So after Christmas, things calmed down. We relaxed around the house, and really just recouped for a few days. While the wife still had to work at night, I blissfully had two 5 day weekends ahead of me. The two days of work in between were a waste of time too. Really don't know why I was there. While going over to retrieve some personal things we'd left at my parent's house while staying over on Christmas, I went to dinner with my sister and my folks at Outback Steakhouse, and as always the food was great. I showed everyone my new glasses, and my mom had to go and give me a complex by saying "Oh look, they are the same prescription as mine". All I could do was shake my head. I played with all my new toys, and watched all my new Blu-Ray's. The wife did the fashion show thing with all her new clothes, and found that they all fit, which made her really happy. I also saw the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was definitely a film that made you think. So much so that after our very quiet New Year's Eve where we played Halo 3 for about 9 hours, then watched the ball drop, the next day we went to lunch at Olive Garden, and then saw the movie together. It was a great day to just spend time together as a couple. They don't come along often enough, and we always try and make the best of them. Below is the review of the movie:
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| Taraji P. Henson | ... | Queenie |
| Brad Pitt | ... | Benjamin Button |
Plot Synopsis:
Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a movie that is difficult to review. It is an amazing and moving piece of cinema, but I've dilly dallied for almost two weeks, trying to find the right words to describe it. I guess if I had to describe the film in one word, it would be "Memorable". The film is very similar to Forrest Gump in both scope and storytelling. Though while Gump is the story of an rather ordinary man witnessing and participating in extraordinary events, Button is more the reverse. Where an extraordinary man witnesses ordinary events, and makes them extraordinary through his unique perspective. Both characters go through life with more then a little naivete and a charming innocence. They both grow up with ample amounts of homespun wisdom from their very nurturing southern mothers. They both go to war, where very little happens until "One fateful day..." where they have a big exciting battle, and then get sent home/taken out of the war. They both have differences biologically that they must overcome/live with. Taking all these things into account, it's not surprising to hear that Eric Roth who co-wrote The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, is also the writer of Forrest Gump. This is not meant to diminish this film's magnitude or detract from it's message, but merely to show that the movie come "from good stock" as it were. I have always adored Forrest Gump, and it's probably the reason that I enjoyed Benjamin Button so much. However, the reverse is also true, meaning that if you didn't like Forrest Gump, then you probably won't like this movie.
The special effects were truly astounding in this movie, the most amazing that I've ever seen hands down. The reason that I say that was because at first I didn't notice them. What made me really look into it was the way that Brad Pitt looks at the end. It was as if the Brad Pitt that starred in Thelma & Louise twenty years ago had dropped by for a cameo. It was really that good, and it made me wonder about the other special effects in the film. That's when I learned that the entire time that Benjamin is an old man during the beginning of the film, that he is a composited character. What that means is that using a revolutionary new technique, they scanned Brad Pitt's face, aged it fifty years, and then seamlessly melded it with the body of a miniature actor playing young/old Benjamin.The make-up department was no slouch either, convincingly aging Cate Blanchett into an 80 year old woman without looking fake.
Of course, special effects mean very little if the cast can't back them up with believable performances. This is where Benjamin Button delivers in spades. Of course the two actors that got top billing were very good. Pitt is subdued as Benjamin, and it brings a mellow comforting tone to the film as he narrates us through his adventures. Some have criticized Pitt's performance for not emoting enough, but I was very impressed. The subtle emotions present during Benjamin's younger/older years, especially when we glimpse a moment of childlike whimsy in this geriatric old man was truly brilliant. As Benjamin aged Pitt continued to play this duel role of old man/young man, and if was a treat to watch him do it. Blancett's performance was good, but I really didn't like her character until she got older. Once she and Benjamin got together, her character became much less annoying. I understand that they made her portray her 20 something self as irresponsible and self-absorbed to show the growth and maturity of her character, Still, those types of people have always irked me. While everyone knows and that Pitt and Blanchett can act, it's the excellent use of supporting characters that really let the film fly. Everyone from the surly tugboat captain that Benjamin works for, to the old man who occasionally drops by in the film to remind us of how he's been "struck by lightning 7 times". Benjamin's adoptive mother Queenie is really something to watch in this film. Taraji Hensen, an actress who I've never heard of managed to believably embody a loving and supportive mother to the oddest variety of child. These characters give the film's main story more relevance, and when necessary provide well timed comedic moments. The cast in the film was great, and every character was very well fleshed out. I must also commend Tilda Swanson with taking what could have been a bit part in a lesser actress' hands, and making it very memorable.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. "So was there anything you didn't like about this film Riley?" hold your horses, hold your horses, I'm getting to that now. Not everything about this movie is amazing. I've already mention Blanchett's character's early tendency to be annoying, so I'll skip that. One thing that seemed off was that everyone Benjamin meets is just too nice. I mean, I can think of 5 people today who pissed me off royally, but not Benjamin. I can see how as a man writes the story of his life he'll leave out the less important jerks and losers that weren't very memorable later on in life, but not one asshole stood out? Maybe not, but I find it hard to believe. The main thing that really bothered me was the entire casts aside from Blanchett seem to be oblivious to Benjamin's unique condition. I mean, sometimes they'll mention how he looks stronger, or taller, or has more hair, but later on in the film when it is blatantly obvious that he is de-aging, not one person says a bloody word. Hello! A man who once was short and shriveled now looks like Brad Pitt, I think somebody would notice. Also, it didn't sit well with me that both main character's have affairs with married people. Maybe it's old fasioned, but I don't think that's a good message to send to people. I know affairs happened, but I don't think they ever end well. Someone is always going to be hurt. So that's my take on that.
All in all though, it's a film that really gets its message of life across. It has the unique ability, and I've seen this in more people then just myself, to really make you think about your life.
Ratings out of 10:Performance: 9
Plot: 8
Special effects: 10
Enjoyment of experience:
Desire to own: 10
END REVIEW
After watching "The Curious case of Benjamin Button", I came out of the theater, and looked in the mirror of the bathroom, and I think for the first time the reflection staring back at me looked his age. I've always had a baby face, and so this sudden difference of my goatee combined with my glasses was like a sledgehammer to my eyes. I looked 28 years old. This combined with the fact that I now need glasses, not from a genetic defect, but from eye strain. The kind of prescription that my mother has for pete sakes. Then my brain somehow immediately reminded me that I only have 12 years until I'm 40, and official middle age hood. This went on for a good few hours, until logic (in the form of my wife) prevailed and I thought 12 years into the past, and realized how far and how much time had past. However, this experience helped me reflect on a few things. These reflections helped shape my New Year's resolutions.
They are:
1. Get to work before 9am a majority of the time: My job technically starts at 8:30 am. Now I am not a morning person by any means of the imagination, and I live 40 minutes away without traffic. With traffic, bout an hour to 90 minutes. Now, I don't punch a clock at my job, so they are ok with occasional lateness. Plus, I work numerous hours of unpaid overtime, so they can't complain too much, and they didn't until my new boss showed up. She lives as far out as me, maybe a little further, and wakes up at 5am everyday to feed her animals, workout, and get to work before 8:30. I'm sorry, call me undedicated, but if I'm getting up at 5am, there damn well better be a more compelling reason then "work". I don't know how she does it. I really don't, but I'm going to try and leave my house at 7:30 everyday to try and get to work more "on time" then I have been. So far out of 10 days of work, I have failed only once(today). I'm not counting coming in late twice because of car repair or the 2 and a half hour drive in through the snow. They can kiss it if they expect me on time then.
2. Keep this and my gaming blog updated with at least 10 posts per month: I figure one post every three days isn't too much to ask of myself. I know I'm behind on this month, but that's mainly because of the length and detail of this post.
3. Worry less: I'm a worrier, I am. Those who know me best know that I worried about being a good husband long before I had my first girlfriend. Just the kind of guy I am. I worry about the weight of my dog, the happiness of my spouse, bills, dust, security of my job, performance in video games, I worry alot basically. I try to minimize this by making plans. I make alot of plans, and i don't like playing it "by ear" as some people say. But worry is one of those things that just eats away at you, and eventually doesn't do anything very good. So while I'm not going to try and change my nature of worrying, planning, and being prepared, I am going to try to stop worrying about things that I can't effect. The most obvious example being:
1. Security of my job: In my profession, lay offs happen frequently when the market is bad. People work for sometimes 5-6 companies for varying lengths of time before they are 50. My particular job is not glamorous. I do the grunt work for the software engineering department. I also help out the purchasing and service departments, and assist the floor with tool set up and clean up. It's basically a jack of all trades, whenever they need me, I put a new hat on to help. This is fine by me, as I'm good at what I do, and it provides a pretty constant but not overwhelming workflow. However, the technical skills to do this job are not demanding(from a technical stand point), and I do have more then adequate downtime. So it's not surprising that I sometimes feel that during the next lay off, I'll be next. Well that is going to stop. It has never been far from my mind, especially since the market hit the skids. It's also pointless. There is nothing I can do other do the best job I can do everyday, and I do that anyway. It's not like the people who get laid off are loafs who don't produce. maybe some are, but not all. There is nothing I can do, no one I can kiss up to that will change my prospects either way. Therefore other then DOING my job, I'm not going to worry about it. I have a plan for unemployment, should it god forbid occur, but I refuse to worry about the possibility of losing my job anymore. Whenever it creeps into my head, I just smack it back down. All it's going to do is upset me, and I don't need more of those things in my life. I've spent the better part of 2 and a half years worrying whether I'm doing a good enough job, and I'm so very tired. So no more, that's it, I'm done.
This was one specific example, but other things like debt, and how am I going to buy a house, etc etc. Things that I can't solve right at this moment, I'm going to do what I can, make a plan, and stop worrying.
Quotes from "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button":
WARNING: SPOILERS: READ only if you don't care or don't plan to see the movie.
I really liked the quotes in this movie. They were down to earth, and for some reason, really reminded me of some of the moments and times of my life. Below the quotes are in Bold.
Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance.
I thought this was a really nice quote about the wonderful tapestry of people one can meet in one's life. That everyone is uniquely special, and no dream is not worth pursuing. It really spoke to me, and I think that it's a message that gets lost sometimes in the modern world sometimes.
Your life is defined by its opportunities... even the ones you miss.
This quote spoke volumes to me. This is about all the "what ifs" in your life. I've had alot of those, and I've toiled over them time and time again. Funny enough after all the "what if I had..." scenarios I ran through in my head, I came to the same conclusion. That each of them happened for a reason, whether it improved my life, or made it miserable. I wouldn't be the man I am today, or have the life I have now if any of those "what ifs" had gone differently. It's not like I could change them anyway, and since I love my life, and who I am, and where I am in life. I don't want to change them anymore. Now this took me ten years, and alot of self-analysis, and there it is all in one sentence in a Brad Pitt movie.
It's a funny thing about comin' home. Looks the same, smells the same, feels the same. You'll realize what's changed is you.
This reminded me of coming home to my parents house from Florida. Where they were the same, the house was the same, and my room was the same, but I was more different then even i knew then.
Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it. Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it. A woman in Paris was on her way to go shopping, but she had forgotten her coat - went back to get it. When she had gotten her coat, the phone had rung, so she'd stopped to answer it; talked for a couple of minutes. While the woman was on the phone, Daisy was rehearsing for a performance at the Paris Opera House. And while she was rehearsing, the woman, off the phone now, had gone outside to get a taxi. Now a taxi driver had dropped off a fare earlier and had stopped to get a cup of coffee. And all the while, Daisy was rehearsing. And this cab driver, who dropped off the earlier fare; who'd stopped to get the cup of coffee, had picked up the lady who was going to shopping, and had missed getting an earlier cab. The taxi had to stop for a man crossing the street, who had left for work five minutes later than he normally did, because he forgot to set off his alarm. While that man, late for work, was crossing the street, Daisy had finished rehearsing, and was taking a shower. And while Daisy was showering, the taxi was waiting outside a boutique for the woman to pick up a package, which hadn't been wrapped yet, because the girl who was supposed to wrap it had broken up with her boyfriend the night before, and forgot.
When the package was wrapped, the woman, who was back in the cab, was blocked by a delivery truck, all the while Daisy was getting dressed. The delivery truck pulled away and the taxi was able to move, while Daisy, the last to be dressed, waited for one of her friends, who had broken a shoelace. While the taxi was stopped, waiting for a traffic light, Daisy and her friend came out the back of the theater. And if only one thing had happened differently: if that shoelace hadn't broken; or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier; or that package had been wrapped and ready, because the girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend; or that man had set his alarm and got up five minutes earlier; or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee; or that woman had remembered her coat, and got into an earlier cab, Daisy and her friend would've crossed the street, and the taxi would've driven by. But life being what it is - a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control - that taxi did not go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted, and that taxi hit Daisy, and her leg was crushed.
This quote, while being narrated over a really great little side sequence in the film, reminded me of how I met my wife. So many little things happened to make that possible, that looking back it really seems like kismet.
First, my best friend lost his job, which meant we'd have to move. My ex then tried to baby trap me, turned out to be negative, thank god, but still, that whole incident made me realize that I couldn't keep leaving the way I was, that I had to get my life on track, and I couldn't do that while just keeping my head above water working two jobs. My friend Megz, my parents, and other factors led me to move back to ny. i had been dating a girl in NJ over the net while in florida, and we decided to meet once I moved. She liked me alot, but decided not to pursue a relationship with me. While this was happening in my life, my wife was returning home from MIT due to her great unhapiness with being there. She took a semester off, and got a job on long island. At the same time her mother was breaking up with her boyfriend of three years. After the New Jersey girl dumped me, I returned to my old breeding ground Match.com, and new place(then) myspace. I met alot of crappy dates, a few liars, and one scammer even. Then, on the day that I literally said "That's it, no more, I'm swearing off women", my wife and her mother signed up for match.com. A half an hour after saying that, I got the wink that would change the rest of my life. And if I hadn't moved back from florida, or my friend hadn't lost his job, or that NJ girl hadn't broken up with me, or I hadn't gone on match, or my wife's mother hadn't broken up with her boyfriend, or my wife had stayed at MIT.....then we would never have met.
You can be mad as a mad dog at the way things went; you can swear and curse the fates - but when it comes to the end, you have to let go.
I have alot of things in my past. People and events that I carry around alot of anger and some of it even meets the definition of hatred towards. Maybe it's time I started to let some of that go. Started to live a life, where those people and events just happened in my life, and that's the end of the story. I think that acknowledging this might be the first step to forgiving or letting go of alot of stuff that I need to clean out of my heart. I'll let you know how it goes.
We're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?
In my opinion, a better way to look at death then most people do.
You never know what's comin' for ya.
A nicer friendlier version of "You can't stop what's comin" from "No country for old men", but still very poignant. You never really know what's coming, and your going to have to deal with stuff. This is the quote that inspired my worry less resolution.
For what it's worth, it's never too late, or in my case too early - to be whoever you want to be. There's no time limit; stop whenever you want. You can change, or stay the same - there are no rules to this thing. We can make the best or the worst of it. I hope you make the best of it. I hope you see things that startle you. I hope you feel things you never felt before. I hope you meet people with a different point of view. I hope you live a life you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again.
A great message about life, hands down.
Benjamin Button: I was thinking how nothing lasts, and what a shame that is.
Daisy: Some things last.
Love lasts...no matter how far apart, or the differences that develop. True love and friendship (just another kind of love) last.
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