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'Contagion,' Steven Soderbergh's 2011 Thriller, Is Climbing Up the Charts (nytimes.com) 85

Posted by msmash from the whatever-floats-your-boat dept.
One of the hottest movies in the Warner Bros. library is a nine-year-old drama that kills off Gwyneth Paltrow in its first 15 minutes. From a report: Fears of the coronavirus have prompted movie fans to re-examine Steven Soderbergh's star-studded 2011 thriller, "Contagion," a fictional account of a pandemic that kills 26 million people worldwide. According to Warner Bros., the film was listed as No. 270 among its catalog titles at the end of December. Since the start of 2020, it has jumped to second, bested only by Harry Potter movies. "Contagion" is also trending on Amazon Prime Video and has flirted with the iTunes top 10. Barry Jenkins, the writer and director of "Moonlight," the best picture winner at the 2017 Oscars, was one of the people who found himself interested in the film in recent days. He said he had watched "Contagion" with his girlfriend, Lulu Wang, the writer and director of the acclaimed 2020 indie hit "The Farewell," while on location in Atlanta -- the city, he was quick to point out, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has its headquarters. The two film aficionados bought a download of "Contagion" from Comcast's Xfinity on-demand service. "I paid $12.99 to watch a 10-year-old movie," Mr. Jenkins said. "I've never done that before."
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'Contagion,' Steven Soderbergh's 2011 Thriller, Is Climbing Up the Charts More

'Contagion,' Steven Soderbergh's 2011 Thriller, Is Climbing Up the Charts

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  • Not only do the kill off Gwenyth Paltrow.... we get to see them saw her skull open!

    "You want me to call anybody?"
    "CALL EVERYBODY!"

  • Strange Days (Score:3, Interesting)

    by aeropage ( 6536406 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @08:53PM (#59798006)

    People pay extra to be reminded of their own destruction.

    At least "Altered Carbon" has some interesting metaphysics on the way there.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      I haven't started watching season 2 of Altered Carbon yet but I enjoyed the books more than season 1. There was a lot more on the metaphysics side and a lot more about what society was like in a world where people with money were essentially immortal and could switch bodies pretty much whenever they liked. Lots of little stories that built up the world, like the woman whose original body was sold off when she was put in storage (prison) and now some rich asshat uses it at weekends why she saves up to buy it

  • Can't see it. (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Currently at 84% like & 63% raiting on Rotten Tomatos, and 70% on Metacritic. If it's done any significant climbing, it came from some fairly deep depths to begin with.

    • Currently at 84% like & 63% raiting on Rotten Tomatos, and 70% on Metacritic. If it's done any significant climbing, it came from some fairly deep depths to begin with.

      Because you didn't understand what is going on. And are looking in the wrong place at something completely different.

  • Where can I get my Forsythia? Why isn't the government talking about Forsythia?

  • I guess instant gratification means something, but you could have watched it on itunes or prime.

    I checked and the eBay prices were insane for the Contagion Blu Ray.

    On Amazon:

    From $3.99 to rent
    From $9.99 to buy

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rednip ( 186217 )

      Indeed. What's funny is that just last month I found it included on one of the movie channels in my steaming tv service, watched it beginning to end for the first time. Scary because it seems to be happening, it even seems to be bat shit which ultimately started it too.

      • Nah, that bat-rumor has been debunked already. And infections seem to be decreasing in china.

        • Infections (at least the reported ones) are decreasing in China but rising in Europe and the U.S. A report this morning said a person who was left off a cruise ship off the coast of California subsequently died from covid-19. A test of the ship showed over 20 people, both crew and passengers, are infected. Who knows how many other people the person might have infected on their way home?

          Also, New York has seen a jump in cases, most from one person. It's from the same group who gave us the measles outbrea

  • Better Choice: The Cassandra Crossing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by magusxxx ( 751600 ) <{moc.oohay} {ta} {0002_xxxsugam}> on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @09:16PM (#59798064)

    Man tries stealing a virus from a government lab and becomes infected. Spreads it to other people on a train. Train is quarantined while still in motion.

    Has an interesting and realistic ending. It's free to watch on Youtube and Tubi. https://youtu.be/aa8vtzUTvh0 [youtu.be]

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      Hope some smart people are capturing all the shopping and medical warnings at doctors, in hospitals.
      Some horror movie openings at a low cost. Get that b roll. Its once in a generation.
  • "It is misldeading to suppose there's any basic difference between education and entertainment. This distinction merely relieves people of the responsibility of looking into the matter."

    A terse iteration McLuhan made orally was: Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either.

    My iteration to colleagues has been that meaningful education must often be entertaining and the best entertainment is often educational.

    Over the last month, hav
    • Amending...I should not have included "vector of transmission" in my listing of variables. Contagion introduced the term "fomites" to me and there is of yet no conclusive study determining COVID-19's vectors. Judging from the success of a nationwide work stoppage and advisory quarantines in China, I'm inclined to believe an airborne vector is excluded, but not without clinical confirmation.
    • Quoting McLuhan? Eesh.

      McLuhan's ideas are not worth the study. He's great at making arbitrary superficial connections to things, but there's never anything approaching deep analysis or thoughtful consideration.

      Take the idea that there is no distinction between education and entertainment. This is a meaningless statement. If there's no distinction between education and entertainment, then it's trivial to conclude there's no distinction between education and anything. Driving to work, going shopping, wa

      • And don't get me started on "the medium is the message".(1) It probably makes sense ...

        If you knew more of its context? "It is the framework which changes with each new technology and not just the picture within the frame."

        McLuhan was describing the enterprise and technology surrounding broadcast television and far before the enterprise of today involving demographic profiles accorded value not by any regulated exchange or transparent market, but proprietary algorithms protected by Terms of Service agreements that sell to the highest bidders as much about an individual's habits, preference

  • This article is literally three Slashvertisements for the price of one.

  • Station Eleven (Score:3)

    by sphealey ( 2855 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @10:10PM (#59798178)

    The book _Station Eleven_ is good too. There were some reports of a movie or TV series in the works but suspect that may be on hold at the moment.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jlv ( 5619 )

      It was a good read. Although that story started with a similar premise and then went off to talk about the near-term apocalyptic future.

  • Reminder: Coronavirus is nothing like Contagion (Score:4, Informative)

    by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @10:11PM (#59798180)

    I feel like these stories attempting to scare people are getting kind of ridiculous. For most people, Coronavirus will just be like a really bad flu. If you are older I would be more careful, and if you are sick I would put a lot of effort into staying at home to avoid spreading whatever you have to others. But it's not like 9/10 of the world is going to die.

    Here's the rational approach to dealing with Coronavirus, rather than a full body suit:

    1) If anyone around you seems sick, move further away if you can.
    2) Always wash hands and face ASAP if you've been out (carrying portable hand sanitizer helps between washing).
    3) Avoid touching face while out, it'll happen but at least try and reduce how often.
    4) Try to avoid touching things with your hands a lot of other people have touched often (door handles, railings).

    If you are simply careful you can go out and be fairly well protected.

    • Hand santizer, at least Purell that most buy has little to no effect on many viruses, including coronavirus.

      • Hand santizer, at least Purell that most buy has little to no effect on many viruses, including coronavirus.

        Genuinely, thank you. I'd missed that development.

        • Genuinely, thank you. I'd missed that development.

          Well that might be because it's a lie... you probably should not be so quick to believe randos on the internet.

          At least not one without proof; read my followup to his post with actual links confirming what I am saying.

          • Well that might be because it's a lie... you probably should not be so quick to believe randos on the internet.

            At least not one without proof; read my followup to his post with actual links confirming what I am saying.

            In fairness, you've had to specify 60% alcohol and "rando" had written "little to no effect" in a context of hand gels mass-marketed as anti-bacterial in a crisis resulting from a virus. I appreciate your post, his criticism, and as equally your specification. I live in China, so the first thing I did after reading your post was squeeze a drop from the little bottle my employer gave me as I was sent home to see if it lights. (Its contents are in Mandarin and the only number written in tiny script, 99.99%, r

            • In fairness, you've had to specify 60% alcohol and "rando" had written "little to no effect" in a context of hand gels mass-marketed as anti-bacterial

              I'm not so sure about the other part either though - consider that supposedly Purell doesn't work well against Nuruvirus (sp?) yet every cruise ship has dispensers everywhere, and articles interviewing doctors [thecut.com] say they use it all the time.

              Even just he act of scrubbing your hands does something, so even if it's not as effective it's probably a good idea to u

      • > Purell that most buy has little to no effect on many viruses, including coronavirus

        reliable source?

      • Wrong, Coronavirus is susceptible to alcohol. (Score:4, Informative)

        by SuperKendall ( 25149 ) on Thursday March 05, 2020 @02:55AM (#59798612)

        Hand santizer, at least Purell that most buy has little to no effect on many viruses, including coronavirus.

        You are obviously thinking of this [thehill.com].

        However, especially for the coronavirus your myth is busted [wired.co.uk].

        From the article:

        While the effectiveness of alcohol gels depends on the virus being targeted â" which is why some alcohol hand rubs aren't very effective against norovirus â" the coronavirus has an envelope structure which alcohol can attack. Hand sanitisers with more than 60 per cent alcohol content are most effective at killing microbes

        If you've been reading up on the virus as I have since the start, you would know this already as it w3as in a number of early articles about the virus...

      • Your statement contradicts most of the health sources I can find. The virus that causes COVID-19, just like regular flu virus, does appear to be negated by alcohol sterilization. This is unusual among viruses, but not unusual among this family.

        Here is the CDC update about preventing spread of COVID-19 [cdc.gov]. Relevant quote: "If soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol." There are multiple other citations showing that it is effective against this v
    • Excellent advisory, except...

      For most people, Coronavirus will just be like a really bad flu.

      That are blithe hedges ("most", "really bad") and conclusion that avoid the statistical thresholds and percentiles WHO and CDC&P seek to confirm because seasonal and regional strains of virii are not pandemic in character and COVID-19 is.

      The pathogen given broader context of what variables define contagion in Soderbergh's film has a crucial and less complex character of COVID-19's asymptomatic transmission and persistence and latency. You phrasings assert a vaccine won't be

    • https://xkcd.com/2275/ [xkcd.com]
      Nicely frames the riddle of proportionate risk assignment you address.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      South Korea has the waiting for beds part :)
      "Thousands wait for hospital beds" (March 4, 2020)
      https://www.japantimes.co.jp/n... [japantimes.co.jp]

  • The Coronavirus outbreak is going to turn into a historical nothing-burger.

  • I preferred "Outbreak" myself (Score:4, Interesting)

    by scdeimos ( 632778 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @10:19PM (#59798190)
    Outbreak, with Dustin Hoffman, was much more interesting.
    • I was going to say, Contagion is the weakest of the pandemic movies. I usually like Soderbergh, I'm a fan of Jude Law, Matt Damon, and Lawrence Fishburne; but I just found the whole movie weak and almost childish. It tried to be realistic, but came across immature.

      Outbreak is better drama if a bit over the top. The Stand has better twists. 28 Days Later is more enjoyable. Both of the latter despite the disease being prologue rather than focus still do a better job with the spread and aftermath.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I really liked Blindness, it's a lot more speculative fiction but it gives a lens as to how society can break down. I found it extremely depressing too, because I do think a lot of it is very likely how people would act if something that bad happens to the world.

  • The TV series "The Last Ship" was interesting (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Wycliffe ( 116160 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @10:50PM (#59798254) Homepage

    "The Last Ship" was an interesting take on a highly deadly infection. Basically, highly contagious with a 90% kill rate.
    The ship was sent to the arctic to try to find the arctic bird that was the original source of the flu.
    It came back to a completely collapsed world. The corona virus obviously has a much lower death rate
    but the corona virus is showing how lousy we are at actually containing a highly contagious airborne virus.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Xiaran ( 836924 )
      That was also based on a book if you were not aware. The book is quite different... it is set in the cold war and is more a post apocalypse story where a US naval ship and a USSR submarine are the only survivors of a plague.

  • Outbreak (Score:3)

    by WhoBeDaPlaya ( 984958 ) on Wednesday March 04, 2020 @11:02PM (#59798290) Homepage
    Prefer Outbreak [imdb.com]
  • Oh wow. I just re-watched this movie 2 days ago.
  • I remember watching this movie early 2012 on a plane from Hong Kong. With someone coughing two rows behind me. And they say cinemas are more immersive... HAH!
  • One of several specialists working to counter these tiny but destructive viruses. Ralph Baric, a coronavirus researcher at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  • So why bother with a movie? If you want to see braindead zombies shamble over each other, you can have that already.

    Just go to your local Walmart and watch it. Just instead of "braiiiiins" they go "facemaaaasks".

  • What's not to like?

  • Better actors
  • My favourite. A virus that miraculously kills absolutely every animal alive and is stolen from a government lab. Nobody asks the obvious question âoewhy the holy fuck did you make it in the first place?â

  • Or they could watch the first fifteen minutes of Resident Evil Afterlife

  • Don't forget it was that film that launched the modern 'Prepper' movement. Prior to when that film came out it was an obscure pseudo-movement. Most preppers I've met cite that film as the wake up call (specifically what Wahlberg's character has to deal with). Coupled with Hurricane Katrina that pair were mom and dad of the modern Prepper movement.

  • People are panic buying huge quantities of "survival" items at Costco. Spending a stupid amount of money (by comparison) on a movie fits well with the mindset.

  • $12.99 ? I pulled "Contagion" out of the Vancouver Public Library a year ago and showed it to everybody at my condo's "Emergency Preparedness Committee" to explain that my little hobby of having some weeks of food in the storeroom and a small generator, was not about zombies or nukes or asteroids - just a re-run of the 1918 flu.

    Thinking it would now be showing "112 holds on 3 copies", I checked again - it was 11 holds on 3 DVDs, but only 4 holds on 3 Blu-Rays. Ignoring the unbelievable fact that lots

  • I love that movie. Its probably the most realistic movie about disease outbreaks that I have ever seen. The first part is all science and technicalities and then it quickly turns into a thriller.

    The best parts were when the camera lingered on door handles, glasses, hand rails, and other infection vectors. To this day i stay away from supposedly hygienic tongs (like to grab bagels out of a hopper at the supermarket) and prefer to grab the bagels themselves. If someone starts telling me that i am dirty, i jus

  • As far as I can remember I thought it was a boring movie, and I like these type of movies.. Thought the 'Pandemic' miniseries was much more interesting or the Korean 2013 movie 'The flu'..

  • Its not quite a world wide disaster movie, but it is a great movie by Michael Crichton about a virus. "Andromeda Strain"

    And "The Omega Man", for what happens to society after it gets out. Prefer that over the remake, "I am Legend"

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