Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

So many movies so little time. Here's a list of all the movies I had planned to see over the holiday season:

Changeling (w/ Angelina Jolie)
Curious Case of Benjamin (w/ Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett)
Doubt (w/ Phillip Seymore Hoffman, Meril Streep)
Milk (w/ Sean Penn)
Revolutionary Road (w/ Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet)
Seven Pounds (w/ Will Smith)
Valkyrie (w/ Tom Cruise)
The Wrestler (w/ Mickey Rourke)

...and I probably left some out. The starts have really come out in a magnitude of different roles this year and I couldn't be more disappointed that I've only seen one of the aforementioned. I have probably crossed 'Seven Pounds' off my list, after getting panned, but what other time of year can you say you have so many choices that you don't even consider what many call another brilliant performance from Mr. Smith. I'm going to try and hit the movies hard the for the next few weeks and see the movies that will have a shorter theater-shelf life first and move that way. Hopefully, I'll get to see all these before they go to DVD.

On to Benjamin Button, though. First of all, Brad Pitt is underrated. Don't get me wrong, he is a mega star, heart throb of all teenage girls, and married to Angelina Jolie, as an actor though, still underrated. The Assassination of Jesse James was a great movie and Pitt carried it through its lulls in action. My only question to him is why he is doing such long movies lately (with the exception of that piece of garbage Burn After Reading), I mean I'm all for long movies, but they better be damn good to overcome the inevitable boring stretches. I don't want to spoil this particular movie, so I'll tread lightly considering most people may have chosen other options to see in theaters first, but the story as you may have gathered from the previews centers around Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), who was born as an old man, but grew younger into a little boy and his relationship with Daisy (Cate Blanchett), as they struggle to cope with a relationship where one is growing older while the other only gets younger. The movie is brilliantly acted, and paced perfectly, exploring each phase of Button's life with a near-perfect amount of time devoted to all parts. Granted, this causes the run-time to span nearly three hours, but the lulls are limited. I'd give it 4.5/5 stars and a definite recommendation.