A powerfully empathetic performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt saves 50/50 from succumbing to the annoying presence of Seth Rogen and his hophead propagandizing.
Jeremy of We Got This Covered wrote, "One of the best films of 2011 came in the form of a cancer dramedy directed by young filmmaker Jonathan Levine and starring Seth Rogen, Anna Kendrick and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. 50/50 hits all the right notes as it walks the fine line of being a hilarious comedy and an emotional drama. It’s authentic, honest and it makes for one hell of a film. The film is anchored by its heart-felt performance by JGL, but Rogen, Kendrick and the rest of the supporting cast help make the ensemble team feel just as important. Levine knows how to find the strengths in his actors and shape-shift the film into a cluster of emotions."
Movies Hate You Too writes:
This week sees the release of several of last falls bigger financial or critical hits; the Rock'em Sock'em Robots film, a cancer 'comedy', and a horror film that hits Blu-ray surprisingly quickly. As far as catalog releases go there are films from Woody Allen, Alfred Hitchcock, and films starring the late, great Richard Pryor available for the first time ever in HD plus a monster movie classic gets the royal treatment from the Criterion Collection.
I can't wait to get my copy of Real Steel. Out of this weeks releases that's the one I'm interested in. That was such a good movie. I went in expecting to like it some but ended up loving it and going back to see it again.
I'm kinda "eh" about Real Steel, so I won't be buying that one. Though Netflix did ship it out to me today, so I'll have it tomorrow.
On that note, I'm much more interested in 50/50 and Paranormal Activity 3. Both of those I bought (from Amazon) so should have those this week too.
I do like the Blu-ray releases of the Hitchcock movies too.
Did they bundle up the best of Hitchcock or just several of his movies? If Psycho, The Birds, and Rear Window are in that it would be great.
No it's no bundle. They just did individual Blu-ray releases on a few of his movies: Notorious, Rebecca and Spellbound.
Jeremy of The Daily Rotation wrote, "I know these lists have been circulating like mad for the past few weeks, but I thought I’d chime in with my two cents. I like to spend some time really thinking over my top ten lists because I don’t want to be that person that just shoves every single Oscar nominated movie on the list without sprinkling in a few favorites. I have no problem recognizing strong directing and performing, but I also like to mention a few personal favorites that I enjoyed more than others. It all comes down to personal preference, replay value and overall scoring. Sure, there might be a few movies that I rated higher than something that barely makes my list, but that’s because I might have enjoyed a movie a lot more and gone back to revisit it time and time again, despite its lower rating due to a few acting missteps or weaker story."
Finally a list giving praise to Warrior. Just finished watching it and I have to say it's absolutely great. Seriously, it almost borders on Rocky type greatness. The Fighter doesn't hold a candle to Warrior.
I don't know why, but for some reason I really clicked with The Fighter. It's probably because Bale is my all-time favorite actor.
But Warrior (and Fighter for that matter) knock Rocky off its feet. I was never a fan of Rocky. I appreciate it as a film, but I can't get myself to watch it anymore.
I'm glad to see Warrior getting some praise finally. I saw it in theaters and told everyone about it around here and no one cared about it, but now it looks like the word is slowly leaking out!
Rocky is awesome. Neither Warrior or The Fighter top it for me. Warrior is awesome, though. I wasn't so fond of The Fighter however. Great acting, but the writing really left me hoping for more. Thought they pretty much botched the whole underdog aspect.
nice!,, haven't watched the tree of life and 50/50 yet, really looking forward to watching those 2 soon
