Bird flu. Swine flu. Pandemic.

Chances are you’ve heard those words in the media over the last few years, and, if you’re like me, even though you scoffed somewhat at the chance of some violent outbreak, you’ll readily admit your buttcheeks were clinched at the prospect of the flu reaping havoc on life as we know it.

Thanks to our Hollywood pal, Steven Soderbergh, the director behind such movies as Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Ocean’s Eleven (and Twelve and Thirteen) and The Informant!, you can now pucker your prunehole even more with his new action-thriller, Contagion, due in megaplexes on September 9, 2011. I don’t know what to really explain about the story, but I this much I do know: If and when I get sick this fall/winter, I’m going to immediately think of Gwyneth Paltrow. And Coldplay. And I’m going to be pissed.

The cast of Contagion is nothing short of stacked and fantastic. It stars Matt Damon (True Grit), Marion Cotillard (Inception), Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes), Kate Winslet (The Reader), Laurence Fishburne (Predators), Gwyneth Paltrow (Country Strong) and Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad). This is definitely on my list of must-see movies this fall and probably an early favorite for awards season. Check out the trailer below and let me know what you think.