The Minority Report - "50/50" (2011)

“50/50” does its name justice. It is a brilliant balance of humor and complete sadness. It does what most movies can't—capture the essence of life and how, in tragedy, there is great pain and yet someone can still find glistening hope and, yes, still laugh. It is a tale of pushing through hard times with the support of family and friends, finding out who you really are, and discovering the true character of the people around you. It can easily be said that this is one of the best movies of the year and should definitely be watched.

Do you remember the Adam sandier film "Funny People"? It tried to create a sense of juxtaposition between sadness and comedy—a dramedy, so to speak. But it failed miserably with a piss poor passing, a hard to love main character, and a multitude of other issues. It is almost as if “50/50” took all the mistakes of that film and reversed them. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a character who anyone can easily relate to; he is not in your face, and plays back on acting. He is a normal 27 year old, unsure of where he is and wants to be in life and is trying to figure everything out, but in this tempest, he finds out he has a rare form of cancer. The story follows him through the slow realization that cancer has highs of optimism and lows of hopelessness. It is a complicated affair and shows just how severely an occurrence like this can take a toll on a person. Seth Rogen plays his best friend, who at times can be hard to like, but at others melts your heart with his charm and humor. Anna Kendrick also has what is possibly her best acting debut to date, as an inexperienced psychologist that accompanies Gordon-Levitt throughout his emotional rollercoaster.

Cancer can inspire a multitude of effects. It can leave an individual weak and hopeless. Near death can truly bring out who you really are, but it also causes ripples of emotions to the ones around you. This is what this movie is about. Sure, the main character is suffering from an illness, but it is a true observation on how an illness can make the others around you sick, and how to rise above everything even if faced with death, and look towards life and live. In short, I laughed, I cried, and came out of the theater still bogged with the feelings the movie inspired in me. This movie is not like watching paint dry.


By V-Dawg

The Minority Report - "The Source Code" (2011)

“Tell me everything is gonna be okay.”
Upon hearing about this movie (around the same time as “The Adjustment Bureau”), I was intrigued. Movies that play with the mind have a strange allure that is evident from the moment I hear of them. This film took the mind games a step further by utilizing memories as a way to create alternate universes in which crime solving could be done. Think of this movie as a new take on “Minority Report” that still manages to keep some humor and the idea of a fickle existence alive.

The story centers around Captain Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), who awakens on a train with no idea how he got there. Sitting in front of him is a woman he doesn’t recognize whom apparently knows him, Christina Warren (Michelle Monaghan). After attempting to find out what is going on, there is a sudden explosion on the train as it is nearing Chicago, and the Captain, along with everyone on board, is obliterated. He wakes up strapped to what appears to be a pilot’s chair in a chamber, where he is greeted through a computer by Captain Goodwin (Vera Farmiga). It is revealed that Stevens is inside a program called the Source Code, which allows him to take advantage of the 8 minutes of memory left behind on a deceased person’s mind by taking over their body for that time. In essence, an alternative reality is created that he can examine—a parallel universe, in a sense. That morning, a train bomb had detonated and killed everyone onboard. His mission is to return to the fake past, find the bomb, and discover who the bomber was in an effort to stop a suspected dirty bomb detonation in downtown Chicago by the same person. What follows is an examination of reality, human connection, and everyone’s ultimate fate.

I’m glad I got to see this movie. It’s filming is nothing special, but the way it handles itself and examines the different ventures into the Source Code is incredibly entertaining and well thought out. The feelings of sadness, confusion, futility, and eventual responsibility for the lives in this alternate reality are ingrained into every frame. You know as much as Stevens knows throughout the film, and you find out what is going on at the same time he does. The style begins in media res (in the middle of the action), and that lends to the mystery of the activity. This movie is only slightly like watching paint dry…but only if you were trying to use the Source Code to fix mistakes that had already been made.


By Kulguy

The Minority Report - "Sexdrive" (2008)

“Ease it back, man. That donut ain't fuckin' around.”
“Sexdrive” is a pure goofball comedy. It’s over the top and dives into that fact headfirst. It takes itself way too seriously, and all that does is heighten its funny factor. This may not be the funniest or best movie ever made, but it does have what a lot of movies lack—charm. Through its filth, cliché, cheese-ball humor, I still found myself relating with the lovably dorky characters and laughing at their hi-jinx.

“Sexdrive,” is the simple story of a high school outcast and his quest for booty. Ian (Josh Zuckerman) has a virtual girlfriend that he chats with, who eventually convinces him to drive over multiple state lines to visit her with the promise of sex. Ian is quick to react and steals his brothers’ 1969 GTO, nicknamed “The Judge.” He journeys the many miles with his friends, Lance (Clarke Duke) and Felicia (Amanda Crew), and they run into many extravagant situations in pursuit of the elusive act known as sex. Hilarity ensues as they meet up with colorful characters like hitchhikers, Amish people, and even an appearance from “Fall Out Boy.”

Overall, there is not much to say about this film besides that if you watch it, you will laugh and have a good time (that is, if you enjoy over the top, perverted comedies). It’s a college/high-school boy’s film all the way, as it has an abundance of gross humor and breasts (lots, and lots of breasts). Most of all, what I enjoyed about this movie was its charm, which is something comedies like this usually lack. It does sputter out near the end, but by then you will be far too invested in the movie to care. All in all, this is like watching paint dry, but the paint drying is on one of those painting of a naked, drunk French woman that 14 year-old boys will wank off to.

By V-Dawg