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

Fast Five: A satisfying sequel!

After Brian and Mia break Dom out of prison they try to stay one step ahead of the law. This eventually leads them to Rio de Janeiro where they run afoul of a powerful local drug lord named Reyes. In order to gain their freedom and stop Reyes from hunting them, they need to pull one last job. Little do they know that even as they assemble their team a hard nosed federal agent named Luke Hobbs is on their tail, looking to capture them.

When a film series hits its fifth installment, chances are it is so much like the previous films, in characters, story and actions, that it boarders on ridiculousness and cliche (see the Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street series for examples of this). In light of this, it is shocking that The Fast and Furious franchise has reached a fifth film, given the fact that all of the subsequent sequels to the 2001 original have been lacking in originality and entertainment.

So why should you check out Fast Five? For starters, the action was intense and constant. Not only were there the expected car chases/stunt sequences (the most insane of which involved Dom and Brian tearing up the streets of Rio with the bad guy's safe in the finale) but a number of fight sequences that were unusually effective. Beyond the sequences that most action fans were hoping to see in the film what helped to set this sequel apart from its predecessors was the story and characters. Director Justin Lin did well to make sure they satisfied the conventions that fans of the series were expecting while, at the same time, expanding upon those conventions and characters so that Fast Five was not just another brainless retread. Framing the story around the caper that Dom, Brian and the rest of team were trying to pull not only allowed for some Ocean's Eleven type caper action, but also for the cast (including a number of familiar faces from the previous films) to provide some memorable performances that made their characters easy for the audience to connect with. Add to that an absolutely show-stopping performance by Dwayne Johnson as Luke Hobbs (the parts where he and Diesel squared off were epic) and you can start to see why this sequel merits at least one viewing.

Taken for the good old fashioned popcorn action flick it is meant to be, Fast Five was a satisfying sequel with plenty of action but also surprising depth of character and story.

Grade: B