I saw three movies yesterday.

The first was “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button“. This is a beautifully made film. It is so good that I don’t think I can ever describe and capture the true beauty of this film. Everything about this film- the makeup, the editing, the acting, the pacing, the visuals, et cetera is a work of art.

There’s something that films can rarely make me do, and that’s crying. Two films I can only remember that actually made me cry a lot were “The Lion King” and “Wall-E” (“The Lion King” probably doesn’t count because that was in first grade). Now, I can proudly add Benjamin Button to the list of films that jerked my tears, because it did, in fact, made me cry like a little baby. I even bawled in the beginning of the film when I saw Benjamin as a seven year old. Just seeing the image of a child (he was born “old” and ages in reverse) who’s unable to walk or even stand up, because he had a 70 year old something weak and shriveled up body was already emotional for me. I was immediately drawn in to Brad Pitt’s character, and I was convinced that he was an actual child, and not of an elderly man despite his appearance.

Benjamin is physically getting younger and everyone body else around him is growing older, thus making the conclusion of the film to be inevitable. My brother (yes, the guy who didn’t like my Christmas gift) said it was one of the movie’s major flaws, but I beg to differ. Knowing the outcome of the film sure as hell doesn’t spoil shit. It is not the meat of the story, it is how the story evolves is what makes it so captivating.

I would also like to point out the digital effects used in the film; it is so advanced and well made that it doesn’t look like the work of CGI. I mean really it’s flawless. The transformation that Brad Pitt (Benjamin) undergoes through roughly every stage of his life is breathtaking.

The film also offers healthy doses of comedic relief…lightning. That’s all I’m going to say haha.

The ending of Benjamin Button was deeply moving and riveting. It made me wonder about the cruelty of time and nature, and how nothing ever lasts.

The next film I watched was “Slumdog Millionaire“. Before watching this, I read a synopsis of said film and it really didn’t get my attention at all. From what I can tell, it was about a dude who was a contestant on India’s own “Who Wants to be A Millionaire” and he was getting all the answers right and shit. Wow boring! This plot is lame! I was not planning to see this movie, at all, until other people had recommended it to me afterwards.

So I went to see the movie the other day, and boy was I wrong.

Everything about this movie is memorizing and the structure of the story was handled with sheer meticulousness.

I really liked the way modern India was depicted. It revealed the cold harsh reality of child exploitation, greed and violence. And thorough out the film, we see the nation develop into an economic power country. The visuals were vibrant and flourishing; it captured the mountains of garbage and waste, it captured the fast moving trains, it captured the ridged roofs of shanty towns, and other parts of the country where tourists rarely gets to see.

Even the subtitles caught my attention. It was colorful and it popped out in random places, I loved it!

I’ve never seen a movie quite like Slumdog before. The very ending of the film threw me off, but in a good way, kind of like, “What-what the hell are they doing?…Oh ok that’s kind of neat.”

I highly recommend both Slumdog and Benjamin Button, they are both at the top of my list as best movies for 2008.

You know what I don’t recommend? “Seven Pounds“. Hly shit that was the third movie I watched yesterday, and I absolutely hated it.

Since this film failed at being awesome (or even “average”), I will make this snappy and write a list of why it sucked hard:

- There were a lot of flashbacks in this film where you can’t tell if it’s a flashback or not, thus throwing a lot of people off.

- The relationship between Ben Thomas and Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson) is extremely premature that their love for each other did not seem genuine, and it would’ve been considered psychotic and idiotic if it were to happen in real life.

- It’s boring. Ben Thomas (Will Smith) is constantly stalking and harassing people, you don’t know why he’s doing it, and most importantly, you don’t really care to know.

- His motives behind his peculiar actions are finally revealed in the end, and once you find out, it’s like, “That’s it? This is what I’ve been waiting for?”

- The focal point of the story is that Ben is trying to help people. Though he doesn’t seem to connect with the people he tries to help (except Emily), and his actions to “help” others seem impulsive and contrived, and it doesn’t come from the heart.

- This is supposed to be a tear-jerker movie, but I didn’t shed a single tear, in fact, I did the opposite, I laughed.

- Hint: Jellyfish made me laugh.

In other words, don’t see this movie. Check out “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Slumdog Millionaire”, you won’t be sorry!