Don't talk to anyone. Don't touch anyone.
(+) I can't believe it took me this long to see Contagion, but yes, I finally caught it (yay for movie hopping!). Overall, it was a solid and well-made popcorn movie and the science is actually quite good for a Hollywood thriller. But at the same time, when you have Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard and Jude Law in a movie together, your expectations get a tad high.
The basic premise is that there is a fast-spreading disease popping up around the world, believed to have originated in Hong Kong (and has a mixture of bat and swine genetic material). It kills people rather quickly; at first, they experience flu-like symptoms and then it starts to resemble encephalitis, which is what doctors believe it is at first. The patient ends up having massive seizures and may die soon after. The film starts out with Gwyneth Paltrow's character returning home to Minneapolis after a business trip to Hong Kong. She experiences the symptoms and as the trailer revealed, dies. So yeah, they hired an A-list Oscar winner to die in the first 20 minutes as the set-up for the plot. At the same time, other cases of the disease start popping up in London and Tokyo, and they are also linked to Hong Kong in some way. The rest of the movie involves Matt Damon (Paltrow's husband), who is discovered to be immune, trying to keep his teenage daughter safe from the virus, as well as government officials played by Laurence Fisburne and Kate Winslet of the CDC and Marion Cotillard of the WHO trying to figure out the origins of the virus and how to contain it. A large plotline also involves Jennifer Ehle's character trying to find a vaccine for the virus and despite the fact that she was not as heavily advertised as the A-listers, her thread is probably the most consequential and important. Finally, there is Jude Law, an internet blogger based in San Francisco, who begins to gain a massive following with his conspiracy theories as chaos erupts throughout the country.
The huge A-list cast is obviously a big reason to season this movie and it is really entertaining to see these great actors on screen, but the film ends up having too many plotlines and loose ends that each actor never gets enough time to shine. Jude Law probably has the most showy role out of everyone and he does do a good job (but wtf happened to his teeth? was that on purpose?). Damon has the most emotional material to work with and does well with it. Winslet and Cotillard are both fine in their respective roles and appealing enough actresses to make us interested in what they're doing.
In terms of plot, I think the movie handled the outbreak story in a more realistic way than I was expecting. There's no obvious "villain" who was behind the whole thing. It's just something that happened unexpectedly, much like our real life epidemics. It does a nice job of subverting our expectations for these types of outbreak movies. You keep expecting some huge plot twist or revelation but it all plays in a rather contained and realistic way. The film also doesn't have a real message or point of view (until maybe the very very end); it just lets the events unfold. The science was also well-done, although there was one scene where Kate Winslet was explaining epidemiology to government health officials like they were 3rd graders, even though they should be trained professionals.
But the ending left me a little unsatisfied. Not only they did leave one major plotline COMPLETELY unresolved (you know what I'm talking about), but I don't think I really cared enough about the characters as people. It was more like I wanted them to succeed because it would suck if half the world died. Matt Damon is the most sympathetic character of the bunch but it felt as though he was just a window for the audience to see the complete and utter chaos of the situation. The atmosphere was very well-done and the situation did feel terrifying as you're watching it unfold. The jumping around different storylines also worked, despite the fact that it spans several continents. Soderbergh has always known how to blend many different plots into one cohesive thread and he does that again here. The tension builds nicely up to a certain point but the film doesn't completely follow through.
(+) Also, Ides of March!
Oddly enough, this was another movie whose ending kind of disappointed me. Not as much as Contagion's but it still didn't leave me entirely satisfied. Based on the play, Farragut North (named for a subway stop in Washington D.C.), the film centers around a young and charismatic press secretary played by Ryan Gosling. He is working for a Governor (George Clooney) who is trying to win the Democratic nomination and is in a tight race for the Ohio primary. The press secretary and the candidate both start out as idealists, who want to make a difference. Obviously, they're not going to stay that way.
First of all, this sounds a lot like Primary Colors and these two movies do have a lot of similar plot points (young idealistic campaign worker, Democratic primary, sex scandals, etc). But while Primary Colors was pretty much based on Bill Clinton, The Ides of March has more of a mish-mash of influences. The play was heavily based off Howard Dean's 2004 campaign but since people don't really care about that anymore, the film seems to have added a lot more Obama references. For example, the Morris campaign poster looks A LOT like Obama's "Hope" poster. Marisa Tomei's character also remarks that a candidate who seems so perfect is inevitably going to be a disappointment and that nothing will actually change if he is elected. So in many ways, this film is much more cynical than something like Primary Colors, which featured some disillusionment over the candidate's personal behavior but maintained a feeling of hope and optimism.
Gosling's character seems like he's in control of everything in the beginning. He's a wunderkind who is on his way to the White House. But soon, you realize that he's getting played by the more experienced politicians around him. One aspect of that involves his affair with a young intern, played by Evan Rachel Wood. Another involves a meeting with a rival campaign manger, played by Paul Giamatti. Eventually, the shit hits the fan and Gosling's character is left floundering for his political future. The question is - will he sell out his ideals to secure his own future? I'm sure you can guess.
This is a movie chock full of political talk and cameos by Charlie Rose, Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddow, so it's really made to appeal to people who already have a working knowledge of that world (or for people who watch The West Wing). Much of it will not seem interesting to you if you don't follow American politics, at least during campaign seasons. That does become somewhat problematic for the film. If you watched The West Wing, it made even boring topics or situations incredibly interesting to watch because the dialogue had so much energy. The Ides of March does not have enough wit in its script to really engage an audience member who isn't already a news junkie. It seriously could've used a re-write by Aaron Sorkin to jazz it up a little.
The acting is fantastic all around. Ryan Gosling carries the movie as the central character and has plenty of charm and appeal to keep us rooting for him, even when we shouldn't be. He has shown so much versatility this past year, it's kind of unbelievable. He transitions so easily between his varying roles. Clooney was practically born to play the candidate, and although his role is a supporting one, his face is constantly seen on posters and on TV that he is a constant presence. There's also Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti as the campaign managers; both are top-notch as usual. Marisa Tomei is under-used but still effective and Evan Rachel Wood does a great job in the pivotal supporting role of the film, the intern. But while they are all great performers, no one performance stands out as an Oscar-worthy one. Gosling and Wood may be the closest, since Gosling is having such a huge year and plays the lead, while Wood has a role that Oscar voters tend to love. But overall, this movie may end up being more of a Charlie Wilson's War in terms of Oscar hopes.
(+) There are some trailers I wanted to talk about cause so many good ones are being released right now. The best one I've seen so far is definitely Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I mean, the music, the cuts, the arts and costumes, the everything. Perfect. I can't wait for that and also, Gary Oldman for Best Actor please. The fact that he's Oscar-less is a huge travesty. Most amazing cast ever award too. Also, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo looks so intense. I think it's capturing the feel of the novel slightly better than the Swedish films but at the same time, the accents are kind of distracting. Like why is Daniel Craig just talking with his normal accent but Rooney Mara is acting Swedish? But the sets and locations look almost identical to the Swedish movies. And My Week with Marilyn, Oscar bait at its finest. Let's just say I really hope the trailer is misleading and it isn't just about some guy's life being changed by a fling with her. I'm also just not feeling Michelle Williams in the role. She just looks nothing like Marilyn and sounds nothing like her; it'll have to be an incredibly amazing performance just to be convincing. Branagh also seems a bit over the top as Olivier but I'm just curious to see any Viv/Larry in the film cause they're interesting enough to have their own movie imo. Speaking of Oscar bait, there's J. Edgar. Oh Leo, you have now become Kate Winslet circa 2008. So so so desperate for an Oscar. Actually I think Armie Hammer looks the most promising as the long suffering "husband" (smashing stuff!). And it goes without saying that I'm excited for Fassy's two movies.
It's so hard to predict this year because of that BP rule change. I have no idea how Gold Rush is going to work when we don't even know how many nominees there will be for BP. But for now my predictions are..
Best Picture:
The Artist
The Descendants
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
The Ides of March
The Help
J. Edgar
Midnight in Paris
Moneyball
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
War Horse
......
Basically, if the 10 nominees rule was still in place, the above 10 would be my predictions. But since we don't know the actual number of nominees, it could be any 5-10 from that list. The Artist and The Descandents feel like near-locks at this point just from the audience and critical reaction from the festivals. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close hasn't been seen yet but it's Stephen Daldry adapting a very baity story. Tinker Tailor just looks too freaking awesome to be left out and the word from Venice was fantastic. War Horse is so fucking baity that it would have to be a disaster not to make it. Everything else will depend on the final number of nominees.
Best Actor:
George Clooney, The Descandents
Leonardo Dicaprio, J. Edgar
Jean Dujardin, The Artist
Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
....
Those are the only ones I feel confident in right now. I want to predict Fassy or Gosling for the last spot but I'm just not sure if any one performance of theirs will catch fire and overpower the others. Most likely, it'll end up being Brad Pitt for Moneyball. But then it'll be George, Brad AND Leo. Like, that might be too much hunky star power for one year. So maybe Michael Shannon sneaks in for Take Shelter?
Best Actress:
Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs
Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
Elizabeth Olsen, Martha Marcy May Marlene
Meryl Streep, The Iron Lady
.....
I feel so unconfident about this category right now. Too many question marks still. I think Close is probably in at this point. Streep will get in if her movie is at all decent and not a complete fuck up. Olsen NEEDS to get a lot of critics awards and her movie has to break out of its tiny indie mold during its release. Rooney Mara will depend entirely on how successful the movie is and if she is enough of a revelation (the Academy obviously likes her already, they invited her to join just for being in The Social Network for 5 minutes). There's the Keira Knightley question. She was everyone's frontrunner until the movie actually got screened and her performance got divided reviews. I still think she is in the race but it's not safe at all. Then, there's the possibility of Charlize Theron and Michelle Williams (waiting for some real word still) and whether Viola Davis will go lead or supporting. If she goes lead, then she will most likely get the nomination but if she goes supporting, she'll probably win.
Best Supporting Actor:
Kenneth Branagh, My Week with Marilyn
Armie Hammer, J. Edgar
Christopher Plummer, Beginners
.....
I have no idea what's going on here. If Tinker Tailor does really well, I could see maybe one or two guys showing up here. Other than that, I'm just not feeling much else.
Best Supporting Actress:
Jessica Chastain, ??
Viola Davis, The Help (if she goes supporting)
Judi Dench, ??
Vanessa Redgrace, Coriolanus
Octavia Spencer, The Help
.....
Yeah, this is not much better than supporting actor. Other than these, I've heard that girl from the Secret Life is a big revelation in The Descendants.