What I've Watched: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I've seen many a movie that has a resounding message to it, and does it in an emotional enough way to make me get just a wee misty. I'm man enough to admit it. And while Benjamin Button didn't make me cry, it did have one heck of a good message and one that maybe comes at a good time for me.

The message is loud and clear, and pretty much beats you with it over the head for nearly three hours. And that is, you don't know when certain opportunities will present themselves, and you best appreciate the moments you have, because the clock of time keeps ticking and those chances aren't always going to come around again. In simpler terms, the message is: Nothing Lasts.

It's depressing as shit, that's for sure. The movie is excellent. I've never been the biggest Brad Pitt fan, but his recent turns in this and in the underratedly excellent Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford have me liking him in this quieter roles that require him to be more than a pretty face mugging. Yes, his role as Rusty in the Ocean trilogy was great. But this is different, and better. This whole movie is made by Cate Blanchett. I'm not kidding, she's one of the top five actors working right now, in my opinion. She's fantastic in this also. She nails it with the petulance of youth and the anger of age and regret.

I admit to trying to live a life of no regrets, just forward motion. But everyone knows I am also someone who relishes in memories and can't throw anything away. I do have a small list of moments I regret and opportunities I now see as missed, and I'll leave this mortal coil knowing I can't get them back, so the rest of my days will be cursed with these few precious moments. But Benjamin Button did get me to remember a big mantra of my life, which is to appreciate the little things. It's always in the little things that make the big things in life even better.