Steven Soderbergh's Contagion

Fysh

joethelion wrote: »

For what it's worth - saw this & loved it - did it's job & entertained me & made me think about what the film is really about - how quickly society can break down when under pressure (subsitute the illness for money & re think the plot!)

You can substitute the illness for magical arse-raping pixies if you like, the biggest flaw in this film was that a whole bunch of characters were presented as being senior or trusted figures in various government agencies - positions which could not be attained without several years of experience and substantial amounts of training. Said characters then proceeded to behave in a manner completely incompatible with both their training and the various reviews and appraisals that would have been required in order to reach their respective positions. With the exception of Fishbourne nobody even batted an eyelid at them doing this, and even then

there weren't any consequences for the silly bastard

.

If you're completely unaware of the basic principles that govern scientific research, know nothing about how government agencies and relief organisations work and want a story dealing only in characters so thinly-sketched you may as well be staring at a cardboard cutout of the actors playing them, this is your film. If you would like said story to be so sentimental you feel like you're drowning in saccharine, you're in luck.

If, on the other hand, you want something that doesn't make you feel like stupidity is attempting to colonise your brain through osmosis, you should skip this massive turd of a film and watch something like Phase 7 instead.

joethelion

Fysh wrote: »

You can substitute the illness for magical arse-raping pixies if you like, the biggest flaw in this film was that a whole bunch of characters were presented as being senior or trusted figures in various government agencies - positions which could not be attained without several years of experience and substantial amounts of training. Said characters then proceeded to behave in a manner completely incompatible with both their training and the various reviews and appraisals that would have been required in order to reach their respective positions. With the exception of Fishbourne nobody even batted an eyelid at them doing this, and even then

there weren't any consequences for the silly bastard[/b].

If you're completely unaware of the basic principles that govern scientific research, know nothing about how government agencies and relief organisations work and want a story dealing only in characters so thinly-sketched you may as well be staring at a cardboard cutout of the actors playing them, this is your film. If you would like said story to be so sentimental you feel like you're drowning in saccharine, you're in luck.

If, on the other hand, you want something that doesn't make you feel like stupidity is attempting to colonise your brain through osmosis, you should skip this massive turd of a film and watch something like Phase 7 instead.

Jesus! who put the bug up your ass?
Having said that I will check out Phase 7 - thanks!:eek:

Fysh

joethelion wrote: »

Jesus! who put the bug up your ass?
Having said that I will check out Phase 7 - thanks!:eek:

Sorry, that post wasn't meant to come off as angry at you in particular, it was more an expression of my frustration with the film itself. I wanted it to be a really nasty depiction of what a serious pandemic would look like and the kind of breakdowns that would happen with such an event, but I thought it was way too soft and predictable. I think I understand what you're getting at about imagining the same sort of scenario but with something other than a disease epidemic, and in a certain sense the collapse of social structures is reasonably depicted in the film - but without a coherent and factually-accurate depiction of how various agencies would respond to the situation the story can't really be gripping.

I liked Phase 7 because while there were characters in it who were very silly, or unaware of their circumstances or even just plain barmy, the characters themselves were set up well such that their actions made some sort of sense.

joethelion

Fysh wrote: »

Sorry, that post wasn't meant to come off as angry at you in particular, it was more an expression of my frustration with the film itself. I wanted it to be a really nasty depiction of what a serious pandemic would look like and the kind of breakdowns that would happen with such an event, but I thought it was way too soft and predictable. I think I understand what you're getting at about imagining the same sort of scenario but with something other than a disease epidemic, and in a certain sense the collapse of social structures is reasonably depicted in the film - but without a coherent and factually-accurate depiction of how various agencies would respond to the situation the story can't really be gripping.

I liked Phase 7 because while there were characters in it who were very silly, or unaware of their circumstances or even just plain barmy, the characters themselves were set up well such that their actions made some sort of sense.

OK , got you.Thanks!
big movie & music fan , never heard of Phase 7 but will check out - who's in it when was it made etc;:)

Fysh

joethelion wrote: »

OK , got you.Thanks!
big movie & music fan , never heard of Phase 7 but will check out - who's in it when was it made etc;:)

It's a very recent film - I only saw it at a sci-fi film festival a month or so ago. I don't think there's anyone particularly famous in it, but the IMDB page is here.

It's an Argentinian film in Spanish and I don't think it's gotten much of a wide release yet, unfortunately - but I think the DVD is either out now or out soon.

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xV_33SzqKZI

expectationlost

Fysh wrote: »

You can substitute the illness for magical arse-raping pixies if you like, the biggest flaw in this film was that a whole bunch of characters were presented as being senior or trusted figures in various government agencies - positions which could not be attained without several years of experience and substantial amounts of training. Said characters then proceeded to behave in a manner completely incompatible with both their training and the various reviews and appraisals that would have been required in order to reach their respective positions.

isn't that called being human

Frisbee

Watched this last night. Meh really.

Pretty tedious although I liekd at the start the way it kept showing

the amount of stuff we put our grubby mitts on in a day!

Fysh

expectationlost wrote: »

isn't that called being human

Nope. As depicted in the film the actions are variously somewhere between "unbelievably stupid & unprofessional" and "a potentially treasonous dereliction of duty".

Yes, humans are flawed. Some humans, by virtue of their duties and positions, are held to higher expectations than others. One does not get to be a senior research scientist, for example, without demonstrating a good understanding of the statistical underpinnings of field testing and the requirements of basic rigour in experimental science. Similarly, it is highly unlikely that someone willing to repeatedly compromise a global medical research & relief effort would be promoted to and kept in place as a senior figure in said effort.

Fishooks12

Not the most original film ever made but it ebbed along nicely and it's not the worst way to spend 2 hours

too many character arcs alright and some were hit and miss. Jude Law's character and the kidnapped woman were pretty pointless but Matt Damon and Kate Winslet brought a bit of much needed emotion

Fishooks12

Not the most original film ever made but it ebbed along nicely and it's not the worst way to spend 2 hours

too many character arcs alright and some were hit and miss. Jude Law's character and the kidnapped woman were pretty pointless but Matt Damon and Kate Winslet brought a bit of much needed emotion

Voodu Child

I thought this was a very empty film, no real plot. A bunch of half-hearted character arcs that go nowhere. No twists, no tension, nothing. Very dull.

Dempsey

This film bored the hole off me.

Myrddin

Fysh wrote: »

Nope. As depicted in the film the actions are variously somewhere between "unbelievably stupid & unprofessional" and "a potentially treasonous dereliction of duty".

Because people in government couldn't be described that way at times?

It's only a film, it was entertaining & enjoyable to watch. Life goes on

Fysh

EnterNow wrote: »

Because people in government couldn't be described that way at times?

It's only a film, it was entertaining & enjoyable to watch. Life goes on

Some of them yes, all of them? Questionable. Especially given that the fields concerned involve an awful lot of hard work and comparatively limited rewards, and skew toward those who are passionate about the work.

If you thought it was entertaining, fair enough. It didn't engage me in the slightest and was in my opinion riddled with mediocre dialogue, some terrible scripting, and far too many plotholes for it to be taken seriously.

Myrddin

Fysh wrote: »

If you thought it was entertaining, fair enough. It didn't engage me in the slightest and was in my opinion riddled with mediocre dialogue, some terrible scripting, and far too many plotholes for it to be taken seriously.

But it's a big budget Hollywood film, did you really expect otherwise? I'd knowingly watch a film like that expecting that it's not going to take itself too seriously.

As you rightly point out above with Phase 7, if your after something that has some depth, nine times outta ten your going to have to look away from Hollywood I find.

Just finished watching it and while I did enjoy it for what it was its one of those films that could have been so much better. The Jude Law character had so much potential and from the trailers I expected his character to be some prophet like figure but they went nowhere with it. I got the impression that he was there simply to off set all the other characters who showed so much humanity. I know a lot of people took issue with the manner in which characters in positions to know better so easily broke protocol and endangered lives but I could live with it. It Added a hint of humanity to the whole thing though that said it would be nice to see a truly cynical take on the material.

The one aspect that I could not take was the fact that no one seemed to consider that the virus could be transmitted by those who were immune or cured. The logic seemed to be right out of a zombie film.

The other big issue I had was with the way the film looked. There was a yellow hue to many scenes that just looked ugly. It was as if some scenes were shot on a cheap video camera with the white balance set to auto. In some scenes it appears as if Fishburne is wearing a bright yellow shirt. For the most part the film did look fantastic, the shots of Hong Kong were just gorgeous to look at.

Nabber

Why was Jude Law in this film? His character was a waste of time. Just filling in scenes?

OldeCinemaSoz

It all looked liked a big budget RABID to me...minus the delicious eye candy and the THE YOKE she packed UNDER HER ARM.

:eek:

fryup

just wondering in the current climate...is this movie worth searching out for ?

mikhail

fryup wrote: »

just wondering in the current climate...is this movie worth searching out for ?

I liked it when I saw it, but it hasn't left a lasting impression. I guess that's a tepid 'yes' from me.

Shelga

I watched it again recently to get myself in the coronavirus mood! :pac:

I think it’s pretty good- it creates a foreboding picture of what such a scenario would entail. Obviously the pathogen being spread in Contagion is much more severe than coronavirus.

Some storylines go nowhere- like Marion Cotillard’s one- but I really like the movie, and I like Soderburgh’s direction.

And seeing

Gwyneth Paltrow have her skull sawn open is always fun.

Dades

Yeah, it's good. Was half thinking of revisiting it too.

Much less craic than Outbreak though!

B.A._Baracus

The movie has hit the number 7 spot on iTunes and has increased in torrenting since the Corona virus :pac:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-contagion-movie-is-surging-in-piracy-rentals-on-itunes-2020-3%3famp

geecee

just watched this movie for the first time after Fryups Zombie thread resurrection!
Nice call Fryup, decent movie (although scary in the current climate!)

branie2

It's scary yet great at the same time

mewso

There is now a version of the Jude Law character in real life - https://twitter.com/Jordan_Sather_/status/1220396743814078464?s=20.

Riskymove

Dades wrote: »

Much less craic than Outbreak though!

Been on Sony Movies a couple of times this month

watched it again the other night

mewso

mewso wrote: »

There is now a version of the Jude Law character in real life - https://twitter.com/Jordan_Sather_/status/1220396743814078464?s=20.

his tinfoil hat collection must be impressive.

sounds like a dangerous modern-day snake oil salesman who is advocating drinking a cure-all liquid that is essentially bleach

https://www.thedailybeast.com/qanon-conspiracy-theorists-magic-cure-for-coronavirus-is-drinking-lethal-bleach

"World War Z" is a much better and more entertaining - "virus really gets out of hand" type movie!

jh79

Ebola Syndrome is another good one as long as you like violent exploitation films.