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

Unstoppable: More like unbearable

An out of control train carrying deadly chemicals is set to derail in a highly populated part of Pennsylvania unless an engineer and conductor can stop it.

In some ways, Unstoppable reminded one of the movie Speed. The narrative was driven by the fact that there was a large out of control vehicle that was endangering the lives of others, and this afforded the director (Jan de Bont in the case of Speed) the opportunity to use quick edits and fast camera movements to build tension and make the action palpable. Unstoppable had these same qualities, but it was missing any and all kind of character development or story arc. Denzel Washington played his part of Frank like he was on autopilot throughout the entire film and Chris Pine was never given a chance to show any kind of acting depth because his character (Will) had only one purpose (he was the new guy on his first day at the job and had to prove himself to the old guy Frank). With Speed, there was not only an out of control bus, but an excellent on-screen dynamic between Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock that kept the audience engaged in the film whereas in Unstoppable, the audience was never shown enough interaction between Frank and Will to get to know and root for them. And for all of the dynamic shots, quick edits and explosions within the film, director Tony Scott was never able to thoroughly captivate the audience and get them to gasp and cringe as the runaway train sped toward its ultimate fate.

In the end Unstoppable was just another loud, dull action thriller that failed to connect.

Grade: D+