DVD
REVIEW:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
05/04/09
Based on the short story by
F Scott Fitzgerald about a man who grows young, The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button is with a doubt one of the best
movies of these times. It is a magical story that would
captivate any audience visually and emotionally, the movie
is both magical and realistic, it has drama, action and even
some comical remarks keeping the audience interested at all
times. Many of my friends who watched the movie before me
criticized it as being another Forest Gump, but I have to
tell them that although there are certain similarities in
the story, the way real historic events are linked with
fiction, and of course in its message, there is something in
Benjamin’s story that set it apart. The movie moves the
audience to a more pleasant and comfortable places, since
there is less tragedies and each phase of Benjamin’s story
is more adventurous, enjoyable, and in a sense it is not
centered in just one love story, unlike Forest’s story that
has more dramatic scenes, and is more centered within one
relationship. and of course visually, Benjamin’s surpasses
it.
There is no need to say that the cast is fabulous in this
movie, all of them performed in a level that elevated this
movie’s quality even more. I was impress specially with brad
Pitts’ performance, not because I had any doubt of his
talent, but because for what I remember right now, this
character goes way out of line of what Brad has gotten us
used to. it is one of his best “serious” performance, and he
just deliver it fantastically, seen him as an old man with a
mentality of a young one is just fun and impressive, and as
he gets younger he also evolves with his character, it is
truly an Oscar worthy performance, and Cate Blanchett was
the perfect complement for the main character, the beautiful
actress delivers an outstanding performance as Daisy, people
can feel her emotions and frustration as she goes through as
she see his loved one getting younger and herself getting
older. The rest of the cast would also be unforgettable like
the remarkable performances of Traraji P Henson as Queeny,
she surely embraced her character, her emotions, way of
talked and acted are a pure reflection of what a real mother
should be, or the skilful performance of Jared Harris and
his unforgettable Captain Mike, which added some humor and
joy to the movie, in general all of them did an spectacular
job, it is one of the most impressive performance I ever
seen.
These great performances are of course backed up by the
script, the soundtrack and also the visual effects. This is
without a doubt one of the highest points of this movie,
each scene has been carefully improved not only to look
good, but to feel good, as the movie advances I could not
find one scene that was not necessary or did not added
something to the story, or for it to look out of place,
everything looked possible and ordinary. And of course
Pitt’s make up was amazing all through out the movie, he
appears the age he is portraying at any time, not only when
he is a decrepit old man, but also as he goes trough all the
other ages, and even when he is shown as a teenager he
looked like one. Same thing with Cate’s and the rest of the
supporting cast Make up , as they get older none of the make
up seen overdue and everything seem very natural. There is
no arguing why this movie won an Oscar in these categories
(Best Make up and Visual effects).
Director David Fincher hit a hole, or a touchdown, or what
ever sport you like with this one, the move is just
exceptional, he created a perfect story where time and space
interaction is not so linearly, each second of the movie
provides with a wonderful and incredible story that would
not let us go to the very end. This movie not only
entertained us, but it also gives us a unique vision of
life, and how to enjoy it no matter what, Benjamin, being
“Born under certain circumstances” never gives up in his
search of happiness, keeping always a good attitude and
putting aside his differences is a message that everybody no
matter how old they are should get from this movie. I
recommend this movie to any one. It is just one of those
movies that has to be in any collection no matter what type
of movie you liked, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is
bound to become a classic that would overcome time.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
enhanced for 16 x 9 televisions
AUDIO:
English
Dolby digital 5.1 mastered in high definition, French and
Spanish.
Subtitles -
English and Spanish
SPECIAL FEATURES: The
Director -Approved two disc special edition has made the DVD
as good as the movie, it is full with a whole bunch of
interesting supplementary features almost over 2hours and 55
minutes of the making of which leaves no details off. For
people who like these type of stuff this is one of the most
completes. Also the DVD looks great. It also has a great
review by Kent Jones which is a great add in.
Commentary: Watch the movie with
commentary by director David Fincher
The Man Who Watched The Hours Go By:
it is a movie review by Kent Jones describing the movie.
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button:
This is the making of featuratte. It is almost 2
hour and 50 minutes long and cit could be divided in 4
submenus, each a great documentary about how the movie was
accomplished :
First Trimester: this constitutes of how the idea of
the movie came to mind, how they were first imagined, and
who where the candidates for the movie, the development of
the story, and the problems they came up with in the
process, and some technical stuff that is not included in
the play all option which shows footage of how they did some
take, some and direction Gallery and a story board gallery
(Approximately 45 minutes)
Second Trimester: Again this
takes you to the production process of the movie, this goes
from the beginning of shooting it goes in great detail of
how each scene was made, plus two menus that wont play in
the play all mode like Custom Design which is an explanation
of the different custom used in the movie and custom gallery
which is a slide show of different customs. (Approximately
65:30)
The Third Trimester: Deals
with all the special features in the movie form the creation
of the Chelsea, to the visual effects on Benjamin‘s looked,
the youthenization of Benjamin, sound design and everything
that has to do wit the technical side of the movie. It is
the best feature of this DVD (Approximately 81 Minutes)
Birth: It is the premier of
the movie and the final impressions of the majority of the
cast. It also has a submenu that does not play in the “play
all” option which are still images (4:16)
Still Galleries: A
combination of Story boards, art direction customs and
production stills, it is basically what you do not see if
you were to select “play all.”
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
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VIDEO |
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AUDIO |
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| BONUS
FEATURES |
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Review
By Milo
milo@smartcine.com
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