The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

*SPOILER ALERT* I have not been able to stop thinking about The Curious Case of Benjamin Button since I saw it on Christmas night. Not really because it's particularly thought provoking, but mostly because I have yet to settle on a suitable moral of the story. I loved the movie; I was completely enthralled with the cinematography, makeup, and costumes (more on that later), but three days later I'm still having trouble finding a message that means something to me. Not every movie I love has to have a life altering moral, but I felt like TCCOBB was trying to tell me something, and I can't figure out what. I refuse to believe the message of the story(given as the tagline) is "life isn't measured in minutes, but moments.' That sounds like something I could find on several girls I knows's facebook profile. This is going to bug me.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is your standard coming of age story of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), except that he is coming of age backward. His mind and soul follow the same path as everyone else, but his body is born like that of an 85 year old and regresses all the way back to an infantile state. His doomed-from-the-beginning relationship with the beautiful Daisy(Cate Blanchett)begins when he looks 70 and she is only 8, which provides for a funny scene when he is scolded for being a pervert. The story follows them through difference epochs of their lives, both in and out of a relationship. The story is romantic, and filled with interesting characters. I didn't have much trouble sitting through this three hour long movie despite my short attention span.
This picture is easily the sweetest part of the movie. Ben and Daisy, both in their 30's ( I think) move into a duplex where they live on a mattress in the living room. We see a montage of them making love, fixing up the apartment, and generally acting happy being poor. They always romanticize being poor and happy in movies, to the point where I actually desire a life like that. Somehow, I don't think it's as great as they make it look. Although, I hope I'm wrong.

The costumes in this movie were so great. The two of these pictures above are ones for the look book. I wish I could find a picture of Cate Blanchett in this fantastic red dress, with her rosey cheeks and bright red lipstick. She looked stunning and I can still picture it in my head.
This was one of my favorite shots in the movie; it's just 20 something year old Daisy, who is on her way to becoming a world class dancer at this point, stretching her legs and exercising gorgeous dance technique as the audience views her silhouette on a gazebo against this lush fog. Breathtaking.

These last two pictures are all I have to attest to the great cinematography. Colors just don't look like this in real life. I wish I was a character in a movie :/

Jr. Sr... Jr. Jr. Sr. Who can keep track: A review of "W'

From the other blogs I've read I think I'm obligated to have a disclaimer like

SPOILER ALERT: don't read on if you don't want to know

There's no getting around the fact George W. Bush is not a well liked president, these days. Anyone not creating parodies or busy making anti-Bush bumperstickers is asking "My God, How could anyone fuck up this bad?!" Oliver Stone's "W" movie is an introspection into the life of George W., and For the most part, it attempts to show President Bush actions were dictated by his faith, his father, and his advisers.

Josh Brolin as George Bush Jr. was effortless. The guy is on fire, seriously.He's like No Country for Old Men, wham. American Gangster, bam. W,and thaaank you ma'am. He had the attitude, the look, and everything down to Bush's walk perfected. The script, in conjunction with his acting ability was very humanizing of one of the most disliked men in America right now.

I was thoroughly impressed by Elizabeth Bank's(Definitely,maybe and Scrubs) portrayal of Laura Bush. I'm not really qualified to say if it was accurate, but I was impressed by her ability to play a serious character. I've only seen her in a romantic comedy light and I have to say, after seeing her in a serious light, I can say the girl got skillz. Sean says she reminded him of me. I'm not sure what to think of that. One, because Sean sees parts of me in every girl, literally. Two, because I think I might step in and take over if Sean was causing global chaos. Anyway, their relationship was very sweet and they seemed like a good match.

The movie captured all of the events and popular Bushisms we hate to love (or just make fun of). He says things like "Ayatollah cacamamy" and refers to members of his staff as "Rummy" "Brother George" and "Vice" and he rarely calls them anything else. They include the infamous pretzel incident and in a particularly funny and symbolic scene where Bush loses his way as he and his staff are walking around his land. Very down home country bumpkin, more so than I thought was necessary, but maybe it's accurate what do I know?

However, I really liked finding out the other variable you(the average citizen) never knew about. I mean, most of the momentum in "W" comes from his tumultuous relationship with George Sr, who is hard to please and clearly favors George's younger brother, Jeb. "W" shows that many of George Jr's actions are not his indpendent thoughts, but direct response to his father's feelings, either in defiance or as an attempt to gain his approval. A shocked George Sr. tell George Jr. to wait to run for governor of Texas until Jeb has secured his spot in Florida and that only seemed to solidify his decision; George Jr is determined to run at the same time so as not to be outdone by Jeb. The movie is consumed by fights and tense moments between the two of them,but I thought one of the few genuinely tender moments takes place when George Sr. tells Barbara Bush(Ellen Burnstein)how much he's worried about Jr. involvement in Irag. It's obviously been keeping him up at night, but sadly, his stubborness keeps him from expressing his concern to George Jr.


I had no idea that President Bush was an alcoholic for a while. It seems like someone should have mentioned that when we were voting him into office, but what's done is done, I guess. The movie focuses a lot of attention on the effects of his alcoholism. During his alcoholic phase he couldn't hold down a job, challenged his father to a fist fight, and just generally bungles his way through life. The movie-which is very much non-linear-makes him seem very lost during those years. He has no idea what he wants except to make his father proud. Thus,the decision by a rough and tumble young George to get into the family business of politics seems totally abrupt, and even his parents are surprised. The movie suggests maybe a lack of better options. Naturally alcoholics don't go on to become presidents and in the end his alcoholic years segue into his current Christian fundamentalist mentality. He claims he felt "called" to the presidency and as far as I can tell, believed it. The movie shows how incredibly wrong he was at times, like in the Sit Room when he's informed there actually are no WMDs, and how vehemently he stuck by his beliefs.

Dick Cheney (Richard Dreyfuss) is obviously the bad guy in this movie. Very Rasputin. That's really all I'm going to say about that. He's not the focus of the movie, but it's clear he manipulates Bush in critical times.


I don't think I would watch "W" primarily for it's entertainment value-which it was pretty funny at times- but not a movie you would pull out at a party. Although, I do believe President Bush's life is worth examining and I'm glad to have seen such a controversial film. Bush Jr. seems like a man who tries his best, but made some very poor decisions. If you don't already, "W" will make you feel sorry for our inglorious leader, because he's no Jed Bartlett,that's for damn sure.

Pushing Daisies

I remember seeing the commercials last year for the season premier of Pushing Daisies and thinking it looked pretty cool. I never got around to watching it then, and now I keep hearing how good it is and seeing it on various facebook friends' favorite shows list. It's won something like 6 emmys, right? I figure I should give it a try.

Turns out I'm pretty glad I started watching the show. It's like if Dr. Seuss wrote a fairytale that Tim Burton filmed. The show has a narrator (which would normally annoy the shit out of me, but its kind of essentail for a fairytale)who tells the story of Ned, the pie maker, (Lee Pace) who has the power to bring dead people back to life by touching them just once, but the second time he touches someone they are dead for good. The show explains it as "first touch: life, Second touch: dead forever." However, he soon learns by default (resurrecting his mother and killing the neighbor) that if he attempts to keep someone alive longer than a minute another person must die to... you know preserve the natural balance of the universe. As an adult Ned grows up a solitary individual who makes his pies and keeps to himself, until he gets a job resurrecting people who were murdered to find out who the killer was so he can collect the reward money.

Ned's partner in (solving) crime is Emerson Cod(Chi McBride) the only other live person that knows his secret. Emerson is a detective and their "business" of solving murders was his idea.I'm not really sure what his draw is in the show. I don't really feel any connection with him myself, or that he has one with Ned. I guess maybe his character isn't meant to have much depth.

As a child Ned was in love with his neighbor Charlotte "Chuck" Charles(Anna Friel) . They had their "first and only" kiss at their respective parents funeral (as it was chuck's father who died when Ned brought his own mother back to life)and didn't see each other until her's is the next murder he has to solve. However, once bringing her back to life he can't bring himself to kill her again, thus she joins the business and secures her role in the show. Chuck who grew up taking care of her two agoraphobic aunts (one of which is missing an eye due to the missuse of cat litter) entertains herself by raising bees to sell honey for the homeless and reading mass quantities of books. She is a sweet character. although not really that cute, a great love interest for Ned.

Really, besides my curiosity and it's good reception, the only reason I started watching this show is because I learned Kristin Chenoweth is a supporting character, named Olive Snook. I really just cannot resist watching any other endeavors from characters who were once on the West Wing. Kristin's character, Olive Snook is essentially good comedic relief, she explains that she used to think masturbation was chewing your food. She doesn't play a big part in the show yet, Her only connection with the group is that she works for Ned and happens to be head over heels in love with him. Her nuances are not in the least subtle as she paws Ned telling him "we all need to be touched." I hope that she becomes a larger part of the show in the future, and maybe some sort of bad guy? That would be interesting.

The cinematography in this show is fantastic and instantly striking. The colors are bright and bold. The show's look reminded me of Speed Racer a lot, and I happen to love that movie. The alliteration and the minimal background information on characters contributes to the fairytale theme. Normally I'm more interested in character development in a show, but the plot on this one has hooked me first. The score isn't lyric based like reality tv, it's all piano and strings setting the tone for each scene.

by and large this show is a first for it's genre and has earned another viewing from me. It's certainly not intellectually stimulating, but neither is Gossip Girls and I still love that show. I'll let you know how the first season goes.