First Movie Review: GRAVITY

Hey everyone! Hope you are all having a great day, and I would like to thank you for taking a part of your day to hear what I have to say.  It means a lot.  Today I have for you my first movie review of the year, and I am extremely excited to begin discussing the movies of today with all of you.  As a reminder, all of my reviews will be split into two different sections.  The first section will be for people who have not yet seen the movie and would like to know if I think it is worth seeing or not.  It will be more vague and generic and will not give away any important plot points or details.  The second section will be the bulk of the review, and will be much more detailed.  I must warn you that the second section may contain information that can be taken as a spoiler of sorts; so tread lightly.  With that settled, I give you my blogs inaugural movie review; and it is for the science fiction thriller:  Gravity.

There are a lot of things that Gravity does not do well.  The script is very poor, there are only two characters (one really), the acting is sub-par, and the concept is far fetched to a great extent.  That being said, Gravity is a beautifully put together film.  Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, Gravity is not so much a movie as it is a ride.  The visual experience is unlike anything I have ever experienced in a movie before.  Make no mistake, this movie was made to be shown on the big screen, in IMAX, and in 3D.  Watching it on tv, a laptop, or on any other media, and Gravity instantly becomes one of the most boring movies ever made.  Seeing as how I did see this movie in IMAX 3D, I really enjoyed it and would recommend it to anyone capable of seeing it in the same fashion I did.  Trust me on this, if you ever see this movie; the least you will be able to say is that it definitely was a unique experience.
Verdict:  Dont watch unless it is on the big screen.

Now to the fun part.  Gravity, to me, was the first time I ever experienced motion sickness while at the movies.  Throughout the entire first 20 minutes or so, I was sick to my stomach.  The Buffalo Wild Wings that I had just ate 15 minutes prior to seeing the movie might have had something to do with it, but I had had BWW many times before.  It was clear that the cause was Gravity.  My god was that opening seen beautiful.  I remember witnessing it, and just thinking to myself, " This is crazy".  The entire theater was silent, and if you looked around you would undoubtedly find a theater full of dropped jaws.  Now, as good and unique the visual effects/cinematography was in that movie, I do not think that it was that great of a "movie".  Take away the shock and awe you get upon seeing this beautiful portrayal of space, and what you have left is Sandra Bullock doing cartwheels for an hour and a half.  I understand that the director was limited in what he had available to him story wise.  The cast he had in Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, who are both Oscar quality actors, were put into a rather awkward situation in this movie themselves.  Once Clooney is taken out of the picture, we have about a full hour of Sandra Bullock by herself trying to get to another countries space station in hopes of getting back to Earth.  Like what the hell.  As soon as I found out her plan, my first reaction was: you have to be kidding me.  You're telling me, that an antisocial scientist on her first spacewalk is going to be able to survive this?  Usually I try not to think this way and focus on the story that has been presented.  For whatever reason I just could not do that with this movie.  Lets keep this in perspective, I think Cuaron directed this movie masterfully, especially with all the circumstances surrounding this film.  Did I enjoy this film? Yes.  Was it an unforgettable movie experience? Yes it certainly was.  Was it best picture worthy? Absolutely not.  Gravity does deserve a nomination based upon its unprecedented achievements in visual effects, and Cuaron should garner great recognition for his directing in this movie.  But it lacks the excellence in aspects like script, acting, and just overall story that I ultimately look for when deciding best picture of the year.  Now just because it's not best picture worthy, does not mean it was a bad film by any means.  My favorite movie of all time, The Dark Knight, did not even get a best picture nomination the year it was eligible.  I still expect a letter from the academy apologizing for excluding the Dark Knight from contention that year in favor of.......it hurts me to say..................The Curious Case of Benjamin Button?  Blasphemous! But that argument is for another day sadly.  Anyways, I believe that we should not judge Gravity as a movie but rather as an experience.  It was never meant to blow us away with its acting or script, and I don't believe we should judge it for that.  Take Gravity for what it is, and that is a spectacle made for the big screen.  Do not compare it to other movies.  Gravity is its own entity and should be respected as such.
Rating: 7.5/10

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoyed our first review!  Comment and let me know what you think of the setup or if you have any suggestions on how to make it better.  I would greatly appreciate some feedback.  Until next time, thanks again and have a splendid day.

- Big D