Movie Review: Contagion

Contagion, a thriller about a deadly disease that rapidly spread across the globe being transmitted through fomite transmission and killed millions in a matter of days. As the disease spread epidemically, a group of international doctors races to find a cure and control the paranoia that was spreading faster than the virus.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh  (Erin Brockovich, Ocean's Eleven), the American thriller stars an ensemble cast led by Matt Damon as Mitch Emhoff, a Minneapolis man who's wife Beth (played by Gwyneth Paltrow) returned from a business trip from Hong Kong and dies but not before spreading the unknown disease along the way and even killing her son, Mitch. Meanwhile, deaths were being recorded from Asia to Europe and the World Health Organization sent Dr. Leonora Orantes (Marion Cotillard), an epidemiologist to Hong Kong to find out where the sickness originated. Meanwhile, Dr. Ellise Cheever (Laurence Fishburne) of the CDC sent Dr. Erin Mears (Kate Winslet), an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer to Minneapolis to begin their own investigation as CDC scientist Dr. Ally Hextall (Jennifer Ehle) figures out a vaccine before the disease spreads and kills more.

The movie is quite interesting but I expected more ump to the movie. The story line was easy to follow even though the movie was quite slow and could almost not be considered as a thriller. The plot lines were more involved with conspiracies ranging from biological warfare to government conspiring with pharmaceutical companies (sub-plot with Jude Law as Alan Krumwiede, a freelance journalist). Acting was excellent across the board and cinematography was amazing. But the film just did not even got near the level of expectation I had.

"The average person touches their face three to five times every waking minute... " 

Movie Review: Inception

Inception stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Dominic "Dom" Cobb, a professional thief that steals secrets from within dreams, a method based on sedation. He works with Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) as they try to steal company secrets from Saito (Ken Watanabe). But Saito knew what was happening and thus they failed the mission. But Saito decided to up the offer to Dom. He would be able to get back to the United States if he can successfully plant an idea on Robert Fisher's (Cillian Murphy) mind to break up his dad's company when he takes over. This is also known as Inception. The objective is to prevent the business empire that Maurice Fischer (Pete Postlethwaite) created from monopolizing the energy business. He then started hiring new team members. He hired Adriadne (Ellen Page) as the architect, to create the layout and buildings of dreams. Then seek out Eames (Tom Hardy) to become the forger who can shift identities inside dreams. And Yusuf (Dileep Rao), a chemist who can concoct a sedative strong enough for them to penetrate several layers of dreams. Together, they set out to accomplished the mission, fighting their way through obstacles and a saboteur Mal (Marion Cotillard) who is Dom's wife.

This movie is quite interesting and intriguing - a forte of director Christopher Nolan. You have to really watch the movie from the start till the end or else who will be lost in the maze of the movie. Leo was again at his best and would surely be nominated for an award. Even his co-actors where great - Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellan Page - played their roles really well. The special effects were unbelievable and just out of this world for a movie not billed as a real sci-fi. Overall, Inception will have your thinking until you leave the movie house. Was it a dream or reality?

Inception's website