My Thoughts On: 50/50

"You can't change your situation. The only thing that you can change is how you choose to deal with it"

Subtlety.  Its something that is lost in this age of 3D and big budget explosions.  The ability to express emotion and a message without beating your audience over the head with it is truly something that is on the endangered species list. 50/50 manages to bring the idea back to life.

The Movie focuses on Adam, a young man (Joseph Gordon Levitt) who lives an average life.  He works for a radio station, has a serious girlfriend and boneheaded best friend (Seth Rogan) that he kills time with.  He has loving parents, although his father has been stricken with Alzheimer's.  After experiencing back pain, Adam goes to see a doctor, and soon after finds out that he has a rare form of spinal cancer.  The news effects him and everyone around him.  The only solace he is able to find is in his discussions with his grief counselor (Anna Kendrick).

The main thing that needs to be mentioned about this movie is the acting performances.  I have always been a big fan of Gordon Levitt.  He seems to be able to play these "every guy" roles with such ease and believability that you forget that this guy is a big time Hollywood actor, and just think of him as some guy you meet on the street.  Here he shines again as an overwhelmed twenty something who thinks he has his life together and one day, everything he knows is wrong.  Theres a point in the movie where he says he just feels a nothingness inside of him, and in that moment, you can see the very expression on his face.  Rogan, while playing his usual stoner self, adds a little twist on his normal character.  Yes Kyle likes to go out, get drunk, get high, and hit on girls; but he also is such a caring friend and loves Adam so much, that he would do anything in the world for his friend.  Kendrick is fantastic as Adam's therapist and Anjelica Huston almost steals the show as Adams mom, dealing with a son who has cancer and a husband who has Dementia.

Jonathon Levine is a relative unknown as a director, and this is by far his most mainstream work yet.  For someone with such little experience its refreshing to see him realize the talent he has involved in this movie, and he lets the actors carry the film.  He does not aim to tug at the audiences heart strings, nor does he try to make the actions of Seth Rogan to over the top.  He just lets the fantastic cast do there thing, and the result is a motion picture that makes you laugh and cry all at the same time

50/50 is one of the best movies i have seen this year.  A lot of people have not seen this movie because they think it will be too sad and too much of a downer.  I'm not going to sugarcoat it, there are definitely moments in the movie that made me cry.  But these moments are so genuine and earned.  The movie is a roller coaster ride of emotions, and that is why i enjoyed.  So yes you may cry, but you will also smile, and laugh, sigh, and swear.  I guess that's my not so subtle way of telling you to go see this movie

Rating: 9 out of 10

Top 5 New Shows of The Fall Season

Every fall season, cable and broadcast networks roll out a bunch of new shows.  Its not often that every show they roll out is a hit, but in the last few years, finding hits has become more and more rare.  This was no exception this year, as this may have been the weakest slate of new shows.  Among all of them, i only see one as being a must watch in terms of quality.  There are however are a few other shows that are at least decent.  Here are one mans thoughts on the top 5 new shows of this fall season.

5.  ONCE UPON A TIME (ABC) - One of 2 fairy tale themed shows to debut this fall.  While Grimm suffers extremely by the blandness of its lead actor, OUAT has multiple strong performance from an ensemble cast.  It is very creative take on the fairy tale formula.  This may be even higher on the list if the show spent more time on the present day stories and less time on historical stories.  I find those stories to be kind of forced, but they can get better with time and character development

4.  UP ALL NIGHT (NBC) - I had high expectations for this show going in to the season and so far it has not disappointed.  The chemistry between Arnett and Applegate is great.  It is fantastic so see Will Arnett playing an actual person finally and now just rehashing some half assed version of Gob Bluth.  It does seem like the show does not always seem to know how to use Maya Rudolph.  Its crazy how talented she is and yet there are so many instances where people just don't know how to use her.  Bonus points for using Jorma Taccone as a guest star.

3.  SUBURGATORY (ABC) - This show really came out of nowhere for me.  I had zero expectations for this show and it has turned out to be one of my favorite new shows of the season.  It fits in nicely on ABC as they have established a nice block of quirky suburbia based comedies.  Paired with The Middle and Modern Family, this show seems to have found a worthy home and deserves to be checked out for its ability to produce consistent laughs.

2.  THE NEW GIRL (FOX) - There was no doubt that Zooey Deschanel would win the hearts of critics and audience members.  She has a great screen presence and certain brand of "adorkability".  The big question with this show was going to be how the ensemble developed around her.  So far i have to say that it has developed pretty well.  Losing Damon Wayans Jr. was a big blow, and his replacement really has not gelled as part of the show yet, but Max Greenfield as Schmidt has more then made up for it with his comedic timing  and Jake Johnson as Nick has shown that he will make a good companion for Deschanel's character down the road.

1. HOMELAND (SHOWTIME) - This is not only one of the best new shows this season, but also one of the best shows on TV period.  That's a bold statement to make after only 6 episodes, but the premise of the show is so original, and the acting is so good, that it is hard to imagine the show dropping off at all.  Claire Daines is almost assured an Emmy nomination and it would be a shame if Damian Lewis did not at least receive consideration as well.  Combining suspense, great acting, great writing, and great directing, i can easily see Homeland joining Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, and Mad Men in a competition for best drama on television.