Given the situation of working from home in the current pandemic, I watched twelve straight bug movies, one each evening after dinner.
Here is my short review of each. The rating scale is the following:
Credibility: Bad: 😳 Good: 😳😳😳😳😳
Entertainment: Bad: 😀 Good: 😀😀😀😀😀
Overall: Bad: 👌 Good: 👌👌👌👌👌
1. Contagion
A bug procedural directed by Steven Soderbergh with an all star cast including Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow. I liked how Day 1 of the story was the last scene in the movie. That keeps the origin of the contagion in suspense while we absorb the procedural. Well acted, well directed. All around an excellent movie to start the series with. (If you are into bugs, that is).
Credibility: 😳😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
2. Andromeda Strain
Science nerd heaven. A world where the President listens to the scientists, even when the latter change their minds as they learn more about the bug in question. Some math, science, procedural and riveting suspense - from the mind of Michael Crichton. Truly magnificent.
Credibility: 😳😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌👌
3. Outbreak
A bug adventure with another all star cast including Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland. What happens when the bio-warfare agenda crosses wires with the health of the population agenda. Straight acting from all except Sutherland who tries to outdo Alan Rickman in stylistic bad-iness. But that is mission impossible.
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
4. 12 Monkeys
A back to the future scifi movie with bugs. My son says the plot is about time travel. I say the plot is about delusion. He has the stronger argument. But we both agree it can be interpreted either way. Bruce Willis at his peak and Brad Pitt just being discovered.
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
5. 28 weeks after
A bug zombie subterfuge. Starts off as a bug movie and quickly turns into a zombie movie. However, a sociological rumination on what happens to society after a pandemic that rages out of control. Cillian Murphy, 20 years before the fame of Peaky Blinders. Thoroughly enjoyed watching him find his acting footing.
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
6. Flu
Korean movie. What happens when Hollywood meets Bollywood. Really well acted and well filmed. Usually a plot goes off the rails when the director does not know how to resolve a situation in the plot. This movie never even got on the rails to begin with!
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
7. I Am Legend
Will Smith starrer. Movie made for the third time. Most emotionally gripping of the movies watched so far. A couple of gaping plot holes aside (within the rules of the plot), excellent depiction of the folly of scientific arrogance. The alternative ending tries to Twilight Zone the plot and does not work in the movie - perhaps it works better in the original novel.
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
8. Annihilation
This movie with Natalie Portman is visually stunning with perhaps the best graphics of all movies in this series so far. Plus the virus mutates. The ending is way too predictable (think Thriller music video).
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
9. World War Z
Written by Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks), about a super charged pandemic with a lab virus on the loose from ..... China ... bada bing! Brad Pitts carries this hyper kinetic movie. Max Brooks is so well versed in the threats and impacts on a pandemic that he has given testimony to congress. Not that it was utilized in the current situtation!
Credibility: 😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌👌
10. Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise has done quite a few science fiction movies. This one fits the mold of a Cruise action flick, but battling an alien creature that has virus like characteristics and an element of time travel. Emily Blunt steals the show!
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
11. Aliens
This was a re-watch of early James Cameron making an impact in the 80s/90s with Aliens and Terminator movies! Riveting adventure, as one of the actors says, "hunting bugs in space." Early template of a female lead in an action hero setting.
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌👌
12. Satan Bug
Bond meets Bug could well be the pitch for this movie. Feels a bit dated. From a novel by Alastair MacLean who penned Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare. A bit wooden, but that last 30 mins does have a well constructed movie climax.
Credibility: 😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
13. Cassandra Crossing
Speed meet Poseidon Adventure meet Bug. Every part of this movie strained credulity. It was fun to see an all star cast that included Burt Lancaster, Martin Sheen, Richard Harris, Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner not in just a disaster movie, but a disaster of a movie!
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀
Overall:👌
14. The Invasion
Fourth remake of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It is hard to believe that a pre-Bond Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman vehicle can bomb, but it does. I raced through the movie in 10-second jumps on Netflix and that's all it deserved.
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀
Overall:👌
15. Carriers
Starring the pre-Star Wars Chris Pine, this movie is about 4 non-infected friends journey across the country to safety. They ecounter infected fellow citizens of all stripes along the way. Since it was the 15th movie in a row that I watched on this subject, the movie no longer carried a punch for me. And by now I think I have a handle on the beat of the storytelling related to bugs - alien, engineered or otherwise.
Credibility: 😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀
Overall:👌👌
Overall this was an excellent run of movies, helping tap into our current zeitgeist and see how creative minds frame the problem and attempt to come to terms with it.
Podcast:
Hope you enjoy my 3-minute podcast with a surprise guest (you won't be able to guess!!) on the current topic of our zeitgeist. I hope you find this fun and entertaining.
https://soundcloud.com/user-844915457/guest-podcast
Book:
For reading, I am about to finish The Great Influenza by John Barry about the 1918 Spanish Flow.
Take care and be safe!!
Here is my short review of each. The rating scale is the following:
Credibility: Bad: 😳 Good: 😳😳😳😳😳
Entertainment: Bad: 😀 Good: 😀😀😀😀😀
Overall: Bad: 👌 Good: 👌👌👌👌👌
1. Contagion
A bug procedural directed by Steven Soderbergh with an all star cast including Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow. I liked how Day 1 of the story was the last scene in the movie. That keeps the origin of the contagion in suspense while we absorb the procedural. Well acted, well directed. All around an excellent movie to start the series with. (If you are into bugs, that is).
Credibility: 😳😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
Science nerd heaven. A world where the President listens to the scientists, even when the latter change their minds as they learn more about the bug in question. Some math, science, procedural and riveting suspense - from the mind of Michael Crichton. Truly magnificent.
Credibility: 😳😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌👌
3. Outbreak
A bug adventure with another all star cast including Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Donald Sutherland. What happens when the bio-warfare agenda crosses wires with the health of the population agenda. Straight acting from all except Sutherland who tries to outdo Alan Rickman in stylistic bad-iness. But that is mission impossible.
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
4. 12 Monkeys
A back to the future scifi movie with bugs. My son says the plot is about time travel. I say the plot is about delusion. He has the stronger argument. But we both agree it can be interpreted either way. Bruce Willis at his peak and Brad Pitt just being discovered.
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
5. 28 weeks after
A bug zombie subterfuge. Starts off as a bug movie and quickly turns into a zombie movie. However, a sociological rumination on what happens to society after a pandemic that rages out of control. Cillian Murphy, 20 years before the fame of Peaky Blinders. Thoroughly enjoyed watching him find his acting footing.
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
6. Flu
Korean movie. What happens when Hollywood meets Bollywood. Really well acted and well filmed. Usually a plot goes off the rails when the director does not know how to resolve a situation in the plot. This movie never even got on the rails to begin with!
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
7. I Am Legend
Will Smith starrer. Movie made for the third time. Most emotionally gripping of the movies watched so far. A couple of gaping plot holes aside (within the rules of the plot), excellent depiction of the folly of scientific arrogance. The alternative ending tries to Twilight Zone the plot and does not work in the movie - perhaps it works better in the original novel.
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
8. Annihilation
This movie with Natalie Portman is visually stunning with perhaps the best graphics of all movies in this series so far. Plus the virus mutates. The ending is way too predictable (think Thriller music video).
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌
9. World War Z
Written by Max Brooks (son of Mel Brooks), about a super charged pandemic with a lab virus on the loose from ..... China ... bada bing! Brad Pitts carries this hyper kinetic movie. Max Brooks is so well versed in the threats and impacts on a pandemic that he has given testimony to congress. Not that it was utilized in the current situtation!
Credibility: 😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌👌
10. Edge of Tomorrow
Tom Cruise has done quite a few science fiction movies. This one fits the mold of a Cruise action flick, but battling an alien creature that has virus like characteristics and an element of time travel. Emily Blunt steals the show!
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
11. Aliens
This was a re-watch of early James Cameron making an impact in the 80s/90s with Aliens and Terminator movies! Riveting adventure, as one of the actors says, "hunting bugs in space." Early template of a female lead in an action hero setting.
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌👌
12. Satan Bug
Bond meets Bug could well be the pitch for this movie. Feels a bit dated. From a novel by Alastair MacLean who penned Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare. A bit wooden, but that last 30 mins does have a well constructed movie climax.
Credibility: 😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀😀
Overall:👌👌👌
13. Cassandra Crossing
Speed meet Poseidon Adventure meet Bug. Every part of this movie strained credulity. It was fun to see an all star cast that included Burt Lancaster, Martin Sheen, Richard Harris, Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner not in just a disaster movie, but a disaster of a movie!
Credibility: 😳😳
Entertainment: 😀
Overall:👌
14. The Invasion
Fourth remake of the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers. It is hard to believe that a pre-Bond Daniel Craig, Nicole Kidman vehicle can bomb, but it does. I raced through the movie in 10-second jumps on Netflix and that's all it deserved.
Credibility: 😳
Entertainment: 😀
Overall:👌
15. Carriers
Starring the pre-Star Wars Chris Pine, this movie is about 4 non-infected friends journey across the country to safety. They ecounter infected fellow citizens of all stripes along the way. Since it was the 15th movie in a row that I watched on this subject, the movie no longer carried a punch for me. And by now I think I have a handle on the beat of the storytelling related to bugs - alien, engineered or otherwise.
Credibility: 😳😳😳
Entertainment: 😀😀
Overall:👌👌
Overall this was an excellent run of movies, helping tap into our current zeitgeist and see how creative minds frame the problem and attempt to come to terms with it.
Podcast:
Hope you enjoy my 3-minute podcast with a surprise guest (you won't be able to guess!!) on the current topic of our zeitgeist. I hope you find this fun and entertaining.
https://soundcloud.com/user-844915457/guest-podcast
Book:
For reading, I am about to finish The Great Influenza by John Barry about the 1918 Spanish Flow.
Take care and be safe!!
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