Jules-S

This movie has been treated too harshly so far. It has great actors doing a really good job, some very funny moments and lines as well as a pretty good story. This movie made me feel comfortable and happy, maybe in part because of the nature of the characters that are not simple mobs, but men of wit, whom above all know what life is about. Pacino, Walken and Arkin create a great atmosphere with performances that are certainly rare for them in the recent years. It's not only an inner comeback of the characters they play, but their own proof that their "pipes are still working". So, if you're in search of an easy, funny and well-acted gangster movie, I think this is what you're looking for. Hope you'll share my point!

I think that this movie really tells a message that our present-day world is in need of. It aims to make us understand that we should escape more often the rules that govern our daily life, our society, our entourage, everything that surrounds us and makes us act like some robotized creatures, dominated by mercantilism and falsity. It tells the story of the intellectual who confronts himself with so-called social problems because of his different way of seeing and experiencing life. Paris is a portal for the protagonist through which he accesses the past eras that he thinks he belongs to, but also the change of the living ambient that reveals the differences between his and his wife's ways of seeing things and living. Great script, the movie is catchy from start to end.

First of all, I don't think the realist elements have done good to this movie. I mean, if the protagonist is meant to be fantastic why is it necessary for us to know when he was born, where is he going, what (real) wars he fought? Superman is like this movie's protagonist, he defies natural laws, like gravity for example. Benjamin Button is doing the same thing with biological laws when he rejuvenates, but despite the realistic context where he is placed, no-one seems to be so affected by his unusual nature (and that makes realistic characters behave artificially). Just pay some attention to the title: The curious case..., why case? "Cases" exist only in reality. If the movie would have dwelled in the fantastic, fictional, or whatever you call it domain of the narrative it certainly had been better. Secondly, and more important, my opinion is that this movie doesn't eventually say much. During the almost three hours length I questioned myself about Benjamin's nature and what philosophical facts should it reveal. But as I tried and tried to build-up my logic I couldn't reach any destination. In fact, Benjamin looked like a simple, ordinary men that lives his life from start to end. He's different from us only because his appearance evolves from old men to infant child. But he is born a child and mentally he's just like us (as he admits). All my respect to everyone in the production crew because they made a very well-done job, from special effects to acting performances. The story is the major problem here.