was funny, sad and bittersweet.
]]>Tue, 20 Jan 2009 05:41:30 GMTmoviebuff1234moviebuff1234 Blog1/20/2009 12:41:30 AMWatching Forrest Gump was like reading a totally engrossing novel. I guess that goes to the talents of Robert Zemeckis in the way he translated this story, from the novel by WInston Groom and the wonderful screenplay by Eric Roth, to the screen. And certainly to Tom Hank's memorable performance as Forrest Gump. Great performances all around. There are many scenes in this that were just simply delightful to watch. It was funny, sad and bittersweet. http://www.spout.com/groups/FilmCouch/Re_other_negative_Benjamin_Button_reviews/302/39088/1/ShowPost.aspx Post By: seely
Post To: FilmCouch
Post Date: 1/5/2009 11:17:38 AM
Body: Thats good to know. I haven't seen it, but the whole premise seems to be rather like Big Fish meets Forest Gump meets Jack. It really didn't look that interesting, and truthfully even the preview bored me, not to mention left me wondering what exactly the film was *about*, other than a guy who ages backwards. I'll still see it eventually, due to all the buzz, but I'm full prepared to be under-whelmed. [quote user="Risselada"] There are some other negative reviews of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button out there. The Onion AV club gave it a "C". [/quote]
]]>Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:17:38 GMTseelyFilmCouch1/5/2009 11:17:38 AMThats good to know. I haven't seen it, but the whole premise seems to be rather like Big Fish meets Forest Gump meets Jack. It really didn't look that interesting, and truthfully even the preview bored me, not to mention left me wondering what exactly the film was *about*, other than a guy who ages backwards. I'll still see it eventually, due to all the buzz, but I'm full prepared to be under-whelmed. [quote user="Risselada"] There are some other negative reviews of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button out there. The Onion AV club gave it a "C". [/quote] http://www.spout.com/blogs/huenink/archive/2008/12/29/38927.aspx Post By: huenink
Post To: huenink Blog
Post Date: 12/29/2008 2:23:39 PM
Body: I just watched 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. It's a visually well constructed film that is constantly entertaining, although there are various dull points. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's performances are both hollow. I've never really liked either actor much, including their duo performance in 'Babel'. I love David Fincher movies, yet I think this one doesn't suit his interests. After watching a somewhat amusing film, I drove home thinking about the ending. Just what did I watch? What was the moral of the story? I finally figured it out however I also found it to be almost exactly like 'Forrest Gump'. My feelings of confusion soon changed to betrayal. They took 3 hours of my life and I want them back! Creating this list of Gump/Button similarities was more amusing than watching 'Button'. I have a good loving memory of 'Forrest Gump' so this wasn't that difficult. _______________ Forrest Gump's black friend: Benjamin Blufford "Bubba" Blue Benjamin Button's black friend: Tizzy Gump's childhood sweetheart: Jenny Curran Button's childhood sweetheart: Daisy Gump's mode of land transportation: Running Button's mode of land transportation: Motorcycle Gump was in the U.S. Army. Button was in the U.S. Navy. Gump's favorite book is the children's book "Curious George" by H.A. Rey. Button's favorite book is a children's book that was read by Daisy's grandmother. Gump's moral message addresses many of America's 20th Century issues. Button moral message is about how to deal with life's circumstances. Gump has a healthy child. Button has a healthy child. Gump's analogy of life, the oncoming of American history. Button's analogy of life, the oncoming of Hurricane Katrina. Forrest Gump runtime 142 minutes. Benjamin Button runtime 159 minutes. Forrest Gump is rated PG-13 in US. Benjamin Button is rated PG-13 in US. Gump goes outside when his surrogate mother is having intercourse. Button leaves the room so his mother can have intercourse. Gump witnesses death constantly, including the death of his best friend Bubba. Button witnesses death constantly, including the death of his best friend Captain Mike and Mrs. Maple. Gump is left by Jenny, yet they reunite. Button leaves his family, yet is unknowingly reunited with Daisy. Forrest Gump is a giant flashback retold through the voice of Forrest Gump. Benjamin Button is a giant flashback retold through the voice of his daughter reading his diary. Gump likes to drink Dr. Pepper and eat shrimp. Button like to drink Vodka and eat caviar. Gump writes Jenny Letters yet they are rejected. Button sends Daisy postcards. Button's postcards to his daughter are hidden by Daisy. Gump sees the world with simple eyes. Button sees the world where nothing lasts. "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." "You never know what's coming for you." Gump's mother is very nurturing: getting him into "regular" class, correcting his legs, and seeing through his ping pong career. Button's mother is very nurturing: taking Button in as her own, seeing him off at age 17, and taking him in after the war. Gump's visual metaphor: floating feather Button's visual metaphor: humming bird Gump and Jenny have childhood escapades. They sit together on the bus, run in the cornfields, and encounter bullies. Button and Daisy have childhood escapades. They meet in Daisy's makeshift tent and later on have a tugboat tour of the river. Gump's tagline: The story of a lifetime. Button's tagline: Life isn't measured in minutes, but in moments Gump takes place before the Vietnam War up to the to the 21st Century. Button takes place from the end of WWI to the 21st Century. As a child Gump has a leg braces. As a child Button is wheelchair bound. Gump: "Hello. My name's Forrest, Forrest Gump. You want a chocolate?" Button: "My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While, everyone else was agin', I was gettin' younger... all alone." Gump is a prodigy ping pong player, Army veteran, millionaire, co-owner of his own shrimping boat business, long distance runner, college football star, and college graduate. Button seems to have never been schooled, left to work on a tugboat at age 17, became a Navy veteran, inherited father's business, then gave all of his monetary possessions to his daughter, then left to explore the world. Gump ran cross country, USA, for over three years. Button had an affair with a cultured woman who swam the English Channel. Gump breaks out of his leg braces in a dramatic chase scene. Jenny chants him on. Button breaks out of his wheelchair in a dramatic church gathering. A minister chants him on. Gump's mother dies of cancer. Button's mother dies while in childbirth, his surrogate mother dies later under unknown circumstances. Gump's sailor friend is Lieutenant Dan. Button's sailor friend is Captain Mike. Gump travels the world. Vietnam, all across the United States of America, China. Button travels the world. Russia, France, United States of America, India, and many other parts. Gump becomes a millionaire through Shrimp fishing and investing in Apple. Button become a millionaire through father's inheritance. Gump doesn't know his father. Button doesn't know his father till much later in life. People think Gump is an 'idiot', but is actually an idiot-savante. People think Button is a different age than he really is. Gump seeks Jenny out and wants to spend his life with her, yet she pushes him away. Jenny ends up coming back to Gump. Button seeks Daisy out and wants to spend his life with her, yet she pushes him away. Daisy ends up coming back to Button. Gump is based on a book by American novelist Winston Groom. Button is based on a short story by American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jenny is an unaccomplished folk singer who hangs out with radical friends like the Black Panthers. Daisy is an accomplished dancer who hangs out with radical friends like the Russian Ballet. Jenny becomes addicted to drugs. Daisy gets hit by a car, shattering her dancing career. Jenny is open to new social/political ideas. Daisy is open to new artistic ideas. Jenny shows Gump her breasts, yet Gump declines. Daisy initiates the thought of renting out a hotel room with Button, yet Button declines. Gump has newsreel footage of George Wallace getting shot, and John Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy getting killed. Button has a newsreel of a man getting shot seven times by lightning. Gump despises Jenny's boyfriend. In two different scenarios he punches Jenny's boyfriend. Button despises Daisy's boyfriend. He gives disapproving glances. Gump pushes away sex, then only with Jenny. Button has a lot of sex, first at brothels then young girls. Gump is an experienced shrimp boat sailor. Button is an experienced tugboat sailor. Gump's platoon gets ambushed, Gump saves most of them. Button's salvaging boat encounters a Japanese submarine, everyone dies. Gump is entrusted with Bubba's future. Button is entrusted with a fellow sailor's future. Gump likes to lawn grass and will do it for free. Button likes to work on a tugboat and would do it for free. Gump is taught things about the world through the people he meets. Button is taught things about the world through the people he meets. Gump grows up in Alabama. Button grows up in New Orleans. Gump is an outcast among Jenny's friends. Button is an outcast among Daisy's friends. Forrest Gump has a short story about historical figures and characters such as Lennon, Nixon, Kennedy, Lieutenant Dan. Button has a short story about Monsieur Gateau. Gump attends an African American church. Button attends an African American church. Gump's screenplay is by Eric Roth. Button's screenplay is by Eric Roth.
]]>Mon, 29 Dec 2008 19:23:39 GMThueninkhuenink Blog12/29/2008 2:23:39 PMI just watched 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button'. It's a visually well constructed film that is constantly entertaining, although there are various dull points. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett's performances are both hollow. I've never really liked either actor much, including their duo performance in 'Babel'. I love David Fincher movies, yet I think this one doesn't suit his interests. After watching a somewhat amusing film, I drove home thinking about the ending. Just what did I watch? What was the moral of the story? I finally figured it out however I also found it to be almost exactly like 'Forrest Gump'. My feelings of confusion soon changed to betrayal. They took 3 hours of my life and I want them back! Creating this list of Gump/Button similarities was more amusing than watching 'Button'. I have a good loving memory of 'Forrest Gump' so this wasn't that difficult. _______________ Forrest Gump's black friend: Benjamin Blufford "Bubba" Blue Benjamin Button's black friend: Tizzy Gump's childhood sweetheart: Jenny Curran Button's childhood sweetheart: Daisy Gump's mode of land transportation: Running Button's mode of land transportation: Motorcycle Gump was in the U.S. Army. Button was in the U.S. Navy. Gump's favorite book is the children's book "Curious George" by H.A. Rey. Button's favorite book is a children's book that was read by Daisy's grandmother. Gump's moral message addresses many of America's 20th Century issues. Button moral message is about how to deal with life's circumstances. Gump has a healthy child. Button has a healthy child. Gump's analogy of life, the oncoming of American history. Button's analogy of life, the oncoming of Hurricane Katrina. Forrest Gump runtime 142 minutes. Benjamin Button runtime 159 minutes. Forrest Gump is rated PG-13 in US. Benjamin Button is rated PG-13 in US. Gump goes outside when his surrogate mother is having intercourse. Button leaves the room so his mother can have intercourse. Gump witnesses death constantly, including the death of his best friend Bubba. Button witnesses death constantly, including the death of his best friend Captain Mike and Mrs. Maple. Gump is left by Jenny, yet they reunite. Button leaves his family, yet is unknowingly reunited with Daisy. Forrest Gump is a giant flashback retold through the voice of Forrest Gump. Benjamin Button is a giant flashback retold through the voice of his daughter reading his diary. Gump likes to drink Dr. Pepper and eat shrimp. Button like to drink Vodka and eat caviar. Gump writes Jenny Letters yet they are rejected. Button sends Daisy postcards. Button's postcards to his daughter are hidden by Daisy. Gump sees the world with simple eyes. Button sees the world where nothing lasts. "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get." "You never know what's coming for you." Gump's mother is very nurturing: getting him into "regular" class, correcting his legs, and seeing through his ping pong career. Button's mother is very nurturing: taking Button in as her own, seeing him off at age 17, and taking him in after the war. Gump's visual metaphor: floating feather Button's visual metaphor: humming bird Gump and Jenny have childhood escapades. They sit together on the bus, run in the cornfields, and encounter bullies. Button and Daisy have childhood escapades. They meet in Daisy's makeshift tent and later on have a tugboat tour of the river. Gump's tagline: The story of a lifetime. Button's tagline: Life isn't measured in minutes, but in moments Gump takes place before the Vietnam War up to the to the 21st Century. Button takes place from the end of WWI to the 21st Century. As a child Gump has a leg braces. As a child Button is wheelchair bound. Gump: "Hello. My name's Forrest, Forrest Gump. You want a chocolate?" Button: "My name is Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances. While, everyone else was agin', I was gettin' younger... all alone." Gump is a prodigy ping pong player, Army veteran, millionaire, co-owner of his own shrimping boat business, long distance runner, college football star, and college graduate. Button seems to have never been schooled, left to work on a tugboat at age 17, became a Navy veteran, inherited father's business, then gave all of his monetary possessions to his daughter, then left to explore the world. Gump ran cross country, USA, for over three years. Button had an affair with a cultured woman who swam the English Channel. Gump breaks out of his leg braces in a dramatic chase scene. Jenny chants him on. Button breaks out of his wheelchair in a dramatic church gathering. A minister chants him on. Gump's mother dies of cancer. Button's mother dies while in childbirth, his surrogate mother dies later under unknown circumstances. Gump's sailor friend is Lieutenant Dan. Button's sailor friend is Captain Mike. Gump travels the world. Vietnam, all across the United States of America, China. Button travels the world. Russia, France, United States of America, India, and many other parts. Gump becomes a millionaire through Shrimp fishing and investing in Apple. Button become a millionaire through father's inheritance. Gump doesn't know his father. Button doesn't know his father till much later in life. People think Gump is an 'idiot', but is actually an idiot-savante. People think Button is a different age than he really is. Gump seeks Jenny out and wants to spend his life with her, yet she pushes him away. Jenny ends up coming back to Gump. Button seeks Daisy out and wants to spend his life with her, yet she pushes him away. Daisy ends up coming back to Button. Gump is based on a book by American novelist Winston Groom. Button is based on a short story by American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald. Jenny is an unaccomplished folk singer who hangs out with radical friends like the Black Panthers. Daisy is an accomplished dancer who hangs out with radical friends like the Russian Ballet. Jenny becomes addicted to drugs. Daisy gets hit by a car, shattering her dancing career. Jenny is open to new social/political ideas. Daisy is open to new artistic ideas. Jenny shows Gump her breasts, yet Gump declines. Daisy initiates the thought of renting out a hotel room with Button, yet Button declines. Gump has newsreel footage of George Wallace getting shot, and John Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy getting killed. Button has a newsreel of a man getting shot seven times by lightning. Gump despises Jenny's boyfriend. In two different scenarios he punches Jenny's boyfriend. Button despises Daisy's boyfriend. He gives disapproving glances. Gump pushes away sex, then only with Jenny. Button has a lot of sex, first at brothels then young girls. Gump is an experienced shrimp boat sailor. Button is an experienced tugboat sailor. Gump's platoon gets ambushed, Gump saves most of them. Button's salvaging boat encounters a Japanese submarine, everyone dies. Gump is entrusted with Bubba's future. Button is entrusted with a fellow sailor's future. Gump likes to lawn grass and will do it for free. Button likes to work on a tugboat and would do it for free. Gump is taught things about the world through the people he meets. Button is taught things about the world through the people he meets. Gump grows up in Alabama. Button grows up in New Orleans. Gump is an outcast among Jenny's friends. Button is an outcast among Daisy's friends. Forrest Gump has a short story about historical figures and characters such as Lennon, Nixon, Kennedy, Lieutenant Dan. Button has a short story about Monsieur Gateau. Gump attends an African American church. Button attends an African American church. Gump's screenplay is by Eric Roth. Button's screenplay is by Eric Roth. http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/love/MemberTagFilms.aspxlove
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