Finally!
The Ho and I went and saw it today in all its 3D glory. And it was pretty glorious, that 3D. I’ve always been partial to Cuarón as opposed to his two Mexican contemporaries, even though I love them too. He’s had an eye for that fluid continuous-like camera work since “Children of Men,” perhaps before, but that’s where I first noticed at least.
And the shots of Earth…one in particular almost moved me to tears. I’m a softie. What can I say?
What the movie got right, I think, was the miracle of what we do up there in space, and what a precious and hard-fought achievement it is. And we’re forgetting that, as a society. Losing interest. It kills me. UP THERE IS WHERE WE SHOULD BE. It *is* the next frontier. There’s so much we don’t know. Real adventure!
And, of course, danger, which is what “Gravity” is about.
Yes, there are some script issues. Yes, I did think that the soundtrack was heavy handed. But where it really needed to, Gravity delivered on *every* level, including the previous two gripes. Overall, everything was where it needed to be story-telling-wise at the end of the day, and technically, this movie is a goddamn masterpiece. So ambitious! The camera work is mind-blowing. A lot of people think it’s game-changing…I disagree there, “Irreversible” was actually the game-changer in the no-cuts fluidic camera movement style…but was this movie does is take that 10 year old concept and elevate it into mastery. No small feat.
Oh, and the acting was excellent. I’ve never really been a huge Bullock fan; I don’t dislike her, she just never really makes movies that are in my sweet spot. Well, here, she was excellent. Clooney too. It was so absolutely wonderful to me how instantly I cared about the characters, which is something so many movies have a tremendously hard time with. In fact, most of my gripes with the movie were actually due to the movie succeeding better than its makers were afraid it was. I don’t need to see a floating picture of the dead astronaut’s family; it’s ham-handed to show me that because I *already* cared for him. My heart already sank when he first got hit by shrapnel. You’ve already won me over.
So yeah…even in my gripes, I liked the movie. It’s not going to be my favorite of the year, it didn’t give me the rush of something truly masterful, but it was immensely enjoyable and I heartily recommend going to see it in 3D, if you haven’t already, before it leaves theaters.
That’s all for tonight. Mwah!