I presume The Envelope‘s Pete Hammond wasn’t referring to yours truly when he attacked “voracious movie bloggers [who] took shots” at David Fincher‘s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button “on the basis of last weekend’s modest Telluride peek” at 20 minutes of footage.
“They would be advised,” Hammond said, “to hold their reviews a few months until the other 2 hours and 25 minutes can be seen.”
Yeah, I reported some downbuzzy stuff (as did an i-Film correspondent and Cinematical‘s Kim Voynar), but I did so with qualms and caveat emptors.
I passed along what I’d been told with “displeasure and irritation,” and said that “I didn’t like hearing this…because I’m a fan of Eric Roth‘s script as well as an overall Fincher fan, [and] so I started arguing with [my sources]. What were people looking for? I asked. What is it that people wanted to happen? It’s just a reel, a taste of a feature film.”
Hammond writes that “despite the doubters, one key studio honcho (and academy member) not connected with the film told us on the basis of what he saw and his personal knowledge of Eric Roth‘s (Forrest Gump) script that he thinks Benjamin Button is easily the one to beat for best picture.”
The Envelope‘s Tom O’Neil posted his own piece about the Telluride Button reactions (and counter-reactions) earlier this afternoon.