So I'm watching Benjamin Buttons - in a nutshell it's Forest Gump watched in reverse

[LynneSin]

seriously

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Both movies had the same writer.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0744839/

[960]

6. Yeah, and he really only wrote one movie.

[Beaverhausen]

2. I thought it was nothing like Forrest Gump

I don't know why people keep saying that.

I loved Benjamin Button and could NOT stop crying when it was over.

Oh well...to each his own.

[driver8]

31. I don't get the Forrest Gump comparison, either.

They are not that similar.

[gblady]

3. I loved it......

my kind of movie.

[arcadian]

4. It doesn't make sense though. ***SPOILERS***

Why did he suffer from dementia when he was at the end of his life? Shouldn't he have had that when he was a old man/baby. And why didn't he turn into an embryo at the end? Why the fuck didn't he?

[RubyDuby in GA]

10. Physically, the body went in reverse. Mentally and healthwise, he progressed like a normal human

[qb]

12. The inconsistencies irked me too.

He began life as an infant-sized man. He should have ended it as a man-sized infant, but that would undoubtedly have been too grotesque for the average movie-goer.

[LisaM]

14. Self delete - inadvertent duplicate

[no name no slogan]

16. Eh, Fitzgerald's a hack

However, he is OUR hack. :D

(In the interest of full disclosure: I say he's "our" hack because I'm a resident of St Paul and a fan of his works. I live a block away from his birthplace, and walk past landmarks that were part of his life on a daily basis).

[LisaM]

18. He is one of my favorite writers, even though I know some of his work is juvenile

some of it's just the most gorgeous writing ever; remember in "Tender is the Night" when he was writing about Nicole Diver and wrote, "....when she was eighteen, and her hair was more beautiful than she?" I love his descriptions, and I love how he could write wicked generalizations of character types.

I'm going to St. Paul at the end of August and plan to visit as many FSF sites as possible. I just re-read the story "Winter Dreams" - it's beautiful.

[no name no slogan]

22. Cool! There's a very good "Fitzgerald Walking Tour" you should look at

Fitzgerald walking tour

It's a nice way to spend an hour, and you get to see many of the major spots from Scott's early years, too. The neighborhood is very cool, and dates from the late Victorian era, circa 1880. Most of the old mansions have been subdivided into condos now, but a lot of them on Summit Avenue are still intact.

The neighborhood is just up the hill from downtown St Paul and easily accessible by bus if you don't have a car (a little TOO close to the RNC last summer, IMHO). Garrison Keillor used to live there up until last year, too, and still owns a bookstore called "Common Good Books" in the Blair Arcade building (stop #11 on the walking tour).

Have a good trip to St Paul-- and be sure to let the MN contingent know you're coming-- they're quite good at rolling out the welcome mat! :hi:

[LisaM]

23. Thanks for the tip. We (1gobluedem) and I will let some MN people know

We're going to go to the fair, too. But I refuse to go to the Mall. I intend to walk around the UofMinn campus and take a gander at the new stadium.

[jobycom]

20. Great voice, though.

Even memorexed.

(Loved F, too. Tremendous control of language and story. Never liked "Ben Buttons" but I read it when I was a kid, so I may not have gotten everything.

[LisaM]

15. Read the short story. In that, he went to nursery school and wanted to smoke cigars

In the end, he descended into babyhood. He did not get Alzheimer's.

The story was a fable. The movie - well, I don't want to dignify it by giving it a name. If they were going to desecrate an author's work, I wish they'd chosen someone other than Fitzgerald.

[kimmerspixelated]

27. I read the short story recently

after I found out about the movie. I found it in my massive collections of best short stories, and began to read! I was enchanted, and the end, it just broke my heart, and although I haven't seen the movie yet, if they can touch on anything close to what I've read, I think it will be a success.

[soleft]

5. I was very disappointed with Brad Pitt's performance

Especially since I think he's a pretty decent actor.

But I never believed he was a young man in old man's body, and especially never believed he was an old man in a young man's body. Movie should have been heartbreaking, but instead it was meh.

[LynneSin]

7. It was a decent movie but I've seen better

I swear Brad Pitt shines when he's not the lead in the movie. You give him a supporting role and he absolutely rocks

[soleft]

8. I just rec'd Burn After Reading from Netflicks

He's probably amazing in that.

[LynneSin]

9. He rocked that part - should have gotton a nomination for that

It's not easy playing a stupid vapid gym nut, Pitt rocked it.

[ceile]

21. He is!

So funny....

[RubyDuby in GA]

11. I actually thought it was a beautiful love story and sobbed like a baby at the end

[KamaAina]

13. Sure, but Forrest Gump wasn't set in NOLA

though, come to think, the end did take place a little farther along the coast, over by trof's.

I could have sworn one of the scenes was shot on my old street. A streetcar rolled down a street that was clearly not St. Charles or Canal. The only other street with streetcars is my old one, S. Carrollton.

[LisaM]

19. Don't worry - neither was Benjamin Button - the REAL one

And shockingly, back when it was written, the family didn't farm him out to get adopted.

It reminds me of the movie of Stuart Little. I couldn't get past the premise. In the book, he was BORN as a mouse. His family accepted him for what he was. They didn't set out to purposely adopt a mouse - they learned to live with what life had dealt them.

[arcadian]

28. Wasn't that Savannah?

But Savannah doesn't have streetcars, I don't think.

[KamaAina]

29. I don't think so

the early scene with him as a baby was clearly in Jackson Square. The train station with the clock had a sign for "Canal St. Exit". And Brad Pitt, who has spent quite a bit of time in NOLA since the Federal Flood and even owns a home there, spoke in a better N'Awlins accent than most other actors who have tried it (the most comical to locals being Dennis Quaid in "The Big Easy").

[arcadian]

30. No, I was talking about Forrest Gump.

I thought those scenes were supposed to be Savannah, but I don't know if it was shot there.

[Yavin4]

17. Brad Pitt's Better Movies Are When He's Dirty

Fight Club - he was dirty.

12 Monkeys - unclean

Seven - Very dirty looking.

[southpaw]

24. Add Kalifornia to that list.

Dirtiest. Brad. Ever.

[bikebloke]

25. I now know where Martin Amis got his idea.

While watching Benjamin Button over the weekend, it reminded me of Marin Amis' book, Time's Arrow. In the book, a man lives his life backwards, starting as an old man ageing to a fetus. It reads like a movie played backwards. For example, the guy has a way of making money. He takes food out of his mouth. Cools it off on the stove, then packs it from material in the rubbish bin. He then carries it down the street to the shop where the shopkeeper gives him money for it.

[Mike 03]

26. That's for the caution; this one I'll avoid, even though I love much of Fincher's work.

I'll get THE READER instead.