“Outbreak” is 25 years old, on Netflix and really isn’t about the coronavirus

Before its 25th anniversary on March 10 and people started staying at home before the coronavirus (COVID-19) spread, Outbreak was already on Netflix streaming. Nowadays, the Wolfgang Petersen movie is now on 5th most popular on Netflix as people are watching in their houses. 

It would be fun to look back on Outbreak anyway. Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo play Army and CDC doctors respectively with a cast including Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Patrick Dempsey and Donald Sutherland. Now that we’re living through an outbreak, there’s more interest but it’s important to remember it’s still just a movie.

There are broad strokes of science in Outbreak. Somewhere between Armageddon (movie with Bruce Willis and directed by Michael Bay) dismissing actual scientific measurements to declare the rock like “the size of Texas” and actual scientific procedures lies Outbreak. It does show how a disease can spread through human contact. In this case, it comes from an animal, so the monkey spits on Jimbo (Dempsey) and scratches Rudy (Daniel Chodos) the pet store owner.

The Motaba virus has a 24 hour cycle. That’s good for cinema because the scientists can see symptoms immediately. The coronavirus takes days and weeks to manifest and people carrying it can be asymptomatic.

Coronavirus has spread beyond a single town, and it’s unlikely the military will be flying helicopters and launching missiles to keep people in their homes. If you can separate the fiction from real contagions, Outbreak is a perfectly fun movie to watch on Netflix. If it’s still too close to home, there are plenty of other viewing options until this all blows over.

Hope u like it. 

xoxoxo 

ME

Just Getting Started (Movie Review)

Official poster for Just Getting Started, directed by Ron Shelton.
(credits - Broad Green Pictures)

Director: Ron Shelton.
Producers: Bill Gerber & Steve Richards.
Written by: Ron Shelton (who also directed the movie).

Main Cast:

Morgan Freeman ------ Duke Diver

Tommy Lee Jones ------ Leo McKay

Rene Russo ------ Suzie Quince

Glenne Headly ---- Margarite
Sheryl Lee Ralph --- Roberta

Joe Pantoliano ----- Joey

Jane Seymour ---- Delilah 

Johnny Mathis --- Himself

Rene Russo in action as Suzie Quince in Just Getting Started.
(credits - Broad Green Pictures)

Release Date: December 8, 2017 (USA).

Running Time: 91 min. 

Box Office: US$22 million / US$7.6 million (box office bomb).

Plot Summary: Duke Diver (Morgan Freeman),a defense lawyer, now manages the luxury resort Villa Capri, in Palm Springs, California. Leo McKay (Tommy Lee Jones, from The Fugitive and Men In Black), an ex-FBI Agent, arrives at the resort and beatens the lawyer at every competition.

Rene Russo between Tommy Lee Jones, director Ron Shelton and Morgan Freeman
in Just Getting Started premiere. (credits - Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images)

Their competition extends to a rivalry over Suzie Quince (Rene Russo), the regional director of the resort chain. During the competitions Duke's life is put in danger multiple times and he realizes that the mafia has found him and is attempting to kill him. Duke and Leo must work together to defeat the mafia and save Duke's life during the Christmas season at Villa Capri.
At the end, after Suzie is rescued from the mafia, she, Duke and Leo end happily together.

Fun Facts about the Movie:

• The original title was called Villa Capri, until September 2017, when the film was retitled to Just Getting Started.
• And it's the second time Rene Russo worked together with Morgan Freeman, the first was in Outbreak (1995). And it was also the second time Rene worked together with Ron Shelton, the first time was in Tin Cup (1996).
• Just Getting Started was Ron Shelton's comeback movie since Hollywood Homicide, of 2003 (starring Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett).
• Rene Russo said about Tommy Lee Jones and Morgan Freeman in US programme Today Show, "I was intimidated by these two at first!"
• Even though the movie was appreciated by the public, it was panned by the critics.

Rene Russo with her dog Romeo in Just Getting Started.
(credits - Broad Green Pictures)

Critical Reception:

• IMDB: 4,3/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 5% (unfavorable, 20 reviews).
• Metacritic: 21/100
• CinemaScore: C (A+ to F)

Hope u like it.

Loveuguys.

xoxoxo

ME

Outbreak (MOVIE REVIEW)

Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman are part of the main cast
of "Outbreak" (1995), directed by Wolfgang Petersen. (photo credits: Warner Bros. Pictures)

Director: Wolfgang Petersen (he worked with Rene in the movie In the Line of Fire, 1993, but he also was known directing Air Force 1, Troy, Poseidon, among others).

Produced by: Wolfgang Petersen, Gail Katz, Arnold & Arnie Kopelson.

Written by: Laurence Dworet & Robert Roy Pool.

Main Cast: 

- Dustin Hoffman ------- Colonel Sam Daniels

- Rene Russo ------------ Dr. Roberta Keough (Robby)

- Morgan Freeman ------- Brigadier General Billy Ford

- Donald Sutherland ------ Major General Donald McClintock (Donnie)

- Kevin Spacey ------------- Lieutenant Colonel Casey Schuler

- Cuba Gooding Jr. -------- Major Salt

- Patrick Dempsey-------- James Scott (Jimbo)

Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman as Sam, Robby and Billy,
respectively (photo credits: Peter Sorel/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Release Date: March 10, 1995 (USA) / April 7, 1995 (Brazil)
Running time: 128 min.

Budget / Box office: $50 million / $189,8 million. (box office success).
Plot Summary: In the late 60's, a virus called Motaba (which causes a mortal fever) was discovered in Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo). To keep this virus a secret, U.S. Army Officers Donnie McClintock (Donald Sutherland) and Billy Ford (Morgan Freeman) destroy the camp where the soldiers where infected.

Some years later, Sam Daniels (Dustin Hoffman), an USAMRIID virologist, is sent to investigate an outbreak in Zaire. Along with him, were Casey (Kevin Spacey) and Major Salt (Cuba Gooding Jr.) . They gather some information and return to the United States. Ford, now a brigadier general and Daniels' officer, advises that the virus will spread.

The monkey Betsy, host of the virus, is smuggled into the country and sent into Cedar Creek, California. Jimbo Scott (Patrick Dempsey, who recently worked as Derek in Grey's Anatomy), a worker in an animal testing laboratory, is infected when he was stealing the monkey to sell into the black market. After failing and releasing the monkey into the woods to Cedar Creek, Jimbo develops symptoms while flying to Boston, infecting his girlfriend. The illness is investigated by Dr. Robby Keough (Rene Russo), a CDC scientist and Daniels' ex-wife. To end, Jimbo, the pet owner, Alice (Jimbo's girlfriend) die, but Keough concludes that no one else in Boston was infected.

While Ford provides the serum, Daniels realizes he was aware of the virus before the outbreak, and confronts the general that Motaba was a bioweapon and infected the monkey. In the time everyone was dying, Daniel learns about Operation Clean Sweep, and McClintock plans to use the operation to conceal the virus' existence.

The operation starts, Salt and Daniels escape in the helicopter to the ship where Betsy was, and Daniels carries a photo of the monkey to release it to the media. Both discover that a Cedar Creek resident, Mrs. Jeffries (Gina Menza), discovers that her daughter Kate (Kara Keough) was playing with Betsy in the yard... so the CDC was warned about the situation.

Rene Russo as Robby in a scene of "Outbreak" (1995)
(photo credits: Warner Bros. Pictures)

The ending of Outbreak is when Salt and Daniels mixes Betsy's antibodies with Ford's serum to create an anti-serum, saving Robby, while then, Casey died. Donnie was arrested, Daniels and Keough reconcile, and Cedar Creek residents are totally cured.

Fun Facts about the movie:

• This movie, along with an episode from The Simpsons from 1997, predicted the Ebola outbreak in October, 2014.
• Outbreak was the first movie when Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman worked together; the other was recently, in Just Getting Started, some months ago, in December 2017.
• Outbreak was based from the book The Hot Zone, by Richard Preston, also released in 1995.
• The monkey Betsy appeared in the sitcom Friends (1994).
• Scenes in Cedar Creek were filmed in Ferndale, California. 

Critical Reception:

• IMDB: 6,6/10
• Rotten Tomatoes: 59% (mixed; 44 critics).
• Metacritic: 65%
• CinemaScore: A - (from A+ to F).

On April 24, I'll write more details about Rene Russo's character, Robby Keough, of Outbreak... 

Hope u like it.

Love u guys...

xoxoxo

ME