A young man turns a devastating illness into a unique opportunity to experience life in 50/50, a funny, touching and original story about friendship, love and survival starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Seth Rogen.
Adam Lerner (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) has a pretty great life—with a talented, sexy artist girlfriend and a cool job with NPR, the 27-year old seems to have it all. But when Adam discovers he has a rare and possibly fatal form of cancer, his entire life turns to chaos. Writer Will Reiser experienced his own personal battle with cancer, and was inspired to write an original story which reflects the humor and heartbreak which collide in a poignant and often hilarious journey the main character is completely unprepared for.
As his world starts to unravel in every way, Adam finds himself dealing with the well-meaning but totally outrageous attempts by his friends and family to make it all better. His best friend, Kyle (Seth Rogen), uses Adam's condition to lure girls into sympathy sex, his overbearing mother (Anjelica Huston) loses sight of him in her own fears, his otherwise-occupied girlfriend, Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard) tries to distract herself an increasingly frantic social life, and Katherine (Anna Kendrick), the inexperienced therapist assigned to his case, struggles to keep up with the needs of her third client ever in this unexpectedly funny movie that reminds us that sometimes laughter really is the best medicine.
From Alexander Payne, the creator of the Oscar®-winning Sideways, The Descendants is set in Hawaii and follows the unpredictable journey of an American family at a crossroads. Matt King (George Clooney), a husband and father of two girls, must re-examine his past and navigate his future when his wife is in a boating accident off Waikiki. He awkwardly attempts to repair his relationship with his daughters — 10 year-old precocious Scottie (Amara Miller) and rebellious 17 year-old Alexandra (Shailene Woodley) — while wrestling with a decision to sell his family's land. Handed down from Hawaiian royalty and missionaries, the Kings own some of the last priceless virgin parcels of tropical beach in the islands.
When Alexandra drops the bombshell that her mother was in the midst of a romantic fling at the time of the accident, Matt has to take a whole new look at his life, not to mention his legacy, during a week of momentous decisions. With his girls in tow, he embarks on a haphazard search for his wife's lover. Along the way, in encounters alternately funny, troublesome and transcendent, he realizes he's finally on course toward rebuilding his life and family.
Winner of the prize for Best Actor at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Michel Hazanavicius's The Artist is a heartfelt and entertaining valentine to classic American cinema. Set during the twilight of Hollywood's silent era and shot on location in Los Angeles, The Artist tells the story of a charismatic movie star unhappily confronting the new world of talking pictures. Mixing comedy, romance and melodrama, The Artist is itself an example of the form it celebrates: a black-and-white silent film that relies on images, actors and music to weave its singular spell. Hollywood, 1927. George Valentin (Jean Dujardin) is one of Hollywood's reigning silent screen idols, instantly recognizable with his slim moustache and signature white tie and tails. Starring in exotic tales of intrigue and derring-do, the actor has turned out hit after hit for Kinograph, the studio run by cigar-chomping mogul Al Zimmer (John Goodman). His success has brought him an elegant mansion and an equally elegant wife, Doris (Penelope Ann Miller). Chauffeured to the studio each day by his devoted driver Clifton (James Cromwell), George is greeted by his own smiling image, emblazoned on the posters prominently placed throughout the Kinograph lot. As he happily mugs for rapturous fans and reporters at his latest film premiere, George is a man indistinguishable from his persona — and a star secure in his future.
Curtis LaForche lives in a small Ohio town with his wife Samantha and six-year-old daughter Hannah, who is deaf. Curtis makes a modest living as a crew chief for a sand-mining company. Samantha is a stay-at-home mother and part-time seamstress who supplements their income by selling handmade wares at the flea market each weekend. Money is tight, and navigating Hannah's healthcare and special needs education is a constant struggle. Despite that, Curtis and Samantha are very much in love and their family is a happy one.
Then Curtis begins having terrifying dreams about an encroaching, apocalyptic storm. He chooses to keep the disturbance to himself, channeling his anxiety into the obsessive building of a storm shelter in their backyard. His seemingly inexplicable behavior concerns and confounds Samantha, and provokes intolerance among co-workers, friends and neighbors. But the resulting strain on his marriage and tension within the community doesn't compare to Curtis' private fear of what his dreams may truly signify.
Faced with the proposition that his disturbing visions signal disaster of one kind or another, Curtis confides in Samantha, testing the power of their bond against the highest possible stakes.
Ryan Gosling stars as a Los Angeles wheelman for hire, stunt driving for movie productions by day and steering getaway vehicles for criminal operations by night. A loner by nature, Driver can't help falling in love with his beautiful but vulnerable neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan), a young mother dragged into a dangerous criminal underworld by the return of ex-convict husband Standard (Oscar Isaac).
After a heist operation, intended to help Standard pay off protection money, spins out of control, Driver finds himself driving defense for the girl he loves, tailgated by a syndicate of deadly serious criminals (Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman). When the gangsters reveal that they're after more than the bag of money in his trunk—that they're coming straight for Irene and her son—Driver is forced to shift gears and go on the offense.
When it comes to relationships, we're all beginners. From writer/director Mike Mills comes Beginners, a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments. Beginners imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Golden Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent of Inglourious Basterds) only months after his father Hal Fields (Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer) has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized, and wonderfully tumultuous gay life — which included a younger boyfriend, Andy (Goran Visnjic of ER). The upheavals of Hal's new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they'd ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor, and hope that his father taught him. At once deeply personal and universal, Beginners was inspired by Mike Mills' own father and is meant in turn to inspire everyone weighing their chances and choices in life and love.
“I feel like I’m trespassing in the indie world and they seem to have accepted it,” Seth Rogen recently told The Hollywood Reporter about his 2012 Spirit Award nomination as producer of the comedy “50/50.” Looks like they’ve not only have they accepted it, they’ve embraced it, as Rogen’s been invited to host this year’s…
The star of “Knocked Up,” “The Green Hornet,” and “Freaks and Geeks” will host the Spirit Awards which will air on IFC February 25 at 10 p.m. ET/PT
At a ceremony in Los Angeles this morning, Anthony Mackie and Kate Beckinsale announced the nominees for the 2012 Spirit Awards, which will be handed out on IFC on Saturday, February 25. And one night after it scored Best Film and Best Ensemble at the Gotham Awards, “Beginners” built more awards season momentum by landing…
“Take Shelter” and “The Artist” are poised to win big.
