Monday, September 26, 2011

Contagion by Steven Gonzales



Contagion seemed to be a movie of epic proportions when I first saw the commercials on television. And it proved to be just that.

The movie follows in the footsteps of viral related movies of the past. The virus was not one that would ultimately turns its victims into the brain hungry Undead that we all love and adore, but a virus of absolute and unavoidable death.

The movie started out absolutely confusing because of its use of chronologically timed events, but in time it became more intriguing and caused me to worry less about how the virus started, but instead to become more focused on the people dropping like flies. No matter how annoying the people who sat behind us may have been, it was a very well explained movie and easy to follow.

Now, let me begin to go on about how devastating and amazing effects of the killer virus. The story follows after Matt Damon’s wife and stepson die suddenly around the same time that a video of a man, suddenly dropping to the floor of a bus and seizing before he died suddenly dropping to the floor of a bus and seizing before he died shortly afterwards, that had gone viral (no pun intended). I found Damon’s intense denial of their deaths to be quite humorous and extremely disturbing. I thoroughly expected him to cry like a baby after he learned about the deaths of his wife and stepson.

The autopsy of Damon’s wife was one of the more interesting parts of the movie because it raised several questions but it also showed how horrible the virus had become. The virus had an apparent ability to inflame and dematerialize the lining of the brain which caused a total homeostatic meltdown of the human body, destroying the lungs and brain which shut off all ability to live. The most notable effects of the virus are displayed by the speed at which it reproduces and the sheer number of deaths that it is responsible for. So many people are killed in fact, that one northern state completely runs out of body bags. It becomes a viral holocaust.

What the movie lacked in my opinion, was chaos. There was a considerable amount of destruction around the world, yet there wasn’t as much as one would imagine considering that a plague of death is roaming around every corner. There was indeed people roaming the streets killing, looting and breaking into buildings to obtain food and supplies. And as people would expect, the government shut down major cities and quarantined people and reserved supplies for the highest bidders, causing certain people to speak out against government officials and create mass propaganda.

Overall, the movie was how I expected it to be, and it was good. Matt Damon served a very small role in this movie however, and I believe that human beings would go far more insane than the movie portrayed. As well as the fact that the movie didn’t display enough infected cities to prove how devastating or how fast the virus was. I still found the movie to be very good and recommend that everyone go and see it.


B-

This review was written by Steven Gonzales, a correspondent for Makenzie's Movie Reviews

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Contagion


I am not much of a germaphob, but from the time this movie started until I finally started typing my review I had applied a generous amount of Germ-X to my hands five times and counting.

So, where do I begin? Well it is obvious that this is a film about a mysterious virus that begins to take thousands upon thousands of victims world wide, and there appears to be no known cure to stop it. Mass hysteria sparks fear into people all over the planet, and all the inflicted people all suffer the same symptoms but from where it originated is annoymous.

One thing that I particularly liked about this film is that from the get-go, the 'contagion' had already began. You didn't know how it was spreading, how people were susceptible to it, and from where it is was coming from. The theme of fear was very heavy and happened very early on. Like, Gwenyth Paltow dies within the first ten minutes. That really surprised me that people were going to start dying that fast! At first I was a little skeptical that they had done that too quickly, back after watching the entire movie it is self-evident and needed.
Also, speaking of Paltrow's death, her husband (Damon) didn't seem too upset, in some ways. He just seemed really mad and didn't show emotinal anguish. I was expecting tears and weeping when he discovered that his wife and step-son had mysteriously perished, but it was just really anger. So I wanted to see a little more reaction out of that. It is seen later on, but not initially.

The acting was pretty good. Damon was alright, Gwenyth Paltrow was great for the short amount of time she was on the screen; I think Kate Winslet did a fantastic job as the doctor driven by her goal to find a cure for the virus that she allowed herself to be vulnerable. Laurence Fishburne was also very good as the agent who worked alongside Winslet. Jude Law was also fair in the film, and overall, the acting was decent; I think it was a great cast selection, though most of them I would have never imagined in a science thriller sucha as this, so I found it slighlty ironic!

I do like how they showed the chronological order of how the virus all began and the cycle that followed. That was really good! It really showed in detail just show quickly the virus could spread, and I really liked the very end....which if you are curious you must go to the movie and see for yourself.

What I really wanted to see out of this movie was the fear of the virus, and the effects it had on people. This area was met partially. I just wanted to see more of the mass hysteria and more of the viral spreading; sure, I know it spread throught the whole world, but it never presented that evidence. It mainly focused on 4 or 5 major cities where the contagion was believed to be harboring and passed, but if it was infecting millions of people I wanted to see it. So I think a portion of the film was lacking in some ways. I wanted to see more. Yes, it did show some ruckess and chaos, but not what I was picturing in my mind.
I think the final destruction of the virus died out too fast; yes, it did take more than a year to finally find a cure, but I feel the contagion dwindled too quickly. I wanted to see it linger perhaps a bit longer or something. What I am really trying to say is....SHOW MORE OF THE GERM!!!

The movie just appeared to be lacking in some ways; there seemed to holes that needed to be filled. But on the contrary, the other portions of the movie were met excellently, such as the scientists working to acutally find out what this virus really was. I think that was explained pretty well. I never was confused throughout the movie, so they did a good job of explaining in full detail.

Overall, it is a good movie; I would recommend it to virtually anyone who isn't a germaphob, and you can decide for yourself. There wasn't anything astronomically phenomenal about this film, and at the same time I wouldn't mind going to see it again. It falls right in between of the two categories. So in the end, I feel they could have made some slight adjustments to enhance and improve the movie, but for what they presented I was impressed. Now I am going to go wash my hands......

B

Sunday, September 11, 2011

Cloverfield


I never really had intentions to review this film, since I had only heard it a few times and had absolutely no idea about what this movie was about. However attending a friend's birthday party and this was the film of choice, I sat back in my chair and tried to watch attentively. I said tried because it was slightly hard to hear over the mingled voices and the extremely boisterous voice of my friend Gonzo shouting out the movie's plot =D. Nevertheless, I was indeed able to watch the movie, with a little help now and then from my friend Troy giving me the insight as to what was going on when I couldn't hear (lol). So I will cease my aimless rambling and begin my review.

At first, I was a little confused about the film being all from a video camera and it being a documentary. The beginning was a little slow, I have to say but it picked up tempo as the film progressed. After a while, I began to enjoy the first-hand encounter side and thought it made the movie interesting. It produced another side to the movie that I don't think a regular set film could produce. It gave the illusion that you were experiencing the horror right along with them. However, I would be lying if I said it didn't make me dizzy a few times :).

It would be an understatement to say the film was intense. I was on the edge of my seat from the time that the "earthquake" had happened at the party. It was suspenseful, and had me guessing what was going to happen next. It had a right amount of humor that thankfully wasn't too overwhelming, plenty of enough action and just a hint of romance to make a very well-rounded movie. Which leads to my next discussion topic....the plot.

I actually really liked the plot. At first I didn't understand really where this film was headed, so if one wasn't observant the whole entire time you may not understand where the film will take you. So attentivness is required for this film, but that isn't really a setback. It is pretty obvious that a huge unknown beast is completely tearing NYC to shreds. But I like how they were able to intertwine the aspects of the movie together, i.e. the humor, terror and romance.



The visual effects were pretty awesome, I must say. It looked believable, and if I was to see a HUGE prehestoric monster make a buiding fall down like it is a pile of cards, I would have had a heart attack right then and there.

So the CGI was convincing, yet I wanted to see more of the monster. I don't think they showed quite enough of it. Also, I really wanted to see the actual attacking of the monster take place. I was looking forward to the bombings and and army shooting at it and the whole enchillada! I think, too, that perhaps the origin and/or the type of species of the monster could have been discussed. I would have been interested to know things like that, but I know that would have been difficult. But overall, it was pretty well put together.

So, since this is obviously not a new movie, I am going to basically say that I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would recommend it to pratically anyone. When I say anyone, I refer to people who like horror/sci-fi films. Those who are all googley-eyed over romance movies should look elsewhere, because even though the movie does have somewhat of a love story, it is not that heavy.
My overall review of this movie is that it is really good, but I think it could have been a little longer. A little bit more length could have given it time to use more explanation and perhaps made the idea alot more clearer.
Regardless, it's a good movie where a hideous thing decapitates the Statue of Liberty...need I say more? Go see it and be terrified!

B+