Last night I finally watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That's the one with the baby who's born old and ages backwards into youth while everyone around him grows older.
Throughout the entire movie I could feel myself regrettably aging. There goes another minute that I could have been reading or doing the dishes...
There were a few parts of the film that I enjoyed. The concept was good. It simply drug on forever in mind-numbing character development, I guess you could call it. Benjamin was always meeting new people, having rather ho-hum experiences with them, learning nothing profound, and moving on to the next "almost life lesson". Benjamin seemed to have one emotion, and one emotion only: passive acceptance. Everything that happened to him could be followed by the words, "Oh, well that was interesting. Have I had a nap yet today?" I would have loved to see him get agitated or blissfully happy or even surprised about something. One would think that suffering from arthritis at the age of six would validate some angry or even slightly unpleasant behavior - but apparently it does not. I didn't really care about what happened to the characters because they didn't seem to care themselves - so why bother?
The two hour and forty minute movie was not an entire waste - I did learn that Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchette are actually not the same person. I always thought it was Ms. Blanchette who played the White Witch in the recent Narnia movies. Something about the eyes, or the absence of eyelashes.
About an hour into the movie, when I realized that it would probably never rise to my expectations, I debated whether or not to turn it off. I kept watching because I felt I was invested. I do the same thing with books. Even if it's boring me to death, I generally finish it because I can't bear to quit. Not finishing something drives me bonkers.
Laying in bed later, I tried to think about the movie and how I would feel about aging backwards and how a life of relationships might be affected, but I was honestly so bored from watching Benjamin Button that I couldn't stand to linger on it anymore.
Does anyone else suffer from this frustrating inability to abandon movies or books once you've begun?
I have no problem abandoning books or movies if they do not meet a certain interest level.
ReplyDeleteI have started a Harry Potter Book, not sure which one, but i read the forst chapter put it down and have not picked it up since because i was dissatisfied with Harry's attitude.
I have also walked out of movie theaters and asked for a refund at least twice. One movie was so dumb ( have forgotten the title) David & I watched it for 10 minutes. It was based on storybook characters.
Maybe it makes me a quiter, but I think there are better things I could be doing instead of reading a book that is boring or watching a movie that is lame. Getting my $ back is important if I am going to invest into a movie.
No regrets...except for I would like to finish the Harry Potter series. I guess just to say I did & know how the story ends. But not until I finish reading the Percy Jackson series. btw-very good youth read.
I have the same problem. I've invested this much time in it, and feel like all that time would have been for nothing if I don't finish. I keep hoping that at some point the book/movie will redeem itself. It rarely does.
ReplyDeleteBy the way - I really did not like that movie either. At all. I found the message it spoke to me to be very patronizing and superficial. It annoyed me that when things got tough, he chose to just walk away. It seemed like he was running away through the whole movie. Not a person I really care to know much about. Not to mention the ending was disturbing to say the least. It really bothered me. Ick.
The movie we walked out of was "The brother's Grimm". I have since watched it on TV. (It didn't get any better.) I have started the "Work and a Glory" series twice - can't get past the first 5 chapters. In 2009 I read 7 Clive Cussler books. I am worthless until I finish them as they are page turning exciting.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I'm way too anal to just stop in the middle! There have been a couple of extreme cases that were an exception though. This is why it's impossible for me to fall asleep while watching TV or a movie - I will definitely miss something, even if it is a boring something! Although, somehow it's ok to turn off the exact same television program and go to bed. Hmm.
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