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Member's Reviews

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, a review by Tom




Title: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Year: 2008
Director: David Fincher
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 166 Min.
Video: Widescreen 2.40
Audio: English: Dolby Digital TrueHD, Audio Descriptive: Dolby Digital Surround, German: Dolby Digital 5.1, Italian: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1, Thai: Dolby Digital 5.1, Turkish: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Other, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, Turkish

Stars:
Brad Pitt
Cate Blanchett

Plot:
'I was born under unusual circumstances.' And so begins The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backward. Directed by David Fincher (Zodiac, Fight Club) and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett as the time-crossed soul mates Benjamin and Daisy, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an epic, time-traveler's adventure into the joys of life, the sadness of death and a love that endures beyond time.

Awards:
Academy Award2008NominatedBest ActorBrad Pitt
Academy Award2008WonBest Art DirectionDonald Graham Burt (Art Direction), Victor J. Zolfo (Set Decoration)
Academy Award2008NominatedBest CinematographyClaudio Miranda
Academy Award2008NominatedBest Costume DesignJacqueline West
Academy Award2008NominatedBest DirectorDavid Fincher
Academy Award2008NominatedBest Film EditingKirk Baxter, Angus Wall
Academy Award2008WonBest MakeupGreg Cannom
Academy Award2008NominatedBest Music, Original ScoreAlexandre Desplat
Academy Award2008NominatedBest Picture
Academy Award2008NominatedBest Sound MixingDavid Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce, Mark Weingarten
Academy Award2008NominatedBest Supporting ActressTaraji P. Henson
Academy Award2008WonBest Visual EffectsEric Barba, Steve Preeg, Burt Dalton, Craig Barron
Academy Award2008NominatedBest Writing, Adapted ScreenplayEric Roth (Screenplay/Story), Robin Swicord (Story)
American Film Institute Awards2008WonMovies of the Year
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest Acting Ensemble
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest ActorBrad Pitt
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest ActressCate Blanchett
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest ComposerAlexandre Desplat
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest DirectorDavid Fincher
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest Picture
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest Supporting ActressTaraji P. Henson
Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards2009NominatedBest WriterEric Roth
Golden Globe2008NominatedActor in a Leading Role - DramaBrad Pitt
Golden Globe2008NominatedDirectorDavid Fincher
Golden Globe2008NominatedOriginal ScoreAlexandre Desplat
Golden Globe2008NominatedPicture - Drama
Golden Globe2008NominatedScreenplayEric Roth, Robin Swicord


Extras:
Commentary
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

My Thoughts:
Nice enough movie. Though it lacks a certain something. It is an interesting concept, but sadly the story just moves along at its leisurely pace without any highlight to speak of.
And I am not happy about the choice the main character made at the end. It felt like he was leaving Daisy to have live his "youth" without having the burden of a family. Of course his reasoning is, that she wouldn't have to live with a guy who gets younger and younger. But in the end, he was missing the years he could have easily helped raising their daughter, but was back in her life when she needed to take care of him in his "old" age.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on September 12th, 2009)

Member's Reviews

Ghostbusters , a review by Dragonfire


Ghostbusters



Suit up for classic comedy! When Doctors Venkman (Bill Murray), Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Spengler (Harold Ramis) suddenly find themselves downsized from the University's parapsychology department, they decide to go the entrepreneurial route, chasing down ghastly ghosts, unappetizing apparitions and the occasional insolent succubae. But the paratroopers of the paranormal face their greatest challenge when the beautiful Dana Barret (Sigourney Weaver) discovers her refrigerator door leads directly to the gates of hell! Now with the whole world watching, it's up to the Ghostbusters to keep Manhattan from becoming a madhouse in this hilariously-haunting action-comedy!

My Thoughts

I don't consider this one to be horror, but it does deal with ghosts so I decided it fit for the month.  I also decided that I was in the mood for something a little lighter.

I've lost track of have many times I've seen this movie over the years, but I still really enjoy it.  It is really fun and entertaining and has a great cast.  Much of what happens is a bit silly, but that works for the movie.  The ghosts are interesting and look believable.  The special effects are really well done, especially considering when the movie was made.  The characters help to make things interesting too.  Some of them are a bit goofy, but they work for the movie.



I got a review posted on Epinions a few years ago.

Ghostbusters




(From Dragonfire's 2010 Horror Marathon on October 3rd, 2010)

Member's TV Reviews

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena


Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles


What's the show about?
At some point in the future the computer system Skynet will become self-aware and start a nuclear assault on mankind. Only a few people survive this holocaust and fight against Skynet and its machines (e.g. the Terminators). The leader of that resistance is John Connor. But that is then, this is now. Now John Connor is a teenage boy who tries to survive attacks before the war has even started. At his side fight his mother, Sarah, and the reprogrammed Terminator called Cameron and together they try to destroy Skynet before it's activated.

What happened before?
The series takes place two years after the second movie and ignores the third one. It also shifts the time-table forward, making Terminator 2: Judgement Day take place in 1997.

"Pilot"
It's 1999 and Sarah and John Connor have once again moved to a new town. They live under the alias "Reese" but that's a fatal mistake since that's the name of John's birth-father and the Terminator called Cromartie finds them this way. Luckily for John one of his new classmates, a beautiful young girl named Cameron is also a machine and he protects him. But they have to flee and it's not a matter of where but of when. Cameron initiates a time travel and they find themselves in the year 2007, four years before Judgement Day.

My Opinion
I began to watch this show open-minded. I was never too invested in the Terminator saga, so a series that ignored a movie was not a problem for me. And I also liked all the major actors from both seasons (after which it was cancelled). But there were some plot issues I couldn't cope with. There was no time travel logic at all - i.e. even less than in the movies. People and Terminators travelled from the future whenever they wanted, no biggie. Still, at some point I seem to have accepted this because I didn't notice it that much in the second season. But the second season had this unsatisfactory three-dots-arc I didn't care for and in the end the only thing that wanted to make me watch a third season was the cliffhanger. But that's not enough.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on September 16th, 2009)