THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

Nominated for 13 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Director, Actor (Brad Pitt), Supporting Actress (Tarji P. Henson), Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction, Costumes, Makeup, Visual Effects, Sound, and Score.


Directed by David Fincher





Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Julia Ormond, Tarji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Jared Harris



The Plot: "I was born under unusual circumstances." And so begins "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be.

The Good: Button is the epic film that the Oscars love. It's this years Gone with the Wind, or Forrest Gump, or Titanic. A beautiful film where every turn of the camera draws your eyes to authentic looking sets filled with interesting characters. The New Orleans setting was very appealing to this homesick Louisiana boy. The performances by Pitt and Blanchett are great, especially considering all the ballet dancing Blanchett had to pull off. But what makes this a true best picture candidate is how it evolves from a "curious" period piece with a wacky theme to one that delivers multiple emotional shots to your gut. The decisions Benjamin are forced to make about his ability to raise his child while slowly de-aging into childhood himself are agonizing, and those of us who are parents are especially susceptible to falling apart during these scenes. They will make all but the most heartless bastards tear-up.

The Bad: The parallels to Forrest Gump are obvious, especially since the same guy wrote them both. Click Here to read a side by side comparison that's too long to post here.

The Ugly: That is one ugly, wrinkly baby. Let's be honest, all newborns are ugly. Baby's don't get cute until they're a few weeks old. But this baby is fugly. (Hehe, i haven't said fugly in a loooooong time.)

Movie Cheetah's Grade: A

Oscar Forecast: I'd vote for Button for best picture. I'm a huge fan of director David Fincher and he did a fantastic job on this film, but I'd give the director statue to Danny Boyle for Slumdog. Pitt won't win best actor but Tarji P. Henson has a great shot at supporting actress for her turn as the compassionate woman who raises Benjamin. It should win At Direction. But I think this film is first or second in all it's other nominations. It'll battle Slumdog for Cinematography, Editing and Adapted Screenplay. It's a close race with The Duchess for Best Costumes. And it should win makeup unless the Academy goes in another direction by rewarding the creature feature Hellboy 2. Probably won't beat the action films in Sound or Visual Effects.


The Producers are 6 time nominee Kathleen Kennedy {E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982), The Color Purple (1985), The Sixth Sense (1999), Seabiscuit (2003) and Munich (2005)}, 5 time nominee Frank Marshall {Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), The Color Purple, The Sixth Sense, and Seabiscuit}, and first time nominee Cean Chaffin.


This is the first nomination for director David Fincher which is long overdue for the man who brought us Seven, Fight Club, and Zodiac.




This is Brad Pitt's second nomination after a Supporting Actor nod in 1995 for Twelve Monkeys.

Screenwriter Eric Roth won an Oscar in 1994 for Forrest Gump and was nominated for The Insider (1999) and Munich (2005), and the first nomination for screenwriter Robin Swicord
.

This is the first nomination for actress Taraji P. Henson, cinematographer Claudio Miranda, Editors Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall, Art Director Donald Graham Burt, and Decorator Victor J. Zolfo.

Costume Designer Jacqueline West was also nominated for Quills (2000).

The Visual Effects team is comprised of Craig Barron, also nominated for Batman Returns (1992) and three Oscar rookies, Eric Barba, Steve Preeg, and Burt Dalton.



Makeup Artist Greg Cannom won Oscars for Dracula (1992) and Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and was nominated for Hook (1991), Hoffa (1992), Roomates (1995), Titanic (1997), Bicentennial Man (1999) and A Beautiful Mind (2001).



The Sound team is made up of first time nominee Mark Weingarten, Ren Klyce, also nominated for Fight Club (1999), David Parker, winner for The English Patient (1996) and The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and nominated for Never Cry Wolf (1983) and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), and Michael Semanick, winner for Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) and King Kong (2005), and nominated for The Fellowship of the Ring (2001), The Two Towers (2002), Ratatouille (2007) and Wall-E (2008).


The score was composed by Alexander Desplat, who was also nominated for The Queen (2006).