I could post some political news/critiques, but I want to finish this countdown first. Politics and current events are more of my thing. I might also post my review of The Secret Life of Bees as soon as I finish reading it and write the review. Definitely not going to post much about my screwed-up life, because the point of this blog is: my life is mundane! Therefore, I rant about things not part of my life in particular, basically anything else I can think of. But whatever.
Continuing the countdown...
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount, December 19)
Looking at the two pictures above, one of them is Brad Pitt as the title character Benjamin Button at age 40-ish; the other (with the help of prosthetics and a fat suit, of course) is him at age 60-ish. Both are scenes from the upcoming film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's splendid short story, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, directed by David Fincher, who last directed Brad in 1999's Fight Club.
First, a little note about the short story. It's short and sweet: only about 40 pages, and tells a simple, but bizarre story about a man who is 80 years old at birth and dies as an infant. Basically, he's aging backwards. You're probably thinking, this is going to be uber-weird. And yes, weird is definitely the correct way to describe the plot. Not much else occurs in the story besides Fitzgerald describing the many challenges Benjamin faces because of his peculiar condition: ridicule, confusion, and at one point, being around the same age as his father. There are very few other characters and subplots in the story.
Because of this, the film will most likely take many liberties with the short story
and add in way more characters and plot events. One of these characters is Daisy (a ridiculously pale, but still awesome Cate Blanchett), the love of Benjamin's life. Obviously the challenge is when Daisy ages normally, Benjamin is getting younger. Very problematic indeed.I'm not too sure what else has been added, but I know the screenplay is probably floating around somewhere online, so check it out if you would like. The fanatics on IMDb Oscar Buzz probably know where to find it. Figures. I do know that this year's Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, Tilda Swinton, also has a supporting role in this film, more supporting than Cate's, I think. She plays Elizabeth Abbott, but like I said before, I don't really know what her character does and her relationship to Benjamin. We'll just have to see!
In terms of awards, clearly there are mixed opinions, according to some of the Oscar discussion sites I have gone to. Some say this film will do well with its fine cast, great source material, and respected director. But, others are skeptical because none of David Fincher's films have ever received major awards buzz. Also, the plot might be too bizarre, and Brad Pitt is not the most consistent actor and not a frequent nominee. (According to IMDb, he has only received one previous nomination, for 1995's Twelve Monkeys.) But enough prognosticating, speculating, guessing, etc.! Let's just wait and see...
1 comments:
That sounds like an interesting concept... Maybe I'll go see it someday.
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