There are several ways one can go about making an “epidemic thriller” like “Contagion.” The 1995 thriller “Outbreak” starring Dustin Hoffman served as a race against time; last year’s “Never Let Me Go” pulled at our heartstrings through the emotional ride of the characters; the comedic “Zombieland” had its hilarious moments and ridiculously gory scenes. Fortunately for us in the year 2011, inventive director Steven Soderbergh brings us “Contagion.”

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“Contagion” begins on day two of the outbreak, where we see several people in cities across the globe fighting a mysterious disease that first comes across as the common cold or flu. The colossal cast illustrates how several health organizations around the world respond to the deadly virus, spreading just as quickly as the panic. From a sickly Minnesota wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her outraged husband (Matt Damon), the epidemic spreads to cities like Chicago, Boston, Minneapolis, London, and Tokyo, which shows just how fast this virus could potentially wipe out the whole planet. The team consists of a CDC administrator (Laurence Fishburne), a scientist (Jennifer Ehle), a doctor (Elliot Gould), a researcher (Katie Winslet), and a military man (Bryan Cranston) who must all work together to keep the virus contained and to find a cure. The World Health Organization sends an epidemiologist (Marion Cotillard) to Hong Kong in hopes of figuring out where the source started. While all these higher ops are trying to figure out this ever-spreading problem, citizens must hide in their homes and fend for their lives. (more…)

For a storyteller to fully satisfy an audience after promising to bring to life a particular concept, they must include every detail about that concept the audience is already familiar with, remind them of a few things they forgot, and then find a way to wrap all of that into a logical and clever story that touches on those familiar and unfamiliar beats while constantly surprising with the execution. That’s a tall enough order when Pixar is bringing toys to life. With “Inception,” writer/director Christopher Nolan brilliantly pulls this off in previously unconquered territory.

Nolan’s mind-melting triumph is without a doubt the most psychologically ambitious film I’ve ever seen. Previous cinematic attempts to grab hold of and realize the concept of consciously entering the world of dreams have usually focused on the visual (Hitchcock’s “Spellbound”), stuck to very simple rules (“Nightmare on Elm Street”), or fizzled out entirely (‘Dreamscape”) when the boundaries beyond simplicity were nudged. The idea of fully and successfully exploiting a psychological dimension where there are no rules seemed futile. Until now. Leave it to the director of “Memento,” a brilliant neo-noir Rubik’s Cube of a mystery audaciously told backwards, to be the first to successfully crack this genre.

What does the average person know about dreams? Among other things, we know that there can be dreams within dreams within dreams. We know time has no meaning, that we wake before we die or as we fall, and that oftentimes what’s happening, for good or bad, is a reflection of our subconscious fears, desires, and knowledge. Without giving any of the story away, Nolan takes these universally familiar ideas (and many others) and then uses a familiar framing device — The Last Big Heist Before I Get Out — to explore the living hell out of them. (more…)

I think we were all surprised and disappointed when Michael Mann’s $100 million ode to the midwestern bank robbers of the 1930s, Public Enemies, misfired at the box office, A Nightmare on Elm Street or no Donnie Brasco. After all, Captain Jack Sparrow meets Edith Piaf in Capone-era Chicago directed by the man who put De Niro and Pacino together for the first time at Kate Mantelini’s on Wilshire: what’s not to like?

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Many theories have been offered as to why the public made b.o. enemies of John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd, but the real reason, I think, has yet to be articulated.  And it’s this: Mann, perhaps our greatest living director, taught his cast how to do everything – fight, handle firearms, rob banks, ogle Marion Cotillard… (more…)

A great musical can make an audience’s spirit soar and get their feet tapping right in the theater, creating fantastical memories that can last a lifetime. With no effort at all, most people can conjure up memories of Gene Kelly dancing with an umbrella in “Singing in the Rain,” of Julie Andrews running through mountain fields at the beginning of “The Sound of Music,” or Frank Sinatra and Kelly literally bringing New York City traffic to a halt while dancing in the streets for “On the Town.”

Sadly, the new musical “Nine” – despite having a stellar cast of multiple Oscar winners including Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Penelope Cruz and Nicole Kidman – won’t be burning itself into film fans’ collective memory. Despite an $80 million budget, spectacular Italian scenery and zestily performed choreography (including an unbelievably sexy number by Cruz – ok, that one might stick in the brain), the film is packed with characters, situations and song topics that are unrelatable to most people and often downright unlikable. (more…)

A gaggle of concerned musicians has banded together to warn the world about global warming.

Huh? Is the world getting warmer? I had no idea. You would think the media, or the movie industry or any other information outlet for that matter would have told us about it by now.

Thank goodness Duran Duran and the Scorpions are here to set the record straight.

Yes, those ’80s rockers, along with actress and certified Truther Marion Cotillard, Youssou N’dour, Bob Geldorf, Khalil Fong and South African archbishop Desmond Tutu have cut a new tune available for free soon. (more…)

Hollywood execs seem to be waking up to the power of women at America’s multiplexes. The success of He’s Just Not That Into You (Warner Bros) and this weekend’s Confessions of a Shopaholic (Disney) can be traced to Meryl Streep’s witty riff on the tyrannical Anna Wintour in The Devil Wears Prada in the summer of 2006. Prada opened to a $27.5M weekend on its way to a $124.75M domestic cume (Streep also earned an Oscar nomination).

Then in July of 2007, New Line grabbed an almost identical $27.47M with the opening weekend of the female-skewing Hairspray, translating to $118.87M domestic. Also Enchanted, starring Amy Adams, was a hit for Disney over the holidays reaching $127.8M domestic.

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