Still Alice

If you want to take a harrowing trip down memory lane (with an eraser), see Still Alice. (Those over 50 had better take notes.) Dr. Alice Howland (Julianne Moore) is a beautiful, extremely intelligent college Professor with a husband (John-Alec Baldwin) and 3 grown children. She has just celebrated her 50th birthday. She notices a few mental lapses and then a very serious one, so she sees a neurologist who diagnoses a genetic form of early-onset Alzheimer's. The movie explores Alice's gradual deterioration as she inexorably loses her memories and parts of herself over time. Moore, with a great role, gives a tour de force performance, by far the best of any female actor I have seen this year.  I don't think even Meryl Streep could have done any better. Kristen Stewart (Lydia) does a nice job as her youngest daughter, but I didn't care much for Baldwin's performance or Kate Bosworth's, who plays her oldest daughter, Anna.  I also disliked the overly-serious "fingernails on the chalkboard" violin soundtrack. Adapted from Lisa Genova's novel of the same name, the Co-Writers/Directors (Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland) have given us a close glimpse of this horrific disease and its powerful impact on family members. The film is painful to watch, but Moore's performance shouldn't be missed. Rating-7.5 - good movie with an AWW performance by Moore Dave