Thursday, April 28, 2011

50 / 50

Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a young man who has a girlfriend, Rachael (Bryce Dallas Howard), despite Adam's best friend and co-worker Kyle's (Seth Rogen) disliking her. One day, Adam decides to see a doctor because of back pains and discovers that he actually has a rare type of cancer and must undergo chemotherapy in order to reduce the tumor. The doctor gives Adam the phone number of a hospital therapist in case he needs someone with whom to talk.














Adam tells Rachael about the cancer and tells her that he won't mind if she prefers to leave him. She says she'll stay by his side. However, she eventually starts to display growing signs of detachment to him. Adam also tells his mother Diane (Angelica Huston), who is also taking care of Adam's father, Richard (Serge Houde), who has Alzheimer's disease; and Kyle, who worries for his friend's survival.

Adam starts seeing an inexperienced psychologist, Katherine "Katie" McCay (Anna Kendrick), who helps him deal with his problems. He also befriends Alan (Philip Baker Hall) and Mitch (Matt Frewer), two older chemo patients receiving treatment alongside him, and grows fond of Skeletor, an old dog which Rachael rescued from the pound.











Kyle starts using Adam's illness to get dates, which annoys Adam. On one of these dates, he sees Rachael kissing another man and takes a picture of her affair on his cellphone, which he immediately shows to Adam. Angry, Adam tells Rachael to leave.

Adam and Kyle hang out with Alan and Mitch, and Adam becomes impressed with Mitch's loving relationship with his wife. Later on, Kyle urges Adam to use his cancer to get dates, but Adam doesn't want to do that. Adam encounters Katie who gives him a ride home. Adam starts developing an attraction to her. The next day, he and Kyle go to a bar, where they meet two women. Adam has sex with one of them, but is unable to enjoy it due to his back pains.











The following day, Adam goes to chemo, where he is told by Alan that Mitch died the previous night, something which shocks and leads him to believe that he has no chance of survival. After Mitch's funeral, Adam sees Katie, who advises him to stop ignoring his mother, who is already having a hard time taking care of his father without having to worry about Adam not returning her calls. Adam sees the error of his ways and reconnects with his parents, who drive him to a doctor's appointment in which Adam is informed that his tumor has grown and he'll need to undergo surgery in a few days in order to have a chance of making a full recovery.











Increasingly nervous about the procedure, Adam decides to go drinking with Kyle, but ends up lashing out at Kyle for being more interested in having sex with random women than being there for him. He proceeds to have something of a nervous breakdown and decides to call Rachael, but ends up calling Katie, who tells him they might have something after his surgery. Adam takes Kyle back to his apartment, where he discovers that Kyle has been following the instructions of a book on how to cheer up cancer patients and realizes that Kyle was doing his best to prevent Adam from reminiscing about the cancer.

Adam undergoes surgery as Kyle, Katie, Diane and Richard await. The doctor informs them that, although the journey will be long, Adam will survive.

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Thor

Thor is a 2011 American superhero film based on the comic book character of the same name published by Marvel Comics and is the fourth film released as part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film was directed by Kenneth Branagh, written by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz and Don Payne, and stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins and Stellan Skarsgård. The film tells the story of Thor, a god who is exiled from his homeland of Asgard to Earth. While there, he builds a relationship with scientist Jane Foster. However, Thor must stop his brother Loki, who intends to become the new king of Asgard.
















Director Sam Raimi first developed the concept of a film adaptation of Thor in 2001, but soon abandoned the project, leaving it in "development hell" for several years. During this time, the rights were picked up by various film studios until Marvel Studios signed Mark Protosevich to develop the project in 2006, and the project was set up at Paramount Pictures. Matthew Vaughn was originally assigned to direct the film for a tentative 2010 release. However, after Vaughn was released from his holding deal in 2008, Branagh was approached and the film's release was rescheduled into 2011. The main characters were cast in 2009, and principal photography took place in California and New Mexico from January to May 2010. The film was converted to 3D in post-production.

Thor was released on April 21, 2011 in Australia and on May 6, 2011 in the United States. The film became a financial and critical success, grossing $396 million worldwide and "Certified Fresh" by the review-aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.













In 965 A.D., Odin (Anthony Hopkins), king of Asgard, wages war against the Frost Giants of Jotunheim and their leader Laufey (Colm Feore), to prevent them from conquering the Nine Realms, starting with Earth. The Asgardian warriors defeat the Frost Giants and seize the source of their power, the Casket of Ancient Winters.

In the present, Odin's son Thor (Chris Hemsworth) prepares to ascend to the throne of Asgard, but is interrupted when Frost Giants attempt to retrieve the Casket. Against Odin's order, Thor travels to Jotunheim to confront Laufey, accompanied by his brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), childhood friend Sif (Jaimie Alexander) and the Warriors Three; Volstagg (Ray Stevenson), Fandral (Joshua Dallas) and Hogun (Tadanobu Asano). A battle ensues until Odin intervenes to save the Asgardians, destroying the fragile truce between the two races. For Thor's arrogance, Odin strips his son of his godly power and exiles him to Earth, accompanied by his hammer Mjolnir — the source of his power, now protected by a spell to allow only the worthy to wield it.













Thor lands in New Mexico, where scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), her assistant Darcy Lewis (Kat Dennings) and mentor Dr. Erik Selvig (Stellan Skarsgård), find him. The local populace finds Mjolnir, which S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) soon commandeers before forcibly acquiring Jane's data about the wormhole that delivered Thor to Earth. Thor, having discovered Mjolnir's nearby location, seeks to retrieve it from the facility that S.H.I.E.L.D. quickly constructed but he finds himself unable to lift it, and is captured. With Selvig's help, he is freed and resigns himself to exile on Earth as he develops a romance with Jane.

Loki discovers he is Laufey's son, adopted by Odin after the war ended. When Odin, overcome with stress, falls into the deep "Odinsleep" that allows him to recuperate, Loki becomes king and offers Laufey the chance to kill Odin and retrieve the Casket. Sif and the Warriors Three, unhappy with Loki's rule, attempt to return Thor from exile, convincing Heimdall (Idris Elba), gatekeeper of the Bifröst - the means of traveling between worlds - to allow them passage to Earth. Aware of their plan, Loki sends the Destroyer, a seemingly indestructible automaton, to pursue them and kill Thor. The warriors find Thor, but the Destroyer attacks and defeats them, prompting Thor to offer himself instead. Struck by the Destroyer and near death, Thor finds his sacrifice has proven him worthy to wield Mjolnir. The hammer returns to him, restoring his powers and enabling him to defeat the Destroyer. Kissing Jane goodbye and vowing to return, he and his fellow Asgardians return to confront Loki.













In Asgard, Loki betrays and kills Laufey, revealing his true plan to use Laufey's attempt on Odin's life as an excuse to destroy Jotunheim with the Bifröst Bridge, and thus prove himself worthy to Odin. Thor arrives and fights Loki before destroying the Bifröst Bridge to stop Loki's plan, stranding himself in Asgard. Odin awakens and prevents the brothers from falling into the abyss created in the wake of the bridge's destruction, but Loki allows himself to fall to his apparent death. Thor makes amends with Odin, admitting he is not ready to be king, while on Earth, Jane and her team search for a way to open a portal to Asgard.

In a post-credits scene, Selvig has been taken to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility, where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) asks him to study an unnamed device, which Fury says may hold untold power. Loki, invisible, whispers to Selvig to agree, which Selvig does.