Movie #150 - Date Night

Date Night
Twentieth Century Fox
2010 - Rated PG-13 - 1 hr 28 min
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Steve Carrell, Tina Fey, Mark Wahlberg, Taraji P. Henson, Wiliiam Fichtner, Mark Ruffalo, Kristen Wiig, James Franco, Mila Kunis

Finally... something with a budget!

I love this movie.  Mostly, I love the things in this movie.  Steve Carrell. Check. Tina Fey. Check. Mark Wahlberg's abs. Check!  There's lots of cameos too and tons of awkward situations that make you just uncomfortable enough to laugh.

This was one of the movies we saw when our daughter was still in the hospital, so since it made me laugh then, it will always hold a special place in my heart. And on the movie wall.

I won't ruin it, just suffice it to say that no one does ordinary-suburban-couple-thrown-into-extreme-and-dire-circumstances quite like these two.  And there are moments when I see flashes of my own future while watching this.  Hey, if that means our life is going to be this funny, so be it.

Movie #141 - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Warner Bros Pictures
2008 - Rated PG-13 - 2 hr 46 min
Director: David Fincher
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Taraji P. Henson

This movie took a lot of crap from the critics and the general populace, who said it was like Forrest Gump with a gimmick.  I get that. The whole "Here's some guy's entire life trajectory for your viewing pleasure, with a few chance encounters and tall tales thrown in for kicks."  Yeah, there are similar elements.

But when I first saw this movie, before I heard any of that, I really enjoyed it.  Sure, it's excessively long, but the concept (loosely based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story, the irony there is hillarious) is a fun one to base a love story around.  And despite what others say, I think Brad Pitt does just fine as Benjamin Button.  Cate Blanchett is, as always, a work of art and wholly untouchable by critical derision. They're not a pair I'd have imagined together, but onscreen you forget that she played an elf queen and he played that gas station attendant in Thelma & Louise.  You believe they love each other and that makes this movie work.

Okay, the whole baby as an old man and old man reverse ages to become a baby (and yes, that baby dying scene gets me everytime) is bizarre. If you spend too much time thinking about it, you'll just get pissed off.  Accept it for a fancy, Hollywood-ized sci-fi concept blended with an impossible romance and you'll get it.  That's all it is, aside from being really, really long...