Gravity: A Must See!

After an accident leaves them adrift in space, medical engineer Ryan Stone and astronaut Matt Kowalski must work together to not only survive, but get back to earth.

To say that Gravity was an intense film experience is to make an understatement of epic proportions. There are only a few moments during the film (the opening scenes, which set the stage for the chaos that is to come), in which the audience can breath and relax. But once the first incident takes place, they will be lucky if they can catch their breath again as they are twisted and turned upside-down and right-side up, usually through the eyes of Ryan (played by Sandra Bullock) as she and Matt (played by George Clooney) try to survive. There were so many close calls and jaw-dropping moments that it is hard to imagine any other film this year (or for a while going forward) making the audience's palms as sweaty and also making them unknowingly duck and move from side to side in a vain attempt to help Ryan and Matt dodge more space debris or hang on before they drift away into deep space. Director Alfonso Cuaron is to be commended for creating a space-based film that truly felt like it was shot in space (I know how silly that sounds but trust me, if you see it in IMAX 3D, it's almost like being there). George Clooney was..., well to borrow a line from a previous review I did on a film he starred in, George Clooney, with all of the swagger and coolness one would expect. Sandra Bullock gave a tremendous performance that is sure to make people think about her as something more than the "girl next door" character she always seemed to play in all of those romantic comedies she starred in. She was tough, resourceful, relatable and her journey provided the emotional anchor to the film, giving the audience a reason to root for her to keep going and try to make it back to earth.

Films like Gravity are an absolute delight to watch for it was able to do something most other movies nowadays are not able to, entertain us, giving us something so breathtaking, terrifying and ultimately satisfying that we are able to truly escape from our everyday lives and slip into a world that reminds us that for all of the terror, misfortunate and heartache we face, the human spirit and will can overcome anything.

Grade: A

Pacific Rim: Giant Robots, Giant Monsters, Giant disappointment

Earth is being attacked by giant creatures known as Kaiju, which rise out of the sea and wreak havoc. To fight these monsters, humanity creates Jaegers, giant robots with unmatched weaponry and strength. But will these machines, and the pilots who control them, be able to stop the Kaiju from annihilating humankind?

Thinking of this film in terms of its action, my buddy David astutely described it as, “Voltron vs. Godzilla.” It was essentially giant robots fighting giant monsters (none of which, thankfully, were men in rubber suits). And even though the action was repetitive and overwhelming at times, the sequences provided enough thrills, bombast and suspense to keep the audience intrigued.

Where Director Guillermo Del Toro failed was in giving the audience a story and characters that they could relate to or care about on any kind of emotional level. That was disappointing, because he had the perfect plot device to do so (I’ll try to explain without giving too much of the plot away). It takes two people/pilots to operate those massive Jaegers and in order to do so, the pilots must sync up their minds, opening themselves up to one another’s memories, thoughts, etc. The hero of the film, Raleigh (played by Charlie Hunnam) is mentally scarred due to a terrifying event that took place the last time he piloted a Jaeger. His new co-pilot, Mako (played by the beautiful Rinko Kikuchi) is also scarred due to a past experience with a Jaeger and a Kaiju. Rather than taking the screen time to show these two building their relationship and leaning to trust each other in and outside of the Jaeger, Del Toro forced more fight sequences down the audience’s collective throats and included a ridiculous sub-plot involving a lame, comedic relief scientist (played with the utmost annoyance by Charlie Day) who was trying to figure out how the Kaiju could be stopped. As a result, the budding relationship/romance between Raleigh and Mako felt forced (as only Hollywood can do) and the ending of the film lacked the emotional punch that it could have had if the studio had spent less on CGI and more on a script.

Pacific Rim is a big, loud blast of a summer popcorn flick, it’s just too bad the story did not match all of that action.

GRADE: C