Review of Gravity (2013) by Jason D — 07 Apr 2015

Alternate title "How to make a movie with two characters cost 90 million." Certainly a visual stunner, and to me, really sympathetic characters. I liked how it went for the philosophical jugular, but I felt it was a bit on the nose. Due to various constraints of the concept, we end up just having Bullock state the various themes of the film verbally, which is a slight detractor. The very spare story and the kind of ridiculous obstacles (which honestly get tiresome by the end) are also small nitpicks. I was afraid to watch this for a long time because I write scripts and often explore the same topics with a similar character, so maybe I underrate it - other's opinions on this tend to one extreme or the other it seems. But I see it as properly placed as an also-ran at the Oscars. Is it the best film of a year? Probably not. But I am glad when this sort of effort is put forth - a similar feeling to the one I got after watching "The Fountain." It will certainly inspire some, and that's good. I hope for those that it doesn't, they can appreciate when a team of filmmakers goes for something above and beyond.

Finally to MSNBC host Chris Hayes - there is totally a catharsis. Sandra Bullock shovels the catharsis in our face the entire third act. She literally has a dream where someone literally tells us the catharsis. Are you nuts?