Contagion (1:46) 2011

Beth (Paltrow) arrives home from a business trip in Hong Kong feeling ill. Within days she is dead and so is her young son. Also dead are the people she came in contact with at a casino she visited before her departure for home. High contagious, the flu spreads rapidly with a death rate of 20 to 30 percent. Quickly, the WHO and Atlanta's CDC become involved with the race for a vaccine. A blogger (Law) with a large following is promoting a homeopathic remedy and discouraging readers not to take the vaccine. Within months, twelve million people worldwide are dead and social order is rapidly breaking down. Schools are closed, the hospital nurses are on strike until protocols are in place, and state borders are closed. The film addressed the bird flu and H1N1 and how these viruses mutate. Contagion is a frightening movie because it addresses the subject matter is a very realistic way. My grandmother always spoke about how frightening the Spanish Flu was in 1918. She was a teenage store clerk and lived in fear because so many people she knew died. She didn't like having to exchange money with customers. Let's hope we never have to live through this. On an another note, the best line in the movie was a prominent doctor saying to the blogger. "A blogger is not a writer, it is just graffiti with punctuation." I recommend this movie for the thoughtful, realistic manner in which the subject matter is treated, giving us a lot of food for thought.

The Last Kiss (1:43) 2006

Michael (Zach Braff) is turning thirty, has a successful career and a perfect girlfriend, Jenna. Then Jenna announces she is pregnant. Michael panics. When he meets Kim he spends time with her without telling Jenna. While this is taking place, Jenna's parents are having marital problems and briefly separate. Michael's friend Chris is also having marital problems. The Last Kiss focus on three couples as they struggle in their marriages. The story unfolds as the couples either reconcile, recommit or dissolve their relationship. To be brutally honest, I struggled to maintain interest in the movie for the first twenty-five minutes. I was about to shut off the movie when I began to care about the characters, especially Jenna's parents played by Blythe Danner and Tom Wilkerson. If you decide to watch The Last Kiss, be prepared to struggle through the first part of the movie, the last hour will bring about a satisfying ending.

In a Better World -Haeven (1:58) 2010

In a Better World was given a well deserved Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Elias is a Danish boy is targeted by a bully at school. Adding to his misery is his coping with parents who have separated and headed for divorce. He misses his father, a doctor, who travels back and forth to Africa to work in a refugee camp. Christian has just moved from Sweden to live with his grandmother and his father after the death of his mother from cancer. Christian befriends Elias which leads to Christian attacking and beating the school bully. Later, while Christian is with Elias, his dad and little brother, Elias witnesses an altercation between Christian's dad and another father. Elias's dad will not fight back as he believes that fighting or violence solves nothing. Elias finally agrees with Christian's plan to get even with the man who hit his father. However, the plan for revenge doesn't go as planned. Will the two families come together to help their sons work through the aftermath of the plan gone awry? Plain and simple, this is a very good movie. It is sometimes slow moving but the relationship between Elias and Christian unfolds in a very convincing way. The boys struggles are mirrored in the doctor's experiences in treating African refugees.  See this Danish movie.

Law Abiding Citizen (1:48) 2009

Gerard Butler and Jamie Foxx are two of my favorite actors so I was surprised that I never saw Law Abiding Citizen when it was first released. Now I know - the message of the movie was blown to smithereens by all the violence. Clyde Shelton (Butler) is a family man who is tinkering in his basement when two men invade his home, beat and tie him up and then murder his wife and young daughter. The two killers are put on trial, one is given the death penalty and the other a short prison sentence because he cut a deal. Clyde is not happy with the deal because he beleives that Nick Rice, the Assistant D.A., give the deal so he wouldn't have to go to trial. It turns out that the heartbroken Clyde is also a highly trained former agent. He speciality was designing ways to "take out" enemies of the government. Now Clyde turns those skills to invent ways to "take out" the family murders. He then will turn his attention to the defense attorney, the judge and other officials that he thinks took the easy way out. How long will it take Rice (Foxx) to stop him? The premise of the movie is that justice is not always served, guilty people do go free. But the premise is lost in all the violence, the viewer starts off being sympathetic with Clyde but that feeling is soon lost as innocent people die. If you are channel surfing and come across this offering, keep on going. This movie should never have been made.

Notorious (2:02) 2009

Notorious is the story of Christopher Wallace, the rapper better known as Notorious B.I.G. The movie starts with Chris as a young boy being raised by his single mom, played by Angela Bassett. As a young teenager, Chris sells drugs and meets with success. After a slip up, Chris is arrested and spends some time in prison. While in prison, his girlfriend gives birth to his daughter. While he prison, Chris writes poetry. When he is released, he has an opportunity to become a rapper. With Sean Combs help, he releases his first album. Biggie rises to the top quickly. As he rises to the top, a war breaks out between the West Coast and East Coast rappers. Unfortunately, the war has been created by the press and then continue to fuel the flames until the war ends in tragedy. Neither my daughter or I are fans of the rapper genre but we both admitted that Notorious is a very interesting story, with a big round of applause to Jamal Woolard who became Biggie.

The Debt (1:44) 2011

Rachel, David, and Stefan are heroes. It's 1997 Israel and Stefan and Rachel's daughter has written a book detailing the mission as Massad agents bringing a Nazi doctor out of East Berlin to be tried as a crimes against humanity. Although Rachel is very proud of her daughter, she is uncomfortable with the attention. The movie flashes back to the 1967 mission and the plan to kidnap Dr. Vogel and smuggle him out of the country unfolds. As the mission is about to be successful, the trio hits a snag and they have to hold onto the doctor until another plan is developed. Keeping Vogel hidden in their apartment is causing conflict among the team members. Will the team's mission be successful or will their plan fall apart? The movie sifts back to 1997 with Rachel and Stefan coping with David's suicide. Will past secrets be kept safe or will the truth finally be revealed. Helen Mirren, Tom Wilkerson and Ciaran Hinds are excellent as the present day retired Massad agents. The actors who play the team in 1967 are also very good. This a quality story that moves along but it does have some short, intense violent scenes. See it.

Imagine Me and You (1:33) 2005

Set in modern day England,  Rachel and Hector's wedding day is here. All goes well except for one hitch. Rachel is instantly attracted to Luce, the florist. After the wedding, the couple invites Luce for dinner to introduce her to Cooper, a real ladies' man. Luce isn't interested in Cooper or any other man. She is attracted to Rachel. As time goes on, Rachel is continually drawn to Luce. Heck becomes aware that Rachel has changed and is convinced that it is his fault. Rachel is conflicted, she doesn't want to hurt Heck, her long time friend and recent husband. Imagine Me and You received poor reviews but I thought that the film treated the subject in a very sensitive manner. Heck is a good man and realizes that Rachel can not be happy staying married but he is distraught over losing Rachel. Rachel is torn between  Heck and Luce. Luce believes that single people should never come between a married couple. Whatever the outcome, someone will be hurt. Heck is portrayed by Matthew B. Goode as a sensitive man who heart is being broken. At first, Heck is not understanding what is going wrong in the marriage and reveals to his friend, Coop, that he is afraid to find out. This movie maybe the quality of a made for television movie but it deserves to be recognized for the dignified manner in which it handled the subject matter.