Contagion

Directed by Steven Soderbergh

2011

Viewed February 2012

This film follows a deadly virus as it ravages the human population. The CDC and World Health Organization research and try to find a way to stop it as well as try to figure out where and how it started and how it was spread. I found it to be really interesting. I don’t know if this is a real picture of how epidemiologists work, but it was really fascinating how they figure out how fast it spreads or how many people one infected person can infect etc. It also said a lot about society and how scared people in large crowds are a force to be reckoned with. The moral of this story is: wash your hands with soap and warm water, don’t touch your face, and anyone anywhere could be carrying a deadly disease and you’ll never know it until they give it to you and you die…. B

Abduction

Directed by John Singleton

2011

Viewed February 2012

16 year old Nathan is doing a sociology project about abducted children when he finds his face on a website for lost kids. He contacts the site which is run by some Russian mob guys and they come looking for him. The CIA gets involved and also comes after him. Nathan finds out that his “parents” were really agents who were protecting him and they pretty much get killed in front of his face. Nathan takes off with his neighbor Karen and is on the run from the mobsters and CIA.



This is a pretty generic big brother is watching type movie. The mobsters tap into the CIA’s systems while the CIA is using traffic cameras and surveillance cameras to track Nathan and Karen. There are some decent chase scenes and it definitely keeps the movie moving. It’s refreshing to see Taylor Lautner with an expression on his face that isn’t pouty jealousy (like in the Twilight series), although he doesn’t have a very large range of expressions…. C+

The Grey

“Once more into the fray. Into the last good fight I’ll ever know. Live and die on this day. Live and die on this day.”

Directed by Jon Carnahan

2012

Viewed February 2012

This movie follows a group of Alaskan oil drillers who’s plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. There are seven survivors and they have to try and find a town or some sort of shelter before freezing to death or being attacked by wolves. It sounds really dumb, and I definitely was not expecting much, but I really did end up enjoying it. The biggest complaint that I have is that they are in the Alaskan wilderness in the middle of a blizzard, they all have a hoodie and a parka on, but none of them are wearing their hoods. They all have hats, but I know that when I’m super cold I put on my hat AND my hood for optimum warmth, plus the hood keeps blowing snow off of your neck… There also were plenty of parts that made me jump (even some that you could see coming, but it still made me jump… lame.) and it was just an entertaining movie. B- 

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Directed by Stephen Daldry

2012

Viewed January 2012

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from this movie. It has gotten such mixed reviews, but the preview was amazing, so I had high hopes. I am pleased to report that this is one of the better movies that I’ve seen in awhile. It follows nine year old Oskar Schell (who was tested for asperger’s and reports that the results were not definitive) who’s father frequently sends him on little treasure hunts throughout New York City. Oskar’s father is in the World Trade Center on 9/11 and dies after leaving many messages on the answering machine. Messages that only Oskar has listened to. Oskar finds a key in with his father’s belongings and believes that if he finds the lock that it opens he will find one last message from his father. He eventually gets help from a mute old man who is renting a room from his grandmother and they help each other on a road to emotional healing. I loved Thomas Horn who played Oskar, he was absolutely amazing. He wasn’t even an actor before this movie, the director saw him win on a kid’s edition of Jeopardy and asked him to audition. I also loved Max Von Sydow who is not in the movie for a whole lot of time, and never speaks, but relays so much emotion just through his face. Amazing. If you see this movie be sure to bring tissues, both Bobby and I cried (I cried through basically the whole movie). A