Oscars: Benjamin Button vs. Max Tivoli | Newsweek Scope

The Curious Case of Ben—No, Max Tivoli

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You're very gracious about all of this. I would think it's a little bittersweet.
It is bittersweet. The hard part is on airplanes. Here's the conversation. You say, "I'm a writer." "What kind of writer?" "I'm a novelist." "Would I know any of your books?" And I say, "Well, you might know one." I used to be able to explain Max Tivoli to them and they'd say, "Oh, I've heard of that" or "that sounds interesting." Now they say, "Oh, is it the 'Benjamin Button' movie?" Then I have to somehow explain something that's weird to explain. And then people are enraged! Either at me for stealing Fitzgerald or at the "Benjamin Button" people. And then I have to explain, "Well, the artistic process is shady and subtle …"

You could make something up to avoid that conversation.
I guess I could. I had another book out in May, and when people ask, I say, "It's about a couple in the 1950s and their marriage." And they go, "Hmm, is it like 'Far From Heaven'?" And I say, "I can't have this conversation."

What do you think it'll be like to watch the Oscars next week?
Sort of like watching your ex get awards. It had nothing to do with you, but you can't stop watching. At first you're like, Why wasn't I invited? Well, you're not dating them—why would you be invited? I feel a connection to it that they don't feel to me, I'm sure. I understand that it's weird. I try to not think about it, but, well, here you are, NEWSWEEK calling.

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an appalling egregious modification of dorian grey
while dorian grey is a moral fable which brings a man eternal youth for selling his soul ,some one in hollywoods thought a reversal of fortune would be contemporary genius ,
here the man goes from geriatric to peadiatric ,continuously pestered as an old man by friends as to if he has conquered a female or not as if having sex with a woman is the only achievement a man can desire -in that case the chinese are the most sucessful race as they create more progeny with females then any orher racial prototypes,
after leaving home at 70 he embarks on a sea voyage and ends up in world war 2 -the ultimate blessing to hollywood where a fish trawler sinks a submarine in mid ocean and a metaphorical humming bird appears ,
next is middle age where he eats caviar and has fornication with a rather silly woman on regular basis in a rat infested hotel with gold plated goblets ,
she leaves him a note to go swim the english channel and he becomes brad pitt who finds a ballet dancer in the form of an overacting method nightmare cate blanchett and in the rest of the movie they strip each other ,liaise on a matress ,create an almost aborted baby girl before he gets scared and runs away on a motorbike for a world tour to india ,
when he comes back he looks like he is wearing more loreal then miss blanchett and then he goes to the freudian foetal state getting demented in between as he becomes infantile .
it is hilarious and more concerned with hurricane katrina as it is set in new orleans than its characters who all are overacted or non acted with a skillful function of diligent dysfunction ,
it is a spoof of oscar wildes dorian grey and its inspiration is an absolute mockery of the human life and existence with no logic or message .
the only philosophical treatise discuseed is in a barber shop at the beginning where he is told we are our memory as if we do not know that exists .
there are underwater tropical swimming sequences and southern funerals with black american church stereotypes by dozens and finally katrina comes along and you wish it had struck earlier .
at least this bizarre ordeal would have terminated

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Posted By: wildechild66 @ 02/14/2009 1:25:20 AM

Dude, don't ruin the movie for people who haven't seen it. That's very bad form.
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Posted By: a_little_bit @ 02/12/2009 4:26:21 PM

Im sorry the movie nor storie line just didn't tickle my fancy. Sorry Brad!!!
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Posted By: jbz7879 @ 02/09/2009 5:31:45 PM

an appalling egregious modification of dorian grey
while dorian grey is a moral fable which brings a man eternal youth for selling his soul ,some one in hollywoods thought a reversal of fortune would be contemporary genius ,
here the man goes from geriatric to peadiatric ,continuously pestered as an old man by friends as to if he has conquered a female or not as if having sex with a woman is the only achievement a man can desire -in that case the chinese are the most sucessful race as they create more progeny with females then any orher racial prototypes,
after leaving home at 70 he embarks on a sea voyage and ends up in world war 2 -the ultimate blessing to hollywood where a fish trawler sinks a submarine in mid ocean and a metaphorical humming bird appears ,
next is middle age where he eats caviar and has fornication with a rather silly woman on regular basis in a rat infested hotel with gold plated goblets ,
she leaves him a note to go swim the english channel and he becomes brad pitt who finds a ballet dancer in the form of an overacting method nightmare cate blanchett and in the rest of the movie they strip each other ,liaise on a matress ,create an almost aborted baby girl before he gets scared and runs away on a motorbike for a world tour to india ,
when he comes back he looks like he is wearing more loreal then miss blanchett and then he goes to the freudian foetal state getting demented in between as he becomes infantile .
it is hilarious and more concerned with hurricane katrina as it is set in new orleans than its characters who all are overacted or non acted with a skillful function of diligent dysfunction ,
it is a spoof of oscar wildes dorian grey and its inspiration is an absolute mockery of the human life and existence with no logic or message .
the only philosophical treatise discuseed is in a barber shop at the beginning where he is told we are our memory as if we do not know that exists .
there are underwater tropical swimming sequences and southern funerals with black american church stereotypes by dozens and finally katrina comes along and you wish it had struck earlier .
at least this bizarre ordeal would have terminated