I know some people who can’t stand to see a movie a second time — they think “been there, done that, I’d rather see something new.”  I certainly don’t have anything against seeing something new, but I’m also someone who loves seeing movies for a second time — and, if it’s a good movie, seeing it many more times after that!  (I’m the same way with books, comic books, etc. — I love re-reading stories that I enjoyed multiple times.)

I find that my feelings upon watching a film for a second time often vary wildly from the experience of seeing it originally.  I can absorb the film without all the baggage of hype, my anticipation, etc.  I can also more accurately judge the movie for what it is, rather than what I had hoped it would be or was expecting it would be.

During September I had a chance to take a second look at three films that I really enjoyed during last year’s Oscar rush of films (in late December 2008).  Did my feelings about them change, for better or for worse, upon a second viewing?  Read on!

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button — read my original review here.  Benjamin Button was one of my very favorite movies from last year (it ranked as no. 6 on my list of my favorite films from 2008) and, if anything, I was even more in awe of it the second time around.  The film is magnificent.  It is one of those special collaborations where every single element works just perfectly, from the gorgeous sets and costumes, to the jaw-dropping visual effects (that create fully-realized environments from France to Russia to a tug-boat in the middle of the Pacific, not to mention the completely convincing creation and de-aging of Benjamin Button himself that is as wonderful a combination of makeup, prosthetics, and incredible CGI as I have ever seen), to the wonderful performances by Brad Pitt (who proves in every film he’s in why he is so deserving of his movie-star fame), Cate Blanchett, and a wonderful array of other talented actors.  Director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) knows how to incorporate cutting-edge visual effects into a film without ever letting those effects overpower the film, and he knows how to tell a deeply emotional tale without ever veering into schmaltz.  As I said: magnificent.  (I also had the fun of watching this film on Blu-Ray, and let me say that my jaw was on the floor at the clarity of the images, the colors, everything.  As the enclosed booklet notes, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was created in the digital realm without ever being output to a film element and transferred,” and as such, it looks absolutely astounding on Blu-Ray.)

Frost/Nixon — read my original review here.  This was another of my favorite films from 2008 (it ranked as no. 9 on my list of my favorite films from 2008), and, as with Benjamin Button, it’s a film that I think I enjoyed even more on a second viewing.  Although the film looks great, its success rests not on any visual flourishes or special effects, but rather solely upon the great performances of the assembled actors.  This is a drama in the best sense of the word — most of the film is just conversation, even before we get to the centerpiece conversation of David Frost’s historic interview with Richard M. Nixon.  As such, this is a film that could very very easily be dreadfully boring.  Instead, it positively crackles with energy.  Michael Sheen and Frank Langella are absolutely dynamite as Frost and Nixon, and they’re surrounded by a wonderful ensemble that includes Matthew Macfadyen (Tom Quinn from MI-5, Mr, Darcy in Pride & Prejudice), Oliver Platt (who has had so many great roles, but he’ll always be White House Counsel Oliver Babish to me), Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Heist, Galaxy Quest), Kevin Bacon (Apollo 13, Mystic River, and a million other films), Rebecca Hall (Vicky Christina Barcelona, The Prestige), and Toby Jones (who played Truman Capote in Infamous).  My good friends over at The Informed Voter (an excellent political blog that you really need to check out) recently commented that “after watching Frost/Nixon on dvd the other night we were both left feeling, if not sympathetic, certainly a bit sad for Richard Nixon. This is possibly the highest compliment we can pay Ron Howard (director) and Frank Langella (Nixon): viewer empathy for a man who played an instrumental role in botching Vietnam (and Cambodia) policy and who disgraced the Presidency like no other, well, that is an accomplishment.”  Couldn’t agree more!

Valkyrie — read my original review here.  Critics weren’t very kind to Bryan Singer’s film upon its release, although I quite enjoyed it.  Perhaps the key to my enjoyment was that I saw it as a gripping heist film, rather than a deep WWII drama.  I still enjoyed it upon a second viewing, although since I already knew how every beat played out, I found myself a little less enthralled.  Despite that, I remain of the opinion that it’s a fine film.  Say what you will about him, Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, X-Men, Superman Returns) is a terrific director, and the film is filled with a lot of fun visual flourishes.  (A lot of credit for this must also go to Mr. Singer’s regular collaborator, editor extraordinaire John Ottman.)  It also has a ridiculously amazing cast that includes  Kenneth Branagh (Dead Again, Othello, Hamlet) , Bill Nighy (Love Actually, Hot Fuzz, Pirates of the Caribbean II & III), Tom Wilkinson (In the Bedroom, Batman Begins, Michael Clayton), Thomas Kretschmann (Peter Jackson’s King Kong), Eddie Izzard (”cake or death?”), and Terence “kneel before Zod” Stamp.  Then there is Tom Cruise.  I can’t quite heap the praise on his performance that I did for Brad Pitt in Benjamin Button, but Cruise does a fine job here and certainly isn’t nearly as terrible as everyone has been saying.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

This is the film I’ve been waiting for.

Steph and I took advantage of our vacation to see a LOT of the big Oscar-hopeful films that have been released in the past few weeks.  As usual, there has been a crazy end-of-the-year rush of “serious” films, many of which won’t get a wide release for several weeks yet.  While we enjoyed almost all of the films we saw (and I’ll be writing about them all in the coming days), none of them really stood out.  Until David Fincher’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

The film is magnificent.  It is emotional and haunting, and it is epic and transporting in all the ways that a truly special film is.  Spanning the years (almost a century) between the last day of World War I and the landfall of Hurricane Katrina, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tells the life story of Benjamin (Brad Pitt), who is born as a baby with all the features of an extremely aged man, and who proceeds to live his life aging backwards.  But while Benjamin Button gets the film’s title all to himself, the movie is also every bit the story of his true love, Daisy (Cate Blanchett).  Pitt and Blanchett both turn in powerful, subtle performances.  Benjamin Button is a very quiet film — there are not a lot of acting histrionics to be found.  With the help of amazing makeup and absolutely seamless CGI work, Pitt and Blanchett breathe poignant life into these two people through all the many years of their lives, as one gets older and the other gets younger.  This is a story about loss, about loneliness, and about death, and it is made staggeringly powerful by the way that Pitt and Blanchett capture the audience with their performances.

Over the course of Benjamin’s curious life, he meets quite a few other interesting folks, embodied by some wonderful actors.  Taraji P. Henson plays Benjamin’s sweet and powerful adoptive mother, Queenie.  Mahershalalhashbaz Ali (who was the best thing about the cancelled-too-soon sci-fi series The 4400, and good god do I love his name) plays Tizzy, the man who, for too short a while, becomes a father figure for Benjamin.  Jared Harris plays another father figure, the charismatic, often-drunk Captain Mike, who helps the young Benjamin take his first steps out into the wider world.  Jason Flemyng (Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels) plays Thomas Button, Benjamin’s biological father, bringing complexity and depth too this man who we (and Benjamin) should hate but can’t quite do so.  Then there’s Tilda Swinton, who has been getting a lot of press, and rightly so, for her performance as Elizabeth Abbott, a lost woman who Benjamin encounters at just the right moment in both of their lives.  These are just a few of the names in this large, terrific ensemble, every one of whom is note-perfect.

You’ve probably heard a lot about the CGI done to help bring this story to life, visually.  Benjamin Button transformes gradually from a contorted, elderly man to a small baby, and Daisy grows from a little girl to an old woman.  (That’s not to mention the aging of all the other people in Benjamin’s life over the course of the film.)  We shouldn’t ignore the actors who lent their skills to portraying Benjamin and Daisy and the extremes of their lives, such as Elle Fanning who plays Daisy at age 7.  But to all of the other craftsmen involved in this visual effects spectacular — and although there are no dinosaurs, mutants, or space-ships, make no mistake that this is an incredible visual effects achievement — I say bravo.  

Most of all, I must extend my praise to director David Fincher.  With every film of his I become more of a fan.  (I enjoyed Alien 3, Seven, and Fight Club, and I thought his last film, Zodiac, was spectacular.)  What makes The Curious Case of Benjamin Button such a success, in my mind, is its tone.  In all places, Fincher demonstrates a deft touch with the material.  There are some fun nods to the different time-periods as Benjamin’s life unfolds, but it’s never over-done, never becoming a “hey look isn’t this neat” distraction as happens in movies like, dare I say it, Forrest Gump.  (I know people love that movie but it’s not one I’ve ever been able to connect with.)  Benjamin Button is very emotional and heart-wrenching, but Fincher never crosses the line into schmaltz.  This makes the ultimate heartbreak of the film even more powerful.  The emotion is EARNED — the audience doesn’t feel manipulated by over-written speeches or over-wrought music.  There were an astonishing number of moments during the film that I felt very deeply, and the over-all result is a tender, moving film that I look forward to revisiting.  This film is epic in its ambition, right from the clever twist on the studio logos that open the film straight through to its very closing moments.  It is haunting, and although it’s already been well over a week since I saw it, it’s film that I just can’t seem to shake.

Of all the Oscar-bait movies flooding the multiplexes this season, this is the one to see.