Contagion

[polkablues]

Matt Damon is a contagion.

I'd catch that.




EDIT: Fucking new page.

[socketlevel]

better to be first on a new one than last on an old one.

[matt35mm]

Saw it in IMAX.

My Full Review Here

The gist:

"It's an interesting and rigorously intellectual take on the kind of viral epidemic that seems entirely plausible, if not inevitable. There are parts of it that almost begin to feel like a documentary, tracing how we responded to this horrible thing. When the film ended, I felt like I wasn't really left with much, but while it's playing, it's compelling stuff."

[Myxo]

Saw this tonight. I really liked the photography. But it's a Soderbergh movie so it better be bold. Lots of primary color filter use at good times, etc.

I couldn't get myself to stop thinking about every other zombie movie I've ever seen though. It needed to stand out. Since it's not a survival-horror flick, what's the point here? That something like this could happen one day, our government will take too long to respond and somebody will make millions off a vaccine? Doesn't anyone rational already realize that? Contagion feels like it's trying to warn us about something that we're already aware is a distinct possibility. It's like warning a skydiver that if he/she keeps it up, one day that parachute may not open.

Spielberg mentioned on the "Eyes Wide Shut" bonus features that he and Kubrick used to discuss the merit of making certain pictures. Paraphrased, Kubrick would ask him something like, "Gee, that sounds kind of boring. How can you make it more interesting?" Or, "Why do you want to make this picture?" That thought ran through my head watching Contagion. It just never really takes off. It wants to be an ensemble film of sorts but I never felt much of a connection to any of the characters. I rarely say this but it honestly could have and maybe should have been a half hour longer. You just don't make a movie like this and try to cram all of your ideas into 110 minutes unless a studio demanded cuts or something like that.

Overall though? I'd say C+ with a B- not out of the question. Solid to good movie. Very pretty. But you could rent it and not feel bad.

[samsong]

amounts to absolutely nothing.  some decent pacing to start and i was pretty taken aback by the scale of some of this, mostly because it looks like it was shot and edited within a week.  it takes a decent enough premise and a promising beginning and dulls the shit out of it.  the stunt casting here is jarring and mostly silly.  haven't been lulled into such apathy or boredom in a while.  lots of self-congratulatory politicizing and a half-assed attempt at the hokey humanism of early sci-fi/disaster movies.  an entirely useless movie.

i haven't made it out to the movies in a long time so seeing this and drive in the same day was a nice run between two ends of the spectrum.  this one reaffirmed my withdrawal of interest in movies and the other was a much needed reminder of why i fell in love with movies in the first place.  (as the cliche goes.)

[Pubrick]

Called it.

[socketlevel]

I liked it.

I don't think he used a single production light in the entire movie.

[JG]

I thought it was FINE, but my biggest gripe was actually how it looked. Would it make sense/mean anything to anyone if I said that it felt like a movie shot on the RED? Is that just in my head?

[socketlevel]

yep, that's what i was saying. it's under lit. with the red, if you're not shooting exteriors you gotta light the shit outta it to get rid of that digital mud.

[squints]

I thought it was FINE, but my biggest gripe was actually how it looked. Would it make sense/mean anything to anyone if I said that it felt like a movie shot on the RED? Is that just in my head?

it was shot on the RED.

http://www.red.com/experience

[JG]

Yea, I know.

[socketlevel]

red's gotta release the epic for everyone other than peter jackson and all those other hollywood folks. I think soderberg should think about doing some scenes with HDR on the epic. I really enjoy his aesthetic however some of the scenes in contagion really pushed the darks. if he had two exposures to deal with, he could really find a happy medium and get rid of some of the muddy visuals. I remember seeing the same thing in the informant. I'm sure the only production light they used in contagion was a kino for fill. It's great to think you can make a movie like that, but the red isn't quite up to snuff to really pull it off.

I know Aesthetic is subjective, and I don't mean to spark the Michael Mann debate again but the almost dogma 95 way soderberg is approaching lighting recently could be tweaked.

[pete]

I'm pretty sure of stevie wanted to get clean blacks, he COULD GET CLEAN BLACKS, from whatever camera he wanted to work from.

[socketlevel]

yes but that involves lights. If the trade off is clean blacks over the minimal look, it seems he wants minimal these days. I don't doubt his ability.

[SiliasRuby]

This fucking freaked me out and makes me want to finish my medical insurance forms. but in all seriousness this scared the shit of me. I know I have a knee jerk emotional reaction to most movies but gosh darn it, I might have nightmares tonight again. The cast that they got for this is superb as usual. Soderbergh pulls out all the stops in this film and had my heart racing. I understand some of the detractors and complaints from this film but I usually watch films for the cathartic experience and not just for what kind of film stock the film used.