Some quick hits to completely catch me up!

Contagion– Remember the movie Outbreak? This is a new viral threat movie, but minus those pesky monkeys. Director Steven Soderbergh continues his solid legacy with this one. It’s a straight forward epidemic movie that’s going to make you want to wash your hands the second the credits roll. Gwyneth Paltrow is close to patient zero, in fact she brings it to the States. Never trust her.

Outrage-Yakuza! A big name boss needs a group of drug trafficers to be brought under control. He tells his right hand man to handle it who then passes it on to the guy below him. It doesn’t go well. Mistakes and misunderstandings are made and a whole lot of people end up paying with their lives. Beat Takeshi is the most well known actor here and he does his standard quality tough man gig here. Pretty good, but I’d only recommend it to yakuza genre fans.

30 Minutes or Less– This one got alot of weird looks when it came out because it kind of mimics a real life event where a pizza delivery guy actually had a bomb strapped to him and forced to rob a bank (he didn’t live). I don’t really see how this teased or made fun of that mans unfortunate end, but that might be just one of those things that people who like to get offended over cling to.

I watched this for the cast as I really like Eisenberg, Ansari, Swardson and McBride. It’s not a laugh a minute, but there is some great dialog and character interaction here and at 80 minutes long it doesn’t overstay its welcome. McBride and Swardson are a pair of dummies who get the idea of opening a massage parlor, but they don’t have the money to invest in it. But, McBride’s father does! They hire a hit man to take him out so McBride can get the inheritance but need 100 grand for the hitman. They spot Eiseneberg and decided to force him to rob a bank to put their plan into action.

It’s not going to win any awards, there is a love plot that really doesn’t mean much in the end and it’s not the funniest movie ever made, but I don’t think the movie deserved all the hate it got. Good rental to kill a rainy afternoon.