Gravity (2013)

[Ramboraph4life aka Matt]

Just saw this in the theater, in 3D. And for me, personally, my favorite film of the year by far.

Intense. Beautiful. Breathtaking Effects. Wonderful acting, genuine emotion, solid thrills, great score, nice usage of sound, and a definitely a 'must see' in 3D!

[MrPliggins]

Visually stunning. I saw it in 2d but it still had great visuals. I loved the long camera shots without cutting, one of the director's trademarks.

[Jester]

Movies like this are why I wish more people would see 3D as more than a gimmick. In the right hands and with the right story 3D can be used to great effect.

I swear if Nolan had done Inception in 3D it would have been that much more awesome.

[Peanut]

It looked cool and everything, but it was boring and most of the dialogue was pretty awful. Some of the acting actually made me laugh, like the dreadful "It's gonna be one helluva ride!" line. 3D added to the experience, but I don't think taking it away would be a detriment.

I wish there were more movies set in this kind of space setting, but it did nothing for me. It actually just made me wish they'd make a Dead Space movie with these kinds of production values.

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Jester

Movies like this are why I wish more people would see 3D as more than a gimmick. In the right hands and with the right story 3D can be used to great effect.

I swear if Nolan had done Inception in 3D it would have been that much more awesome.

Agreed. I saw it last Sunday. It was not until a couple of days later that people said that I missed out even though I saw the movie because it was actually meant for 3-D. It seems 2 out of 3 Blockbusters are in 3-D the last 4 to 5 years. I saw Monsters vs Aliens in 3-D just to see a movie in 3-D a few year back and honestly it was a pain. Have seen every movie with the 3-D option in 2-D since then. This time however it appears I missed out despite seeing Gravity. Its hard to know which ones are actually meant for it instead of 3-D for the heck of it in hopes of more gross.

Good call on Inception. I wonder if Interstellar will be in 3-D?

[MrTMNT2012]

Characters were cliche and uninteresting but the film was a visual masterpiece. Alfonso definitely deserves an Oscar for his director work this year!

[chrisdude]

Typically, I don't see anything in 3D unless it was filmed with 3D cameras. I always felt like post-conversion was just a tacked-on money-grab, and not part of the real film. I bent the rule, this time, simply because there wasn't a convenient 2D showtime. I have to admit that I'm very glad that I bent that rule.

And I thought the movie was great. I can't think of the last time I was kept on the edge of my seat, like that. Sandra Bullock was great, and the movie, itself, was downright pretty.

[Jester]

Wait...this wasn't shot for 3D?

Haven't seen it, by the way, but the premise seems to lend itself to 3D....

[chrisdude]

After seeing it, I do think it was intended for 3D. They just chose to convert it in post. I was wrong to assume the 3D was worthless, because of that.

[Refractive Reflections]

Personally I thought it was a great film, the setting and premise may be "ordinary", but it was able to transcend that into a psychological, self-reflective thriller by using the powerful effect of silence.
For sure it used the "silence speaks far louder than any noise" theme, because without any external noise or distractions, it forces one to think about their own thoughts, and in this case with the hazards of space, also their own mortality and existence.

If people are expecting it to be a high-action/adventure movie with new stimuli and environments being introduced, then you should probably skip it. Yet it is very suspenseful and haunting because there are stark emotional contrasts:
-The beauty of Earth from space, but the isolation of being alone.
-The immediate relief of companionship, yet the fragility of losing it so easily.
-The rush of assurance of being safe, but only for a limited time, as the clock is ticking before the debris "storm" arrives again.
There's a dichotomous feeling of both wonder and horror with the visuals and with the character's plight.

The film is effective on many different levels from both an individual character perspective, and in a more broad, existential theme. While the "uplifting" advice from Clooney's character wasn't the most inspirational, it was good when Bullock's character has so many odds against her.

I usually don't bother to see many films, but I'm very glad I got to see this one. Great stuff!


Edit: So after thinking about this movie for a while, I'm beginning to see the metaphors here. It's far-fetched , but hear me out...
I think Bullock's character (Dr. Stone's) isolation in space was a bigger and grander metaphor for her isolation of her life back home, because she had no one who cared or was concerned about her. I remember the line when Clooney's character asked what she listened on the radio, and she admitted "anything" to keep her distracted from thinking about losing the only one/person who did care about her, her child, and so she wouldn't have to confront her loneliness and emotional isolation. Although her character was terrified not only for her life when she was thrown out, it also symbolically represented how terrified she was to "feel" alone.

The movie subtly begs the philosophical question of whether someone is able to value their lives outside of tangible relationships, for possibly another and/or bigger purpose in life even when things look bleak... even suicidally bleak, especially when there's no one around you, and you "feel" like you're in an emotional void (symbolically represented with outer space).

In addition, and this may be stretching it here, and I'm not trying to stir controversy, but when the movie showed a glancing shot of the small card image of the Nativity in the Russian craft, then a glancing shot of a small Buddha statue in the Chinese spacecraft, and then pleading with the random Chinese man over the distorted transmission frequency to pray for her since she says she doesn't know how to pray, I wondered if the movie was alluding to spirituality here. Almost as if it was questioning the "comfort" of atheism, or prompting the possibility of something beyond the physical world, being amidst in such an all-encompassing, profound relationship/emotional void... Hmmm....

Yeah... Just my small analysis on the movie. I really hope this film gets Oscar nominated.

[MrPliggins]

That's also why I chose to see it in 2d, because of the post-conversion. I'm glad to hear it's still good in 3d even though post-converted. When is Hollywood going to pre-plan 3d in their shooting budget?

[chrisdude]

Originally Posted by MrPliggins

That's also why I chose to see it in 2d, because of the post-conversion. I'm glad to hear it's still good in 3d even though post-converted. When is Hollywood going to pre-plan 3d in their shooting budget?

I don't know. Looking back, Thor and Captain America looked so terrible in post-converted 3D, that I swore it off. This movie looked so good (I saw it in regular theater 3D), I'm surprised the technology has come so far. If all post-converted movies look that good, these days, 3D cameras may not even be necessary. At the same time, they say Star Trek Into Darkness looked pretty bad in non-IMAX 3D.

[Refractive Reflections]

Yeah, I'm back with more thoughts...

So if I refer back to the spiritual themes I mentioned earlier in my last post, I think George Clooney's character (Matt Kowalski) could have been a metaphor for a "spiritual guide" or "angel" of sorts, because I found his bravery almost too comfortable in the midst of constant life-threatening peril. Some points of the movie which made me believe this is when: 1) Dr. Stone was flung off when the Explorer was hit, he constantly advised her during her panicking and made no mistakes, 2) He wanted her to make sure she always listened to his voice for her survival, 3) Even with her suicide attempt, his "advice" saved her by informing about other options and empathized how easy it was to "give up", and how it was easy to believe there was nothing left for her with the loss of her child, but encouraged her to go on.

I was also wondering if possibly, this film was suggesting a forewarning theme about the devastating cascade reactions of world politics and globalization here, using the space stations/spacecraft as metaphors for nations and the Kessler syndrome in space as a metaphor for knee-jerk political reactions and global inter-connectivity. I mean with the order of events, we have a defunct Russian missile strike and its debris, destroying the Explorer of the United States, and then that cumulative debris effecting the International Space Station, which then affects the Chinese Tiangong space station.

We don't have to look far in history to see how that principle is true: In the 1920s the United States had a severe lack of ethical investing regulation which would eventually lead to the 1929 Stock Market Crash, which not only caused a American financial depression, but a worldwide one. The impoverished conditions of some parts of the world became a fuel for fascism, which lead to the rise of Nazi Germany, then leading to World War II. Which left the U.S. and the Soviet Union as the remaining superpowers, then the Cold War..., etc.
A kind of "Kessler Syndrome" metaphor for human history? In which the remains of these nations (or space stations in this movie) is nothing but debris and ruins, and how human lives (the astronauts) are flung in all different and harrowing directions amongst the devastation.


...I know most of you may be thinking I'm going "off the deep end" here , but there's gotta be something more here than just "stunning visuals" and good drama, if critics were giving this film around 9/10 and Rotten Tomatoes giving it a 98%.

[Krutch]

I loved this movie. So far it's the only 3D movie I can recommend seeing in 3D. Aside from some clunky dialogue here and there, it's a pretty perfect film.

[Refractive Reflections]

With the Oscar nominations today, the film has been nominated for 10 Oscars (as with American Hustle)!