Gravity - Part 1

[Lord]

All style with no substance, that reminds me a lot of Oblivion and The Man of Steel

 

[DA_Champion]

All style with no substance, that reminds me a lot of Oblivion and The Man of Steel

I expect that the movie in your signature will have less style and less substance than each of Gravity, MoS, and Oblivion.

 

[Lord]

Probably have less so than Gravity, yeah, but when it comes to style it will be pretty much like MoS, while in substance it depends on the script, toping MoS and Gravity in that isn't very difficult, but considering the problem they've been having, it has a likelly chance of being as medíocre a script as those two.

Either way, a film i put in my set doesn't mean that i think it will be the best thing in the world, just that i enjoy and am excited for it, i had a Bad Boys II avatar before this one, and while i enjoyed that film a lot, i'm not going around defending that it's even good.

 

[Senator Pleasury]

All style with no substance, that reminds me a lot of Oblivion and The Man of Steel

Most likely.

 

[bluearth]

I had several big issues with gravity.

First off, the story, or lack of story. I needed a reason to cheer for Ryan. In Sunshine Cillian Murphy's character is on a mission to save the planet. Im extremely invested in his actions because if he doesnt survive, if he fails, we're all toast.

Ryan could die and nothing, nothing would change. Nobody would care. She has no family. If she died her funeral would be a bunch of NASA scientists who barely knew her throwing flowers on an empty casket.

Any 'tension' was shallow at best. You knew she was going to survive, and after you saw her survive the impossible for a second time (millions of pieces of space debri zipping past her at thousands of miles per hour that never hit her) you knew she was kind of invincible at that point.

The movie did what it set out to do, and it did it quite well. The issue is it didnt try to do enough. Any kind of story to latch onto and make me really care would have done wonders. Gravity as it stands is a great example of a 'best worst movie'. A film thats crafted very well, but just isnt that great. Like War Horse or Inception.

 

[Senator Pleasury]

I had several big issues with gravity.

First off, the story, or lack of story. I needed a reason to cheer for Ryan. In Sunshine Cillian Murphy's character is on a mission to save the planet. Im extremely invested in his actions because if he doesnt survive, if he fails, we're all toast.

Ryan could die and nothing, nothing would change. Nobody would care. She has no family. If she died her funeral would be a bunch of NASA scientists who barely knew her throwing flowers on an empty casket.

Yeah. That's why stories like Hamlet are universally booed. Because if Hamlet fails, the world is not destroyed. Therefore there's a lack of a story there.

These guys, they create a movie set in space and no explosions?

Any 'tension' was shallow at best. You knew she was going to survive, and after you saw her survive the impossible for a second time (millions of pieces of space debri zipping past her at thousands of miles per hour that never hit her) you knew she was kind of invincible at that point.

Opposite to any superhero movie, where you really don't know if the main character is going to survive and beat the bad guy or if he's going to survive the villain's traps.

The movie did what it set out to do, and it did it quite well. The issue is it didnt try to do enough. Any kind of story to latch onto and make me really care would have done wonders. Gravity as it stands is a great example of a 'best worst movie'. A film thats crafted very well, but just isnt that great. Like War Horse or Inception.

Inception. Another great movie.

 

[vanson]

there is a woman in space who risks her life for science, she gets one bad beat after another and you have no reason to cheer for her ?

 

[DarkSovereignty]

She should have drilled a nuke into an Asteroid or something

 

[Senator Pleasury]

She should have drilled a nuke into an Asteroid or something

At the very least. Just if only to show she was really trying.

 

[BH/HHH]

a good and fair post. but i dont understand why you had to talk about gravity in the superman boards? why compare it ?
http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?t=474801&page=22

i am afraid that this is about reviews and box office
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=gravity.htm
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=superman2012.htm
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/gravity_2013/
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/superman_man_of_steel/

and i have nothing against you. you sound like a fun shh member.

I posted it in there mostly because at first I didn't think of it having its own thread until after. I didn't really make a comparison as such and it wasn't just comparing to MOS. I just made the point that some films get away with little story and big FX whilst others are slated for it. I stand by everything I have said.

I think Gravity let me down in the same way Prometheus did and for some reason as with that it just ultimately irritated me lol.

 

[jmc]

Look, no one is denying Gravity is light on story but that's what one person survival stories are - light. In order for the film to work either the actor has to carry the film on the subtleties of performance alone (which honestly Bullock doesn't) or it's got to be a spectacle. The thing with Gravity is that it's the latter but not nearly as hollow as major blockbuster films.

 

[DA_Champion]

I'm not sure that the movie is actually "light on story", I think it's simply efficient on story. Truth be told there's a lot that takes place in this movie.

I attribute the criticisms to two factors:

1) A lot of people may have read the comprehensive media praise for this movie prior to seeing it and resented it. "It's the best movie of the year", "the first good science fiction movie", "this is what all movies should strive to be", etc etc etc. This can make most normally-reasonable people put up a huge defensive wall, such that they won't be able to enjoy it.

2) The story is very specific. It's predominantly about recovering from grief and the power of being challenged and pushed to the limits. If those issues don't figure prominently in your own life's narrative, you won't "get" the movie.

 

[Senator Pleasury]

"Light on story"? Why would this be?

The story deals with humans in absolute void and solitude, fighting for their survival. I guess it didn't have explosions or it wasn't about saving the universe so it's "light"?

 

[Keyser Soze]

Gravity is "light on story" the same way Halloween is "light on story," in that the narrative is efficiently stripped down to the bare components to create a film that is pure, relentless tension beginning-to-end, no fat or excess.

 

[Senator Pleasury]

Gravity is "light on story" the same way Halloween is "light on story," in that the narrative is efficiently stripped down to the bare components to create a film that is pure, relentless tension beginning-to-end, no fat or excess.

 

[bluearth]

Yeah. That's why stories like Hamlet are universally booed. Because if Hamlet fails, the world is not destroyed. Therefore there's a lack of a story there.

These guys, they create a movie set in space and no explosions?

So the old 'Go watch Transformers' rebuttal.

They could get away with it somewhat if Ryan was a likeable character. But shes not. Kowalski's demise hurt the film alot. I was actually glad when he returned and got upset when it turned out to be a farce. This is one film where Clooney's charisma was sorely needed, because the other actor was extremely boring and lifeless.

Opposite to any superhero movie, where you really don't know if the main character is going to survive and beat the bad guy or if he's going to survive the villain's traps.

Some people claim Zod won the Superman fight because he got exactly what he wanted, his death, by way of an assisted suicide at the hands of Superman.

Inception. Another great movie.

Generic action sequences, and a story thats explained too well leaving no mystery. I was really bored on my second viewing after liking it the first time through. Maybe because the director left nothing new to be discovered in repeat viewings.

 

[Lord]

Yeah light on story, we obviously needed George Clooney to be constantly reminding Sandra Bullock how she the chosen one and we humans will one day walk with her under the sun, we needed a prophecy telling how she was going to save mankind, yet her coming here to earth would also be the reason we would be in danger in the first place we needed weird aliens blowing up our cities and kisses in the middle of human ashes

 

[dark_b]

$70 million
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/...ra-Bullock-makes-70-million-from-Gravity.html

 

[DA_Champion]

They could get away with it somewhat if Ryan was a likeable character. But shes not. Kowalski's demise hurt the film alot. I was actually glad when he returned and got upset when it turned out to be a farce. This is one film where Clooney's charisma was sorely needed, because the other actor was extremely boring and lifeless.

Sandra Bullock was once America's sweetheart. Perhaps that's why you don't like her.

 

[Lord]

Not every main character needs to be incredibly charismatic, Ryan was who she was, are you debating that a person like her in that situation does not deserve to live?

 

[The Endless]

Gravity is "light on story" the same way Halloween is "light on story," in that the narrative is efficiently stripped down to the bare components to create a film that is pure, relentless tension beginning-to-end, no fat or excess.

Well said. Could say the same for countless classics.

 

[BH/HHH]

"Light on story"? Why would this be?

The story deals with humans in absolute void and solitude, fighting for their survival. I guess it didn't have explosions or it wasn't about saving the universe so it's "light"?

Putting words into peoples mouths cause they don't agree with you. Light stories can work great, someone mentioned John Carpenters Halloween and that did it to perfection. Gravity FOR ME was bland and either the script and/or Sandra Bullock's performance didn't grip me. Its called having your own opinion, accept that people will have a different one to yourself.

 

[Dr.]

Well said. Could say the same for countless classics.

E.g., Spielberg's Duel: mysterious truck tries to kill man in car.

 

[Lord]

Preference and evaluating a piece of art are two very different things

 

[Whiskey Tango]

Finally got to see this. EXCELLENT movie. Sandy was great. And that soundtrack! The song during the end was incredible. My goosebumps had goosebumps. Anyone know who the vocalist on that one was? Wiki P lists Katherine Ellis, Haley Glennie-Smith and Lisa Hannigan on vocals but I can't find who sang on that track specifically.