Recently, I saw the film Frost/Nixon, the 3rd Academy Award Best Picture nominee I've seen this year, (Slumdog and Curious Case are the others). I enjoyed this movie, and unlike most, hoped it delved longer and deeper into the Nixon interviews. I wished that the movie would have had more details and it made me want to watch the original interviews, something I will hope to do very soon. Of the three pictures that I have seen, the three movies were very multi-varied and almost not comparable to each other.
My favorite was Frost/Nixon because of the historical significance and the great acting that made the movie worth it. (Nixon (Langella) had some great monologues. Expect for two or three expections, I thought the movie was very strong but certainly had flaws.
Slumdog came next. It was a very new and compelling story. However, my main problem with it was its predictabilty. I felt that the story was a fresh idea but that it was slightly contrived. Overall it was a very strong picture with minor issues.
Finally, came Benjamin Button. A story that I truly cannot put my finger on whether I liked it or not. It was a movie which went beyond normal conventions and another I had ever seen before but it also felt somehow forced and boring. I felt morose watching it and felt that the actors didn't care most of the time. Still, it must be credited with some groundbreaking achievements in visual effects and a new type of story.
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Actually, although I haven't seen Button, I've read multiple critiques online that the story is not new at all, and that it steals from many movies, most heavily from Forrest Gump. I don't know how true these reports are but there have been many of them. I wanted to see Button but I have heard so many bad things about it I don't think I want to waste the 3 hours anymore
ReplyDeleteButton's not a bad movie. The concept is original enough, I guess, but the way it's done is nothing new. It is A LOT like Forrest Gump, except less effective. The effects are pretty stunning, though, and the art direction was great.
ReplyDeleteAnd, aw, Frost/Nixon is my favorite movie of the nominees, too. I thought I was alone there. The performances were uniformly fantastic and the script was amazing. It's not very easy to adapt plays into movies without seeming too campy, and Frost/Nixon managed to capture the essence of the original production and even enhance it.
I agree with all three of you here. I didn't want to say it but the reason I walked out of "Button" was because it reminded me so much of Forest Gump. Gump's feel-good, celebration of mediocrity and anti-intellectualism infuriated me when I first saw it, but when W's election as our PResident seemed to show life imitating art, I became more scared than angry. Frost/Nixon really grabbed me, but I wasn't sure how much of that had to do with living through it and being very interested in Nixon and the whole Watergate scandal.
ReplyDeleteJames, your comment about Button being forced and boring was on target for me. I walked out about half way through and I somewhat regretted it becuase I figured the last half would be better than the first half. Sort of like a written biography of some famous figure where teh first 5 chapters ossify you with accounts of how he ate his oatmeal from a spoon with Top-Cat engraved upon it, etc.
The awfulness of having to return to work tomorrow is mitigated by the knowledge that I am returning to such an articulate and thoughtful crew.