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: Legion

Legion stars Paul Bettany (Da Vinci Code) as Michael, an archangel whose wings where clipped when he didn't want to take part in the apocalypse that was about to happen since God has lost faith in mankind. He falls into earth and goes on a quest to protect a unborn baby carried by Charlie (Adrianne Palicki) who works in a small roadside diner own by Bob (Dennis Quaid). As the night falls, they had to barricade the diner against possessed humans. As the apocalypse start, Michael must protect the unborn baby and convinced God to change his mind and give humanity a second chance.

I wasn't really impressed with this movie. The storyline was easy to follow, but hardly convincing since its another one of those apocalyptic movie that has been coming out for the last few years. The cast did a good job of portraying their roles though . The action sequence were interesting especially the battle between Michael and Gabriel in the diner. But angels with bulletproof metal wings? If you are a action freak, then this movie is for you. Other than that, you might just want to wait for the DVD to come out.

Legion's official website

Movie Review: Zombieland

Zombieland is a fictitious story where a virus was spread in the United States turning every human into zombies. It stars Jesse Eisenberg as a college kid, Columbus,  who didn’t get infected because of his phobia with everything. As he tries to get back to his hometown to see if his parents are still alive, he meets three other survivors, Tallahassee (played by Woody Harrelson) a gun-toting thrill seeker who hates zombies and sisters Wichita and Little Rock (played by Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin).  Together, they journeyed across United States trying to enjoy what’s remaining of the country while trying to fend off zombies who are after them.

The premise of this movie – humans turn into flesh eating zombies – is too familiar (i.e. 28 Days later, Resident Evil). But the movie has a twist – it’s a comedy rather than the usual thriller – sci-fi – gory genre.  The actors played their roles pretty well.  You will surely laugh even though on the scenes where the characters would slaughter the zombies. And would make you wonder if what they did was possible (i.e. Woody Harrelson character inside a carnival booth warding off at least 50 or so zombies and killing all). But I should say that the movie got my attention alright and had just enough laughs to make you want to stay on your sit and watch the entire movie.