“50/50” is not a Judd Apatow movie. 

If you saw the trailer and expected “40 Year Old Version: Cancer Edition” or “Knocked Up – with Cancer” you would be wrong.  Though I generally like Apatow’s movies (a friend of mine accurately described them as “feel bad, feel good” films), this one is different.  Yes, it’s rated R, has coarse language and lots of "potty" humor – but this one feels strikingly personal.

Adam (Joseph Gordon Levitt) is diagnosed with cancer.  The film depicts his "based on a true story" journey through a particular stage of his bout of cancer.  Along the way, there is the help of a best friend (Seth Rogen), Mother (Anjelica Houston), therapist (Anna Kendrick) and girlfriend (Bryce Dallas Howard), among others.  Saying more would be too much.

I got my first guitar when I was in 6^th grade.  From the moment I saw the candy red, Hohner Stratocaster imitation electric guitar, I was in love.  I played it constantly, and I wrote albums in my head.  Music washed over me in every facet of my life.  I constantly talked about it, shared it, and listened to it.  By the time I was in 7^th grade, I obtained a real drum set, and ever since that moment I have been active playing.  I love music more than almost any other thing in life, and feel that God has given it as a gift to His creation.  Any one of us can associate certain songs with certain moods and memories.  It creates nostalgia, attaching our minds and hearts to seasons we have lived through like no other creative medium can.  It facilitates community, speaks to a connection with God, and moves us physically and emotionally where words cannot.

There is a moment in “Moneyball” that will always stick with me.  In the scene, a character is being offered a contract to play professional baseball for an unrevealed amount of money by MLB talent scouts.  If not the MLB, the character also has a full ride scholarship to Stanford sitting on the table.  The scene takes place in a kitchen, amongst a standard, common looking middle class home, with parents sitting beside their son trying to figure out what the best choice is.  The sense of realism – everything from the unfamiliar actors at the table, to the matter of fact way in which the scouts make their offer made all the big business, flash, and politics of sports become washed away in light of a confused looking young man deciding the fate of his life.

Rob here,

So it's been awhile since I've posted so I figured I'd write an update. So much has happened in the last two months and we are all excited with the film's progress. We are proud to announce that we won "Best Documentary Feature" at the Stella Artois Cinema STL Filmmakers Showcase, due largely to the enthusiasm of the fans that attended our sold out festival WIP(Work in Progress) debut.

The production of Give a Damn? over the last four years has been a roller coaster of accomplishment and disappointment which has tested our resolve on multiple occasions to complete the film that we set out to make.  There was a period of 3-4 months that I completely withdrew from the project due to frustration and the financial opportunity cost that were a byproduct of chasing our dream.  After watching the film with 440 people and receiving a standing ovation, I was overcome by a feeling of much needed closure and excitement. For the first time in many years I felt that sacrifice and struggle were finally overshadowed by success of the film. Dan and I were in attendance for this showing, however David was unable to attend because he was in Malawi working on his non-profit  "When The Saints".

Although Dan and I very much enjoyed the screening, it did not feel complete with David not in attendance.  Soon after the Tivoli screening, David returned to the country and now it is amazing to have had the full team present for the most recent screenings of the film.  Although we are all very different, we are starting to merge very well as a presentation team and the Q and A section of the film has been very strong because of that.

After years of begging the public to take notice, people are starting to pay attention and interest in the film seems to be exploding.  Although the film has not had it's official red carpet premiere, we are currently touring the WIP cut around the STL area at college and high school campus's.  The first two screenings at Washington University and Florissant Valley Community College were very well received and we are excited for the handful of dates that we have lined up in the next month or so. 

The other big news that I have is that we were excepted into Heartland International Film Festival as well as the St. Louis International Film Festival, taking place in October and November respectively.  Both are major film festivals (St. Louis is an Oscar qualifier) and needless to say we are extremely excited to be a part of these festivals.

Disney has visualized the collective imagination of so much of our culture.  The way images, fantasy, and sound have been brought together by Disney studios has left an imprint on our consciousness that is unmistakable.  They have sculpted what many of us associate with childhood joy, evoking nostalgia like few others can.  Watching Disney films congruently makes for a fantastic journey through the history of one of the world’s most gifted storytellers.  So, I can’t help but be a little excited whenever their classic films come out of the “vault” looking and sounding as pristine as possible. 

On Tuesday, September 20^th, Disney is releasing “Dumbo” into the digital wild.  Here is why this is exciting: Disney rarely approaches their classics with anything less than sheer reverence for the original source material.  Each film – be it "Sleeping Beauty," "Pinnochio," "Bambi" (etc) – get meticulous visual and aural restorations so the classics can continue to shine in their original state.  The BluRay format is another step towards the ultimate in sonic and visual integrity.

Walking out of the movie theater I must heard “that was so good” a few dozen times. I admit I said it myself walking out with my friends. Actually, I’m pretty sure all six of us said, “so good” to each other as the credits rolled on the big screen.

The Help.

The movie will official release to theaters in Aug. so this was a special sneak peak viewing.

By now you may have seen the official movie trailer for The Help and it’s quit possible you’ve read the book that was an overnight sensation by Kathryn Stockett. It has also held an attractive place on New York’s Best Seller list for quit some time since it’s publishing release in 2010.

The Help takes place in Jackson, Mississippi just as the civil rights movement during the early 1960’s began to gain momentum and grab the attention of national news. The book is written from the point of view of three exceptional characters.

Skeeter is a recent college graduate who wants to become a journalist. She’s returned home to her family’s cotton plantation. Skeeter grew up very close to her family’s maid, Constantine. But when she returned from Ole Miss, she learned that Constantine was no longer employed by her family and she sets out to get answers as to why. Skeeter lands a job writing the Miss Myrna column, a domestic help column she knows nothing about it. She elicits the help of Aibileen, her friend Elizabeth’s maid to help her with the column and soon discovers that Aibileen knew Constantine and the search to know why she has gone continues.

As Skeeter makes her way back into the lives of her childhood friendships with Elizabeth and Hilly, she discovers a growing chasm between white people like herself and the black maids they employ. What concerns Skeeter is that her so called friends are part of the problem. Hilly wants Skeeter to write about a new initiative to require the black help to use a separate bathroom because they “carry different diseases than the whites” and its jut not sanitary to be sharing toilets. Skeeter begins to wonder how Aibileen and other black maids feel about this and so begins her thoughts of writing a book telling the stories of the black maids to gain their perspective on working for white families. She starts by asking Aibileen to tell her stories.

Aibileen is a middle aged woman with a heart of gold. Aibileen has raised 17 white children in her service as a black maid. She lost her twenty-four year old son Treelore a few years back in a work accident while his white bosses looked the other way.  It was her close friend Minny who kept her going when all she wanted to do was die. It took some convincing but Aibileen finally agrees to help Skeeter with her book although it’s very risky in Jackson.

Minny has been working as a maid since she was fourteen. Her mamma was a maid too. Minny has some spunk in her. Being the best cook in town has put her in hot demand for maid services but her sassy mouth has been reason for trouble after trouble staying employed. That is until she meets Celia, a white woman living in a great big house outside of Jackson and who clearly doesn’t understand the rules whites and blacks are to abide by in the home of a white people. Celia likes to eat at the same table with Minny and talk Minny’s ear off in the kitchen while she’s cooking for Celia’s husband.

A series of events unfold as Skeeter becomes more and more uncomfortable with the way Hilly and Elizabeth treat the maids. Secretly she meets regularly with Aibileen, Minny and other women who have stepped forward to share their stories of working for less than minimum wage, six days a week for a white family.

Don’t worry. I’ll stop there with details. I don’t want to give the movie or the book away. As I left the theater and said goodnight to my friends, I began to ask myself what makes this movie “so good” and why did it seem every person in that theater felt the same way?

It’s hard to believe, but the first half of 2011 is already history. That means it’s time for a mid-year survey of the year in film. So, here are my picks for the best 5 films of the first half of 2011 (no one will be surprised at number 1):

1) The Tree of Life: Terrence Malick’s magnificent film is breathtaking in both its ambition and its execution. This is a film that connects. It certainly connected with me, more so with each viewing (I’ve seen it 3 times). It’s a film that pushes cinematic storytelling forward, imagining new ways to piece together image, sound, vocal fragment, idea. But the film is not just an exercise in style; it’s a deeply personal, philosophical, punch-you-in-the-gut meditation on some of life’s biggest questions. (my review)

Tree of Life resurrects the era when Hollywood still aspired to greatness. Not since 2001:  A Space Odyssey (or less successfully, The Fountain) has a filmmaker attempted to capture both the origins of life and our ultimate destination. Director Terrence Malick came of age when movies still mattered. And with Tree of Life, only his fifth feature in forty years, Malick has drawn upon ancient biblical wisdom to prod and comfort adventuresome filmgoers. Some will find it tedious and overreaching.  But those who surrender to the resplendent images may find the experience unexpectedly healing.

Countless stories have started with the problem of pain. We wonder why the innocent suffer. Why do bad things happen to good people?  Tree of Life opens with quotations from the book of Job. In the biblical narrative, Job loses his wife, his children, his health and his home. Friends offer bad advice, blaming him for his ordeal, suggesting he repent from whatever sins caused God to send so much suffering.