Monthly Archives: September 2011

Why We Must Wash Our Hands

There’s so much and so little that the movie Contagion (2011) tells. From the guy who brought Sex, Lies, and Videotape close to my heart, here comes Steven Soderbergh in his newest directorial foray, Contagion. With an all-star cast and a tried and tested storyline, Soderbergh brings us this disjointed mess of a film. The whole movie seemed quite random, filled with establishing scenes and disconnected subplots. And as such, there is actually nothing to spoil in this movie; nor is there anything that kept me on the edge of my seat- in fact, the whole movie kept me slumped in my seat waiting for the whole thing to end.

Contagion shows no clear deterioration of society and in the end, there is no catharsis. It doesn’t resolve anything that goes on for the past hour and thirty minutes, neither does any unifying theme stand out. To top it all off, it had a completely wasted all-star cast. Each character could’ve been removed without consequence and nothing would’ve mattered. Kate Winslet was somewhat forgotten somewhere in the middle. Matt Damon was a sad man all throughout. Gwyneth Paltrow’s acting prowess came out in photographs. Laurence Fishburne might as well could’ve been a character on TV. And the amazing Marion Cotillard was wasted. None of these characters were intertwined and none of them seemed worth caring for at all. You kinda just sit and wish that they’d all die at some point, just to make something happen.

Then something hit me right in the middle of writing all this down. I realized I care about movies too much to see them go to waste like this. If any more movies like Contagion start spreading like the plague (sorry, I had to), next time, I’d rather not know.


Retribution with a Pipe Wrench

I can imagine that Super (2010) was a tough movie to advertise as it was the perfect mix of comedy, tragedy, thriller, and drama, all rolled into a superhero plot splashed with an insane (and unpredictable) amount of gore. I was duped into thinking that Super was similar to Kick-Ass (2010), but it’s far from it. The similarities between the two movies ends with having ordinary people (read: losers) fight crime without special powers.

When Frank’s (Rainn Wilson) wife leaves him for the drug dealing Jacques (Kevin Bacon), he turns to religious inspiration in becoming a superhero. His mind is literally touched by the giant finger of God in a mildly grotesque scene that paves the way for the rest of this dark comedy. As a superhero, Frank’s weapon of choice is a pipe wrench. It’s a silly choice but it doesn’t look so silly once he starts bashing people’s faces with them till they start bleeding uncontrollably. It’s not a pretty sight. Actually, nothing in this movie is pretty to look at. Every subsequent crime fighting scene that goes on robs you of reasoning cos it’s so viciously funny in a very sadistic way (Shut up, crime!). Thankfully, there is justice for poor Frank in the end, albeit a tragic twist. This film isn’t for everyone but I’m glad it was for me.