"Contagion" is a thriller which moves past you at a feverish pace…
After returning home from a business trip to Hong Kong, a married woman develops a rapidly worsening cold that presents as the flu. Within a few days that woman, Beth Emhoff, is dead and her 6-year old son is suffering from the same symptoms. Around the world, a handful of similar deaths have been reported and many more people are sick. The Center for Disease Control (“CDC”) are monitoring the situation and by Day 4, more have died, thousands are sick, and by the end of a week’s time, the infected are numbering millions, the deaths are escalating at an alarming rate and countries around the world and numerous locations within the United States have reported outbreaks of distinct proportions.
This is the landscape that Steven Soderbergh’s “Contagion” exists in and the landscape is a frightening one to consider. As Soderbergh weaves in and out of a substantial number of characters and storylines, you simply cannot help but start to wonder in your own mind how likely a scenario “Contagion” is presenting. And as riveted as you may be, you certainly do not want to cough, sneeze, or sniffle. Or share anything. Or touch anyone. Read more on Contagion (***)…
Categories: Film Reviews Tags: 2011 releases, Contagion, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Science Fiction, Steven Soderbergh, Suspense
 Many of the best characters in movie history lived (and sometimes died) by a code. The idea of the character driven by a moral standing is an old one in Hollywood, but one that maybe hasn’t received the attention of late that it deserves. Director Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling have changed that with the incredible film that is ‘Drive’. It’s far more a character study than a “car” or action movie (and I can make the case that it’s actually in many ways a superhero original story of sorts), though those looking for an adrenaline rush will surely get it each time Driver erupts in violence. The film is absolutely beautiful, both in its quiet moments and in the times when blood is shed. I don’t know that I’ve seen a more complete and satisfying film yet in 2011. Refn easily does the best directing work of his career and the year, and with an iconic turn by Gosling and award worthy supporting performances by Albert Brooks and Bryan Cranston, not to mention a subtle but moving job by Carey Mulligan, this flick is something truly special. It may even be the best film of the year.
Read more on Drive (****)…
I hope you are ready for this seasons TV lineup. There are over 100 TV shows airing this year; some new and some returning. To help you keep track of this season TV shows, I have compiled a list of shows that will be airing. New shows will have an * next to it.
Read more on Fall TV Preview: Friday Nights…
 If you’re an Oscar-watcher, there is no film festival more important than TIFF. Sure, Cannes may be more prestigious, but for films wanting to generate buzz for the Academy Awards, it’s all about Toronto. Hollywood studios love to premiere their award contenders at Toronto because it’s relatively cheap, non-competitive and there are a lot of attendees. For all intents and purposes this festival puts the ball in play and basically starts the Oscar season.
Well, it’s not exactly accurate to say that the festival is “non-competitive.” While there are no juries and no traditional awards given per se, the Toronto’s attendees rate each film they see. The highest rated at the end of the festival gets arguably the biggest single boost of the season before the precursor awards: The People’s Choice Award. Make no mistake, the film that wins this award at the end of the festival – barring some out-of-left-field bizarre choice – automatically becomes a force to be reckoned with for the gold. Since the start of the new millennium, four People’s Choice winners have been nominated for Best Picture, two have won the top prize, and all but two have had some sort of presence at the Academy Awards. Last year’s champ? The King’s Speech.
Read more on The Kick-Off: Toronto International Film Festival…
“Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark” is too reserved to scare much of anything or anyone.
It is a rite of passage as a child. Conquering the unsettling calm of the dark, the bumps in the night, the noises that could or could not be monsters in your room, we all have experienced those fears. Part of the reason scary movies have such long-lasting appeal is that there is a queasy comfort in being scared…or perhaps, more accurately, the anticipation we all feel as kids or adults, right before being scared. This may simply exist as an element of human nature because everyone I know, at one time or another, has faced the uncertainty of what’s around that corner, behind that door, or underneath the bed. And of course there is a satiating comfort in the realization that no, in fact, nothing was ever there at all. We all seem to relish that emotional journey of anxiety to fear to the reveal to the calming peace of mind that everything is okay. Read more on Don’t Be Afraid Of The Dark (**)…
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