At its most profound, “Benjamin Button” isn’t about anything more important than Pitt’s very handsomeness, which, for a surprising stretch of time, is a wonderful subject for study. There is a sad scene that requires him to leave a room, and the sheer fact of how young he seems really is breathtaking. I almost gasped at one point. His acting here is entirely static and observational. It’s exactly what Pitt did as Death in “Meet Joe Black”: He just sits there. And yet this time there’s something alluring about that: He’s sitting to have a filmmaker take an elaborate photo. That’s a painstaking process, but it’s the one portrait Fincher gets completely right.
15 Responses for "Pitt Vision"
One thing I’ve always liked about Brad Pitt is that he knows who he is and who he isn’t. I liked when he turned down an invitation to appear on “Inside the Actors Studio” because he felt he hadn’t done enough worthy onscreen acting yet. He’s become quite canny about which roles suit his range and appearance. I haven’t yet seen Ben Button but it sounds like he once again put himself in position to succeed quite well.
P.S. I know I haven’t seen CCBB, but ever since you made that the Gatsby announcement I’m actually rooting for CCBB *not* to win BP just because if it does, then a new film of Gatsby becomes more likely – and I can’t believe Gatsby by Luhrmann could be anything but terrible.
For me Pitt is a dangerous dark-horse. I really have big doubts that they will award Sean Penn after the things he has been saying about the Oscars (Cannes 2008), going to meet homofobic dictators Like Castro or Hugo Chavez. Mike Rourke seems the obvious choice, but he is an outsider. Pitt has a big chance, If Ben Button takes Picture. After the incredible work he is doing in NOLA I really can see the Academy going for him.
I think the academy would love to award Pitt. Just like they were desperate to award Clooney but I think this year will go to Mickey Rourke. BB will not receive any big awards at the Oscars I’m predicting.
I also go with Rourke, but after him I will predict Pitt. Actually I think for Pitt the most difficult is geting a nomination.
1. Penn
2. Rourke
3. Langella
4. Jenkins
5. Pitt
I wouldn’t be surprised if Pitt didn’t make it in the final five, but we’ll see. I think Mickey Rourke or Sean Penn will win.
Mr. Ebert’s review of Button is up…rather lukewarm. He finds it very well-made, but he doesn’t buy the logic (or lack thereof) in the premise of a person aging backwards.
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081223/REVIEWS/812239995
Is it just me or is that image of Brad Pitt on that motorcycle bound to be iconic?
Thanks, JP. I don’t know – seems like Ebert missed the whole point of the movie and anyway, if you aren’t swept away by it you’re never going to be swept away by it. But two and a half stars seems overly harsh, particularly from someone who gave Doubt four stars?! Oh well. To each his own. I disagree with almost everything he wrote in his review and in the end, if you’re wondering for a moment about the old man/little girl thing the movie’s done past you right by. I think women are reacting more positively than men but some men are as well. Arguing the whole premise, though, is like arguing that ghosts don’t come back to life or sharks don’t hunt down people who are hunting them or that angels don’t really get wings when a bell rings – it’s a funny story but one that requires that you check your logic at the door. I’m bracing myself for the NY Times body slam and the LA Times left hook.
Yea it really seems like Ebert just missed the whole movie.
It’s just you, Davidraider88. I find that picture to be typical of Brad Pitt’s career: pretty but overly styled.
Perhaps this is all one can expect from a man who has arrived at a point where he actually suggests that marriage is about wanting a witness to your life. Talk about cold. THAT’S cold.
I loved the short story of Benjamin Button. I love the premise of this movie. I usually have to suspend disbelief anyway most times I watch a movie – not so much because of the unbelievability of the story but rather because of the ineptness of the storyteller. I just watched the trailer for Body of Lies and I didn’t believe any of it.
There’s so much stock placed in actors “doing” (doing weight loss, doing an accent, doing ugly) that we forget that the most powerful “acting” can be as simple as existing on the screen. My favorite example is John Wayne. Another is Gary Cooper. Say what you will, but these guys are extraordinary onscreen in ways the acting trophies know nothing about. Contemporary examples include Pitt and George Clooney. And I haven’t even mentioned any ladies yet.
The movie camera is a funny thing. Akim Tamiroff – by way of Orson Welles (a rare master of “being” and “doing”), who recollected the story for Peter Bogdanovich – put it succinctly: a camera looks at one guy, and says, “oh no, he is not for me.” Then it looks at another guy, and it says “Yes, this fella I like.” If you can imagine Tamiroff saying it, you’re better off.
Sorry if these sentiments are not in the site’s spirit.
There is nothing cold about Pitt. I have to warn the people who have
supported him for years since the conception of that evil misportrayal,
not to take what the media is claiming what he said at face value. Their tactic of incoporating their fabrications into his and Angelina’s
interviews and distorting comments have gone into an extreme level
ever since November when his ex launched a campaign about a false confession by contradicting an already distorted older interview of Jolie’s, in which she clearly denied, not described an affair.
You cannot believe what the media is printing about their interviews. Their latest agenda, the ulimate spin, is to make people think that they confirmed that misportrayal and confessed to that accusation they have been gracefully denying for years. The media deliberately misquotes them all of the time.
I have to make two things very clear:
Angelina never made that “the movie where mommy and daddy fell in love comment” to the very biased New York Times. Brad never said he and Jolie fell in love on the set of Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I knew there is no way in hell they would ever incriminate themselves or say anything that validates the media’s spin against them. I also have a deeper understanding of the truth and know their romantic relationship began after he and that witch broke up. I checked with my sources who know them to make sure. Rolling Stone printed that they asked him what his favorite Jolie movie was. They claimed that he said Mr. and Mrs. Smith. Six kids. Fell in love.
Now that is not the same thing as saying he fell in love during filming.
That movie introduced him to Jolie. It would eventually lead to them falling in love, starting a life and family together. The six kids obviously were not conceived or adopted on the set of that movie.
They have stated over and over again that their love story began after his breakup. The media sources also claimed that he said he never saw the movie. Lies. They saw the movie several times, including at the premiere, everybody knows that. There is loads of evidence to uncover about this but I am not going to address all of that. I also know Mr. and Mrs. Smith is not his favorite Jolie movie
and I doubt he would say anything that could be misconstrued as a confession. People who have keeping the right track of this, know the media has tried to claim many times that they confessed or made statements they did not. It always gets clarified at the end that they maintained their denials and truth. The media found an opening in which they could completely destroy the truth and mislead the few who did not get brainwashed into turning against what is right and real. Trying to make the right think that they are wrong, the good think that they are bad.
The crazy and stupid thing is that Brad and Angelina recklessly continue to do these interviews knowing their words get tampered with thinking the media would not cross that line again but they have.
They have become desensitized and disconnected with what the media prints about them and know the public always falls for the spin.
People I know say he hasn’t defended or clarified anything because is not fully aware of what is going on. He does not understand that he is in grave danger. They have used that tactic of blocking or ignoring the Team-Aniston controlled world, particulary the media
because it is too painful and overwhelming. They both have been busy with many other activities and projects, they both have other things on their minds. Their apathy and ignorance might lead to their self-destruction because the media is taking full advantage of them not responding to those inserted fabrications and distortions. The media will expand and exacerbate this further. I hope Brad speaks out until its too late, there is nobody in the media he can trust.
The distortions might seem slight on the surface, but the effectively manipulated public is reacting to it profoundly thinking they confessed to something they did not do. They did not victimize anybody and that witch will forever be glorified and reap the benefits of this misportrayal.
He is a good man. He is struggling with his views on many issues and life concepts including marriage. His first marriage brought nothing but pain, unhappiness, misery, disappointment, waste, lies, manipulation, and deception. Marriage is also an institution, a tradition. I am so scared for him right now, if he does not gain insight
and act soon or even worse just give up on fighting this misportrayal,
a right side won’t exist anymore. It will all be people who think he cheated and lied. If you believe that, you don’t understand anything about him and Angelina. This misconception has negatively influenced the minds and behavior of millions of people.
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“He is a good man. He is struggling with his views on many issues and life concepts including marriage. His first marriage brought nothing but pain, unhappiness, misery, disappointment, waste, lies, manipulation, and deception. Marriage is also an institution, a tradition. I am so scared for him right now, if he does not gain insight
and act soon or even worse just give up on fighting this misportrayal,
a right side won’t exist anymore. It will all be people who think he cheated and lied. If you believe that, you don’t understand anything about him and Angelina. This misconception has negatively influenced the minds and behavior of millions of people.”
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based on this lovely insight. I assume you know him quite well personally! Well let him know – the BIG BAD WORLD hates him so much that the movie grossed over a 100M in the US alone. yeah they hate him so much they HAD to spend money on tickets to prove it.
lunatic.
Clearly you’re unhappy with his tabloid gossip spin and the only people you can attribute it is to his ‘witch’ of an ex-wife?? I doubt she wields that kind of power, o.w. I’m sure she could have avoided all the ‘poor me’ + ‘no baby makes me less of a woman’ drivel.
This ain’t a tabloid gossip blog! – go get your fill somewhere else.
Is there anyway to limit the number of words in posts so I don’t have to scroll soo much through drivel like this?
My biggest surprise for Oscars – Slumdog Millionaire. Really? It’s a feel good movie and all but BEST PICTURE?
Although those little kids were superb – showed up all these hollywood million dollar pay cheque types that acting… ain’t that hard.
Otherwise – I think acting wise Doubt cast and Mickey Rourke beat the pants off Benjamin Button. So apart from being a visual stunner and in direction, BB was okay.
eeps this went a little too long. my bad.
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