The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

MORTALITY’S a funny thing.
Most people spend years trying to forget how fallible they are...but it always catches up with you, whenever someone you care about is ill, whenever someone dies.
For a whimsical Tim Burton-esque story about a man who ages backwards, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button really hits this point home.
In an inititially heartwarming – but then heartbreaking – tale, the overriding theme here is that nothing ever lasts.
Prepare to see Brad Pitt as you’ve never seen him before. Based on the 1920s F.Scott Fitzgerald book, Benjamin Button (Pitt) is born as a man in his 80s ‘with one foot in the grave’.
Unwanted and rejected, he ends up living in a retirement home and gets used to death from an early age. But he also finds acceptance and love.

While he may look like the other residents living out their silver years talking about the weather, Benjamin has the natural curiosity of a young child. It’s so bizarre but it really draws you in and whatever age he is, incredibly, the character looks unmistakably like Brad Pitt.
Over the years, you see the episodes of his life as he gets younger, experiencing things in a unique way and meeting fantastic people. He then meets the love of his life Daisy (Cate Blanchett) and they find happiness when their lives cross and they are both in their 40s.
You can probably guess the outcome of this relationship but it will still pull on your heart strings.
This is a very different type of film for filmmaker David Fincher, who normally directs darker thrillers like Seven and Fight Club, but it suits him well.
No film has examined pain, regret and loss more succinctly in quite some time.

Revolutionary Road

THE agony of heartbreak and separation is transferred seamlessly to the silver screen here.
No light relief, no escapism, just two hours of a bitter relationship gone drastically wrong.
But if you can stand the tension, you’ll find a really engaging film here with great performances from the leads Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
Reunited on screen for the first time since Titantic in 1997, the pair are electric. It makes you wonder why they weren’t brought together again sooner.
In fact, the film is almost as if Titanic’s Jack and Rose both survived the ill-fated voyage and 10 years later, their marriage is failing.

With Sam Mendes’ Revolutionary Road, you don’t really see why Frank (DiCaprio) and April (Winslet) are drifting apart, you just see the twisted aftermath.
There is also a wonderful, humourous, transparency to the story as the mentally ill character John Givings (brilliantly portrayed by Michael Shannon) continues to say what everyone else is thinking.
Kate Winslet is incredible here, chain smoking and always looking on the verge of a breakdown, while DiCaprio’s character Frank tries to ride the wave of the post-war optimism of his 1950s America.
Both feel caged by domestic life and want to make a change by living in Paris...but the real message here is that the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
Obviously the strength of a film like this is that we can all relate to it. There are only a few of us who can claim to have had flawless relationships and we all know the impact when they go wrong.

Twilight

ETERNALLY condemned to walk the earth...and go to high school. It must be tough being a 17-year-old vampire.
Like Buffy the Vampire Slayer before it, Twilight appeals to its key demographic – by keeping it in the classroom.
The film tells the story of Bella, an overly sulky teenager whose two passions in life seem to be the macabre and her own internal monologues.
Naturally, when a pale, mysterious and moody boy walks – in slow motion of course – into the school canteen, an awkward love story begins.
With its setting and characters, Twilight plays right into the hands of its teenage fans but will appeal to most cinema-goers as it is fairly well directed and has a compelling story.

But don’t expect a Lost Boys clone. All humour and quirky charm has been replaced with adolescent sighs and frowns.
That said, the vampire love story offers a decent subtext about doomed teenage relationships – whether fighting against raging hormones or vampiric urges they tend to end in the same way – disaster.
The film did have a few problems though, most notably, the stunts. Whenever a vampire jumps, it is achingly obvious the actor is on a wire, slightly shattering the illusion.
The pacing too is a bit iffy with the edge-of-your-seat stuff only coming into play in the last half hour.
Also, true to the novel but slightly odd, when vampires are exposed to sunlight in the film they sparkle rather than burst into flames!
But forgive its flaws and you’ll find a film with real bite here.

The Day The Earth Stood Still

ARE we really worth saving?
That’s the question The Day The Earth Stood Still asks, and for people who have not seen the original movie, there is plenty of food for thought.
A twist on classic sci fi tale, it is about an alien invasion that has not come to obliterate the planet but rather to save the Earth from its wasteful human inhabitants.
Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), an alien who has taken human form, is taken into custody and warns scientists and Government officials that they only have themselves to blame.

It is a poignant green message, which is met with hostility rather than a desire to change — think a modern day Noah’s Ark story.
And just like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator, it seems Reeves has found his perfect film role here. An alien with no concept of human emotion, Reeves’ wooden acting abilities fit the bill.
Some elements of the film were a bit unconvincing but it is an enjoyable wake up call for anyone who worries about the planet.
But since that wake up call was first told in 1951, are we really going to listen this time?

Zack and Miri make a Porno

ZACK and Miri are your typical, confused, platonic couple.
They are close housemates who rely on each other and feelings exist yet they have never been explored.
But when times get hard, they start looking at unusual ways to scrabble their way out of debt — and settle on the idea of making an amateur adult movie — as you do.
Cult director Kevin Smith once again merges the coarse with the sentimental...and somehow succeeds.
It would be difficult to think of any other filmmaker who could put you in the world of a rom-com one minute and then throw you into an altogether more sordid setting, the next.
But with his recurring characters Jay and Silent Bob now finally retired, Smith has had to take the helm without the comfort of his screen heroes.

That said, Zack and Miri does feel very much like one of the director’s New Jersey slacker films with the intro perhaps a homage to his debut Clerks, with Zack (Seth Rogen) stumbling around on a cold morning trying to get to his meaningless job.
A couple of old cast members get a look-in too, most notably Jason Mewes living up to all the innuendoes of his previous notorious character, Jay.
But this lacks some of the snappy dialogue that made Smith’s earlier films a joy and is a bit too cheesy.
Nevertheless, it’s certainly a refreshing take on the rom-com genre but only for those who can tolerate hundreds of swear words and a lot of bared flesh.

W

JUST how did a man like George W. Bush become the leader of the free world?
It’s been the question on people’s lips since the turn of the millennia as the world has slowly come to terms with a disastrous presidency.
With Bush’s eight-year reign due to come to a close in January, it is the perfect time for a film like ‘W’.
Not overtly political like Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, seasoned director Oliver Stone offers dramatised take on the life of the 43rd President of the USA, with Josh Brolin excellently portraying the bumbling leader.
Jutting between Bush’s early years and the post-9/11 meetings discussing going to war with Iraq, you get a good overall impression of the man’s life.

You see his transition from college cool guy to struggling worker to successful businessman to reluctant politician, with periods of him feeling hopelessly lost in between.
Fast forward to the presidential crisis talks and you see a leader who is on the periphery of his own meetings, easily influenced by his aides and more concerned with keeping egos in check, than the fallout of foreign policy decisions.
Despite Colin Powell (Jeffrey Wright) doing his utmost to persuade the President that the war is unjustified, Bush is adamant that he wants to ‘kick the ass’ of those who tried to kill his father.
In fact, Bush’s father (James Cromwell) is the overriding theme in both parts of the story. W is completely overshadowed by the former president and is stuck between his desire to be his own man and his obligation to continue the Bush legacy.
More sympathetic than critical, Stone’s ‘W’ offers a deep insight into a shallow man.

Quantom of Solace

BOND enjoys the international jet set life in his latest adventure on the big screen.
In the 22nd film in the 007 franchise, the British spy flits from continent to continent in hot pursuit of a phantom organisation called Quantom.
The result is a frenetic story that is as exciting as it is head spinning. It’s hard to keep up as 007 dashes from Austria to South America chasing leads and invariably killing villains along the way, to the disdain of his boss, M (Judy Dench on top form).
Starting just moments after the final sequence of Casino Royale, Quantom of Solace is the first Bond film to be a direct sequel.
And very much in keeping with its predecessor, Daniel Craig excellently portrays the same no nonsense, ruthless yet vulnerable agent that was critically acclaimed in 2006.
More Matt Damon than Sean Connery, Craig’s fantastic action sequences pay homage to the Bourne trilogy but look close enough and there are a few subtle nods to the cheesy Bond of old.
Following on from Casino Royale, you also get the continuity of the character’s struggle. Still vexed by the death of his former lover Vesper, 007 is motivated by anger and revenge — making his mission to hunt down Quantom leader Dominic Greene very personal.
An apt villain for our times, Greene is a faux-environmentalist with a hidden agenda. No cat on his lap, no super satellite or underground lair, just a cold hearted entrepeneur...and that sense of realism is the scariest part.