A continuation of the Thor film series, this story sees him deal with the Dark Elves lead by Malekith (Christopher Eccleston) who vow to take back the universe and cover all the stars in a 2nd darkness but not if the son of Odin can stop him first.
I went into Thor the Dark World with very mixed expectations as I was not a fan of the original Thor film that Kenneth Branagh made and the previews for this new film looked particularly average, did this new film deliver?
Frankly, it did not, there is nothing in this film that I found in any way engaging or interesting, so much of it is just a borefest to watch and I sat there and at times almost fell asleep during it, now I like Chris Hemsworth and I think he's great in Rush but here he just seems to be phoning it in at times, Natalie Portman I didn't really care for nor did I really care for Tom Hiddelston, Anthony Hopkins, Stellan Skarsgard, Jaimie Alexander or Rene Russo as all of those people as well just didn't pop on screen this time.
Not surprise given that the director of the film Alan Taylor is a TV director from Game of Thrones and is pretty much infusing that style here and it doesn't work, I was also very sad to see Idris Elba be wasted in the manner he was in this movie, it feels like a crime to do this.
But the real sin of this movie is one that I have said before and will say again, it is the villains, the Dark Elves here are weak, probably the weakest villains Marvel have ever put into one of their films and Eccleston is a crushing bore as Malekith, I can't help but wonder if Mads Mikkelsen had been able to do something with this role if he had been able to do it as originally planned though to be frank, I don't blame him at all for bowing out as there's nothing on the page to work with and the overall look of the Dark Elves just look like a cross between Transformers and Lord of the Rings and it too is boring to look at.
There was however one thing I did like and that was Kat Dennings, she seemed to have some fun in her role and it was the only time where I was interested in what was happening in the movie, hopefully she like Elba did with "Pacific Rim" goes onto much better roles in the future.
And so to wrap this up, I did not enjoy Thor the Dark World very much at all, it was for me the weakest of the Marvel films in the Avengers timeline to date, hopefully next year's Captain America follow up The Winter Soldier delivers the goods more than this one did, 1 out of 5.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Blu-Ray Review - Pacific Rim
The Film:
Released back in July of this year, Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, his personal love letter to the Japanese Monster and Robot movies of his youth concerns the human race at War with the Kaiju (Japanese term for Monster) and their main weapon being the Jaegers (German for Hunter), gigantic robots piloted by two humans but humanity is losing and one last gamble to take out the Rift between the two worlds may be the last chance humanity has to survive.
I adored Pacific Rim when I saw it cinemas back in July, I sat there in my chair smiling, cheering, feeling tense in my chair and watching in awe as these gigantic creatures duked it out, it was a fantastic experience that sadly I was never able to repeat before it left cinemas.
And sadly there were two key reasons this film failed in cinemas:
The first is simply the concept behind the film, Big Monsters vs. Big Robots, a tradition steeped in Japanese cinemas but has rarely if ever caught on in a big way in the West even when Japanese anime shows like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z developed big fan bases in the West in the late 90's and early 2000's but shows along the Big Monsters and Big Robots tradition have not caught on and as a result, the film had difficulty finding an audience.
The other big reason was simply the timing of its release, the film opened in cinemas in mid July and here in Australia that meant right in the middle of the School Holidays where you had films like Man of Steel, The Heat, The Lone Ranger, Monsters University, Despicable Me 2 and Epic and I'm sure for most cinemas they probably thought "I've got more than enough films to show and with it being the holidays the kids films have to take precedence."
And that was something I saw for myself waiting in line to see this movie, almost everyone else behind me was waiting for Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University to start, frankly I kept thinking to myself afterwards "If only it had been delayed to the 25th of July" then it's only real competition would've been "The Wolverine" and it may have done much better at the local box office.
But that's all hypothetical as it did not happen and like John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China in 1986/87, it may have failed to find an audience in cinemas but it certainly found one on Video and I have no doubt Pacific Rim will find its audience on disc.
The Video:
To sum it up: Spectacular.
And that is no joke dear readers, the video quality on this disc is truly some of the best I've ever seen on Blu-Ray and there have been a few I've liked quite a bit but this may well take the cake from those titles.
The clarity, the colors, the detail all pop here and there isn't as much as a speck out of line here, especially during the many night scenes where it's raining and big fights are going on, all of those scenes are clear as crystal and it also highlights the many details Guillermo put into the film with his mechanized sets and corrugated iron of the Jaegers to the cartoonish look of the Kaiju and even then you don't think to yourself your watching a digital creation, truly terrific stuff.
The Audio:
Presented in both 5.1 and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (each is its own track) I pretty much have to echo my own comments about the video quality and say the same thing here.
Unlike a lot of Blu-Ray sound mixes where you have to adjust the volume every 5 minutes, the 5.1 mix finds a very even balance between the fight scenes and the quieter moments where you can keep it at a consistent volume, sit back and enjoy yourself.
And boy oh boy will these mixes do that for you, every sound has been recreated perfectly and is really nicely spaced so that you can close your eyes and focus on the sound of the rain at night or the gears of the Jaegers or the sound of the weapons firing or even the sound of the monsters screaming, it's a terrific sound mix.
As for the 7.1 mix well to my mind it's a little quieter and not as good as the 5.1 mix but you shouldn't be too disappointed with it if you decide to go with that mix (the 5.1 mix is the default mix on the disc so you'll have to select the 7.1 mix manually)
The Extras:
Guillermo Del Toro has long created extensive special edition discs for his movies and had a big hand in their creation and that is the case here as while there isn't a lot of extras, what is here is of a very high quality and more than deserving of a high rating.
With that out of the way, let's dive in shall we:
Audio Commentary by Guillermo Del Toro: Talking almost nonstop and in considerable detail, this is a fantastic commentary track that takes you through almost everything you could ever want to know about the making of the film and the creation of both the monsters and robots, if you're a fan of this film make the time to give this track a listen.
Focus Point Featurettes: 13 Focus Point Featurettes round out the extras on this first disc and combined run just over an hour, they delve into a wide range of topics from the creation of the sets (large sets were created to give you the feeling of being inside the head of the Jaegers), the casting of the Rangers (which includes a very cool clip of Idris Elba saying his famous line at the table read), some Set Visits as well as a look at the creation of the musical score (Russian lyrics were written for the reveal of their Jaeger) and more.
Unlike a lot of these Focus Point featurettes that Warner Home Video make, these ones are actually of a pretty high quality and you get a sense while watching them that your really seeing Guillermo's thought process as he's planning the film and as he's shooting it, a very cool feeling that sadly is becoming more and more rare on Blu-Ray releases these days as big special edition releases are cast aside in favor of streaming extras and retailer exclusives that just end up pleasing no one.
That's all for the first disc but before I tell you about the second disc I have to make mention that anytime you stop the film and take the disc out, the next time you put it back in your machine an option will come up allowing you to resume where you left off, a very nice touch.
Now then, onto disc 2.
The second disc (with Striker Eureka on the disc art, Gypsy Danger is on the feature disc) is full of high quality extras that delve deeper into the experience and combined with the commentary and featurettes on the first disc, help to make for a very nice package.
The first extra here is "The Director's Notebook": An interactive feature containing a reproduction of Guillermo Del Toro's notebook during his planning stage for the film.
Inside you will find sketches and text notes as well as icons that will translate part of the Spanish text as well as give you access to some very cool art galleries (one of which contains propaganda posters) as well as some further video featurettes that are extremely cool (my favorite of which concerns a temple carved out of the remains of a Kaiju head the interior of which couldn't be shot due to budget constraints).
Again what was cool about this feature was taking you inside Guillermo's planning process and how he went about creating the world the film exists in, this kind of detail is just remarkable I think and it makes this feature absolutely worth checking out.
Next comes a couple of featurettes:
The first of these is called "The Drift Space", a 5 and a half minute featurette that breaks down the film's drift sequences so more back-story about the characters can be told, a very cool feature that reveals some neat stuff about the history but it's doubtful you will watch this featurette more than once but hey I'm glad it's here.
The other is easily the better of the two and that is "The Digital Artistry of Pacific Rim", a 17 minute featurette about the creation of the film's digital effects of which there were many and the way in which Guillermo helped supervise their creation.
This was a really cool featurette as it shows Guillermo hard at work directing the effects supervisors as if he was directing his actors on the sets, the fight sequences and overall digital effects work in this film was nothing short of amazing, arguably the best CGI I've ever seen created for a feature film and Guillermo's eye for detail is a large part of that and it was very nice to see how it was created here.
From there we go to what could arguably be my favorite extra on this entire set and that is "The Shatterdome."
What is inside the Shatterdome, well what is here is a big collection of art galleries ranging from the Kaiju, the Jaegers and down to the costumes and environments as well as housing a few animatic sequences for some of the big scenes in the film.
The artwork that Guillermo and his team created for the film is nothing short of amazing and it really shows you not only the scope and size of the film that he had in mind for it but also in the case of the Jaegers it shows you the various details of just how these big machines work, all the various nooks and crannies that connect it together and it really makes you believe that these robots have a functionality to them and aren't just a walking talking scrap heap like in the recent Transformers movies.
I loved going through this section and it is absolutely worth the time to do so.
Next comes a small selection of deleted scenes which total about 4 minutes, these are primarily character based moments and are of nice value but I can see why Guillermo cut them.
And sadly this is the only area of the disc set where I have any real gripe to make as Guillermo was quoted in interviews saying that he had cut about 30 minutes in total out of the film and that all of it would be on the Blu-Ray release, sadly that hasn't happened here and it's a real shame as without that, the set feels incomplete.
And lastly we get a small blooper reel containing the standard stuff blooper reel extras have so there's not much to see here and it's doubtful you'll watch this extra more than once.
The Verdict:
Pacific Rim gets first class treatment on Blu-Ray and for me it's one of my favorite releases on the format so far for the film is terrific, the Audio and Visual quality is of the highest grade and the extras are genuinely insightful despite the disappointment about the deleted scenes.
If you are a fan of this film, do not hesitate to pick it up when you get the chance, you won't be disappointed.
Released back in July of this year, Guillermo Del Toro's Pacific Rim, his personal love letter to the Japanese Monster and Robot movies of his youth concerns the human race at War with the Kaiju (Japanese term for Monster) and their main weapon being the Jaegers (German for Hunter), gigantic robots piloted by two humans but humanity is losing and one last gamble to take out the Rift between the two worlds may be the last chance humanity has to survive.
I adored Pacific Rim when I saw it cinemas back in July, I sat there in my chair smiling, cheering, feeling tense in my chair and watching in awe as these gigantic creatures duked it out, it was a fantastic experience that sadly I was never able to repeat before it left cinemas.
And sadly there were two key reasons this film failed in cinemas:
The first is simply the concept behind the film, Big Monsters vs. Big Robots, a tradition steeped in Japanese cinemas but has rarely if ever caught on in a big way in the West even when Japanese anime shows like Pokemon and Dragon Ball Z developed big fan bases in the West in the late 90's and early 2000's but shows along the Big Monsters and Big Robots tradition have not caught on and as a result, the film had difficulty finding an audience.
The other big reason was simply the timing of its release, the film opened in cinemas in mid July and here in Australia that meant right in the middle of the School Holidays where you had films like Man of Steel, The Heat, The Lone Ranger, Monsters University, Despicable Me 2 and Epic and I'm sure for most cinemas they probably thought "I've got more than enough films to show and with it being the holidays the kids films have to take precedence."
And that was something I saw for myself waiting in line to see this movie, almost everyone else behind me was waiting for Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University to start, frankly I kept thinking to myself afterwards "If only it had been delayed to the 25th of July" then it's only real competition would've been "The Wolverine" and it may have done much better at the local box office.
But that's all hypothetical as it did not happen and like John Carpenter's Big Trouble in Little China in 1986/87, it may have failed to find an audience in cinemas but it certainly found one on Video and I have no doubt Pacific Rim will find its audience on disc.
The Video:
To sum it up: Spectacular.
And that is no joke dear readers, the video quality on this disc is truly some of the best I've ever seen on Blu-Ray and there have been a few I've liked quite a bit but this may well take the cake from those titles.
The clarity, the colors, the detail all pop here and there isn't as much as a speck out of line here, especially during the many night scenes where it's raining and big fights are going on, all of those scenes are clear as crystal and it also highlights the many details Guillermo put into the film with his mechanized sets and corrugated iron of the Jaegers to the cartoonish look of the Kaiju and even then you don't think to yourself your watching a digital creation, truly terrific stuff.
The Audio:
Presented in both 5.1 and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio (each is its own track) I pretty much have to echo my own comments about the video quality and say the same thing here.
Unlike a lot of Blu-Ray sound mixes where you have to adjust the volume every 5 minutes, the 5.1 mix finds a very even balance between the fight scenes and the quieter moments where you can keep it at a consistent volume, sit back and enjoy yourself.
And boy oh boy will these mixes do that for you, every sound has been recreated perfectly and is really nicely spaced so that you can close your eyes and focus on the sound of the rain at night or the gears of the Jaegers or the sound of the weapons firing or even the sound of the monsters screaming, it's a terrific sound mix.
As for the 7.1 mix well to my mind it's a little quieter and not as good as the 5.1 mix but you shouldn't be too disappointed with it if you decide to go with that mix (the 5.1 mix is the default mix on the disc so you'll have to select the 7.1 mix manually)
The Extras:
Guillermo Del Toro has long created extensive special edition discs for his movies and had a big hand in their creation and that is the case here as while there isn't a lot of extras, what is here is of a very high quality and more than deserving of a high rating.
With that out of the way, let's dive in shall we:
Audio Commentary by Guillermo Del Toro: Talking almost nonstop and in considerable detail, this is a fantastic commentary track that takes you through almost everything you could ever want to know about the making of the film and the creation of both the monsters and robots, if you're a fan of this film make the time to give this track a listen.
Focus Point Featurettes: 13 Focus Point Featurettes round out the extras on this first disc and combined run just over an hour, they delve into a wide range of topics from the creation of the sets (large sets were created to give you the feeling of being inside the head of the Jaegers), the casting of the Rangers (which includes a very cool clip of Idris Elba saying his famous line at the table read), some Set Visits as well as a look at the creation of the musical score (Russian lyrics were written for the reveal of their Jaeger) and more.
Unlike a lot of these Focus Point featurettes that Warner Home Video make, these ones are actually of a pretty high quality and you get a sense while watching them that your really seeing Guillermo's thought process as he's planning the film and as he's shooting it, a very cool feeling that sadly is becoming more and more rare on Blu-Ray releases these days as big special edition releases are cast aside in favor of streaming extras and retailer exclusives that just end up pleasing no one.
That's all for the first disc but before I tell you about the second disc I have to make mention that anytime you stop the film and take the disc out, the next time you put it back in your machine an option will come up allowing you to resume where you left off, a very nice touch.
Now then, onto disc 2.
The second disc (with Striker Eureka on the disc art, Gypsy Danger is on the feature disc) is full of high quality extras that delve deeper into the experience and combined with the commentary and featurettes on the first disc, help to make for a very nice package.
The first extra here is "The Director's Notebook": An interactive feature containing a reproduction of Guillermo Del Toro's notebook during his planning stage for the film.
Inside you will find sketches and text notes as well as icons that will translate part of the Spanish text as well as give you access to some very cool art galleries (one of which contains propaganda posters) as well as some further video featurettes that are extremely cool (my favorite of which concerns a temple carved out of the remains of a Kaiju head the interior of which couldn't be shot due to budget constraints).
Again what was cool about this feature was taking you inside Guillermo's planning process and how he went about creating the world the film exists in, this kind of detail is just remarkable I think and it makes this feature absolutely worth checking out.
Next comes a couple of featurettes:
The first of these is called "The Drift Space", a 5 and a half minute featurette that breaks down the film's drift sequences so more back-story about the characters can be told, a very cool feature that reveals some neat stuff about the history but it's doubtful you will watch this featurette more than once but hey I'm glad it's here.
The other is easily the better of the two and that is "The Digital Artistry of Pacific Rim", a 17 minute featurette about the creation of the film's digital effects of which there were many and the way in which Guillermo helped supervise their creation.
This was a really cool featurette as it shows Guillermo hard at work directing the effects supervisors as if he was directing his actors on the sets, the fight sequences and overall digital effects work in this film was nothing short of amazing, arguably the best CGI I've ever seen created for a feature film and Guillermo's eye for detail is a large part of that and it was very nice to see how it was created here.
From there we go to what could arguably be my favorite extra on this entire set and that is "The Shatterdome."
What is inside the Shatterdome, well what is here is a big collection of art galleries ranging from the Kaiju, the Jaegers and down to the costumes and environments as well as housing a few animatic sequences for some of the big scenes in the film.
The artwork that Guillermo and his team created for the film is nothing short of amazing and it really shows you not only the scope and size of the film that he had in mind for it but also in the case of the Jaegers it shows you the various details of just how these big machines work, all the various nooks and crannies that connect it together and it really makes you believe that these robots have a functionality to them and aren't just a walking talking scrap heap like in the recent Transformers movies.
I loved going through this section and it is absolutely worth the time to do so.
Next comes a small selection of deleted scenes which total about 4 minutes, these are primarily character based moments and are of nice value but I can see why Guillermo cut them.
And sadly this is the only area of the disc set where I have any real gripe to make as Guillermo was quoted in interviews saying that he had cut about 30 minutes in total out of the film and that all of it would be on the Blu-Ray release, sadly that hasn't happened here and it's a real shame as without that, the set feels incomplete.
And lastly we get a small blooper reel containing the standard stuff blooper reel extras have so there's not much to see here and it's doubtful you'll watch this extra more than once.
The Verdict:
Pacific Rim gets first class treatment on Blu-Ray and for me it's one of my favorite releases on the format so far for the film is terrific, the Audio and Visual quality is of the highest grade and the extras are genuinely insightful despite the disappointment about the deleted scenes.
If you are a fan of this film, do not hesitate to pick it up when you get the chance, you won't be disappointed.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Film Review - Captain Phillips (2013)
Based off a true story in 2009, Captain Phillips stars Tom Hanks as the aforementioned captain whose cargo ship is hijacked by Somalia Pirates led by Muse (Barkhard Abdi) and his terms of ransom will be high as will be the stakes for the Captain's rescue.
I went into Captain Phillips with very mixed expectations as while it looked like an interesting thriller, the preview for this film really put me off with his BWAAAAMMMPPPP noises and fast cutting and I thought "this doesn't look all that good" but I became curious as to whether I was being mislead by a bad preview which can be the case at times and that the film itself might be good.
Well as it turned out to be the case, the film went straight down the middle for me, don't get me wrong it was much, much better than I thought it would be mainly due to Paul Greengrass's direction and the solid performances by Hanks, Abdi (he is the real star of this film) and the nicely surprising appearance by Max Martini from Pacific Rim and I certainly did smile when he showed up.
But alas I wasn't really all that engaged for a large chunk of the film, it's well made, the climax is very tense but as I think more about it I get this feeling of "Eh, it was alright and I was glad I went and saw it but at the same time it was just straight down the middle.", it's probably the best I can explain that feeling but that was honestly how I felt throughout a lot of this movie.
So to wrap this one up, Captain Phillips is worth seeing for its terrific climax and solid performances from the two key leads but for me it was very much a straight down the middle thriller, 3 out of 5.
I went into Captain Phillips with very mixed expectations as while it looked like an interesting thriller, the preview for this film really put me off with his BWAAAAMMMPPPP noises and fast cutting and I thought "this doesn't look all that good" but I became curious as to whether I was being mislead by a bad preview which can be the case at times and that the film itself might be good.
Well as it turned out to be the case, the film went straight down the middle for me, don't get me wrong it was much, much better than I thought it would be mainly due to Paul Greengrass's direction and the solid performances by Hanks, Abdi (he is the real star of this film) and the nicely surprising appearance by Max Martini from Pacific Rim and I certainly did smile when he showed up.
But alas I wasn't really all that engaged for a large chunk of the film, it's well made, the climax is very tense but as I think more about it I get this feeling of "Eh, it was alright and I was glad I went and saw it but at the same time it was just straight down the middle.", it's probably the best I can explain that feeling but that was honestly how I felt throughout a lot of this movie.
So to wrap this one up, Captain Phillips is worth seeing for its terrific climax and solid performances from the two key leads but for me it was very much a straight down the middle thriller, 3 out of 5.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Film Review - About Time (2013)
About Time is directed by Richard Curtis and stars Domnhall Gleeson as Tim, a man who learns from his father (Bill Nighy) that he has the ability to travel through time, an experience he comes to learn well and hopes it will make him lucky in love, though he has no idea what will be in front of him.
I went into About Time very hopeful as the premise of it being a Sci-Fi romance movie reminded me in some way of the first Terminator movie which at its heart was a Sci-Fi romance as well as Arnold walking around killing a bunch of people but that's that movie, did this one deliver the goods?
Right-a-Rooney it did, I thought this was a very charming film with some nice heart to it and good performances by Gleeson, Nighy and Rachel McAdams who is better than I've seen her be in some time in this role, I also really liked the time travel premise the film develops and the rules that govern it and had me thinking a little bit about it after the film was over.
However the film is not without its faults and the main one is that it's too long and at a certain point in the film I began to get a little impatient and started to check my watch on a few occasions, if you had pretty well cut out the stuff with the kids for the most part then the film would've been much more manageable and maybe, just maybe the ending might have had a little more emotional impact.
So yeah despite that small flaw, About Time is a well made and touching rom com that is well worth seeing, 3 out of 5.
I went into About Time very hopeful as the premise of it being a Sci-Fi romance movie reminded me in some way of the first Terminator movie which at its heart was a Sci-Fi romance as well as Arnold walking around killing a bunch of people but that's that movie, did this one deliver the goods?
Right-a-Rooney it did, I thought this was a very charming film with some nice heart to it and good performances by Gleeson, Nighy and Rachel McAdams who is better than I've seen her be in some time in this role, I also really liked the time travel premise the film develops and the rules that govern it and had me thinking a little bit about it after the film was over.
However the film is not without its faults and the main one is that it's too long and at a certain point in the film I began to get a little impatient and started to check my watch on a few occasions, if you had pretty well cut out the stuff with the kids for the most part then the film would've been much more manageable and maybe, just maybe the ending might have had a little more emotional impact.
So yeah despite that small flaw, About Time is a well made and touching rom com that is well worth seeing, 3 out of 5.
Film Review - Rush (2013)
Rush is directed by Ron Howard and stars Chris Hemsworth as James Hunt and Daniel Bruhl as Niki Lauda, both fierce rivals on the Formula 1 circuit in the 1970's, a rivalry that can prove deadly.
I went into Rush with very high expectations as I really loved the documentary Senna from 2011 and this film looked terrific from the previews I saw, did it hit pole position or crash out on the track?
Well, not only did it hit pole position but it came first at the finish line, I really loved this movie almost from start to finish, I thought Howard's direction had a vitality to it that his early work like Cocoon had and didn't feel limp and ridiculous like his Da Vinci films did, Hemsworth was great I thought and confirmed my view that he has become the new Mel Gibson and Bruhl was more than his equal as Lauda and the scenes between the two of them are terrific.
The other thing I really liked was how it recalled the era of the 1970's, an era that I'm very fond of and some of the songs that were used in the soundtrack really got my attention, one of those being "Gimme Some Lovin" which was also used in Days of Thunder, I also thought Olivia Wilde was surprisingly good in her small role, proving that she actually can act as well as be a pretty face.
So all in all, Rush was everything I hoped it would be and more and will surely be one of my favourite films of the year, a definite must see, 4 and a half out of 5.
I went into Rush with very high expectations as I really loved the documentary Senna from 2011 and this film looked terrific from the previews I saw, did it hit pole position or crash out on the track?
Well, not only did it hit pole position but it came first at the finish line, I really loved this movie almost from start to finish, I thought Howard's direction had a vitality to it that his early work like Cocoon had and didn't feel limp and ridiculous like his Da Vinci films did, Hemsworth was great I thought and confirmed my view that he has become the new Mel Gibson and Bruhl was more than his equal as Lauda and the scenes between the two of them are terrific.
The other thing I really liked was how it recalled the era of the 1970's, an era that I'm very fond of and some of the songs that were used in the soundtrack really got my attention, one of those being "Gimme Some Lovin" which was also used in Days of Thunder, I also thought Olivia Wilde was surprisingly good in her small role, proving that she actually can act as well as be a pretty face.
So all in all, Rush was everything I hoped it would be and more and will surely be one of my favourite films of the year, a definite must see, 4 and a half out of 5.
Friday, October 11, 2013
Film Review - Gravity (2013)
Gravity is the new film from director Alfonso Curaron and stars George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as a pair of astronauts working on a satellite when word of a Russian attack comes through and causes an accident that leaves them adrift in space and struggling to get home.
I went into Gravity with very high expectations as I am a big Sci-Fi fan and like hearing the clarion call of the trumpet I felt compelled to heed the call and go and see it the first chance I could but alas upon release that chance didn't come.
But now the time had come when I could finally get my chance to go and see this film and as I held my ticket and waited for the film to start, I began to get more and more impatient "enough of this, give me the film I have waited for." I thought and did it deliver?
Like hell it did, this is both a terrific and terrfying sci-fi flick that is also for my money one of the year's best films, Bullock and Clooney are at near career best form here, both play off each other very well and Bullock nicely surprises in terms of handling the more dramatic scenes with ease and I also liked Ed Harris's very small role as well.
But the real star of this film is Curaron and he extracts EVERY. SINGLE. BREATH. out of his audience with his opening scenes of wonder at the world below that then seamlessly transition to moments of pure terror that had me on the very edge of my seat and feeling a little bit faint at times during the film and I was certainly very happy to breath the free air again afterwards.
But to extend on the tension of the film, Curaron also plays on the fears people have in life very well, fears of disaster, closed environments, fire and doom are fears people hold in their life in one way or another and this movie exploits those brilliantly, at times I thought I was watching a Sci-Fi/Horror film as the fear it creates is so well handled that you really feel it in a big way.
So all in all Gravity is a terrific and terrifying cinema experience that I am more than happy to recommend to anyone up for the ride but like a roller coaster some may feel bouts of sickness afterwards so please keep that in mind, 4 out of 5.
I went into Gravity with very high expectations as I am a big Sci-Fi fan and like hearing the clarion call of the trumpet I felt compelled to heed the call and go and see it the first chance I could but alas upon release that chance didn't come.
But now the time had come when I could finally get my chance to go and see this film and as I held my ticket and waited for the film to start, I began to get more and more impatient "enough of this, give me the film I have waited for." I thought and did it deliver?
Like hell it did, this is both a terrific and terrfying sci-fi flick that is also for my money one of the year's best films, Bullock and Clooney are at near career best form here, both play off each other very well and Bullock nicely surprises in terms of handling the more dramatic scenes with ease and I also liked Ed Harris's very small role as well.
But the real star of this film is Curaron and he extracts EVERY. SINGLE. BREATH. out of his audience with his opening scenes of wonder at the world below that then seamlessly transition to moments of pure terror that had me on the very edge of my seat and feeling a little bit faint at times during the film and I was certainly very happy to breath the free air again afterwards.
But to extend on the tension of the film, Curaron also plays on the fears people have in life very well, fears of disaster, closed environments, fire and doom are fears people hold in their life in one way or another and this movie exploits those brilliantly, at times I thought I was watching a Sci-Fi/Horror film as the fear it creates is so well handled that you really feel it in a big way.
So all in all Gravity is a terrific and terrifying cinema experience that I am more than happy to recommend to anyone up for the ride but like a roller coaster some may feel bouts of sickness afterwards so please keep that in mind, 4 out of 5.
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