An outstanding cinematic achievement and a gripping thriller, and a powerful feminist hero to boot! There have been movies with stranded astronauts, the perils of weightlessness, and the vacuum of space (
2001 and
Apollo 13 spring to mind) but none have dared, or attempted, to address the certain death of NASA astronauts and catastrophic disaster in orbit for a premise. One critic compared it to a Jack London story, and I agree- Alfonso Cuarón could have directed an adaptation of
To Build A Fire with the same emotional whallop, but he chose to also rewrite the moviemaking playbook while Sandra Bullock's rookie astronaut faces near-certain death. I strongly recommend
Gravity in the theater. 3D is not necessary, but I felt it worked well.
My Grade: A (A-plus movies have less cliche'd dialog.) This movie is gonna win Best Picture and/or Best Director; Bullock will be nominated and could easily win; Gravity will win all the technical awards, and they should invent some new awards to give them too.
Theater Notes
Is this a plush modern hotel, or a movie theater? There used to be a movie theater at Chestnut Hill; I hadn't been there in 25 years when my wife took me on a date night to the new Showcase SuperLux. We sat in cushy leather seats with (basically) unlimited legroom while a waitress brought us drinks and popcorn. In the back of the theater the high-rollers sit in recliners. The sound and picture were excellent. The lights were left on very dimly; Emily complained that they interfered with the 3-D experience for her (I was wearing my Sox cap, so I was shielded from the overheads. PS: The Sox finished off Game 1 of the ALDS over the Rays 12-2 while we enjoyed our movie) The audience was mostly very quiet, the food noises were minimal, and the waitstaff barely blocked my view.
