Just did the Christmas movie marathon at the local googaplex. We saw Frank Miller's THE SPIRIT first and it was absolutely ridiculous in every way possible, bore little to no resemblance to the Will Eisner comic strip and books (of which I've read many) and is, basically, completely campy. It's really, really silly. There were even walkouts! Walkouts, I tell you!
But I kinda liked it, truth be told. There was something fun and endearing in how stupid it all was. I suppose it'll end up being a cult classic, with great (ludicrous) lines like "Toilets are always funny" and "I'm gonna kill you all kinds of dead." Well, so be it.
Then we saw David (Seven, The Game, Fight Club, Zodiac) Fincher's absolutely wonderful in all ways THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON. Boy howdy, it's a good movie. It reminded me a bit of Forrest Gump in scale and theme, and I wasn't suprised that screenwriter Eric Roth adapted it from a F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. He also adapted Winston Groom's novel Forrest Gump for the screen, so there you go.
Regardless, BUTTON is the movie to see. Pitt is great, and the aging on everyone is first-rate and in the "how did they do that?" territory at all times.
However, there were a few moments when the film wasn't realistic - those being when Brad Pitt was repeatedly rejected by a woman. I mean - I don't care how old or young he is, he's Brad-freakin'-Pitt and no woman in their right mind would reject him.
Aside from that, I totally bought the entire affair hook, line, and sinker. A great, great film.
Okay, well that's it. Bedtime now. I hope everybody had a great Christmas.
Happy times to all.
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3 comments:
Although I always see for myself, I hate to hear adjectives like "campy" and "ridiculous" used against THE SPIRIT.
The comics often displayed that Golden Age sense of humor that borderlined on corny, but an over-the-top approach in the film just doesn't sound good.
When the title appears on the screen, did he at least work it into the environment as the comics' awesome splash pages would?
In other news, whenever I see the ...Benjamin Button spot on television, I just want to punch the screen with my forehead.
I have no ill-will towards Will Eisner's THE SPIRIT. Frank Miller's filmic interpretation of the comic, however, is just plain not Will Eisner's comic. I guess I expected it to be more faithful to what Eisner (who I love) did with it. It was THE SPIRIT by way of SIN CITY and the combo just didn't seem to work well together. The sensibilities in themes just clash - aside from the obvious noir qualities. That said, I'm a fan of camp and silliness, and I was soon able to separate the comic from the film. I'm afraid others won't be so lucky. Neil Gaiman hasn't seen the film yet, but posts a very thoughtful and, by my reckoning, accurate account of why The Spirit film is not successful at
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/12/pondering-gaimans-law-of-superhero.html
As far as BUTTON is concerned - I like pappy crap sometimes (in fact, I like pretty much everything - it's why I sucked as a movie critic). And it's David freakin' Fincher, so I can't ignore it.
But there are still some things out there that do make me want to punch the screen with my forehead, too, so don't be too quick to judge.
Oh, and the "splash-page" title in the fim wasn't grand or even clever like it is in the comics. It was just the title on top of a silhouetted cityscape like you see in the trailers. I really, truly expected better from Miller.
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