Gravity

[MessengerOfDreams]

I think this is the first time I've been alive and have immediately seen a true cinematic masterpiece during its time. Gravity excels at everything. It shows that you don't need a gigantic ensemble or several plot twists or complicated anything to make a good movie. The acting is fantastic, the cinematography is unmatched, the story is tight and doesn't mince a single moment, the effects are spectacular, the soundtrack is marvelous and everything else you imagine is great. I so very highly recommend it.

[KABOOM]

I saw it in 3D last night. It is the best movie I have ever seen.

The only thing I'm worried about is that it may not work as well on a TV as on a movie screen. Which is why you should go find a movie theater right now and watch it. Right now. I'm not kidding. You're wasting your time reading the rest of this post. Go see it.

[MICrophone]

^Give those guys a cookie right there. Unless you didn't go see Gravity in 3D yet. In which case forget about the cookies and go see that movie like…now.

[Asterocrat]

just saw trailer, but it isn't out in France yet (23/10)

i will probably go watch it

[Venexis]

Mixed feelings about this one. Also spoiler tag because gratuitous use of spoilers. So, y'know, don't click unless you want spoilers.

One last time, this contains spoilers, I am very serious about that: show

I'd like to preface this by saying that nobody on the planet (or in orbit around it) has luck that ♥♥♥♥ or incredible ever. Let alone both simultaneously.

With that out of the way, I walked into this thinking "♥♥♥♥ YEAH, SPACE" and don't really know what I expected. On one hand, it was space pretty much the entire thing and that was cool. But on the other hand, and this is the more persistent part of me too, my inner scientist would not shut up. I will now summarize the main plot points to make this abundantly clear:

-debris field wrecks stuff, sends astronaut hurtling through space (Okay cool, she's going to die, that's sorta unfortunate but it is space)
-another astronaut rescues her (wait what? The odds of that are literally six billion to none, but it's okay, he's got a space jetpack THAT CAN SOMEHOW CATCH UP TO HER, AND FLY BACK, BEFORE THE FUEL AND AIR RUN OUT.)
-fly through space some more (see point above, you're "running on fumes"? No ♥♥♥♥ Sherlock it's for local navigation not jetpacking around the planet)
-stuff in the space station including but not limited to almost suffocating, big fire, attempted suicide to save a doomed man, inability to find the damn escape pod and get the hell out instead of wasting time, of course the parachute is snagged, yet another debris shower, oh, and also apparently her spacesuit only has one layer. Aaaaand she's dressed for the beach underneath. At least she's got the right dress for touchdown. (I mean sure some of this stuff, maybe, but all of it right after an impossible rescue and spacewalk? No.)
-stuff in the escape pod, in which the communication system apparently works fine but is unable to reach ground control. I can deal with that, the earth itself is probably blocking radio signals, is cool. Astronaut girl doesn't speak Russian and can't properly operate the pod, fine, that's logical too. Even had that big inspirational rescue scene (in which he opens the airlock while she is totally unprotected from the fatal pressure drop, but it's okay because it was a hallucination) which was probably the best part of the movie IMO. No real issues here.
-makeshift fire extinguisher thruster, eh. Pretty sure a collision at that speed would be fatal (if the impact didn't kill you, it would knock you out and you would bounce off and drift through space until you died), also, the entire station is conveniently set to fall back to earth. WHAT ARE THE ODDS? Pretty damn good considering the story up till now.

That is an absolutely huge chain of coincidences, and that was the biggest immersion killer. I may also just be irrationally annoyed by cheaty plot devices, I dunno. It had its moments, but honestly it felt more like "here's stupidly improbable ways our astronauts will cheat death for the seventeenth time" instead of "this is an extremely well put together movie portraying accurately a catastrophe that might be encountered while working in space, and how it is managed". I would have personally enjoyed a movie that cut some of the action in order to preserve the suspension of disbelief, even if it did end up shorter. Hell, could've had the three of them survive until the halfway point, and then slowly kill them off. There was definitely enough chances for fatal accidents- it would have shown they were there for more than just pretty flashing colors.

However, there were some things I thought it did exceedingly well. A vast majority of the movie focuses on only the main character, but I felt like the use of sound (for example sound toggling on/off when wearing a helmet versus without) and monologues was sufficient to draw the viewer in (once you get past ludicrous progression of events). I personally loved the hallucination scene, as it was the most believable in my opinion, but at that point I had very nearly stopped taking the movie seriously. I would have to say that Life of Pi pulled off the one-man-monologue style more effectively, but considering the difficulty of such a feat, I was not disappointed.

Can't really comment on the sound and picture as I just pirated it online spilled popcorn in all my sensory organs and was unable to experience a full quality picture as a result.

So, overall, I'd probably rate about a 6/10. Not bad, but not great by a long shot. I feel like I would have enjoyed this film more if I didn't like space so much; it took a disturbingly short time to break immersion and the entire movie just went downhill from there. I admit that it was probably myself that ruined this movie for me, but it wasn't all bad, it did have some great scenes and nice touches (zero G teardrop, aurora down on earth, 90 minute orbital period), in addition to actually being a decently engaging movie staring a single character. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't worried near the end, it's just a shame it wasn't enough to counteract the overeager plot. Regardless, given the chance I would watch it again.

[MessengerOfDreams]

So if you're a normal person you'll probably like it, but if you're a supergenius like Ven, not so much.

[Blablob]

For me it was a tossup between seeing this and Captain Phillips. Although, since I actually have no intention of going to the movies anytime soon, that dilemma was simply one in spirit.

And MOY, you seem to have forgotten that MIC started attending college around the time most of us were leaving middle school. I don't think the 'supergenious' excuse applies here.

[Venexis]

I'd have to agree, that it's more just because I like space a lot. I hadn't seen any of the trailers or anything (movie didn't even play here, thus the pirating) and I guess I assumed it would be more of a documentary and less of an action movie. I walked in with a completely wrong mindset, and that made it difficult to not be annoyed at various scenes. It's not by any means a bad movie, that's part of the reason I'd be cool rewatching it. Experience it as it's supposed to be experienced, and not based on any preconceived impressions.

[*Emelia K. Fletcher]

My preconcieved notion is that everyone loves Gravity and I should be shoved facefirst into the cinema projector to watch it

[MICrophone]

Delayed response incoming…I completely understand and respect your critiques for the most part Ven. I don't know how many disaster films you watch in general, but one thing that ought to be kept in mind is that with that whole genre of film, the whole point is kind of that everything that can go wrong does, yet miraculously some subset of the heroes will probably survive, even if in real life such an unfortunate string of circumstances and miraculous luck would almost never occur. But without such dire events in the storyline, the story isn't all that interesting, or really wouldn't even be much of a story at all, because as you point out, the characters would probably be dead really quick. So for the sake of creating an interesting - if unrealistic - storyline and providing a context from which to build interesting characters and character development, and to create a degree of suspense and tension that frankly couldn't be created by a more realistic plot, the filmmakers take creative license in creating their films, and it is assumed that the audience will appreciate that when viewing them. Alfonso Cuarón, the director of the film, admitted himself that the film takes certain liberties regarding reality for the sake of the story and the visuals. One of the great paradoxes of film and film critique is the idea that films that are inherently fantastical in nature (ridiculous overblown action films, sci-fi, horror, etc.) ought to be as realistic as possible, and while straining too far from reality - especially if the characters fail to conform to human nature or basic human instincts - undoubtedly hurts the quality of the film, I think striving too much for reality removes a lot of the thrill of a film. I think instead films should strive to feel realistic rather than actually be realistic. To me, the very immersive filmmaking techniques and attention to detail made Gravity feel very realistic, even if it wasn't, and therefore was very successful in connecting with me as a viewer.

I would point out that as a future scientist myself (albeit not an astronomer or even a physicist), I think there is a lot to appreciate, even if some of the details were off. I've seen several critics, filmmakers, and fans that noted that this film restored a sense of awe in space and renewed public interest in space and human activity in space, and I think there's some truth to that, and for that we ought to be thankful. Also, the number of astronauts that have commented on the film as being impressive in its portrayal of space and space technology suggests that the film does a far better job than most if not all of its predecessors.

Lastly, as a pure technical achievement, I have never been more impressed by a film than Gravity, period. Sadly, I think that you would not be able to appreciate that if you were unable to see it in theaters, because it was really the sort of thing that needed to be seen on the big screen, in 3D, to fully appreciate. On the other hand, I do concede that I do not know that the film will seem as extraordinary to me when it comes out on TV or Netflix or whenever I next see it. Without being able to fully appreciate the technical achievements of the film, I can see why it might be seen as less than exceptional. Which isn't to say that I would consider it the greatest film of all time, but it is certainly in serious contention for greatest film set in space of all time, and most technically accomplished film of all time.