Pajiba

brilliant

Brilliant!!

Brilliant?

Heehee, rabbi, you beat me to it.

But I beat the rest of y'all to it.

Ah, but it merits saying it again.

Brilliant.

Genius!...
Crap
I mean Brilliant!

Brilliant!!!!!!!

Butthole. Brilliant!

Ahahahahaha...is that SERIOUSLY what Benjamin Button is? Holy crap!

BRILLIANT!

Half-retarded. Other half brilliant.

You know, I think the world is ready for "that's ace!" to make a comeback. Or "keen!"

Great screen name, by the way, that line in particular cracks me up every damn time.

But it has an angry hobbled Gary Sinise! Who eventually finds love! And fake legs!

I hated Forest Gump, the same way I hate everything the damn Boomers think is nostalgic. Taking a mentally disabled individual and photoshopping him into a bunch of random pop culture events that happened in the sixties and seventies is neither clever nor nostalgic to me:

1. Photoshopping into historical events just for the sake of photoshopping into historical events is the film equivalent of the forwards my computer illiterate distant relatives send me.

2. Random popular culture events matter to you because you remember them. If I don't remember them, say maybe because I wasn't born yet, that doesn't mean I'm ignorant (I'm a few months short of a history master's degree you twatwaffles) it means that somebody shaking hands with Nixon is not inherently entertaining unless you personally remember similar events.

3. Force feeding us Forest Gump in historical scenarios that do matter is not cute and kitschy, it actually trivializes the historical events. Sure I'm being overly sensitive, but on the fifteenth occasion of this idiotic character intruding in on events like forced desegregation, the Watergate break-in, and the demonstrations at the capital mall, it starts to mock the fact that real people did real things that mattered. Cause gosh, if a retard could have done it, what's the big deal, anyway, y'all?

Forest Gump is the cinematic equivalent of those little cut-out paper dolls that kids send around so that strangers will send them pictures of the doll all over the world (the name escapes me at the moment). As a movie-goer, I feel compelled to light Forest on fire, take a picture, and send it back to the soon to be sobbing little tot.

Fucking brilliant!

@stipe42: I believe you refer to "Flat Stanley.". (Knowing this kind of stuff is one of the hazards of parenthood.)

This movie is becoming one of those, you either hated it or loved it films where there is no reconciling with the other side. And I refuse to agree to disagree on this one. This film was horrible and anyone who enjoyed it is no friend of mine.

Much like people who say they don't like Almost Famous, people who say they don't like Forrest Gump are liars. It doesn't make you original, smart, or cool to hate on FG anymore, people. Get over it. Since I usually agree with most reviews on this site, I actually tried to watch Forrest Gump recently with a new eye and find all the things to hate about it. But they Just. Aren't. There. Go write a dissertation about the movie if you're so het up about it.

I haven't seen BB yet. I was excited about it when it first came out since it was based on the Fitzgerald story, but had lost interest since then. But thanks to this column, I actually am more interested than ever. So what if it's almost the same movie? If it works, why not try it again, you know, without the AIDS?

stipe42, your rant re: Gump reminded me of my mother's complete and unrepentant loathing for the film. To this day, the woman that normally is the world's sweetest little pre-school teacher will slap anyone upside the head if they start the dreaded quote: "Life is like..." The funny thing is she looks a little like Sally Field. Anyway, point being that now I'm all homesick and have an excuse to console myself with a little Phish Food.

P.S. Dustin, bully for you for drawing a line at the Mrs.

I agree with you sansho1, people like B-Unit should be cast down into a pit of Vaseline with the sodomites.

Brillant!
(That's French for "brilliant")

I think you make a very valid point, sansho1. I would be the first to admit I can be a big part of the problem you mention.

Now, when I take a work by Dustin regarding the role black entertainers have played in chipping away stereotypes and in some way paving the way for Obama, and take it to the extreme, i.e., that black porn stars are part of the equation, I'm not telling you where my satire ends and the valid argument begins.

Other times, I'm just one of many drones who share a common interests and like to make boobie jokes to pass the day.

People praise Pookie because they don't know if he's some half-wit, bi-polar sex freak, or some white, suburbanite with 3 kids, a wife and a dog. Either way, or perhaps both, he's the Andy Kaufman of the website.

So, don't "shut up now". Lets have it.

Re: tinmo's comment:

"Much like people who say they don't like Almost Famous, people who say they don't like Forrest Gump are liars. It doesn't make you original, smart, or cool to hate on FG anymore, people. Get over it."

Umm, I don't dislike Forrest Gump because I think it's original, smart or cool to do so. I just flat out don't like it. It was an inane, self-indulgent piece of drivel to me, particularly when compared with other films that came out the same year (Shawshank Redemption, for instance). Whatever.

By the way, I enjoyed the clip that started this thread. I have no interest in seeing "Button" and had thought to myself that it put me in mind of "Forrest". Funny to see them side by side.

We say we're accommodating here, but we're also pretty harsh on the dissenting voice.

Being open doesn't mean blindly accepting all opinions, it means openly allowing the expression of ideas. If you have a dissenting opinion, by all means express it, but if you can't argue your point, don't expect a pat on the head. If that's what you want, I hear Disney.com has some great message boards.

I don't mind if you strap me to the pillory, Che, but wouldn't a revolutionary muppet prefer to send me to a firing squad?

I'm a little bit afraid of this thread, so:

Brilliant!

No, I can't let this go:

all works of fiction are informed, intentionally or tangentially, by other works of fiction. It's almost impossible otherwise.

However, when you can do a 100% accurate side-by-side of the major plot points, characters, and even style of the two works, you've got a creative problem there.

My way of saying the video is spot on. And I'm glad I didn't see BB.

I'm confused again. Are we annoyed because they are the same, annoyed because it's hackery, or annoyed because they are the same hackery?

Button / Gump '12
You never know what you're gonna get.

The very essence of Button is a plea for an Oscar. I saw it. I saw it in New Zealand at a theater where I pre-ordered a cheeseboard and drank a bottle of wine. When I pre-ordered the cheeseboard, they told me they'd bring me the cheeseboard at "intermission." The movie theater projectionist dude or whatever they call those people these days just randomly stopped the movie halfway through so we could pee and thereafter commence the cheese-eating.

The movie should have been ovah at intermission. I don't remember when intermission was although I'm pretty sure Brad Pitt was doing his best to look forlorn. This movie is like Meet Joe Black 2. Except the part of Claire Forlani's Cheekbones were played by Cate Blanchett's Cheekbones. I didn't like it. Not one bit. Maybe I should have had more wine.

Movies that fish for Oscars can suck it, in my opinion. It's why I still haven't seen Chocolat. It's supposed to be good. Whatever, i don't care.




(Anyway, I lurk here a lot, but the fucking Button Movie required me to speak up and curse its name. Screw you, Button.)

Say what you want about Gump and Button, but they both moved me at some point. After watching Benjamin Button I had the genuine urge to live the life my parents wanted for me; live a life I can be proud of, starting now. And I always tear up when Forrest is talking to Jenny's tombstone and says, "He's so smart, Jenny."

That was my Linus moment of the day.

At long last the curtains have been pulled and I stand before you naked and exposed. My main source for movie reviews came at the hands of Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald whom I've been reading for years. One day while looking for a review of a movie that Rodriguez didn't have I typed movie reviews in a search engine and I was delivered upon the shores of pajiba, and that is how I arrived here.

Like most people that come to pajiba I started out as a lurker. I didn't think I had the knowledge to converse about movies the same way some of you did. Then one day I made an innocent comment and it was, shall we say, received unkindly. I thought I had done something wrong and I left pajiba for about six months.

Once again I came back and for about two months I didn't say anything I just lurked. On day I said to myself, fuck it, I'm going to speak and a legend was born. Now I stand at a crossroads, I'm being told that my brand of insight is not wanted here.

And while my presence here at pajiba my seem grotesque and incomprehensible to you, in the end it serves a purpose. You don't want to hear what I have to say because I speak the truth and you can't handle the truth. You use words like honor and loyalty, I use those same words as the backbone of a life spent defending a people's right to speak. You use them as a punch line. I don't have the strength to fight you any longer, this is my last salvo into the belly of the beast. But know this, you want me at pajiba, you need me at pajiba.

I didn't loathe BB. I was bored by it. If it would just go away, I'd quickly forget about it. But when I hear it has been nominated for major awards and could even be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, my indifference turns to hatred. It does not deserve ANY awards, or any discussion whatsoever. If, God forbid, it were to actually win Best Picture it would blow away all previous weak winners and injustices (I'm looking at you A Brilliant Mind, and stop lurking there in the corner Shakespeare in Love).

Forrest Gump wasn't the best movie, but it was an enjoyable movie. I'm sorry if some of you weren't born when the events Forrest stumbles into occurred, and I can appreciate any lack of connection as a result, but it was a fun and at the time relatively unused storytelling device.

The biggest problem with Forrest Gump is that it wound up winning awards that should have rightfully gone elsewhere perhaps and consequently has been elevated in movie history to a place it doesn't belong. But it is NOT a boring movie and as a pop culture piece it works.

Benjamin Button does not work any real level. It is so much worse than Gump that comparisons really should not be made. And no, my server blocks trailers and such, so I did not see the comparison attached to this piece. Though I hear it was brilliant.

Were you raised by jackals or something? Where the hell do you get the idea that it's acceptable to make jokes, particularly sexual jokes, about a man's wife? Jesus, it's like talking to fucking animals sometimes.

And now you're upset you were censored?

"If you can't stand the heat..."

Maybe you should pay attention to that yourself.

*tear trickles down cheek*

Pookie, that was ... that was ... so beautiful. Judging from that lame effort yesterday, Obama could use a speechwriter of your eloquence.

Pajiba's loss would be the world's gain!

Also, you could speak to him about getting a facials amendment to the Constitution.

Pookie, you know you'll always be my motherfucker.

As for attacking another persons significant other, joking or otherwise, no go.

Pookie, I am sympathetic to your cause, for I too am a victim of censorship. Many's the time I would like to join the conversation in a movie review thread, but the film distribution system that allots limited runs to large cities and only deigns to forward them to tiny towns such as mine a month or two later (if at all: where's "Frost/Nixon," dammit?) as if we are second-class citizens who must move to the back of the theater severely limits my ability to do so, and thus restricts my freedom of speech.

Free the movies and you free us all!

Burn, Hollywood, burn!

Fab! Gear!

Oh don't get me started on the mess that is The Tudors.

One thing I've always liked about Pajiba is that it's a serious website, or at least it's about serious things, but it doesn't take itself too seriously. Sort of, I guess, the film/pop culture equivalent of Wonkette?

Forgive me if that's a bad analogy.

I enjoyed Forrest Gump, in it's time it was fresh and different and funny. I also enjoyed Benjamin Button, it's a slower, more subtle film and I do acknowledge some of the similarities but it is not a bad film. Do I think it's the best movie ever? No, but it was entertaining and I liked it. I don't really see it as only existing as an award grab film - that would be Seven Pounds, I haven't seen Will Smith's level of "serious" face acting since Patrick Swayze's constipation face in Ghost. (I know he's got cancer, not knocking the man.)

How come no random weird black dudes want to be my friend?

Come ride the subway into the Bronx at 3 in the morning. I'm sure that problem will be remedied right quick.

One thing I've always liked about Pajiba is that it's a serious website, or at least it's about serious things, but it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Someone (I don't remember who, maybe Joss Whedon?) has a perfect quote expressing what I think you are getting at. It is possible to be both serious and hilarious. In fact, the best drama/art/etc. is both serious and hilarious. It is not possible to be both somber and funny though. And people have an unfortunate tendency to equate somberness with seriousness.

DR,

Sorry to go back to this a minute, but here's a serious suggestion: Since the "moronic" conversation cited above took place (I think) late on a Saturday, after the hijacked thread had been up at least 24 hours and presumably run its course for serious discussion, why not throw up an open thread every weekend where we can be moronic if we want to be and try to outdo each other without intruding on the serious discussion?

I mean, Christ, people, I was bored out of my skull at work (yes, I have to work Saturday nights) and being moronic for awhile helped me laugh through it (and it wasn't facials per se that I thought was funny but the idea of putting it to a vote). But the only option, if we want to be moronic here, is to take over one of the last posts of the week.

Dedicate a weekend thread for open talk and we'll have someplace else to go without leaving town, and people who don't want to participate can ignore it. We'll still see your ad banners; we'll still count as eye traffic; we won't insult close relatives.

So what do you have to lose?

bucdaddy: Done, good sir.

Hah, Nicole, that's awesome.

Dustin I have read your post and I fully understand where you're coming from. From this moment forward I will only comment on the subject at hand, and I will find another venue for my more risqué work. My word is bond.

"bucdaddy: Done, good sir."

*blinks*

"bucdaddy: Done, good sir."

*blinks*

Done? Seriously? Just like that?

*ahem*

And send me a WBNS T-shirt, pronto!

Thanks.

Dustin I get it already...now that's some BENJAMIN's BUTTON SHIT!!!!!

Creatonous, B-Unit?

I'd be more offended if you were trying to call me a creationist than if you were going for cretinous, but that ball remains in your court...

And what brand of "sense" do you like to talk to Obama supporters, pray tell?

When the blood's angered up, Che, spelling goes out the window. Plus, a fifth of Nighttrain doesn't do much to help the situation.

As for Obama supporters, there is no "talking sense" to them. They're completely ignorant and were swept up in the Obama hype. Most don't have a basic concept of how American politics actually work and who's pulling who's strings (Obama's as much as a theif and liar as any of 'em. Having lived the past 35 years in and around Chicago, I know that political machine all too well, and for Obama to have been born of that and deemed "pure" is ridiculous). Obama's call for Hope and Change will do nothing to straighten out the mess this country's in. That propaganda got him elected. Now watch as he blazes the exact path Bush already started us down. And McCain would've done no better. To actually see hope and change in America would be to stage a revolution, oust those in power, and start from scratch with the Constitution as the basis. But this country's too fat, too lazy, & too caught up in posting nonsense on entertainment based websites to get out from behind their monitors or cell phones and do it. Anyone's free to disagree with me if they want, but a year or two from now, when there is no change in the government or your pocket and your hope is ready to swing from the noose hanging down from your ceiling fan, remember to thank Obama.

I step from my soapbox.

Oh, I don't think he's the Antichrist, but when one party controls both Congress and Presidency, the supposed checks and balances go out the window. Government's only solution to any problem is to throw money at it; and we have no more money to spend. But will that stop them? Hell, no. So welcome to the world's first bankrupt nation.

And he is a product of the Chicago machine - his wife held a high paying non-existent job (the post she managed was created for her, then eliminated the moment Obama was elected), a convicted felon bought his home for him and lived next door, the same felon financed his rise to politcal stardom, he fell into his IL Senate seat when it was vacated. Obama has zero experience in major politics. He gave one solid speech at the last Democrat convention, and suddenly he was Presidential material.

If nothing else, he's as big a puppet as Bush was. And time will show the world the truth of that.

Actually, B-Unit, since Dustin can't punch you in the mouth through the computer screen I would say that him deleting your post was a pretty restrained response.

Iceland was the first bankrupt country. The U.S. was "technically" bankrupt as soon as our debts exceeded our assets and ability to repay them. As our national assets are mainly military equipment at this point and the U.S. dollar is not gold-backed and lacks intrinsic value, if the nation was a business it would have been bankrupt years ago under Republican administrations.