Gravity

[Marvin]

Would anyone have preferred the ending where [BLACKOUT]Clooney and her daughter were waiting for her her on the beach?[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Liam_H]

Personally, no.

 

[kedrell]

Would anyone have preferred the ending where [BLACKOUT]Clooney and her daughter were waiting for her her on the beach?[/BLACKOUT]

So basically implying that she[BLACKOUT] burned up and died? I don't think so. She went through enough hell that I feel she earned her survival. Plus one of the themes of the film is getting over the past and she really can't make any use of that if she's dead.[/BLACKOUT]

 

[Marvin]

I don't expect independent films if you will, to cater to the tropes the conventional audience is used to.
In other words an ending where all the work is for nothing has it's place. I'm just curious if it would have made sense. Or at least if they had the question up in the air such as inception did.

 

[terry78]

Endings

Spoiler

where the character dies is only for artsy fartsy films. For the mainstream you gotta have them live or at least give them a semi-happy ending.

 

[jmc]

^ Dude, spoilers!!!!!!

 

[kedrell]

Not necessarily a "happy ending" but at least a satisfying one.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

Just got back from the 4:45pm showing in 2D for $4.50 . I didn't want to pay 13.75 for 3D or 17 bucks for IMAX 3D because I wasn't sure if I would like this movie . After seeing it, it is better than what I was expecting, but I still wasn't blown away or in love with it like critics and other movie goers are. The only real stand out for me was the visuals and score. There was no story other than Sandra's character trying to survive/ make it back to earth after a mission goes south.

The acting was decent but nothing to write home about. Other than that it was kinda boring in places and wasn't really a edge of your seat thriller ( at least not for me). It's definitely not my top film of the year , but as far as survival movies like cast away, the grey etc it's one of the better ones ( I hated the grey and cast away btw).

7.5/10

 

[Brother Jack]

Saw this yesterday. One of the most intense movies I've ever seen and unbelievably good on a technical and visual level. Cuaron has to be some kind of wizard.

 

[jmc]

The thing I like about Cuaron is that he might be the best director when it comes to utilizing CG technology. He somehow manages to blend effects to the point where they're virtually unnoticeable.

 

[MagnarTheGreat]

While the marketing has done nothing to interest me in this film (finding out that's it's 90 minutes did more to pique my interest) it's good that an original film, one featuring a woman as lead has done well to capture other people's interest enough to go see it.

 

[Marvin]

Looks like Devin and Dr Tyson have decided to troll lol.
The latter's recent twitter is full of fun.

 

[jmc]

I just read Tyson's twitter and it is indeed hilarious. There's no doubt he's actually really annoyed by the films not being a true representation of space.

 

[KittyDuran]

I just read Tyson's twitter and it is indeed hilarious. There's no doubt he's actually really annoyed by the films not being a true representation of space.

Or as many of the replies (some are hilarious) suggest he wasn't consulted for the movie? He also disclosed some spoilers as well.

 

[brett66]

Some of the symbolism was a tad obvious, but other than that I thought it was a near perfect film. It works perfectly as a thrill ride, but also has a lot of intelligent depth. Solid A.

 

[roach]

Or as many of the replies (some are hilarious) suggest he wasn't consulted for the movie? He also disclosed some spoilers as well.

yeah I was kind of ticked off by that...it's one thing to not be happy a movie was scientific accurate by why spoil it for other people?

 

[terry78]

People love ruining ****.

 

[Motown Marvel]

GRAVITY was rather crappy. The story was super weak and often cheezy. And while there are many great things that can be said about its production, its hard to truly be impressed by it when its all CGI. The thought of even considering to compare Gravity to 2001: A Space Odyssey is borderline offensive.

 

[CaptainCanada]

And while there are many great things that can be said about its production, its hard to truly be impressed by it when its all CGI.

It is? This is truly revolutionary CGI; they invented a bunch of new stuff to deliver this level of verisimilitude.

 

[Motown Marvel]

It is? This is truly revolutionary CGI; they invented a bunch of new stuff to deliver this level of verisimilitude.

I dont care what they invented....it still looked like CGI. And besides, its hard to be impressed by a shot that wasn't even...shot. it was just generated in a computer. And i could have dealt with that had the story actually been something worthwhile, but it wasnt.

 

[CaptainCanada]

And besides, its hard to be impressed by a shot that wasn't even...shot. it was just generated in a computer.

That's rather underselling the work at the cinematographer and VFX people do. This stuff is the cutting edge of filmmaking.

 

[The Guard]

I still think it should have been called DEBRIS. It's an okay movie. There are a couple of really well done, emotional and thought-provoking sequences, and overall, it's a well-made film. I don't think its the masterpiece people are claiming it is.

The cinematography is indeed fantastic. I really liked how the camera moved around so we could see what we were supposed to be looking at. The visuals are quite nice, but they’re also somewhat repetitive at times. I didn't think the use of 3D was that spectacular. I didn’t even really think IMAX added that much to this film’s visual punch.

GRAVITY is really lacking in the story and character departments, and the tradeoff is that it is supposed to be emotion and tension laden…but I don't think either of those elements were particularly well handled, either by the director or the actors. There wasn't much build up to major events, stuff just sort of kept happening at inconvenient times. I don’t know if it’s an issue with pacing, or the fact that dangerous events kept “coming out of nowhere”, but there just wasn’t much tension in general.

Parts of the score are fantastic, and parts of it are horror movie schlock and downright annoying. The sound work was pretty solid overall, and the effects are very well done.

I thought that Sandra Bullock and George Clooney turned in very average performances. Bullock is usually very likeable, but not so much in this film. She's very bland much of the time. She never really sells the terror of her predicament convincingly; at least in a way that isn’t borderline annoying or unintentionally funny, and despite some circumstances and scenes that are obviously intended to be very emotional, she rarely finds an effective level of emotion, choosing to expend more energy on opening a Velcro tab than say, confronting her mortality, and the result of that is a character and a performance that, for three quarters of a film, is somewhat frustrating to watch. When she finally, in the final minutes of the film,

Spoiler

finds some joy in her attempt at survival despite her impending fate

, she’s interesting enough to watch as an actress, but it kind of gets swallowed up in what’s going on around her a bit, and it's almost too little, too late.

The script hasn't changed much from earlier drafts. Cuaron added the "twist" sequence, but overall, it still just isn’t very well written stuff. Every line of dialogue is either banter or pure exposition, and some of it is pretty clunky. The main problem with the writing though, is that the astronauts’ danger is handled in such a structured and predictable manner that the film lacks any real tension.

The main character's arc, if it can really be called that, would have been interesting, but there just wasn't enough of it sprinkled throughout the film. She's not fleshed out much at all, and with all the exposition in the movie, we still only get the barest hints at what her role in all this is, what she was doing prior to being an astronaut, and why she's up there instead of someone more qualified. I did like some of the humor regarding Clooney's character, his attempts to calm her down and keep her focused, and his thoughts on the "record". Thought that was a nice touch.

Storywise, the whole "well, I got lucky again" thing…it just lost me. She can apparently read various languages (why wouldn't the ISS have an English translation?) and happens to snag her foot in this, or happens to be able to grab onto that…the debris that seems to be everywhere hits everything BUT the characters who need to survive…it’s all just a bit too much, really.

At the end of the day, it’s a survival film…survival films tend to be about people overcoming great odds with some serious ingenuity, etc. I dunno. I saw her floating around, getting lucky a couple of times, and then finding the courage not to stop trying and pressing some buttons she needed to press. I didn’t find that terribly impressive stuff from a character perspective, even a less than seasoned astronaut. Yes, in the real world, her story would be fantastic, because of the immense amount of luck Involved, but here? It just sort of feels routine. I almost wish we'd gotten a more ambiguous ending.

 

[Motown Marvel]

That's rather underselling the work at the cinematographer and VFX people do. This stuff is the cutting edge of filmmaking.

I'd give the cinematographer more credit if he actually took a camera and shot something, and i'd congratulate the VFX people if their work on the film wasnt always so obvious.

 

[kedrell]

I dont care what they invented....it still looked like CGI. And besides, its hard to be impressed by a shot that wasn't even...shot. it was just generated in a computer. And i could have dealt with that had the story actually been something worthwhile, but it wasnt.

Interesting you say that whilst implying praise for 2001: ASO. If ever there was a movie that has NO STORY(at least 90% of it).....it's 2001. God, I hate that movie. It's not even a movie, it's a non-movie or an anti-movie. Just a bunch of junk floating in space for 90% of it.

 

[Motown Marvel]

Interesting you say that whilst implying praise for 2001: ASO. If ever there was a movie that has NO STORY(at least 90% of it).....it's 2001. God, I hate that movie. It's not even a movie, it's a non-movie or an anti-movie. Just a bunch of junk floating in space for 90% of it.

Well, even if you were to completely ignore the abundance of revolutionary ideas, story telling, and unprecedented film production that define the brilliance of 2001 (which you clearly have decided to do), any perceived flaws that you conjure about the movie do nothing to defend the lackluster of film making that is Gravity.