Everything That Dies, Some Day Comes Back

It’s fascinating of course to watch this 2011 Stephen Soderbergh film about a global pandemic to see how prescient it was. For starters the fictional virus originates in a Chinese market where live animals are sold. And the film gets a lot of technical detail right apparently, and even references R0 at one point. On the other hand instead of lockdowns it imagines whole cities being isolated, leading to breakdowns in law and order. And the speed with which a vaccine is created and the way it is proved safe are not credible but that's understandable given that the reality of how a vaccine is developed and tested is not that riveting.  Which brings us to the main issue here, which is that a pandemic is not in itself necessarily make for good drama. This film tries to solve this problem by focusing on half a dozen or so individuals, and so how much you enjoy this film hinges on how satisfying you find their stories. The one I was most into was that of Kate Winslett who goes to Minneapo...

OK, this remake was likely pointless but it has a  good cast and I wanted to see what changes had been made to the original 1976 cult classic.  I expected it to stick fairly closely to the basic plot but that the action sequences might be an improvement, given a bigger budget. One change is that we've moved from LA in the summer to Detroit in a snowstorm on New Year's Eve.  A snow storm is a good way of creating a siege-like atmosphere even before you're under siege, so a good change I would say. Another big change is that the attackers are no longer gang members but are corrupt cops.  It's an interesting idea but unfortunately it does stretch credulity that so many cops have gone to the Dark Side, so much so that by the end they are prepared to kill fellow officers and civilians.  And they are absurdly well kitted out, to the point that by the end they are calling up a helicopter. They are attacking the rundown police station because inside is a gangster, Bisho...