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

Children of Men: A glimpse of what might be...

Films, in general, do not have much to say anymore. They simply go about their business of (trying to) entertain the audience. However, a film like Children of Men is a rare exception for it not only entertained but also attempted to take a deep philosophical look at the modern world and some of its issues.

In the year 2027 humans can no longer reproduce and society has begun to rip apart as extinction seems inevitable. However, hope is rekindled when a young woman becomes pregnant and the responsibility of keeping her safe from the numerous factions who want her unborn child fall upon a despondent government officer named Theo.

Director Alfonso Cuaron gave the audience a terrifying glimpse into the future, one where playgrounds and schools were devoid of children and refugees were tortured and kicked out of the last country not knee deep in anarchy (Britain). It was a bleak and nihilistic portrait, but the most disturbing thing was the realistic way in which it was presented. Given the fact that we as people are facing things such as global warming, Europe’s population becoming older with fewer young people, intolerances of all types flourishing and Armageddon still only the push of a button away, it is hard not to be the least bit dismayed every time someone turns on the news. Those disturbing facts we face everyday made it easy to relate to Theo (a wonderfully broken Clive Owen), a man who long ago lost faith and had only been drifting along in life thanks to a bottle of whisky. But he rediscovered that faith when he met up with Kee, the pregnant refugee. Through her and the baby growing inside of her, he hoped to find mankind’s second chance at peace in the midst of chaos. And even though Kee eventually gave birth to her child, Cuaron was not above indicting modern man and his propensity towards violence. In one of the most surreal scenes, the violence between the government and rebel forces finally spilled into the streets, erupting into some of the most gritty and intensely filmed urban combat seen. But when people caught sight of Kee and her child, the guns stopped and for just that moment life was about hope and change. But as soon as she and the baby moved out of range, the gunfire (symbolically) started up again with man killing man in the name of something neither of them could ever truly understand. Intelligent and significant, Children of Men is not to be missed.

Grade: A