Alfonso Cuaron's " Gravity" Review

I just watched today Alfonso Cuaron's highly awaited movie "Gravity" and, boy, it's a 
more than a movie, it's an experience... you probably never seen a movie like that!
Although all of the action happen in space above Earth don't expect anything like Stanley Kubrick's "2001, A Space Odyssey" which still remain unbeatable because of its metaphysics dimension. But Gravity is still fascinating and a fantastic movie, really!

Georges Clooney and Sandra Bullock are playing in "Gravity" the two main characters  in what is a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes because the Russian have blown up one of their satellite and a chain react happen. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone in Space... 

Gravity is definitely a "Houston, we have a problem" movie and i strongly recommend  if you can to watch it just like i did on an IMAX screen as it looks gorgeous with the IMAX definition, and even in 3D. That said, as good as Gravity is, my only problem was a personal one and it is Sandra Bullock. Don't get me wrong, she's perfectly fine in Gravity but just put her and me in the same room during 48 hours, and i know it'll be a carnage! It took me some time to understood why and now i know it's related to her personal type of "energy" - inside energy i mean. Not to mention that i always found her not that good in emotional scenes. But, again, this is just personal and there is a lot of people who like her, as you probably do, so don't pay attention to this.

Gravity's filming and photography is absolutely stunning and it's hard to escape to the "how did they did it?" question even if we know that actors were in front of plenty of green screens all along the shooting. But the result is something of an infinite beauty and probably the only film since Kubrick's 2001 that gives you the feeling of what is deep space above Earth. Surprisingly, considering all what happen in Gravity, the story and action is pretty believable. Sure, in real life you'll need a lot of both bad luck and good luck to go through all this, but the story works well and i won't be 
surprised if Gravity  was one of this fall biggest success.

But there is one person who will both love and hate the movie, and it's James Cameron. Cameron, just like anyone will be stunned by Gravity and Alfonso Cuaron's brilliant directing but i'm damn' sure that he will be "green with envy" as it is exactly the kind of "space" movie that Cameron would have love to direct! And because - just like Stanley Kubrick and David Lean - Alfonso Cuaron practice - consciously or unconsciously - "the policy of the scortched earth" - meaning that when he does a movie about a particular subject nobody can come after him and do a better one on the same subject - then James Cameron himself can forget about doing a movie where action would take place right above Earth ( but Cameron has plenty of others things to care about with his Avatar sequels  so it's no big problem for him ).

Editing: A good friend of mine just told me that Cameron declared recently "It's the movie about Space that i always wanted to see!"

At the time i'm writing this review it's still Sunday in the U.S, and if you don't know what to do this Sunday, just go out to watch Gravity. If you start to have enough of these superheroes movies and are in lack of real good movies then you should like Gravity. And by the way, just to create a link with Disney - although i should say Pixar - there is even a scene in Gravity which will remind you a famous scene from Wall-E - but i don't tell you which one! Go ahead, go out of your home and watch Gravity today, it takes place in real time, last 87 minutes in "space" with you on the edge of your seat! 

Here is Gravity's extended trailer.

 


Picture and video: copyright Warner Bros

Four Great Sci-Fi Movies Coming Soon in a Theater Near You !

After a summer with a bit too much of super heroes blockbusters movies be prepared to fly to outer space as four sci-fi movies which looks interesting if not great are coming soon in theaters!

The first one to be released - in limited theaters supposedly on August 2 - is "Europa Report" which is " a unique blend of documentary, alternative history and science fiction thriller, EUROPA REPORT follows a contemporary mission to Jupiter's moon Europa to investigate the possible existence of alien life within our solar system. When unmanned probes suggest that a hidden ocean could exist underneath Europa's icy surface and may contain single-celled life, Europa Ventures, a privately funded space exploration company, sends six of the best astronauts from around the world to confirm the data and explore the revolutionary discoveries that may lie in the Europan ocean".

Described as the first sci-fi movie in the "found footage" genre the reviews so far are good with a 77% fresh tomatoes on rottentomatoes.com. Here is the trailer.

The next one, scheduled for August 9 is Elysium starring the great Matt Damon and Jodie Foster. The story of this one will take place partly on Earth, partly in a space station called "Elysium": "In the year 2154, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy, who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. The people of Earth are desperate to escape the planet's crime and poverty, and they critically need the state-of-the-art medical care available on Elysium - but some in Elysium will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve their citizens' luxurious lifestyle. The only man with the chance bring equality to these worlds is Max (Matt Damon), an ordinary guy in desperate need to get to Elysium. With his life hanging in the balance, he reluctantly takes on a dangerous mission - one that pits him against Elysium's Secretary Delacourt (Jodie Foster) and her hard-line forces - but if he succeeds, he could save not only his own life, but millions of people on Earth as well". 

Georges Clooney and Sandra Bullock are playing in the next one called "Gravity", to be released October 4: "Directed by Oscar nominee Alfonso Cuaron, stars Oscar winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space. Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone."

Definitely a "Houston, we have a problem" movie, it should looks great on an IMAX screen, and here is the extended trailer which shows even a bit too much, in my opinion...

The last one might top all the others and is the highly awaited "Ender's Game" , to be released on November 1. "Based on the best-selling, award winning novel, Ender's Game is an epic adventure which stars Asa Butterfield, Hailee Steinfeld, Ben Kingsley, Viola Davis, with Abigail Breslin and Harrison Ford.In the near future, a hostile alien race (called the Formics) have attacked Earth. If not for the legendary heroics of International Fleet Commander Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley), all would have been lost. In preparation for the next attack, the highly esteemed Colonel Hyrum Graff (Harrison Ford) and the International Military are training only the best young children to find the future Mazer. Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a shy, but strategically brilliant boy is pulled out of his school to join the elite. Arriving at Battle School, Ender quickly and easily masters increasingly difficult war games, distinguishing himself and winning respect amongst his peers. Ender is soon ordained by Graff as the military's next great hope, resulting in his promotion to Command School. Once there, he's trained by Mazer Rackham, himself, to lead his fellow soldiers into an epic battle that will determine the future of Earth and save the human race".

Here is the trailer, it looks bloody good indeed, and hey, there is Harrison Ford and Ben Kingsley!





And while we talk about outer space i'm adding this other video about a small audio-animatronic that was sent to the International Space Station just a few hours ago - in addition with a 4K camera -and this one is "made in Japan" by Toyota. Kirobo - the robot's name - has a look clearly inspired by Astro Boy and was created by Tomotaka Takahashi. His mission will be to talk with japanese spationaut Koichi Wakata coming at the ISS in November. But as you will see in the video below Kirobo had to be tested in weightlessness atmosphere to make sure he will move and talk correctly once inside the ISS!