Kris linked earlier to Anne Thompson’s defence of the 20-minute taster of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” — a riposte to the underwhelmed response from certain corners of the blogosphere.
Encouragingly, Thompson’s Variety colleague Todd McCarthy is of the same mind. Saying the footage “pushes all the right buttons,” he elaborates:
The footage looked artistically and technically impeccable, and quite different in style from Fincher’s previous work. The ambitious aging technique, employed to tell the story of a man who is born with the features of an old man and gradually grows bigger and younger, was seamless in the footage Fincher presented.
I must say I took the criticism with a pinch of salt when I heard it — I think it’s impossible to draw conclusions on such a structurally and thematically complex work based on so little footage. As far as I’m concerned, until we can see the entirety of David Fincher’s vision, his film is innocent until proven guilty.
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4 responses to “Another vote of confidence for ‘Button’”
“…his film is innocent until proven guilty. ”
In a perfect world, this would be the case with all films in contention. But this is the Oscar race, and people like to pick and choose how this standard is placed. So it goes.
I think it’s worth indicating that McCarthy only seems to be spotlighting the technical marvel of the project. Other internet opinions seemed to be focusing on how disjointed the scenes seemed to be.
Personally I just want to see the damn thing asap because 20 minutes worth of footage is and always has been a waste of time for any film’s PR, in my book.
Kris, your chart is a mess right now. Give Button time. Go with your gut and include The Dark Knight for best picture (especially since you’ve got Nolan in there), and Australia, well, I’d be shocked. And as always with Edward Zwick films, the acting, cinematography, and sound will be important but the film as a whole will not be.
Lookout for Slumdog…BOYLE.
I find it ridiculous how people can doubt something so suddenly. Does no one remember the screening of “No Country for Old Men” last year, a screening which led to disaster? It got PANNED. And then everyone lost faith in it right away. So ridiculous.
“20 minutes worth of footage is and always has been a waste of time for any film’s PR, in my book.”
Amen.
True, McCarthy’s comments are a bit vague, though I thought the word “artistically” used separately from “technically” was hopeful.
And Mr Gittes, what makes you presume that Kris feels in his gut that The Dark Knight is a Best Picture contender?