Alfonso Cuarón - Gravity

[kcinsu]

Yeah, I liked Europa Report.

[Terpentintollwut]

Anybody else annoyed that the IMAX bumper graphics countdown looks like 100x more 3d and deep than the movie about to follow it? Why do they dial down the depth so much in '3d' movies? It's extremely weird to me how weak-sauce the depth is.

 

Yes! So annoying. You're sitting there thinking "Oh well maybe this shit I paid a fortune for is at least going to provide some mild entertainment!" only to get your ass nice & ready to take in the sad truth to maximum extent.

[joshuatxuk]

This is what I think is so great about the film:

 

It has a documentary feel to it at times, which we have all seen fake versions of but Gravity isn't pretending to be real in that sense. It is essentially one act in space. The antagonist in the film is space. Everything else in the film is its bitch. While watching it I experienced fear and alienation on a level I had never before with a film. Yes, Bullock is the protagonist but she is depressed and hates being in space. She is not even really important to the story. She s there to move the film along in a way that makes us feel as if we have been in space but not bored by our stay. It is a hopeless film. It is saying that we cannot conquer something that we want to be able to. On many levels this is true and disheartening for an astronomy junky like myself. Until humanity comes up with inventions that create comfortable, safe environments to travel in, false gravity, traveling long distances in short amounts of time, 99% of what we are doing in our space programs will not help us to get any closer to any of true advancements in space travel. Yes the Hubble Telescope is an advancement but we have to be able to travel to these places we see for them to be anything more than puzzle pieces and objects that are beautiful to look at. This film washed over me and felt like it lasted 20 minutes. It also had a sense of infinitude, the size of outer space always looming in the back. The action drives this film in a way that didn't feel like an action film. The setting of space gave it the perfect environment to not need to rely on normal screenwriting. The effect of seeing no gravity being inflicted on a character for that much time was so alien to myself, it totally warped my sense of physical motion. All of this combined created the perfect space experience for myself. I do agree that calling this sci-fi is incorrect, this is all contemporary and is not fantastical in any sense other than this would never happen the way we see it on the screen. Or at the pace it is set, these events wouldn't happen that quickly. So what made it so great for myself is the effect it left me with. I was so glad to be on earth after I left the theatre and upset that we have not come further along in our scientific endeavors. I also thought it looked fucking beautiful.

The end really hit me, as unlikely as it would be for her to make it back, I felt the weight of the earth's pull on her body. It sent chills throughout my body.

 

 

Thanks for posting this, wonderful synopsis and I feel very much the same way and never could have written it out that well.

 

I'm a huge space exploration history nut, as a kid I was both very much in aviation and early space travel. The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 are two of my favorite films, and while both have moments where true danger and near death are very apparent (and all moments that actually occurred) the fact is that the harsh elements of space are never really present visually. Everything is always constrained to the liftoff and re-entry scenes and drama within the cabins of spacecraft. I'm glad too they made all of the sets looks so familiar and current: it's surreal seeing the same backdrops we're familiar with of happy astronauts floating around as they film experiments for schoolkids and things like that suddenly become fragile bits of equipment to cling onto in the vastness of space. Really makes the Columbia Disaster, and how such disasters have not occurred more often, even more incredible to think about. The murphey's law aspect runs through every moment...

 

the fact that she hit a lake in a capsule designed for ground landings...her body's weakness from being in space for over 45 days making it hard for her to get out of the water...or the mention that if they had gone with her plan in the repair they would of saved and hour and finished the job well-before the debris field hit...

 

 

I don't care that the symbolism was heavy-handed (wikipedia has a rundown of most of them), I never mind montage if it's done tastefully. Perhaps it was too suspense-driven (as awepittance pointed out, the second airlock opening and perpetual shots of destruction could of been less frequent) but honestly it was quite an accomplishment visually imo. I think the lack of cutaways (just about 200), an element of CGI action films that drives me insane, was quite refreshing.

 

As the movie went along I found Bullock more and more appealing, especially since she was so human - right down to fumbling with switches and looking through the manuals and trying to keep her composure as she desperately tries to stay alive. I could not help but notice her resemblance to Ellen Ripley, and the rather gender neutral portrayal of her (shorter hair, the name "Ryan"). The film reminded more of Sunshine and Space Odyssey 2001 more than anything else I've seen.

Particularly Sunshine - there's just such a human element of triumph in that film despite such a bleak and hopeless setting and that's why Gravity was so moving for me.

 

 

and for me the cheesiest moment of the film was during a mostly successful emotional moment while she was hearing that Chinese guy singing.

 

I liked that moment too, the bit with the dogs howling. Turns out they shot a short film with that character, who happens to be a Inuit tuning in on his ham radio (hence the dogs and baby cry being both in earshot)

 

gravity-companion-short-film-aningnaaq-by-jonas-cuaron-will-be-released-as-a-dvd-extra

 

 

Man, George Clooney's character is such an old pro. He listens to country music just like Tommy Lee Jones from Space Cowboys. I like that reference. It's like they don't even have to write into his character at all because I have seen the other movie! I like how he was a mentor/potential love interest simultaneously, and I like the irony that they are literally the only people within hundreds of miles of each other and yet they are separated, hopelessly, by the vacuum of space. That is deep. Like deep space.

flol there's no way this movie is better than your post.

 

 

That's like a stock character literally in every NASA oriented movie - I bet even 1,000+ years from now every space pilot is still going to sound and act like a gruff, laidback test pilot who sounds like he just stepped out a Western movie. Tom Wolfe made an exaggerated but logical claim in his book Right Stuff (1979) that every post-war commercial pilot either met Chuck Yeager or at least wanted to emulate him, so that's why even now every airline pilot sounds like a West Virginian trucker on a CV radio "[radio crackle] uhh ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking..."

[Rubin Farr]

pretty cool, Alfonso filmed a new short for the DVD showing the Eskimos on the other side of the radio transmission.

 

http://io9.com/jonas-cuaron-filmed-a-short-to-tell-the-other-half-of-a-1455498243

[goDel]

Haven't seen the movie (yet), but liked the red letter media review..

[joshuatxuk]

pretty cool, Alfonso filmed a new short for the DVD showing the Eskimos on the other side of the radio transmission.

 

http://io9.com/jonas-cuaron-filmed-a-short-to-tell-the-other-half-of-a-1455498243

 

Yeah I posted another article about that - looks like a neat little extra scene. I really liked that part when the dogs start to howl.

[Rubin Farr]

didn't see it was in the middle of your post

[Berk]

I laughed at the trailer but the movie was actually quite enjoyable, nothing more nothing less

 

(I watched it in 3D at the cinema though)

[Berk]

 

Oh yeah, only thing that bothered me a bit was that everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

 

[joshuatxuk]

didn't see it was in the middle of your post

 

Yeah that was buried in there for sure.

 

 

Oh yeah, only thing that bothered me a bit was that everything that could go wrong, went wrong.

 

 

 

Murphy's_law

 

[Braintree]

Saw this a couple nights ago and really enjoyed it. There's much to be lacked with the (forceful) dialogue, and there are a few plotholes, but it's visually stunning and made me feel tense almost all the way through.

 

I loved the shots of the Earth. I tear up a little every time I look at it.

 

I was also sharing a bottle of Jameson as I watched, so that may have skewed my opinion. I want to go see it again in regular format, instead of IMAX 3D. The glasses were too dark, so some things were hard to see.

[awepittance]

that red letter media review is absolutely spot on. The movie is a must-see, I can't argue with that but would have been far stronger and more timeless without the hollywood schlock thrown on top of it. It's true that no matter how good the rest of the movie is, if you have to shoe-horn in exposition told by a character to emotionally flesh out the people on screen it's always going to suffer as a result, especially if its just there to make you 'feel' for the characters but otherwise has no actual consequence to the story itself.

[Guest Gary C]

Phew, it's finally out in the UK and I've avoided spoilers. I'll be going to see it this Saturday hopefully. I'm considering eating hash cakes beforehand.

[Guest Shit Attack]

1st half was great 2nd half was disapointing too much inspirational messages from space clooney type shit "seize the day" etc + the action/danger started to seem contrived and lost impact but its overall a good movie + will probs watch it again but maybe only for the first 40 mins or so tho but it coulda been much better with less cheese

[awepittance]

Phew, it's finally out in the UK and I've avoided spoilers. I'll be going to see it this Saturday hopefully. I'm considering eating hash cakes beforehand.

last time i did this was in dark knight rises, i cried, i thought i was going to die and by the time i walked out of the movie i was convinced it was going to win best picture. hash-food ftw

[Guest Adam]

anyone saw this with dolby atmos?

[zkom]

Saw this in a free screening in 3D. Visually nice. Lacks in story but kept the suspense. Bullock was getting pretty annoying by the end. Clooney was even more annoying. Scientifically inaccurate. 5/10.

[Npoess]

I was slightly disappointed by the movie (but I also had ridiculously high expectations for it).

 

When people talk about this movie, it's almost like Alfonso Cuarón invented the movie camera or something.

 

Sure, it's a great movie. But it isn't exactly new a 2001: A Space Odyssey or even a new Moon my book.

 

And I agree with the RedLetterMedia review, I wish they hadn't gone for big hollywood name actors. Choosing someone slightly more low-key would have made the movie a whole lot more impactful.

[Guest Gary C]

Right, yeah saw it last week. It's good, but not as good as I was expecting.

 

Visually and as a 3D experience, it's brilliant. It's definitely the best 3D film I've seen. It's deeply immersive. Terrifying in scope. All the 3D bits that would be cheesy elsewhere make sense because of zero-gravity. And, especially when shit started exploding, I was totally captivated and was blinking to shield my eyes from the debris.

 

Space looks cool and I'm willing to ignore all the scientific inaccuracies. Well, I think I am. But, by the end, after another space walk and another bafflingly simple piece of navigation, I was running out of steam. The astronauts might have been running out of time, oxygen and fuel but apparently steering around space is really easy? lol.

 

 

The rebirth/karmic elements were alright. Not too schmaltzy. Like Bullock floating around in the foetal position, or the little Buddha on the console when she's finally about to make it. Even the dream scene and the implication of at least the question of life after death, they're all fine.

 

 

But, whugh, the dialogue stank. Clooney has a habit of explaining exactly what is going on, which is obviously somewhat necessary in a two-character situation, but it still felt stupid. And Bullock, when she's alone, still talking through her motivations and revelations, blurgh.

 

Also, the ending.

I would have been happy with it ending with her still in space, waiting for a rescue. I might have even been happy for her to die out there (impossible after a whole movie of narrowly surviving, I know) but Hollywood-ending, meh. I might have even been willing for the film to go crazy (especially after the weirdness of the dream-scene) and have the characters float off into the afterlife or land on another earth, time-travel or aliens or whatever.

 

But the safe-landing bit was a bit too easy. I appreciated the visuals of a ticker-tape parade, foetal Bullock learning to walk and 'getting home' and all that. But it didn't sit right because I was expecting something more sci-fi.

 

 

Visually, it's great. Stunning, exciting and a nice concept. I was totally immersed, flinching at debris. And yeah,

I even felt the weight of the earth when she landed. I swear I could smell fresh air in the end too. Like when Bullock first gets back into the station and decompresses, the sound design was so staggering I was expecting my ears to pop and even felt out of breath.

Stunning.

 

But in the end it was still Hollywood. Clooney was Hollywood Man. Bullock was Hollywood Lady and the ending was

Hollywood. Danger, sacrifice, rebirth, revelation, celebration.

 

[Rubin Farr]

[youtubehd]aiBt44rrslw[/youtubehd]

[joshuatxuk]

Great review Gary. I agree with you on the dialogue - some of the things she said, especially when talking about her kid to Clooney, seemed a bit contrived. Like one-liners you would expect in Lifetime TV movies. The better parts was when she was muttering to herself. Or the radio contact scene at first.

When she's exhausted and was like "I hate space..." that was perfect. It was not only funny but also believable

 

[Guest Gary C]

Sometimes also it felt like they wanted to do more money shots than necessary. Like did we really need to see the cgi rag-doll double doing that 'hang off the airlock' move twice? It looked kinda real the first time, but by the second it looked a little more like Matrix reloaded.

 

That bit really jarred with me too. Bullock was struggling to hold onto anything and about to pass-out from lack of oxygen but she has the strength to hold onto that door as it's blasted open? Nope, nah. She would have been thrown back out into space, film over.

 

The second time it happened, I agree. It looked too slick and cgi.

 

When the film ended I actually realised that those doors were the most dangerous parts of the movie as she was practically strolling through the final debris explosion like she was surrounded by storm troopers. She had superhuman strength everytime she opened the airlocks. They could have done away with that whole door-blasting-open thing anyway because they took liberties elsewhere.

 

 

Those doors did make Clooney's reappearance very dream-like but we would have gathered that anyway.

 

[Guest Gary C]

 

When she's exhausted and was like "I hate space..." that was perfect. It was not only funny but also believable

 

 

That got a lol from the cinema. And Clooney's scene got a very loud 'what the fuck'.

[awepittance]

im now wondering if it's just my theatre that has shitty dialed down 3d. I've heard many people say this was the best 3d movie they've ever seen, but it literally wasn't in 3d for like 1/3rd of the movie for me in my theatre, i took my glasses off to test this during the film and i could see that many of the scenes looked totally clear with no doubling (aka no 3d effect). It's really weird that you pay for a movie in 3d, spend an extra $7 or whatever and that literally whole stretches of the movie are literally in 2d.

[Guest the anonymous forumite]

Not much too add besides what has been said but yes, the dialogue was lazy, Bullock was overdoing it and Clooney was as weak as usual. However, the visuals, the cinematography, the overall experience was absolutely mindblowing, absolutely up there with 2001 and Enter the Void in terms of experience. So that's a solid 9/10 for me.

 

Man, that camera entering Bullock's helmet and adopting her subjective POV was just another reason to love cinema.