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

Resident Evil: Afterlife: A sequel with less brains than the zombies that are in it

Alice's quest to destroy the evil Umbrella Corporation continues as she must fight to lead a group of survivors to the safe haven of Arcadia, a place where the T virus infection has not spread to.

There are some films which truly deserve sequels (i.e. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc.) because their main characters and storylines are so intriguing, audiences want to see more. However there are some films which do not warrant a single sequel, let alone three of them. Such is the case with the Resident Evil franchise and its latest plodding effort, "Afterlife" which was a silly exercise in hackneyed storytelling and directing. Paul W.S. Anderson (the Director of the film) tried to distinguish this sequel by incorporating 3D action sequences into it but those sequences were so similar to the action seen in the original Matrix (and I mean right down to the bad guy Albert Wesker, whose mannerisms and look smacked of Agent Smith) that it was hard not to roll one's eyes and stare at the nearest clock in the hopes that the film would be over sooner rather than later. The actual storyline was not any better as it suceeded in only giving the audience the bare facts of the how's and why's regarding Alice's quest and left plot holes of epic proportions at every opportunity.

With any luck, Resident Evil: Afterlife will be the last film in a franchise of truly subpar efforts.

Grade: D