Link: http://www.calendarlive.com/movies/reviews/cl-et-button25-2008dec25,0,3522895.story
This movie review was written by Kenneth Turan for the LA Times. I myself have seen the movie in mention, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and I don't think it deserved the review that Turan gave it. Turan says that this film "...leaves you colder than it should, and it shouldn't leave you cold at all." I disagree that this film was anything close to "cold". Though I do agree with Turan that the movie itself was a bit too long and at times tedious, I don't believe it deserved the criticism that he gave to it in that area. In addition the one section where Turan writes, "While that bit of technical virtuosity is supposed to make us ponder the mysteries of mortality, actually seeing these various Buttons plays as grotesque and gimmicky, leading to speculation that the chance to do something bizarre and unsettling is what attracted Fincher to the project in the first place," I find this phrase completely uncalled for. Though I enjoyed this journalist's including background information on those behind the scenes: the director, the screenwriters, etc., his scrutiny of Fincher's choose to do this film was crossing a line in my mind, going from giving a good review to being unnecessarily harsh using the words "gimmicky" and "grotesque," these are two words that I would only reserve for terrible low-budget movies using obvious prothstetics, not something that other critics are claiming as a visual masterpiece.
Apart from the reviewer's too-obvious bias, The review included good background information. I did not know this film was based on a book prior to reading this review, and I find that an interesting addition to the film, because it is not mentioned in ads that a book is what the film is based on. As a mentioned before the journalist did a good job again at mentioning the director and writers for the film and what they have previously worked on, which was a good standpoint if the reader has seen any of the films.
Though I thought this review was lacking any notable observations about the film (apart from the fact it was based on a book) and that this review lost integrity when Turan decided to pull apart "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" and boil it down to a movie, "Hollywood suits have been trying to make it for decades." I believe that this review was also proven wrong and the opinion of one very biased journalist when it was nominated for numerous academy awards. When I saw this movie, it was not my favorite, but it definitely did not deserve this review.
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2 comments:
I agree with you that Turan was a little overly harsh on Benjamin Button, especially regarding the special effects of making Brad Pitt look old, which I thought were incredible (not gimmicky). However, having seen the movie myself, I agree with a lot of the rest of the review. It was definitely way too long of a movie, especially one released at Christmas for families (what kid wants to sit still for a full three hours?), and I do agree with Tulan that many of Benjamin Button's adventures seemed absolutely arbitrary. Also out of place for me was the connection with the granddaughter in the hospital - I was left completely dissatisfied at the end of the movie, and I think closure could have been achieved if there was some conflict going on in her life, some risk she was afraid to take, that she decided to go for after reading Benjamin Button's diary. Without that connection, the purpose of her in the hospital with Katrina on the way was disconnected and random. While many movie critics obviously didn't agree Tulan (hence the numerous awards and nominations), I kind of did.
I agree with what you and Gretchen said about this article. I, too, saw Benjamin Button and although it was an interesting movie, I don't understand why there is so much hype about it. Although it was different and unique, I don't agree with people hailing it as "the next Forrest Gump." It was overly drawn out, and it did lack a sense of closure at the end. Therefore, I think Tulan's review of the movie was accurate
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