Saturday, August 30, 2008

"Cautiously Optimistic"

I've felt cautiously optimistic about 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' since first seeing the trailer. It's a nice looking story with high gloss but it doesn't get under my skin. It's not the kind of thing I would see in the theater.

Peter Sciretta (/film) and Alex Billington (FirstShowing) post a video of their impressions of the 20-minute montage from Curious which played at Telluride, and I'm not surprised that they're thinking much the same thing -- it's nice looking but didn't quite make a sale (although Alex liked it better than Peter).

Others have hinted the same sentiment. Anne Thompson, as well-tempered as ever in her Telluride watch, says "The movie could go either way--toward Oscar season glory or inflated noble failure."

Jeff Wells, as usual, puts his cards on the table reporting overhearing grumbles from people that had just seen the 20-minutes of footage -- and going toe-to-toe with them (I would have liked to have heard that conversation).

Latest word from the studio is the movie will run "a little over two and half hours," as reported by Thompson. That's not too long but it's pushing the envelope (if the movie is not compelling [I can feel my butt getting numb already]), and it's a bit of an endurance test even for an engrossing experience.

I'd like this movie succeed. We need to be swept up by fables like this from time to time. We'll have to wait and see.

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