Where does the time go? It's coming up on three weeks since my last post. School, work and going out to play keeps you busy I suppose. I guess you don't have as much incentive to do blogs when you are tired and/or not getting paid to do it. I really should try to keep up with it though. At the same time, if there is nothing to report or if there isn't a movie I want to praise or bash then I suppose it will be all quiet on the western front. I do have several yays and nays lined up. So stay TUNED!
Like I said, where the hell does the time go? We are three months from 2012. It really does blow my mind all the time. It is quite scary, actually. I always say how it feels like yesterday when I'd come home from elementary school, toss my backpack into the house and book it outside to play. BOOM! Here I am. I guess just live it up the best you can, right? I'm trying...
So here we are in October, and this year feels more exciting than the other ones before it. Fall is here, haunted forests and all those random Maryland events. There are so many fun activities to do. Who gives a shit about the candy. As I get older I love it for something totally different than I did as a kid. Perfect excuse to talk ALL month long about scary movies, scary scores and bad ass costumes. I mean that's what I LOVE about movies. If a movie can capture my emotion then it did its job. The movie score is the icing on the cake. Of all the genres, I feel like it is the hardest to actually get me scared. There are a handful that have, but not a lot.
In a way I feel like Phil from Modern Family. Come Halloween night, I've always wanted to have scary music playing out my window and do something scary at my house. The opportunity just hasn't presented itself yet. It will though, it will. So in celebration of this month. Each day I will feature a scary movie and a song from it's score on Facebook. Not in any real order. I mean come on, people. You have to watch a least a couple scary movies this month.
I suppose you could always talk about scary movies all year round if you really wanted to. We really know what the REAL deal with Halloween is; the costumes. The time for people to dress in almost nothing, get creative or not give a shit. In 2006, I chose the second option.
I was very proud of this one. I reused it again last year. The Braveheart 42 inch long sword sits in the corner of the room now as I type this. You can only use the same BAMF costume so many times. So what do you do? Make another BAMF costume. So that is why I am again choosing the second option. I won't ruin the surprise, but I am quite excited to say the least about my costume this year. It's not something original. People have done it before, but not to the extent I've ever seen anyone do in person. So in about a month you'll see what I am talking about. I'm sure you are just as excited as I am about it.
On with the show!
Yes. Yes. I know. This came out last Friday. I think I am going to start to incorporate actual movie reviews. Only ones worth mentioning of course. Fortunately, I don't have to try to make a disastrous attempt at reviewing a movie. I feel like I'd be terrible at it, but it never hurts to try. I have never done one and I would like to at some point. For now though, my good friend Scott has been so gracious as to let me feature his reviews here at Pass the Popcorn. I wouldn't be surprised if he came along and stole the show, if that's what you want to call this.
If you know me, then you probably know my good friend Scott. Scott came back a year ago after living in Thailand for a year and a half. Besides all the amazing Thailand things you can do over there, he wrote movie reviews for Phuket Gazette, the local English paper. He actually continues to work for them. That must tell you something if they kept him even after he came back here. I'm not gonna sit here and kiss his ass BUT his reviews are pretty good. They are very well written and captures the movie perfectly on paper...so to speak. Unfortunately he really is not good at Xbox. Seriously. We let him play with us nonetheless.
Before I let Scott have at it, I just wanted to say real quick how much I loved this movie. I loved Joseph Gordon-Levitt in 500 Days of Summer. This is hands down his best movie. No question. I loved Drive and I Moneyball was really good. 50/50 though, was a PHENOMINAL movie. One second I'm laughing my ass off, the next I'm just about to lose it. Perfect in my opinion. It really would be a shame if some had no desire to see this movie. I think the Fall season of movies is off to a great start. This is without a doubt my movie of 2011. Take it away, Scott...
Leave it to writer/producer Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express) and actor Seth Rogan (of the same films) to make a movie about cancer that is full of hilarious raunchy comedy and still manages to possess heartfelt sincerity.
50/50 is a rare kind of film. Its themes of comedy and cancer play out much like a sickness does – calming yet anxious, funny yet heartbreaking. It’s an ambivalent experience to watch 50/50 and its steady back-and-forth exchange of these elements; yet it is perfectly paced and expertly filmed.
For anyone who has ever had to battle a life-threatening disease – either alongside a loved one or being diagnosed themselves – there is an honesty to 50/50 that makes it one of the best comedy-dramas of the year.
One gets the feeling that only a person who has actually lived through cancer could pull this off so successfully, which is indeed the case. The film is inspired by the true story of Will Reiser, who wrote the screenplay and is a survivor of the kind of cancer that the main character is diagnosed with. The dialogue between his characters flows effortlessly with the acting talents of Gordon-Levitt and Rogen and is the core of both the film’s wit and emotional punch.
One gets the feeling that only a person who has actually lived through cancer could pull this off so successfully, which is indeed the case. The film is inspired by the true story of Will Reiser, who wrote the screenplay and is a survivor of the kind of cancer that the main character is diagnosed with. The dialogue between his characters flows effortlessly with the acting talents of Gordon-Levitt and Rogen and is the core of both the film’s wit and emotional punch.
In a scene that perfectly defines the film’s unique appeal, Kyle (Rogen) tells his just-diagnosed friend Adam (Gordon-Levitt) that his 50/50 chances of surviving cancer are actually quite favorable casino odds. He proceeds to name a number of celebrities who have survived cancer, and then unknowingly names one that died from the disease. When Adam calls him out, Kyle tells him to forget he mentioned the name.
Scenes like these drive 50/50 from a potentially awkward state of misplaced humor to an original and moving film for a younger generation. Adam is 27-years-old in the film; an age that treats a diagnosis of cancer like an impossibility at first. His best friend Kyle is more equipped to give advice on how to pick up girls for one-night stands than he is to handle his buddy’s serious illness.
But just as it often does in real life – the illness becomes both the central conflict and the means by which each character will reveal their true nature.
While the film focuses on Adam, it is full of colorful characters – both equipped and ill-equipped – who must confront the grim realities of cancer. Like most mothers of single twenty-somethings, Adam’s mom is so preoccupied with being worried that she forgets to see if there is anything she can actually do to help. His girlfriend (Dallas-Howard) is from the start not quite the right girl for anyone, let alone a guy diagnosed with cancer. His fresh-out-of-school therapist (Kendrick) means well but struggles to grant Adam the honesty he needs to cope with the illness.
Some will go to see the film of sheer curiosity of how a movie about cancer can actually be funny. Indeed, it is an achievement in its own to make a movie about cancer that is full of hilarious moments – and make no mistake; 50/50 has a lot of them.
Despite playing virtually the same character in just about every role, Seth Rogen is one of the few comedic actors who can actually pull off the type of humor needed for this role. His zero-restraint banter and signature deep-gut chuckle help give the film its exceptional tone.
Reiser drives Adam’s story forward with a hodgepodge of interactions with the people affected by his illness; some who alienate him and some who embrace him. The film belongs to the latter, though, as they subtly reveal the reasons people choose to endure a long struggle to overcome disease.
What makes it so entertaining is how unconventional these characters end up being. The two old men who share a chemotherapy treatment room with Adam (played by Matt Frewer and Philip Baker Hall) – smoking pot and giving the enlightened wisdom of old people who are done with formality but not a sense of humor – steal every scene they’re in.
At its worst, 50/50 is the latest Judd Apatow-esque raunchy comedy about life and love in the city. At its best, it is a thoughtful meditation on what it is to be faced with the possibility of dying too young – and how the worst things in life have a way of revealing the best things from the most unlikely places.
