On DVD - Contagion

Movie: Contagion
Major Actors: Gwyneth Paltrow, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Demetri Martin
Rating: PG-13
Best Audience: Adults would find this interesting.  It's obviously okay for pre-teens and teenagers, but they may not find it as interesting.

Review:

I was very impressed with this movie.  The movie focuses on what happens when a new and fatal virus spreads throughout the world.  Scientists employed by the Center for Disease Control work to find out where the virus began, what it is, and try to make a vaccine for it.  This movie demonstrates how quickly a disease can spread (especially with air travel).  It also demonstrates how often people touch germ-infested surfaces and each other.  I found this film fascinating and frightening.

The acting was superb in this movie, and the movie contains a fabulous list of some of my favorite actors.  If you are interested in mystery and somewhat suspense, you'll enjoy this movie!

The Dark Knight Rises

Movie: The Dark Knight Rises
Major Actors: Christian Bale, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordan-Levitt, Anne Hathaway, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine
Rating: PG-13
Best Audience: Most audiences would enjoy this movie.  If you're going to take children, I'd say it would be alright for kids 8 and up.

Review:

I had read many reviews and listened to many reactions of people that saw this before me.  Their reactions were usually, "It's alright, but it's no Dark Knight."  Therefore, I must be the only person that thought this movie was WAY BETTER than the Dark Knight.  And I loved the Dark Knight.  I just thought this one was so much more epic and brilliant.  This was a great movie to wrap up the latest Batman trilogy.  It really tied the three movies together, bringing a lot of the plot line back to the first movie, Batman Begins. 

As far as the actors go, this is my favorite portrayal of Selina Kyle ("catwoman") I've ever seen.  They really didn't over-do the "cat" thing.  Anne Hathaway's only "cat ears" were sunglasses put back on her head.  I also thought she was true to the complexity of the character, which with the character of "catwoman" has always been, "Is she good or bad?"  Bane was a perfectly evil villain. Everyone seems to be talking about his voice.  I thought it was a wonderful "evil villain voice."  However, I thought the stand-out character of the movie was ironically Joseph Gordan-Levitt as Blake.  He was so endearing and heroic, you just couldn't help but love him. 

There are a lot of what I call "little surprises" in the movie, that I won't discuss on here so as not to spoil anything, but each one of them made me very excited, especially the "cameos" and twists. 

To discuss some of the hype surrounding the movie, Rush Limbaugh said that naming the villain "Bane" is a "liberal conspiracy" against Mitt Romney's company, Bain Capital which is a symbol to many liberals of the failures of capitalism.  Well, I hope Limbaugh sees this movie and becomes incredibly embarrassed at his comment because the main plot line of the movie is ACTUALLY anti-communist, not anti-capitalist (as Bane creates a pseudo-communist society in Gotham).  So I thought that was funny.

I must also add that it is truly tragic that 71 people were shot, and some killed senselessly because they were huge fans wanting to see the most anticipated film of the year. It is very hard for most people to believe that something so tragic will forever be remembered alongside this movie.