The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (8.0/10)

This 2008 film starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett has a unique storyline, and it's one I could easily get behind. The biggest hurdle is the runtime. At 2 hours and 46 minutes, there are stretches where it feels too long, and the middle of the film starts to play a lot like Forrest Gump, bouncing Benjamin from job to job and place to place without always pushing the story forward. For most of the movie, I had it sitting at around a 7.5. The last 25 minutes, though, really won me over and elevated the whole experience, bumping it up to a solid 8.0. If you have the patience for a long, sprawling story, the ending makes the journey worth it. "Born under unusual circumstances, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) springs into being as an elderly man in a New Orleans nursing home and ages in reverse. Twelve years after his birth, he meets Daisy, a child who flickers in and out of his life as she grows up to be a dancer (Cate Blanchett). Though he has all sorts of unusual adventures over the course of his life, it is his relationship with Daisy, and the hope that they will come together at the right time, that drives Benjamin forward."