Last movie you watched......

Yeah, that, too. I was very glad I grabbed some extra napkins when I bought a soda at the last minute. Sheesh.

 

One of my friends from college had cancer this past year and went to the premiere of 50/50 in NYC. He got to meet the writer, who wrote the movie based on his own experience with cancer. My friend's cancer is in remission and he said that they had a really interesting talk about common experiences they went through. I was happy for him to get that opportunity.

 

I really liked 50/50. That's the type of movie where they can force the tears out of you on command and I didn't feel like they did. I've been through a lot of situations with friends and family along those lines and a lot of what happened in the movie rang pretty true to me. Don't get me wrong, it got a bit dusty in a few scenes but it seemed like they came more organically than some scene designed solely for that purpose, if that makes any sense.

Really well done overall and I was pleasantly surprised. My girlfriend really wanted to see it and I didn't really but I'm happy I saw it. Also, I nominate Joseph Gordon-Levitt for one of our country's most underrated actors. A bit of a rising star, isn't he?

 

Watched Hanna today on PPV. Kick-ass movie.

 

"Cedar Falls," despite some work-related interruptions.

Like "Up in the Air" but with a happy ending ... like "Talladega Nights" except with insurance instead of NASCAR ... like "Little Miss Sunshine" terms of crowd-pleasing Indy story arc ... um, really, I got nothing.

But as we say down south, it was ahh-iiight.

 

50/50 was tremendous. Went with the girlfriend last night and I was afraid to look over at her because I was a teary mess for the last half of it.

SPOILERS ...











The scene that really killed me was when the taller chemo patient (can't remember his name, not Bookman from Seinfeld, the other one ... just looked it up, Mitch) kissed his wife and asked her to stay because they hadn't spent much time together that day. It was such a perfect moment, not overdone at all. Just the sort of happy moment a guy would have with his wife when he knew his days were probably numbered. Then they show the chemo scene the next day and his chair was empty, and I lost it.

Also, some of the little moments were incredible. When Adam dumps drunk Kyle off at his apartment and finds the dog-eared book in the bathroom with notations all through it ... and the scene where it hits Adam in the surgery prep room that this really could be it. He kills it. JGL is one of the top five actors working, and he just crushes every scene in this movie.

And just when you're so emotionally exhausted when he gets through it, he pulls the "I'm peeing right now," line out on Katherine ... perfect.

Just a tremendous film.

 

I just concluded the six-part "State of Play" BBC series. Really good. I liked the movie, but the series had the always awesome Bill Nighy (as the editor). The lovely Kelly Macdonald has the Rachel McAdams part. James McAvoy is in the series, though his character is not in the movie.

An interesting look at British journalism (where laws are different than here in the states), well-acted, well-cast and well-directed.

 

Exceedingly. A fable for US-Euro relations for the last 30 years, plus a movie about Europe's muddled identity.

 

Watched the two-part documentary on George Harrison (Living in the Material World) that aired on HBO Wednesday and Thursday. Fascinating early Beatles footage, and because it was directed by Martin Scorsese (and produced by Olivia Harrison), they were able to land in-depth interviews with all the heavy hitters — Ringo, Paul, George Martin, Yoko Ono, Patti Boyd, Eric Clapton, Ravi Shankar, Billy Preston, Tom Petty, Phil Spector(!), Astrid Kirchherr, Klaus Voorman, George's two brothers and on and on.

Really great stuff.

 

"Bullitt."

 

"50-50" and "Ides of March." Loved 50-50 just for the script and the acting and the feel-good moments. It hit home for me with my family's history so it was a definite tear-jerker. Ides of March was just tremendous. All I can say is it's a wonder the screen didn't explode with the magnetism of Clooney and Gosling together. That scene in the restaurant is off the charts.