Shit, David is Gunslinger?

Der.

I don't keep track of name changes.

Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity is a blockbuster even before looking at its box-office numbers. It’s big, expansive and exciting like the best summer movies are. Moreso, perhaps its best choice is to let in a mainstream Hollywood side. It’s not a docudrama in space. It’s not pretending to be a gritty, honest depiction of how getting cut off from communication in space would go. Gravity is cinema, art more than science. The goal is emotional resonance with the audience.

Cuaron’s precision is the most perfect of fits for the film. It appears to be made on a frame by frame basis. No time, movement, or line of dialog is wasted. Few films have felt so specifically made for a theatre viewing. The chaos of motion Ryan faces is captured when it’s inescapably in front of you.

Matt is one of the better George Clooney characters I’ve seen. The dire situation around him, adds a vulnerability usually lacking in his “I’m George F*cking Clooney” cool characters. Underneath his jokes is a melancholy, revealed without time spent on further development.

Sandra Bullock’s Ryan is developed as cleanly. One small scene with few words describing her past, tells all that’s needed to. Gravity’s story is more than anything, about surviving and the reasons to. That’s why Cuaron letting the film’s sentimentality breathe, instead of fearing it coming off as cliche, is an essential decision. Gravity is a film in space that feels human and warm. It gets there because of Ryan’s emotion and humanity.

This is surely one of the best films of the 2000s millennium. Cuaron’s precise filmmaking is a masterclass and as an action packed, emotional joyride, it’s a hit. Gravity is great cinema.

Anyone praising Clooneys performance is seeing more to the character than there really was.

No. Clooney gave a fantastic performance.

Except for the fact that you can see their faces. Which is like... 60% of acting.

Sandra Bullock is out of her space suit for a significant portion of the movie. I don't understand basically calling it a voiceover performance. It was a very physical one too.

Bullock is obviously a live action performance.

Clooney though...not even close.

I very much disagree with this statement. For Sandra Bullock, her performance was ALL about her face. Her face spoke volumes in this movie, and told us much more than the dialogue ever did. Often in the movie the camera zooms in up close to her face and stays there - we are meant to see exactly what she is going through. The key is that we see it, we aren't just told it. I love that about this movie.

Peace,
Michael

Man .....Sandra Bullock has aged

Do you mean since Speed 20 years ago? Personally, I thought she looked older in The Blind Side 5 years ago. Still, for a 49 year old women she looks pretty darn good even in all that harsh space lighting...

Physically, yes.

Emotionally, no.

But again, you're just trying to troll.

BJs Grade:

A/A-

Excellent, but i want too see it in IMAX3D before I give my final verdict.

A+ Amazing! Intense! Sad! Space is a bitch!

Saw it in regular 3D theater.....must see it in IMAX 3D

magnus is right. the film tries so hard to give an emotional connection with its childhood monologues and dead babies, but it all adds up to nothing.

looks good tho.

B (70)

did not like this one. thought i would.

hi snack, did you like man of steel?

My thoughts exactly.

Pretty sure it was in her contract that their had to be scenes where she's in underwear.

I think he's referring to the astounding technical achievement being lost in the lack of emotional connection argument. Which is a fair point. The cinematography in this movie will last through the years. And a lot of the great sci-fi pics are very cold. The problem is that Gravity tries so hard to make you connect with Bullock that the dialogue is sometimes cringeworthy.

It's not empty.

***Warning - Significant Spoilers***

I can't stop thinking about this movie, and I cannot wait to see it again.

When we first come across Ryan Stone, she looks empty and disengaged - not present, mentally elsewhere. She feels sick, she's out of her element (she isn't an experienced astronaut), and yet we also get the sense that she has chosen to be here for a reason - a place where she can easily disengage and remain disconnected from the world (literally and figuratively). She says that what she likes about space is "the silence". Soon enough, however, we are thrown into an unrelenting chaos, and suddenly Ryan can no longer be complacent in her withdrawal from life -- she has to make the decision to stay alive or not.

Later we find out that there is a reason for Ryan's disconnectedness. A few reviews have noted that this backstory of Sandra Bullock's character is unnecessary. I think it's actually crucial to the narrative -- it's imperative that we believe Ryan may not have the will to live and to survive, so that her decision each time to keep going on when she is in trouble is meaningful, and so that we have a cathartic pay off at the end of the film.

The simplicity of her daughter's school accident works to create a situation that is understandable as well as interchangeable -- to make clear that all of our lives are affected by these kinds of mundane accidents, that it could happen to any of us, and that we all have to ultimately make a decision to keep on living. The characters are vessels in which we place our ourselves, our own experiences and obstacles.

The film was very moving for me - not only because of Ryan Stone and Bullock's penetrating performance, but because of the film itself, the narrative. Our senses are overwhelmed with chaos, obstacle after obstacle in space, fear and constant motion and dark emptiness. When Ryan finally makes it back to Earth, we hear the distinct chirping of the insects and the sound of the breeze - noises we take for granted but which are not present in the silence of space. Ryan crawls up onto the beach and feels the sand which looks and feels so rich and organic - we've forgotten what it is like to be anchored onto solid land, still, and alive. In contrast to the aimless drifting and weightlessness of space, she gets up and takes her first determined steps forward to begin a new life, truly alive again.

The word to describe this film for me is life affirming. The depiction of space as huge and beautiful, but also awesome and terrifying, made me me feel small and vulnerable. Yet Ryan's journey of perseverance in the midst of chaos made me feel empowered. By the end of it, there is a sense of catharsis, and I feel that I can accomplish and overcome anything. I was moved and I just remember leaving the theatre feeling like I had just witnessed something so amazing, and that I had to tell everyone, as this felt not like a movie, but an experience.

Everything about this movie from a technical standpoint was meticulous and extremely well done. While reviews highlight the technical achievements of the film, I don't think they quite appreciate how much these achievements aren't merely technical but artistic as well - used in the service of creating an experience, one that is moving and immersive and imaginative. The score is phenomenal, and the way it is used is kind of amazing, essentially as the sound for the film, as space does not carry sound, and instead of explosion noises, we hear sonic booms and musical accents that create an incredible atmosphere. The music, as well as the cinematography and the visual artistry, the way the camera immerses us in the large emptiness of space and the tight claustrophobia of space stations, all drive the narrative of the film and help to create what was a terrifying, moving, and immersive film experience for me -- I think the most incredible movie theatre experience of my lifetime.

A

Peace,
Mike

Agree with some of you, the film is being overrated, I was expecting a lot more, but ultimately it did not impress me at all, still a good film without a doubt.

B