GRAVITY

[notsheigetz]

Saw it last night in IMAX-3D. Great movie but not sure it would work the same in normal 2D. You wouldn't get to see Sandra Bullock's tears come floating towards you in space (and speaking of S.B. she has an incredible body for a 50-year-old woman).

I thought life of Pi was the best use of 3D I had ever seen in a movie, but I think I have to give the award to Gravity now.

[dualstow]

I think Life of Pi was actually in 3.14D

[moda0306]

It was insane.  There aren't many times I've been as visually floored and emotionally drained than this movie.

The 3d supplemented the unbelievable visuals, but I don't know if the 3d was quite as immersive as life of pi.

[notsheigetz]

It was insane.  There aren't many times I've been as visually floored and emotionally drained than this movie.

The 3d supplemented the unbelievable visuals, but I don't know if the 3d was quite as immersive as life of pi.

Can't really argue about life of Pi as I nearly went to see it again the next day. I think the big difference for me was that I actually was in a typhoon in the South China sea (interestingly around the same time as the Apollo 13 misadventure), so the effect it had on me was that of rekindling a memory. I've never been in space however and I have to figure Gravity was about as close as I'll ever get to experiencing it.

As for being emotionally drained, I don't want to give away the ending but I thought the final scene just before the credits rolled was a brilliant way to summarize how the movie left me feeling.

[moda0306]

It really has to be one of the most persistently stressful movies I have ever seen, but had the right amount of humor and happiness at the right spots to let you sit back for a bit.  I don't mean this as a bad thing, though. I think you're supposed to feel as worn out, frustrated and afraid as the characters are the whole movie, especially as things get to their most difficult.

I'm trying to think of a few movies where I felt as visually amazed...

Jurassic Park, Avatar, Life of Pi...

I'm probably forgetting some, but Cuaron guy deserves an Oscar... and a Nobel Prize.

[whatchamacallit]

I saw it in IMAX 3D as well and really enjoyed it. I don't go to the movies very often so I figured I would go all out.

I was afraid it was going to be too intense going into it but I was able to keep my eyes on the screen.

There was a survival movie called Frozen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323045/ that I could barely handle watching.

[notsheigetz]

I saw it in IMAX 3D as well and really enjoyed it. I don't go to the movies very often so I figured I would go all out.

I was afraid it was going to be too intense going into it but I was able to keep my eyes on the screen.

There was a survival movie called Frozen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1323045/ that I could barely handle watching.

I saw Frozen too, with a free trial on Netflix, as I recall it. Survival stories are my favorites, especially true ones, but Frozen was based on a Stephen King short story so I would put it more in the category of horror.

[moda0306]

I like survival films but only in doses. It took me months to bring myself to watch The Grey when I knew I wanted to. They're a very different kind of film and very emotionally draining.

[MediumTex]

I saw the movie last night.

Really good film.

The word of mouth should be strong and it should do well for several weeks.  It's always nice to see really good films do well.

One of my favorite things about the film is that it started without a lot of build-up and it ended without a lot of wind-down.  Another film maker could have easily made it over 2 hours long with 15+ minutes of exposition up front, and 15+ minutes more of ending.  The way it was done was taut for the entire film. 

Go to the bathroom right before it starts because you will not want to miss a second of it once it gets going.

Sandra Bullock was outstanding.  This was IMHO easily the best performance of her career.  Nothing else comes close.

Overall, it was a great trip to the movies.  I hope everyone who reads about it here will go see it.  You won't be disappointed.

[Lone Wolf]

Agreed with everyone above.  Best film I've seen in quite a while!

I've generally been skeptical of 3d as anything more than a gimmick but it was perfect for this movie.

[moda0306]

Sandra Bullock did an amazing job... this is the guy who directed Children of Men, so I was super stoked about the concept of this movie, but wasn't too thrilled with the casting when I originally heard who was in it (thouh I "like" both actors, I'm not particularly impressed by either one), and wanted any move by Alfonso Cuaron to be as perfect as possible.

But Clooney was perfect for the character and life-outlook that he was supposed to represent.  He did his standard cocky/funny schtick, but it was perfect as the counter to Bullock's relatively uptight doctor who had been burned in life and just kind of went on auto-pilot... and man did her arc go well.  She was a different person at the end then the beginning.

I think that while the movie's message is simple, the analogies built into the nature of the crisis and characters are great, and the acting to deliver said message was even more top notch.

Oh, and nevermind the visuals that probably contributed to the overall stress I felt watching this thing in taking a year off my life.  There aren't many movies where you watch and you'll like "Well, Hollywood, you've pretty much mastered the medium of film... you really can't do any better than this."  This was one of them.  It's a cool feeling to think you're witnessing the pinnacle of a given talent or art-form for the first time, even as you know you've said this to yourself before and that they'll find a way to do things better.

Keep in mind, movies with difficult-to-film single-shot sequences are my all-time favorite cinematography "trick." The final "rescue" scene in Children of Men (or the car/murder scene) are to of my favorite of all time, and any movie that has a good one in it is almost automatically at least a "good movie" to me just because of how cool it is to witness.  So you guys can imagine how I felt watching Gravity.  I think it's spoiled me for single-shot sequences for life.

[dualstow]

Went to Gravity tonight solely because of this thread and loved it. Thanks, guys.
We usually just rent discs, but this was an early showing and the seats were mostly empty. Perfect for this film.

I didn't look it up ahead of time, so I didn't really know what to expect.
I do remember watching the third Harry Potter film and thinking how dark and cool it was, an adult's Harry Potter if there can be one. Was pleased to see his name in the credits as the director of this one.

Inevitably, I found myself reading wikipedia about Soyuz and Shenzhou at home. Normally, that would make my eyes glaze over, but something about watching a fictional film with beautiful effects makes me want to read the real stuff.

We only saw Life of Pi in 2D. Sounds like we missed something. That was amazing though. Beautiful film.

Gravity and Indian food - a pleasant evening.

[smurff]

I think the big difference for me was that I actually was in a typhoon in the South China sea (interestingly around the same time as the Apollo 13 misadventure), so the effect it had on me was that of rekindling a memory.

Something tells me there is a small hoard of gold somewhere at the bottom of the South China Sea.

[dualstow]

Seriously, Smurff. With all these boating accidents, I think it's time to get a minisub out to various bodies of water. We could really clean up.

[notsheigetz]

I think the big difference for me was that I actually was in a typhoon in the South China sea (interestingly around the same time as the Apollo 13 misadventure), so the effect it had on me was that of rekindling a memory.

Something tells me there is a small hoard of gold somewhere at the bottom of the South China Sea.

Sorry, the only gold I owned at the time was my class ring which I ended up trading for favors in Olongapo, P.I., shortly after the voyage.

As for things deposited in the ocean during the typhoon I saw a lot of the old-salts vomiting over the side. Most of us younger guys had a secret cure for seasickness they didn't know about.

[MediumTex]

I think the big difference for me was that I actually was in a typhoon in the South China sea (interestingly around the same time as the Apollo 13 misadventure), so the effect it had on me was that of rekindling a memory.

Something tells me there is a small hoard of gold somewhere at the bottom of the South China Sea.

Sorry, the only gold I owned at the time was my class ring which I ended up trading for favors in Olongapo, P.I., shortly after the voyage.

As for things deposited in the ocean during the typhoon I saw a lot of the old-salts vomiting over the side. Most of us younger guys had a secret cure for seasickness they didn't know about.

I didn't get what you were saying at first, but when it clicked it made me recall a deep sea fishing trip I took once where a lot of people were puking, but my buddy and I were safe.

[Reub]

I saw the movie and thought that the plot was very shallow. The story could have been written on a paper napkin in about 10 minutes. The special effects were great and Sandra Bullock panting through most of the movie was nice, but not a great movie IMHO.

[smurff]

Some movies are plot-driven, others are character-driven.  Both can be great.

[moda0306]

Some movies are plot-driven, others are character-driven.  Both can be great.

The plot was pure character arc and an analogy on life.

I felt utterly frustrated and drained most of the movie, but I think in a way you're supposed to feel.  It's not supposed to be easy.  All survival movies are uncomfortable in that way, bu this one was downright maddening (in a good way, again).

I liked that the message of the movie was on the same wavelength of How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World:


Are you going to live your life, or are you going to allow the bad parts of what has happened to you continue to fester in your soul, and allow the debris (traps) of your past continue to ruin your future (yes, the use of "debris" was on purpose haha)?

[MediumTex]

SPOILER ALERT!!!

Stop reading if you haven't seen the movie.

***

STOP!

***

I SAID STOP!

***

I'm not completely sure that Sandra Bullock didn't die at some point after her hallucination of George Clooney making it back.  Such a hallucination would be consistent with a person dying, and much of what happened afterward seemed a little less believable than what came before.  I mean, are we supposed to believe that she piloted a capsule through reentry with all of the controls written in Chinese and in the middle of a cloud of space debris and just happened to land safely a short distance from shore?

If you really think about her conversation with Clooney and her conversation with herself later (even though the whole thing was really just one big conversation with herself), she talked about saying hi to her little girl in Heaven, but that could easily have been because she wanted the people she cared about to meet death with their faith intact, even though hers was gone.  Perhaps her dying mental experience was of imagining herself conquering her predicament through a theoretically plausible scenario, but one that didn't REALLY make that much sense--e.g., using a fire extinguisher to perform a successful space walk between two spacecraft.

Think about it.

[notsheigetz]

SPOILER ALERT!!!
I'm not completely sure that Sandra Bullock didn't die at some point after her hallucination of George Clooney making it back.  Such a hallucination would be consistent with a person dying, and much of what happened afterward seemed a little less believable than what came before.  I mean, are we supposed to believe that she piloted a capsule through reentry with all of the controls written in Chinese and in the middle of a cloud of space debris and just happened to land safely a short distance from shore?

Think about it.

Very interesting theory but I had suspended disbelief in the plausibility of the whole scenario long before that point so it never occurred to me.

Some of my co-workers and I spent Monday morning picking the whole thing apart so I would have to agree with Reub about the script. If you are looking for pure realism in a space story stick with Apollo 13, one of the movies I can't resist watching every time I come across it while channel-surfing.

Still, I think it was a great movie. Unless I'm watching a movie about a historical event or one that is trying to make a political statement, I'm ready to just go along with the ride and let myself be entertained for an hour and a half and Gravity definitely does that.

[dualstow]

ha! It's  just a movie. I'm taking the plot at face value.

[MediumTex]

ha! It's  just a movie. I'm taking the plot at face value.

Me too.

The plot gave us hints.

She said she had crashed every time she had attempted reentry in the Russian craft.