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Brad Pitt Time Travels Between Love And Death

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strangrnstranglnd
12/24/08

In reply to Brad Pitt Time Travels Between Love And Death
I think the reviewer is WAY too cynical - as are most movie-goers these days.

We need to get rid of our "go to it or rent it" mindset. Go see movies. Let them take you somewhere. Let them open your mind. Stop watching "making of" shows. Stop critiquing movies like you have some authority on it - I hate to hear regular Joes use movie-making jargon like "plot" and "pacing." And please please please get over the special effects issues. I can sit through and enjoy the original Superman just like I can a modern special effects movie. You just have to suspend your disbelief.
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Charlie Jane Anders
12/24/08

@strangrnstranglnd: Fair enough... honestly I went to see this movie with an open mind, and didn't like it very much. I'm letting people know, which is the purpose of a review. Movie reviews have existed for as long as there have been movies, so it's not like you're discussing a new phenomenon. (And I was reviewing movies for print newspapers long before I started writing on here.)
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Plague
12/24/08

In reply to Brad Pitt Time Travels Between Love And Death
" I always think, when reviewing a non-genre film like Button for io9, it's important to focus on its genre elements and how they're functioning in the story"

Uh, why?

This seems like a rather pedantic or forced way to review any film- and whether or not it's true, it comes off as sounding like you had pre-conceived notions before even entering the theater.

Whether a movie fits into any particular genre should be the last thing someone should think about when viewing a film.
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Charlie Jane Anders
12/24/08

@Plague: Well, as you'll see above, that idea didn't particularly dominate my review. Nor did I have it in the front of my mind when I watched the film. But I do think it's worthwhile to think about how non-genre films use genre elements.
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Plague
12/24/08

@Charlie Jane Anders:

To me saying that his "super power" is a metaphor for the entire film's viewpoint is pretty dominant.

But maybe I'm just reading too much into it.
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Plague was starred Plague was unstarred

Ed Grabianowski
12/24/08

In reply to Brad Pitt Time Travels Between Love And Death
Interesting. I've been pondering lately that I may be approaching the point when I am closer to dying than to being born (of course, I could get hit by a bus, get cancer or be eaten by zombies in the next year, meaning I'd have passed that point 15 years ago, but based on averages). So with that in mind, I'll not be spending three hours of my fading future with poor old/young Benjamin Button.
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zslane
12/24/08

In reply to Brad Pitt Time Travels Between Love And Death
The whole business of making Brad up as an old man, and superimposing his features onto various other people's bodies, is weirdly convincing.

Charlie Jane, could you explain this process in a little more detail? What do you mean when you say "making Brad up as an old man"?
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goldfarb
12/24/08

@zslane: google "Image Metrics", and there are other posts here about Benjamin Button.
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goldfarb was starred goldfarb was unstarred

Charlie Jane Anders
12/24/08

@zslane: Yeah, as goldfarb says, we've covered it in detail elsewhere. I should probably add a link back to our previous coverage.
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