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Contagion: Movie Review

Damon Houx — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 21:00:14 +0000

Fall is off to a great start with Steven Soderbergh‘s Contagion kicking off the September releases. With an all star cast – including Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet and Jude Law among others – the film follows a new disease from Day 2 on as it infects the population, and scientists and doctors attempt to control and cure it. Soderbergh deftly avoids most of the genre’s pitfalls by keeping the film in a “you are there” approach that grounds the material, and will have most audiences reaching for the Purell when the film ends.

The Players:

Directed By: Steven Soderbergh
Written By: Scott Z. Burns
Starring: Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle
Original Music by: Cliff Martinez
Cinematography by: Peter Andrews (aka Steven Soderbergh)

The Plot:

Beth Emhoff (Paltrow) returns to Minnesota from a trip abroad with what appears to be a slight cold, though possibly just jet lag. The next day she’s having seizures and is hospitalized. It’s a huge shock to her husband Mitch (Damon), especially when she dies shortly thereafter. He’s immune, but his son and daughter are not. As the disease spreads the CDC reacts by sending in Dr. Erin Mears (Winslet) to investigate Beth’s death and they try to contain the outbreak, but between Beth’s stop in Chicago (to visit an old lover) to the others in Hong Kong who were around her, the disease quickly goes global. The government tries to both solve it – with the lead doctor being Dr. Ally Hextall (Ehle) – and contain it. But in the 21st century word can’t be contained, especially when people like Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law) write about it on the internet and hope to profit from it.

The Good:

Ensemble: One of the things that old school filmmakers knew about using a lot of stars in their films was that having familiar faces grounds you immediately in which location you’re at, regardless of where the last scene took place. Marion Cotillard’s character is in Asia, Jude Law’s in San Fransisco, Matt Damon’s in Minnesota – the film darts around the globe, but because the plot follows the disease you never feel lost, and all of the actors get a moment to shine. With all the heavy hitters in the cast, it’s surprising that Jennifer Ehle walks away with the movie. As one of the key doctors trying to figure out a cure, Ehle manages to be smart, confident and surprisingly sexy (especially for someone wearing a Tyvek suit for much of the film). Though Ehle’s been acting for a while now, this is that role. She’s going to be in a lot more shortly.
Follow the Disease: Though the film does develop its characters well enough, the film never tries to drum up too much added melodrama for the situation. There is some melodrama – especially with Damon’s Emhoff character, who has a family that isn’t safe and as the disease progresses has to worry about his daughter not only staying safe, but also the fact that she’s a tween girl who wants to live a normal life. That works – it humanizes the consequences – but often these films pile incident on incident (often there’s a couple about to get divorced, a love triangle, etc.). As such the film work like gangbusters because it functions more as a procedural.
Getting Under Your Skin: The film opens with a sequence where it shows people touching things, be it public locations, their faces, or a glass handed to them. Soderbergh does a brilliant job of setting the viewer on edge on how easy we treat most of the world, and how often people expose themselves to the possibility of germs. There’s just enough of that to make anyone freaked out.

The Bad:

Cleanliness: Though never as terrible as Traffic at its worst, there are some plot points that either go nowhere (the Cotillard section feels like a throwaway, though that’s the point), or goes for the hammer of obviousness. This may be a byproduct of this sort of storytelling, and for the most part the film does a good job of avoiding being cloying. Thankfully such intrusions are kept to a minimum, but they’re also the things that stick out later as why the film isn’t a masterpiece. But, hey, settling for being a really good film is good enough.

Overall:

This is Soderbergh at his best; Contagion is fascinating to watch. Though some might prefer a more horrific “what if” situation, the film communicates great ideas about how our society functions, and where it breaks down. And more than any recent picture, Contagion really captures the internet era (arguably the film is more about that than the disease), where people are texting their reactions to tragedy, and someone leaking word about a possible shutdown or blockade goes as viral as the virus itself.

Rating: 8.5/10

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

Kate Winslet And Family Escape Fire On Richard Branson’s Island

traviswoods — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:43:56 +0000

Whew—close call. Turns out that Kate Winslet and her children “escaped safely from an overnight fire that destroyed the Great House on billionaire Richard Branson’s private island in the British Virgin Islands” on Sunday night, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The eight-bedroom house held “twenty people, including the Oscar-winning actress, Branson’s mother, Eve, and his daughter, Holly.” Branson, mega-billionaire and awesome hair enthusiast, was staying nearby with his wife and son.

Heck of a way for Winslet and co. to wind up their family summer vacation.

Winslet was vacationing with her 10-year-old daughter, Mia, her 7-year-old son, Joe, and her on-and-off boyfriend, British model Louis Dowler. Winslet and husband Sam Mendes split up last year.

Branson lost an office, as well as “thousands” of pictures in the fire.

Further, Branson released a statement clarifying that “we had a really bad tropical storm with winds up to 90 miles per hour. A big lightning storm came around 4 a.m. and hit the house.”

Branson also stated that he is set to rebuild the house as soon as possible.

“We want to rebuild the house as soon as we can… We have a wonderful staff here and we want them to stay in work. We’ll all stay here for the time being. There’s a lot of damage and we won’t be able to stick it back together again right away. It was a beautiful house.”

What do you think of the Branson house disaster?

First Image from Roman Polanski’s Carnage

Damon Houx — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 21:13:00 +0000

Empire has the first look at Roman Polanski’s Carnage, which stars Kate Winslet, Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly and Christoph Waltz, and should be in theaters for Oscar season. The film is based on the play God of Carnage by Yasmina Reza, and it appears that Reza adapted it to screen with the help of Polanski.

The play concerns two married couples (Foster and Reilly, Winslet and Waltz) who have a dinner together to discuss the fight their children got into, but which turns into a night-long discussion and argument. Foster compared it to Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and that’s what the plot most reminds of off-hand.

Polanski has assembled a dream team of actors here, with only Reilly not having his own Oscar (since Foster has two, perhaps he could borrow one of her’s), though he has been nominated. This also reminds of his film Death and the Maiden, which was also based on a play, and also mainly set in one location. That isn’t one of his best works, but he managed to make it dynamic.

Carnage is Polanski’s follow-up to The Ghost Writer, which made a number of year-end lists, but was overshadowed by the director’s then-current legal entanglements. Polanski’s films will always be greeted with the director’s history a discussion point. And please go to Empire for additional behind the scenes pictures.

Are you excited for a new Roman Polanski film?

Kate Winslet Confirms Sam Mendes Still Directing Bond 23

Krystal Clark — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 20:33:59 +0000

In a weird round about way we’ve received confirmation that the next James Bond film is still going strong. Back in November is was announced that MGM planned to release Bond 23 in 2012, which puts the production on a pretty short time table. Next month will be 2011 so they need to get the ball rolling. Luckily we know that Daniel Craig is still on board with the franchise, but there were some doubts regarding whether or not Sam Mendes would stick to his directing commitment. Well, according to the mother of his children (Kate Winslet) he will.

While speaking to the Daily Mail, Winslet had this to say about Mendes’ upcoming travel plans.

“Sam is doing the next Bond film, all being well, and we’ll all be in England if that happens,” she said. “It’s such a massive commitment for him and it’s not fair for him to commute backwards and forwards to New York from London. It would be impossible. The children will be there with me.”

We’re all for Mendes directing the film and we hope this is true. He’s a great director and this is an iconic franchise. It will be interesting to see what he does with it.

Do you think they’ll be able to get the next Bond out by 2012?

Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, Join Polanski’s God of Carnage

Krystal Clark — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 16:54:34 +0000

Now that Roman Polanski’s legal troubles are no longer the topic of discussion, he’s continuing on with his career. The Oscar winning director has found four actors to star in his upcoming film God of Carnage. According to Deadline, he’s got his hooks into Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz, and Matt Dillon. That’s a cast of three Oscar winners and one nominee, someone’s keeping it highbrow.

God of Carnage is based on the Tony Award winning play of the same name by Yasmina Reza.

It centers on two couples meeting to resolve a fight that took place between their nine-year old boys. These two young boys were playing in the school playground when one of them hits the other on his mouth with a stick. But as destiny would have it, a peaceful meeting between the two parents quickly turns into a loveless 90 minute action sequence for all to see. The play is full of violence, pain, fear and despair. Efforts to alleviate the mood have been made by adding a few moments of funny comedy.

The original show ran for 452 performances on Broadway and starred James Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeff Daniels and Hope Davis. We hope that this will be a launching pad for Dillon’s career because after Crash, he’s starred in a string of sub-par movies. We’re not saying he’s the best actor in the world but we’ve seen worse, and he deserves better.

What do you think of the cast? Have you seen the play?

Additional Source: Reed Stickers

Kate Winslet in HBO’s Mildred Pierce Trailer

Krystal Clark — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:13:24 +0000

HBO has finally released the first trailer for thier upcoming miniseries Mildred Pierce. When you hear that name most of you think of the 1945 adaptation that starred Joan Crawford, but this remake features another Academy Award winner, Kate Winslet. The actress takes on the title role and goes head to head with Evan Rachel Wood in the feature directed by Todd Haynes. Check it out…

Mildred Pierce is based on the 1941 novel of the same name written by James M. Cain. It centers on a housewife and mother of two who breaks from her unfaithful husband and tries to support herself and the children during the Great Depression in the 1930s. The film co-stars Guy Pearce, and is scheduled to air during the spring of 2011 and will be broken up into 5 parts.

If you’ve never seen the original film or have no idea how Crawford played the character, here’s the trailer.

These are definitely two different takes on the novel. The basic premise is there but it looks like Haynes version will really explore all the dirty cracks, and crevices that might have been considered too risque for the original.

What do you think of the trailer for Mildred Pierce? Are you interested in watching the film?

Damon, Winslet, Law, Cotillard Join Soderbergh’s Contagion

Krystal Clark — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:38:23 +0000

Steven Soderbergh is currently gathering a group of acting “super friends” to star in his next feature film. No, we’re not talking about Knockout, or even the big screen bio-pic Liberace, we’re referring to Contagion. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, it’s because Soderbergh’s known for quietly putting together amazing films that no one ever hears about until he’s ready for them to.

According to The Playlist, Contagion will feature four noted Oscar nominees and winners with Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, and Jude Law rounding out the bunch. All the actors mentioned have deals being negotiated to star in the film that’s described as an action thriller. The story will center on the “outbreak of a deadly virus,” and will have a multi-strand storyline similar to Traffic.

The script for Contagion has been written by Scott Z. Burns, who previously penned The Informant! and The Bourne Ultimatum. Obviously, whatever he wrote in the film’s screenplay delivers, because it has a respectable group of actors on board ready to bring it to life. As for the much talked about Liberace, it will go into production in 2011 after filming on Contagion has wrapped.

Soderbergh is such a low key director but he always manages to attract top notch talent when it comes to his films. We’ll let you know more about the cast and story of Contagion as soon as the info becomes available.

What do you think about the cast of Contagion? Who else do you think would fit into this group?

Kate Winslet To Star In Mildred Pierce Remake

Kara — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 21:00:59 +0000

According to the LA Times, Kate Winslet has taken on the lead role in the remake of Mildred Pierce, a film most remembered for starring Joan Crawford and those infamous eyebrows. This time around, it will be a miniseries event as opposed to a single feature. It hasn’t been picked up by anybody at the moment, but HBO is interested in the project. The adaptation is to be lead by Todd Haynes ( I’m Not There), who will also direct the project.

Best of the Week: Watchmen Review, The Reader, Kate Winslet…

Mali Elfman — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 04:00:38 +0000

Check out the ten most popular stories from this week on ScreenCrave below…

The Academy Award Awards

Andrew Payne — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 20:00:17 +0000

Okay, so Hollywood’s best and brightest are now at home polishing their statuettes and basking in the afterglow of being appreciated. But what about the show itself? We can’t really go without honoring the best and worst of the actual awards can we?

Here are the First Annual Academy Award Awards…

Worst Pre-Show Moment: When Jess Cagle, the managing editor for Entertainment Weekly, asked Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow and Leslie Man who they would save if there were in Earthquake tonight. A student editor at a high school TV station would have ridiculed a reporter for asking a question that inane. Runner-Up: 21-Year-Old Zac Efron referring to 18-year-old Dev Patel as “A Great Kid”. Who does he think he is? Jack Nicholson? OR… When Jess Cagle didn’t seem to know who Sarah Jessica Parker’s date was. Ummmm, that’s Matthew Broderick.

Best Pre-Show Moment: When Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt ran from Tim Gunn like he was carrying a flesh-eating virus. Whatever happened to Chris Connelly on the pre-show? Runner-Up: When it ended.

Best Opening Number Moment: When Hugh Jackman absolutely ripped Benjamin Button to shreds. Exactly. Why did nobody seem to care that he was aging backwards? Runner-Up: Anne Hathaway‘s guest appearance.

Worst Opening Number Moment: When Hugh Jackman started singing directly to people in the audience. That was really awkward. As was having the stage so low. Runner-Up: All the “recession” sets. Did it really like look like they were cheap? Just lame.

Worst Idea from the New Producers: Having five actors come out and individually sing the praises of each nominee. Those moments were absolutely interminable and added nothing to the show except more awkwardness. Runner-Up: The “this is the way a movie gets made” theme idea. Very very cheesy.

Best Idea from the New Producers: The theme may have been stupid but the briskly paced presentation of the smaller categories was welcome. If they hadn’t taken fifteen minutes to present each Acting category the show would have finished in under three hours. Runner-Up: The “This year in. . .” clip montages.

Funniest Moment: Best Animated Short winner Kunio Kato whipping out a Styx tribute by closing his speech with “Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto”. Runner-Up: Tina Fey + Steve Martin = Comic Gold. Why not have them co-host next year?

Least-Funny Joke: Pretty much anything Hugh Jackman said or sang. He was brilliant on the Tonys but they really mis-used him at the Oscars. Runner-Up: Cuba Gooding, Jr.’s faux-yelling at Robert Downey Jr. about stealing roles from “the brothers”. Shouldn’t Cuba be yelling at his agent for bringing him Snow Dogs after he won an Oscar?

Best Unintentional Comedy: Having Christopher Walken sing the praises of Michael Shannon. Pretty sure he’s his illegitimate son. Runner-Up: Anthony Dod Mantle’s hair doing its best Javier Bardem in No Country for Old Men impression.

Biggest Opportunity Missed for Unintenional Comedy: Showing mega-bomb Delgo during The Year in Animation montage. Runner-Up: Having Jennifer Aniston say anything positive about Angelina Jolie’s Kung Fu Panda.

Worst Clip/Montage/Musical Number: The ridiculous Best Song montage. The way the producers decided to present that wasn’t just a bad idea, it was insulting to the songs and artists. Imagine if Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova would have been forced to sing 90 seconds of “Falling Slowly” in the midst of that mess. It almost makes you wonder if Bruce Springsteen and Clint Eastwood actually got enough votes for a nomination but the producers insisted The Academy limit the shortlist to three because their haunting and spare songs wouldn’t have fit with the awful little production number they had planned. Kudos to Peter Gabriel for sitting it out, he’s the only who one who retained his dignity following that awful slap in the face of music. Runner-Up: “The Musical is Back!” dance number. Long, boring, and pointless.

Best Clip/Montage/Musical Number: Judd Apatow’s short featuring James Franco and Seth Rogen discussing the year in Comedy. Actually a better movie than Pineapple Express. Runner-Up: The brisk and classy way they presented the Best Original Score nominees. It really seemed like a return of Debbie Allen’s interpretive dance numbers was a possibility for a second.

Death Applause Award Winner: Paul Newman, as expected. Runner-Up: Sydney Pollack

Death Applause Award Loser: Queen Latifah. Do we really need a live singer to go with the montage? How about just the orchestra?

Best Acceptance Speech: Best Sound Editing Winner Resul Pookutty’s classy tribute to his homeland of India. Runner-Up: Heath Ledger’s family.

Worst Acceptance Speech: We all love ya, Kate, but if you say the word Godesses one more time, you’re barred from the Academy Awards forever. Runner-Up: Donald Graham Burt stealing the entire 45 seconds from Victor J. Zolfo after their Best Art Direction win. Share the love, man.

Biggest Upset: Without question it is Departures beating both The Class and Waltz with Bashir for Best Foreign Language Film. It would have been less surprising if Milk had won Best Picture. Runner-Up: Smile Pinki beating Martin Luther King doc Witness for Best Documentary Short Subject.

Full List of 2009 Oscar Winners

Mali Elfman — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:30:56 +0000

It’s been quite an award show. We twittered the Oscars live from inside the Kodak theater. We posted all the best moments on the red carpet and the big winners of the night. Just in case you were looking for a full list of all the nominees and all the winners, here it is!

*Winners are bolded*

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella – Frost / Nixon
Sean Penn – Milk
Brad Pitt – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler

ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Josh Brolin – Milk
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Phillip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Michael Shannon – Revolutionary Road

ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie – Changeling
Melissa Leo – Frozen
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet - The Reader

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
Amy Adams – Doubt
Penelope Cruz – Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Taraji P. Henson – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler

ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

DIRECTING
Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry – The Reader
Gus Van Sant – Milk
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost / Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Doubt
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
Frozen River
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Milk
Wall-E

MUSIC (SCORE)
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Defiance
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E

MUSIC (SONG)
“Down to Earth” – Wall-E (Peter Gabriel)
“Jai Ho” – Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman)
“O Saya” – Slumdog Millionaire (A.R. Rahman & Maya Arulpragasam)

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

DOCUMENTARY SHORT SUBJECT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness – From the Balcony of Room 306

SHORT FILM (ANIMATED)
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory – Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

SHORT FILM (LIVE ACTION)
Auf der Streke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
Der Bader Meinhof Komplex
The Class
Departures
Revanche
Waltz with Bashir

ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

FILM EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost / Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
Wall-E
Wanted

VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Iron Man
The Dark Knight

OSCARS: Best Leading Actor/Actress

JC — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 05:25:40 +0000

This year’s categories for Best Actor and Actress are, without a doubt, comprised of Hollywood’s elite. Despite predictions, with such an outstanding group of artists – how do you decide who’s performance merits the award every actor dreams of?

Kate Winslet, Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, Melissa Leo, and Angelina Jolie represent some of the most powerful women in the film industry. But with an incredibly successful year starring in both Revolutionary Road AND The Reader, from her bathroom mirror with a shampoo bottle in place of a golden statue, to the stage at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles…

The MUCH deserved Oscars goes to: Kate Winslet!

And of course, our fierce group of leading men – Sean Penn, Mickey Rourke, Frank Langella, Brad Pitt, and Richard Jenkins.

It’s hard to believe that the same man who played incredibly masculine, dramatic roles in films like Dead Man Walking, Mystic River, and 21 Grams could portray Harvey Milk with such honesty – with such commitment. Despite the all the media hype towards The Wrestler’s Mickey Rourke…

The Oscar goes to: Sean Penn!

ScreenCrave.com » Kate Winslet

Contagion: Movie Review

The Players:

The Plot:

The Good:

The Bad:

Overall:

Rating: 8.5/10

Photo Gallery:

Trailer:

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