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THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON
Starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett
Directed by: David Fincher

Near the end of World War I, a watchmaker creates a backward running clock which is hung at the New Orleans train station. Some time later, a baby is born in the rich Button household, with the features and ailments of an 85-year old man. The boy's father is horrified and dumps him on the porch of a nursing home, where the matron Queenie, takes him in and cares for him. Benjamin (Brad Pitt) grows older in intellect and younger in appearance, and lives a complete life, sailing at sea, fighting in World War II and travelling the world. All the while, he is in love with his childhood friend Daisy (Blanchett), a dancer who ages normally, but they cannot be together, except for a short while when their aging processes meet.

I don't really care much for Brad Pitt, and his performance seemed a little insipid to me. The movie proceeds really slowly, and I almost fell asleep, but that could also have been due to the fact that I was quite tired that day. The whole reverse aging process was done very well, but it seemed like the movie concentrated on that a little too much. But despite that, and despite its length, it was a nice movie, a visual spectacle, with a lot of special scenes, like the one where Ben sees Daisy dance and the final montage of his life. The scale of the movie is very lavish, and the post-war era very nicely caught. The cinematography is excellent, it's the highlight of the movie. It's worth a watch.

TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
Starring: Shia La Beouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
Directed by: Michael Bay

Sam Witwicky (Shia La Beouf) is going to college, leaving girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) and robot-disguised-as-yellow-car Bumblebee behind. But when Sam starts getting weird visions of ancient symbols, he asks Optimus Prime for help. The Decepticons, headed by a resurrected Megatron, are instructed by the ancient Transformer leader The Fallen, to search for an energy source called The Matrix of Leadership. The Decepticons attack Earth and want Sam to be handed over to them, as the symbols Sam is seeing are clues to the location of the Matrix. So it's time for our favorite Autobots, aided by the U.S. Army, to save the world and help Sam destroy the Matrix.

Okay, there is a lot of fodder for action fans: lots of things blowing up and falling apart. This time, it's not just New York City which gets hammered, but also the pyramids which have Decepticons swarming up them. It's a really cool movie in terms of special effects, Megatron and The Fallen are real menacing. There is a lot of humour and sarcasm throughout, which makes the movie an entertaining watch. But if you are looking for a story, forget it. The movie is not mindless action mumbo-jumbo, but there's not much to look out for in the plot. Watch the movie for a couple of hours of fun.