The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher’s memorable new drama, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” is a wonderful movie that is loosely based on the 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. However, in Fitzgerald’s story Benjamin was physically, mentally and emotionally older at birth and got younger on all fronts.

The film’s structure starts in a New Orleans hospital in 2005 on the eve of Hurricane Katrina. Daisy (Cate Blanchett) is on her deathbed. Her daughter, Caroline (Julia Ormond) is reading a diary kept by Daisy’s childhood friend Benjamin (beautifully played by Brad Pitt in a bittersweet and endearing performance).

At nearly three hours, the movie is too dense to fully explore, but as Benjamin ages in reverse, we find him meeting along the way all those people who will become important to him. Through reading the diary we flash back from 1918 and follow Benjamin and Daisy up to the 21st century.

Throughout this movie, there’s an ache to the proceedings that’s palpable, particularly as Benjamin slowly turns into the man we eventually recognize as Brad Pitt while those close to him move into the old age he already has experienced. As he grows younger and younger, he watches those closest to him slip away while he himself is fueled by a vitality they have long since forgotten.

This film is rich and intelligent, it's beautifully shot and just as well acted. I would say that it's one of the years best movies.

Nights in Rodanthe

With Richard Gere and Diane Lane you already know mom and I could hardly wait for this one to come out. I am pleased to announce that it was well worth the wait.


Nights in Rodanthe is based on the book by tear-duct specialist Nicholas Sparks, who also gave us The Notebook and A Walk to Remember.


A story of two unhappy people whose lives become entwined as they develope a life changing romance. Adrienne, played by Diane Lane, is a woman who's weighing up the option of whether or not to allow her cheating husband to return home. To get her head together, she agrees to manage her best friends beach side boarding house in Rodanthe, on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Since it's the storm-heavy off-season, the boarding house only has one guest, in the form of solitary surgeon Paul (Richard Gere), who's come to Rodanthe to make amends with an embittered local whose wife died on the operating table.


Both are troubled souls, stuck alone in a hotel with little to do but sip wine and stare wistfully at the ocean. And when a storm hits the boarding house, Adrienne and Paul find themselves drawn to each other and romantic sparks start to fly.


There is nothing new here – but taking the film on face value, everything that needs to be done right is spot on.


Get the girls out to watch this but don't forget to take your tissues!

Youth Without Youth

This weekend's movie choice was Youth Without Youth. Their plot outline is that it's a love story wrapped in a mystery.

Mystery is a very good choice of words for this one. In fact, it was so much a mystery that the mystery was never revealed. I guess you have to be one of those high IQ types of people to understand this one because I totally did not get it.

This was the longest two hour movie I've ever seen. There were a couple of times when I started to doze off but I was afraid if I fell asleep I might miss something that would explain it all. Unfortunately, that never happened...

Personally, I didn't care for this one but I'm sure there's some highly intelligent person out there who would be happy to disagree with me...

The Jane Austen Book Club

I've not read any of the Jane Austen books but I've seen a few of the movies based on her books and I've enjoyed them all. Recently, I watched a movie - Becoming Jane - that was loosely based on her life; I enjoyed this one much better.

The Jane Austen Book Club is about Six people who start a club to discuss the works of Jane Austen, only to find that their relationships begin to resemble 21st century versions of her novels. The members of the club are hopeful about love, but helpless when it comes to relationships. The characters in this movie are interesting and likable, the acting is good, and it isn't filled with violence and vulgarity - something that's increasingly hard to find these days.

Mom and I both very much enjoyed this movie.

Feast of Love

The movie that mom and I chose this weekend was the Feast of Love, an adaptation of the 2000 book by Charles Baxter.

The story begins with a brilliant theory on love, “There is a story about the Greek Gods. They were board, so they invented human beings. But they were still board, so they invented love. Then they weren’t board any longer; so they decided to try love for themselves….and finally, they invented laughter – so they could stand it.” quoted by philosophy professor Harry Stevenson (Morgan Freeman). The couplings and uncouplings in Feast of Love are observed and pondered through the wizened eyes of Professor Stevenson who is a regular at Jitters, the coffee shop owned by the good-hearted if less observant Bradley Thomas (Greg Kinnear). This is a movie about love, the chances we take and the things that connect us together.

I really enjoyed the wit of Freeman’s character in this movie, as well as the story lines. However, if you are uncomfortable with sex and nudity then this is not the movie for you!

Becoming Jane

Today's movie with Mom was Becoming Jane; A biographical portrait of a pre-fame Jane Austen and her romance with a young Irishman.

Author Jane Austen (Anne Hathaway) eventually became famous for writing epic novels like Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility.

This movie is loosely based on her early years as an aspiring author with dreams of doing what was then nearly unthinkable - marrying for love. As a young woman in the 18th century, writing was not a respectable goal for a young woman. With the entire world telling her she can't achieve her dreams and her parents searching for a wealthy, well-appointed husband to assure their daughter's future social standing, Jane meets and falls in love with a charming rogue, Tom Lefroy (James McAvoy), who inspires her to write the books generations have come to know and love.

Although there were some funny moments, I felt it was somewhat dark and at times seemed to drag on. It was a good movie, but not anything I would run out to buy once it's released on DVD.