Preface

• Still Alice was a very interesting film that I feel awkward saying I liked.
  • Was it a good film?
  • Did I like it?
    • I’m not sure…
  • I’ll get to what I mean in a little bit.

Cast and Characters

• Still Alice is a smaller film starring Julianne Moore who plays a 50 year-old woman, who discovers she has early-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and her life that follows after that.
• Alright ladies and gentlemen, get ready to cast your ballots because I am willing to bet anything that Julianne Moore is an Oscar nomination (possibly even win) lock this year.
  • Moore brings this raw realism to the role, but not in the way I usually refer to raw realism.
    • Like when I was reviewing Gone Girl, I said that it was so raw and realistic.
    • Julianne Moore is raw and realistic in this film because of how really realistically real it is.
      • You think she has Alzheimer’s as the film progresses.
    • She was really good for the first hour of the film, but in the last thirty minutes is really where you say, “yeah, let’s get the golden man engraved with her name on it. Now, please…”
    • Julianne Moore’s performance absolutely breaks your heart in this movie, more so than any other female performance I’ve seen this year.
  • The rest of the cast was alright.
  • Kristin Stewart is in the movie and–
    • If I’m not mistaken, this is the first film I’ve seen Kristin Stewart in?
  • –well, she worked enough.
    • She still has no personality, but she was only in the first half hour and last fifteen minutes, so you just get through the first half hour with her.
    • I thought her monologue at the very end, was fantastic though.
      • Maybe it wasn’t her reading it, so much as the writing, but either way I wasn’t annoyed that she got the last words.
    • And she looks like she should play Julianne Moore’s daughter, like the two look EXTREMELY similar.
      • I guess her casting evens itself out on that note.
        • Bad actress, good resemblance.
      • Other than that, the four other support characters in the film worked, but only because Moore carried them well.
        • Example: her husband in this movie could have been played by anyone, and his character only worked off of hers.
        • Her other two kids (the son in particular) were pretty good at their roles too, but I didn’t feel like I really knew them.
        • Which is one of my main problems.
          • Not all of the characters in this movie feel relevant, or like they’re fleshed out enough.
            • Take two great films that I love: Silver Linings Playbook and This Is Where I Leave You.
              • In Silver Linings Playbook, there are only about 7-10 characters, all of whom are fleshed out, brilliantly acted and established fantastically.
              • In This Is Where I Leave You, there are 12-16 characters, not all of whom are totally fleshed out, but all of whom get great performances and have traits that make them memorable.
            • In this movie, neither of those are the case and the other actors are just kind of swimming in the shallow end with Moore guiding them along.

Story/Theme

• This is a really well-made film, especially in regards to story.
• We all know what a blight to the world Alzheimer’s is, and it can be hard to watch this film if you know someone who has it.
  • I’ve always been afraid to get Alzheimer’s myself, because my brain is my most powerful weapon.
• Taking a story like this one and putting it on the big screen really took courage and a capable cast (check and kinda-check), and I have the utmost admiration to both for being a part of it.
• I really liked the theme that this movie conveyed, and I think that Still Alice conveyed it a lot better than Boyhood.
  • Life is fast, so make it count.
    • Not “make every moment count, carpe diem,” but make your life one worth remembering.
  • That mixed with the theme of love, it’s pretty emotional!

In Conclusion

• Wrapping up, I don’t know that Still Alice is THAT film that I’ll think of when someone says, “movies of 2014.”
• However, Julianne Moore gave one of the Top 5 (if not 3) performances I’ve seen this year, and I’d love to see her win Best Lead Actress at the Academy Awards.
• There was some difficulty in the writing of the other characters and a few other (Twilight) actors, but this was a very positive film.
• I really like the themes of love and life, but I will feel weird saying that ‘I like’ a movie that nearly had me in tears.

3.5/5

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So guys, those are my thoughts on Still Alice. Have you guys seen this film? Let me know what you think if you have, and as always, thanks for reading guys.