Genre Grandeur – Gravity (2013) – MovieRob – Encore Review 4

 

For this month’s next review for Genre Grandeur – Latin Directors, here’s a review of Gravity by me

Thanks again to Anna of Film Grimoire for choosing this month’s genre.

Next month’s Genre has been chosen by James of Back to the Viewer.  We will be reviewing our favorite movies featuring a dystopian world (past or future). Please get me your submissions by 25th April by sending them to dystopia@movierob.net  Try to think out of the box! Great choice James!

Let’s see what I thought of this movie

“Half of North America just lost their Facebook. ” – Matt Kowalski

Number of Times Seen – 5 (9 Dec 2013, 11 Dec 2013, 2 Feb 2014, 28 Sep 2014 and 25 Mar 2015)

Link to original review – Here, here, here and here

Brief Synopsis – Two astronauts; one a novice space explorer and the other an experienced one are trapped in space when their craft is unexpectedly destroyed and they must find a way back home to Earth.

My Take on it – Certain movies leave a lasting impression because of the way the director makes the film so memorable.

This movie clearly fits into that category for me.

I have now seen this movie 5 times in a bit over a year and have loved each and every experience more and more.

The fact that Director Alfonso Cuaron was able to craft such a masterpiece from a very “simplistic” plot is unbelievable.  What’s more is that he was able to make this a minimalistic movie using a handful of actors combined with state of the art special effects make sit even more amazing.

Bullocxk and Clooney are both at their best here and because of the fact that they are basically the only characters onscreen throughout this fast paced 90 minutes, we get to know and care about their characters despite only learning essential things about them.

We want them to survive this ordeal and we will root for them to make it home no matter what.

I enjoyed 12 Years A Slave (2013) the one time I saw it (yea, I should rewatch it too), but when looking at both movies as a whole, this one is just better and more engrossing no matter how powerful 12 Years also is.  This movie definitely should have won Best Picture, but its 7 other Oscars still says a lot about its worthiness.

The best thing about this movie IMHO is the fact that it is proof that with great special effects even a simplistically seeming movie can be entertaining on so many levels AND also be a successful movie able to win awards and get the audience involved in the story onscreen.

I can’t wait to see what future film makers will do with this knowledge and be able to bring us some great movies that also fit this style to help enhance our viewing pleasure.

Bottom Line – Spectacular “simplistic” movie that has amazing special effects, thrills and characters that we can easily care about.  Minimalistic film making at it’s best.  Was robbed of Best Picture, but it still got enough awards to prove it’s worth.  Can’t wait to see how this movie’s success will effect future films. Highly Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia –  There are several references to Kowalski’s hopes of breaking Anatoli Solovyev’s EVA record. This is not for a single spacewalk (as of the end of 2014 that is jointly held by Susan Helms and James Voss, at 8 hours 56 minutes) but to the cumulative duration over a career. Between 17 July 1990 and 14 January 1998 Solovyev carried out sixteen EVAs on four separate missions, with a total time of 79 hours 51 minutes. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (no change from original review)

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