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Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Still Alice


STILL ALICE (2014)
written & directed by Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland
[director filmography: Quinceanera (2006)]

starring Julianne Moore, Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, Kate Bosworth

ENJOYMENT: ****1/2 (out of 5)
"Unbelievable performance by Moore and fantastic film"

I'll keep this one short. I really liked this movie. Julianne Moore got a lot of hype about this role starting in the fall and when I heard what the movie was about I knew that she was sure to pull it off better than just about anyone else could. She has been around for so long, has had so many impactful and masterful performances and in this one she is no different. Actually, she is different: she's better than ever. In Still Alice, Moore plays a Columbia linguistics professor who comes down with early onset Alzheimers. At first she forgets little things and gets lost from time to time, but then she starts to really go downhill. The film covers many issues you'd expect if a successful woman and mother of grown kids was diagnosed with such a horrific and incurable disease. It's draining on everyone. The film isn't all sad though; there are times when you laugh and when you still see the joy in her life despite difficult circumstances. As a movie it is great, but with Moore's performance it is more than that. The transformation she portrays starting out as a strong, brilliant woman and deteriorating into someone who is just a shell of herself is truly remarkable. And it brings home the horrors of this disease like I've never seen and unfortunately couldn't empathize with as much if it was about someone who was older. 

OSCAR PREDICTIONS: Julianne Moore is sure to win Best Actress. It wasn't nominated for anything else. 

Other ratings: IMDB (7.5/10), Rotten Tomatoes (90%)

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