Still Alice

Still Alice was one of those Oscar nominees that significantly less people were aware of, but was incredibly well done, worth seeing and deserving of it's nomination. The story follows Alice Howland, a renowned linguistics professor at Columbia University. She is happily married with three grown children, but that begins to change when she strangely starts to forget words, directions and more. When her doctor diagnoses her with Early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, she must face the challenge of this terminal degenerative disease as it slowly progresses to it's dreadful and inevitable conclusion. Along the way, Alice struggles to not only to fight against this challenge, but to make the most of her remaining time to find the love and peace to make simply living worthwhile.

One of the many reasons that I liked this movie is because it took a disease that so many people are afraid to talk about, and it faced it head-on. Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that slowly destroys a person's memory and eventually other important mental functions. As the disease progresses, symptoms can include: disorientation, mood swings, not managing self care and eventually losing the ability to communicate effectively. I think that Julianne Moore did an incredible job in portraying the challenges of this disease. Not only was she honest in her portrayal of the physical and mental challenges that come with Alzheimer's disease, but also with the personal and emotional challenges that are faced in the process.

If you haven't seen this yet, it is absolutely a movie that I would recommend. Keeping in mind that this movie is incredibly emotionally charged and deals with a difficult topic, it is well done and worth watching.

The First TIme

The First Time is a perfect, cliché teenage love story for when you're bored on a Friday night. The story follows Dave (Dylan O'Brien) is an incurable romantic in love with the hottest girl in school, Jane (Victoria Justice). Unfortunately, she only thinks of him as a friend - without benefits. Through a chance encounter, Dave meets Aubrey (Britt Robertson), an alluring girl from a nearby school, at a party, which sparks a flame that soon becomes a red-hot romance filled with all the angst, missteps and awkwardness of a first time love.

The thing that draws me to this particular film, rather than just any other teen romance movie, is its streak of honesty. Though it does take place in the time span of a weekend, it's not just another Romeo and Juliet love story. The characters never declare their love for each other, they don't treat it as they've known each other for more than a short time, and they're not starry-eyed lovers like other films. 

The films honestly portrays the idea of falling quickly for someone, and it wraps up with a monologue about how they know they're not perfect for each other, but if they're both willing to try, that they can figure it out from there. Yes, they end up together, but instead of being the usual, mushy "I love you, we can do this" ending, it is portrayed more like a realistic relationship. That if they're both willing to put in the effort to make it work, then they'll take the rest as it comes. The film also adds a good dose of sass to its humor, which is a personal favorite of mine. This is definitely a guilty-favorite of mine, and I would absolutely recommend it.