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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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Original title: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Year: 2008
Running time: 167 min.
Country: United States
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: Eric Roth (Story: F. Scott Fitzgerald)
Music: Alexandre Desplat
Cinematography: Claudio Miranda
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Julia Ormond, Elias Koteas, Elle Fanning, Jared Harris, Mahershala Ali, David Jensen, Tom Everett, Faune Chambers Watkins, Donna Duplantier, Ed Metzger, Danny Vinson, Fiona Hale, Marion Zinser, Patrick Thomas O'Brien, Phyllis Somerville, Ted Manson, Lance E. Nichols, Danny Nelson, Peter D. Badalamenti, Robert Towers, Sonya Leslie, Edith Ivey, Madisen Beaty
Producer: Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., The Kennedy/Marshall Company
Genre: Fantasy. Romance. Drama | 1980s. 1990s
Movie Groups: F. Scott Fitzgerald Adaptations
Synopsis / Plot: The story is about Benjamin Button, a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards. That is, a man who starts aging backwards with bizarre consequences. “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. Benjamin Button is a grand tale of a not-so-ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.

Awards: 2008: 3 Academy Awards: Best Art Direction, Makeup, Visual Effects. 13 Nominations

2008: 5 Nominations for Golden Globe, including Best Movie, Director

2008: 3 BAFTA Awards, including Best Make up. 11 Nominations, including Best Film

2008: New York Film Critics Circle: Nominated for Best Director & Best Cinematography

2008: Los Angeles Film Critics Association: Runner Up for Best Original Score

2008: American Film Institute (AFI): Top 10 - Movies of the Year

Show 6 more awards

2008: 8 Nominations for Critics' Choice Awards, including Best Picture, Director and Writer

2008: Chicago Film Critics Awards: 5 Nominations including Best Picture

2008: Producers Guild Awards (PGA): Nominated for Best Film

2008: Directors Guild of America (DGA): Nominated for Best Director

2008: Writers Guild of America (WGA): Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay

2008: Screen Actors Guild (SAG): 3 Nominations including Best Cast

Critics' reviews

"A splendidly made film based on a profoundly mistaken premise. (...) The movie's premise devalues any relationship, makes futile any friendship or romance (...) Rating: ★★½ (out of 4)"

Roger Ebert: rogerebert.com
"A richly satisfying serving of deep-dish Hollywood storytelling (...) An example of the most advanced technology placed entirely at the service of story and character"

Todd McCarthy: Variety
"A lush, romantic hothouse bloom (...) Above all, though, is a triumph of technique"

A. O. Scott: The New York Times
"'Benjamin Button' is all of a visionary piece, and it's a soul-filling vision."

Joe Morgenstern: The Wall Street Journal
"The movie looks amazing. And for the first hour, when storytelling and special effects bond like lovers, it plays even better (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of 4)"

Peter Travers: Rolling Stone
"The problem with 'Benjamin Button' is that Pitt's physicality is the only astonishing thing about it. Strip away that gimmick and it's utterly conventional and predictable"

Ann Hornaday: The Washington Post
"See 'Benjamin Button,' just don't try to guess his age. (...) The film, ambitious if flawed, also is lyrical and melancholy (...) Rating: ★★★ (out of four)."

Claudia Puig: USA Today
Show 5 more reviews

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Ranking Lists Position

5 My Top 10 Movies from 2008 (824)
15 Best Movies I've Seen in Theaters Lately (53)
19 My Favorite Fantasy Movies (122)
21 My Favorite Romantic Dramas (145)
33 Most Moving Movies (113)
36 Overrated Movies (159)
39 My Favorite Dramas (255)
39 My Top 20 Movies from the 2000s (157)
41 Movies with Impressive Art Direction (37)
51 Movies with Awesome Special Effects (33)
62 Movies I Liked More the Second Time I Watched Them (22)
68 Movies with Amazing Cinematography (54)
71 Movies I Want to Own (109)
73 Movies that Don't Seem that Special but are Very Special to Me (53)
88 My Favorite Blockbusters (14)
92 Movies with the Best Beginnings (not including opening credits) (18)
98 Movies with Great Screenplays (38)

Show 17 lists

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