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Movies / Upcoming / The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

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Reviews Counted:220

Fresh:158

Rotten:62

Average Rating:7.1/10

Consensus: Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an epic fantasy tale with rich storytelling backed by fantastic performances.

Australian Rating: M

Runtime: 2 hrs 46 mins

Genre: Dramas

Australian Theatrical Release:
Dec 26, 2008 Wide

US Box Office: $127,490,802

Synopsis: At once epic in scope and intimate in detail, David Fincher's THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is certainly the director's most emotional film to date (though FIGHT CLUB and SEVEN don't offer... At once epic in scope and intimate in detail, David Fincher's THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is certainly the director's most emotional film to date (though FIGHT CLUB and SEVEN don't offer much in the way of competition). Loosely based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, this romantic drama tells the tale of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), born in 1918 in New Orleans as a baby with wrinkles, cataracts, and arthritis. Benjamin will age backwards, getting younger as he watches those around him growing older. Included in that group are his adoptive mother, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), and Daisy (Cate Blanchett), the love of his life whom he meets when she is just a little girl and he is an old man. They age in reverse, but despite Benjamin's globe-trotting adventures, their lives repeatedly intersect. The script from Oscar winner Eric Roth bears more than a few hallmarks in common with his earlier work on FORREST GUMP: both adaptations cross decades and continents. But BENJAMIN's script or even the fine acting aren't its most impressive accomplishment; the technology--both CGI and makeup--used to make Benjamin and Daisy age are remarkable, and makes the film entirely believable, but they're certainly aided by fine performances from both Pitt and Blanchett. The triumph of technology only serves to underscore the beauty of this film and of the love story at its heart. [More]

Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton

Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas, Julia Ormond, Elle Fanning

Director: David Fincher

Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: Eric Roth
Producer: Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Cean Chaffin
Composer: Alexandre Desplat
Studio: Paramount Pictures

[See More Credits]

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    Daisy Returns
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    Never Had a Woman
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  • Meeting in the Middle
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    Introducing Benjamin
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    RT Review Revue - Benjamin Button, Bedtime Stories, Marley and Me, Doubt, The Spirit, Valkyrie
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1 - 4 of 13

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Reviews for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
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For a melodrama concerned with emotional pain, this fairy tale favours formal trickery over human connection to a fault.

Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney | comment Comment
02/05/09
David Fear
David Fear
Time Out Sydney
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a speculative and enthralling fantasy about what it would be like to age in reverse.

Full Review Source: The Age (Australia) | comment Comment
01/02/09
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
The Age (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A fulfilling and grandiose journey.

Full Review Source: FILMINK (Australia) | comment Comment
12/26/08
Matthew Pejkovic
Matthew Pejkovic
FILMINK (Australia)
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a beautifully made film ... but ... it is also a piece of cinematic artifice, in which the manufacture of it stands between it and us -- big on novelty and sentimentality but short on tension and interest for the audience

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment 1 Comment
12/19/08
Andrew L. Urban
Andrew L. Urban
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It's a speculative and enthralling fantasy about what it would be like to age in reverse.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
12/18/08
Sandra Hall
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Sure, I cried at the end. I'm not a robot. But I cry at cat food commercials if they punch the right button. I just can't get on the Button train. I wish I could have obeyed my instincts and stayed home.

Full Review Source: Cinerina | comment Comment
12/15/09
Karina Montgomery
Karina Montgomery
Cinerina

Brad Pitt spends a lifetime aging backward in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and there are points in the movie where your tired hindquarters feel as if they've been along for every minute of his strange journey.

Full Review Source: Florida Times-Union | comment Comment
09/18/09
Matt Soergel
Matt Soergel
Florida Times-Union

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is the total package, a deftly assembled fairy tale that unspools like a pleasant dream.

Full Review Source: Times-Picayune | comment Comment
09/04/09
Mike Scott
Mike Scott
Times-Picayune

Who knew that F. Scott Fitzgerald's short story would end up on the screen as a three-hour Botox ad?

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment 1 Comment
08/26/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Between the visuals and the Pitt factor, this is a movie your girlfriend will dig, but there's enough crazy fantasy stuff going on that I'd never call it a "chick flick."

Full Review Source: UGO | comment 1 Comment
08/13/09
Jordan Hoffman
Jordan Hoffman
UGO

ostvarenje koje bi se komotno moglo nazvati Forrest Gump 2.0

Full Review Source: Index.hr | comment Comment
07/15/09
Dragan Antulov
Dragan Antulov
Index.hr

a slow starter, and it never really speeds up into a thrilling film, save for one scene of war on the ocean. However, it's not meant to be fast-paced or riveted with action.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
06/14/09
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

Yes, Button can be glorious, but the Hollywood glamour drowns the soul that it so needs. Plus, there is the insistent reminder that we will all lose our looks and die.

Full Review Source: BET.com | comment Comment
06/10/09
Clay Cane
Clay Cane
BET.com

With fine acting all around, and Fincher's typically meticulous filmmaking engagingly, if coldly, transportive above and beyond Roth's mediocre script, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button bears examining. [Blu-ray]

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
05/17/09
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

... A beautiful, heartbreaking film ... packed with tender, loving performances and some of the most astounding visual effects we have ever seen.

Full Review Source: Star-Democrat (Easton, MD) | comment Comment
05/15/09
Greg Maki
Greg Maki
Star-Democrat (Easton, MD)

an outsized romantic epic built on a potentially flimsy bit of fantastical whimsy that instead becomes an affecting allegory for the fleeting joys of life

Full Review Source: Q Network Film Desk | comment Comment
05/11/09
James Kendrick
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk

The movie is gentle and sweet. Nothing more. Nothing less. And told most poetically.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment 2 Comments
05/01/09
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

Fincher's fascination with, and film's illusory power over, time deepened the mystery of his previous film, Zodiac. Such insights also redeem Button from its cuteness and kitsch.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peter Keough
Peter Keough
Boston Phoenix

It's a curious story indeed, a long and rambling exploration of time and what we make of it.

Full Review Source: Screenwize | comment Comment
03/21/09
Simon Weaving
Simon Weaving
Screenwize

It is the cream of the crop in the categories of cinematography, editing, art direction, sound mixing, costume design, special visual effects, makeup and original musical score.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Spectrum | comment Comment
03/21/09
Keith Cohen
Keith Cohen
Entertainment Spectrum
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
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Latest News for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

May 04, 2009: RT on DVD: Benjamin Button, Bollywood Kung Fu, and a Special Twilight Set
Award season armchair jockeys should check out a few notable Oscar and Golden Globe contenders this week, including David Fincher's visionary epic film about a man who ages... More...

February 01, 2009: Slumdog's Danny Boyle Wins DGA Award
Danny Boyle takes home another win for Best Director from the Director's Guild of America -- could Oscar gold be just around the corner? See who else was nominated this year in... More...

January 22, 2009: Oscar Nominations Announced: Benjamin Button Leads With 13
The Oscar nominations for 2008 have been announced. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button leads with 13 nominations, while The Reader makes a surprisingly strong showing. The Dark... More...

January 15, 2009: BAFTA Nominations Announced Opens in new window
The full list of nominations for this year's BAFTA Film Awards. More...

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