Contagion

After seeing Contagion today, I thought long and hard about the peanuts sitting in a bowl on the bar next to my drink. This new film directed by Steven Soderbergh, and written by Scott Z. Burns is described as an action thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly virus and a team of doctors contracted by the CDC (Center for Disease Control) to deal with the outbreak. If you think that this film might remind you of the 1995 film called Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman, Kevin Spacey, Renee Russo, and  Morgan Freeman – you’d be correct.

I think the term action thriller is a little misleading. There’s not really a lot of action and it isn’t really a thrill ride either. What it really is a horror story that could become true tomorrow or at any other time in the future. Only in this horror story, the monsters aren’t visible.

In fact, there already have been plagues, and diseases that have spread rapidly. The horror is that it can come at any time, and in anyplace on the globe. That is what is so frightening.

The film tells us that an average person touches their own face 2 or 3 times a minute all day. That’s 2-3 thousand times a day. Every day. The film tells us that every day contacts with other people like shaking hands, picking up a glass, handling a door knob, or a pole on a subway train or a bus, or even handing someone a file, or money, or a credit card then receiving it back might result in the transmittal of a disease.

Gwyneth Paltro as Beth Emhoff calling a friend in Chicago. She's just got off the plane from HK.

The film opens at Day 2. Someone we know (the actress – not the character) has contracted the disease. She’s unaware – but we know. Part of the reason is that this film’s title is Contagion, and she looks and acts sick, and the other reason we know is that the blasted trailer told us as much. This is Beth Emhoff played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Within a few minutes of film time, she’s weakened, collapsed, rushed to a hospital, then dies.

Country Strong

Both Season of the Witch and Country Strong were opening at the local cine-plex on Friday the 7th. Should I go see a film about a 14th century witch or a 21st Century country singer?  Medieval mayhem or country music? Did I want to feel scared or feel good? Well it wasn’t that difficult of a decision to have to make.

Gwyneth Paltrow plays Kelly Canter – the country singer. While she does her own crooning – her voice is pretty darned good as is some of the music, the story seems old and familiar. Once you’ve attained stardom in country music, you’re on a road faced with some choices; diminished ability due to drinks or drugs, followed by death or divorce… or rehab and redemption. For sure, this doesn’t happen to everyone  in the real world of the music industry, but nearly always happens in the movies about the music industry.

Directed by Shana Feste, this is the latest iteration of the genre (the troubled singer/musician) that goes all the way back to the original A Star is Born from the 30’s with the Judy Garland remake in the 50’s and the Barbra Streisand remake in the 70’s, The Coal Miner’s Daughter, Sweet Dreams, Tender Mercies, and as recently as last year – Crazy Heart. Someone is always getting knocked down but not out. They go through a rehab, then they go back out on tour to the delirious delight of their fans. But even if these stories have become trite, or a cliché, or just some hackneyed tripe, you can still enjoy the music, and then enjoy the redemption second-hand. If the characters are well written, then you might even have a hit on your hands.