‘50/50’

★★★ 1/2 (out of four)

Meet Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a laid-back 20-something radio journalist whose life is finally starting to get on-track. He finds fulfillment in his job, he has a loyal best friend, and his relationship with his girlfriend appears to be moving forward. Adam is content, but his world begins to crumble after a routine doctor visit to address some unexplained aches and pains leads to the revelation that he is suffering from a rare form of cancer. The survival rate, he learns, is roughly 50 percent. But Adam is young and otherwise hearty, and appears to have a strong support system to help him through his time of need. However, as Adam’s body degenerates from the chemotherapy treatments, he finds that some of his relationships may not be as strong as he thought.

‘MONEYBALL’

★★ 1/2

“Moneyball” tells the true story of how Oakland Athletics general manager Billy Beane (played by Brad Pitt) revolutionized the way major league baseball teams select lineups, leading his A’s to a historic 20-game winning streak in the 2002 season and turning the world of pro ball on it ear in the process. A former would-be all-star who once discovered at some cost that scouts’ ability to spot true talent is not infallible, Beane is determined to prove that the team-selection process in place since the game’s inception is antiquated and, in a modern context, almost completely useless.

‘DRIVE’

★★★★

“Drive” is such a film, and in what surely must be a miracle, it has not been abandoned on the arthouse circuit. On the contrary, it is playing in multiplexes across the U.S., and as of press time was the second-highest grossing film in general release (behind the re-release of “The Lion King,” naturally). To see a film of this caliber performing so well in wide release is inspiring, and goes to show that there is in fact a demand for this kind of thing among “mainstream” audiences. Studios should take note — and give director Nicolas Winding Refn (winner of the best director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival) the money and creative control to do absolutely whatever the hell he wants from this point forward.

‘CONTAGION’

★★★

A fast-paced procedural documenting the likely effects of a new worldwide epidemic, the film has all the hallmarks of a sophisticated Soderbergh production: a gritty feel and urgent tone; plenty of jump-cuts and carefully edited montages; a sprawling cast of A-list actors in modest supporting roles, etc. But also present is the odd and unsettling remoteness that Soderbergh typically displays when he’s in studio mode. Everything is so precisely staged, each camera angle and edit so obviously and meticulously tweaked, that Soderbergh’s true filmmaking voice often seems in danger of disappearing into an abyss of overly polished, studio-sanctioned “technique.”