I'm back! Trying to get into the swing of writing reviews again. Apart from my busy schedule and non realization of my own laziness, I attribute this gap of released reviews to the massive amount of lackluster movies to come out (except for Pacific Rim, that's very important to note). All the movie I've seen this year are neither good nor bad, just ok and it's really hard to get motivated to talk about something that's just ok. But now finally I have Gravity, something worth people talking about, but also Pacifric Rim, cause that movie is awesome.

As always leave a comment below telling me of what you thought of the movie and this review! :)

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Gravity
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Well you’ve certainly written yourself into a corner haven’t you Hollywood? First you gave us Tom Hanks blabbering at a mute volleyball, which I imagine the only way he kept the face sustained was by obsessive self mutilation, in a film with enough FedEx product placement to convince people to wait for its second coming. Second you’ve up the ante with Calvin stuck with psychopathic Hobbes on a metaphysical journey in the middle of the Pacific. It of course seems appropriate to take the next big fictitious stranded isolation narrative to its logical extreme by throwing Sandra Bullock into space, which I greatly appreciate for someone finally listening to my hate mail. The thing is, when you’ve hit space, where else do you go from there? Any stranded scenario in what would then logically place in the space time continuum won’t be as relatable or enjoyable to watch just for the simple fact that The Doctor will not be in it. Now we have this sort of evolved trilogy of isolation movies and what surprises me most is how each one keeps getting better. I would normally just applaud a film like Gravity for just having the mere balls to take on such an original, daunting and high concept task and not just for realizing my dream journal fantasy to throw Sandra Bullock into everlasting orbit, but by the end I began to applaud Gravity for its masterful direction, beautifully terrifying cinematography, high concept narrative and characters portrayed so well I actually wanted Bullock to return to Earth.

In concept the story of Gravity is really very simple. After the Russian government blows up one of their own satellites, which I imagine is their go to method of spring cleaning, the debris causes a chain reaction that collides and destroys an orbiting space shuttle. On said shuttle is long time veteran astronaut played by George Clooney, whose smile could comfort even the most lost caused group of orphans, and first time astronaut engineer played by Sandra Bullock, running from a ballsy and original past as far as she and science can possibly take her. They both become stranded in the Earth’s orbit and must now play hop, skip and a jump from shuttle to shuttle before the speeding orbital debris tears apart their only possibility of returning home.

Even with a high orbital concept like Gravity the weight of carrying a film with only a green screen for company I would think is ill suited for a cast of highly distracting big name actors, but oh by Orion’s belt did I turn out to be wrong. All of the king’s tailors couldn’t make Clooney and Bullock better suited for their roles. Clooney’s experience as a dramatic actor and Webster’s image reference for ‘handsome’ makes this job no harder for him than hard boiling an Easter egg. I honestly will not be surprised if Clooney ends up as the new face of NASA, it would certainly encourage a lot more government funding. Alongside with Clooney is rookie Bullock, whose dramatic acting ability has ranged from ‘did she really deserve that’ to ‘she needs to be thrown in space,’ and as it turns out throwing her in space does some good to her because it seems like she took away a lot of something from her veteran astronaut/actor/face extraordinaire co-star. She even oddly enough seems to be...hot... I know weird right? It’s a role that puts her loudmouth, NRA toting, white guilt savior that every red state housewife gushed over to comparative shame, pulling together scenes that would normally be laughable and turning them into emotionally heart retching.

The concept of Gravity is simple, but factoring in the amount of planning, effects and ingenuity required for this caliber of film can make any movie studio anxiously clench their teeth from worry. In any other hands this film could’ve been just Open Water in space, but thank the space pope that is not the case. NASA, who has already produced some of the most astounding representations of our planet, would be jealous of the transcending cinematography and visual effects realized by director Alfonso Cuarón and his cinematographers. Furthermore the sound mixing/effects is used to terrifying effect, knowing exactly when to cut the sound in and out and ranging it from uncomfortable muffling to heart pounding screams to create a pit in your stomach that will stay with you in any level of reduced gravity. This is all combined with a score that hasn’t caught such terrifying majesty since Life of Pi.

In fact it’s safe to say that Gravity is this year’s Life of Pi in concept, execution, inevitable popularity and rewatchability. Even the ingenious utilization of 3D technology and overlaying religious narrative is evident. I should not be comparing this movie to Life of Pi, as it makes it sound like plagiarism, but in truth they are just two sides of the same narrative coin, each with their own methods and goals about a similar subject. Besides for a movie with such high ideas, ambitions and now stature like Gravity to come out in what is an otherwise very dull year for movies is a breath of desperate fresh air... too soon? Or was it 20 space jokes ago?