Gravity

Will Gravity leave you weightless? The Film Fatales try to get down to earth on their review. 

2013. 91 minutes. Starring George Clooney, Sandra Bullock, and everyone else is just a voice. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Note: This post originally appeared on Skirt.com, which no longer accepts user-generated content.

A medical engineer and an astronaut work together to survive after an accident leaves them adrift in space. (IMDb) 

elizabeth: I would have liked to have seen a tagline for this movie that would have read something like this: ”If you are afraid of heights, stay the hell home.”  Not that I avoid heights all the time, but 90 minutes of feeling queasy and green was not my idea of a fun time. Plus, green is definitively not my color. But we must do our jobs as movie reviewers and if that means feeling like an 8-year-old with a bad stomach virus, then so be it. And Gravity has two talented actors, who I feel can’t make bad movies, and the storyline really intrigued me. But not my head or stomach. Did I mention that?

Nicole: What? I’m still breathing into this paper bag… Houston, we still have a problem. Thank God… Let me repeat that… Thank God we did not see this in 3D. We all know what happens when I see a movie in 3D – and it’s really not pretty. That being said, this may have well been in 3D, considering how wobbly we were leaving the theater. 

elizabeth: I  have never been in space, contrary to rumors,  but I think the visual effects were breathtaking. You felt the debris from the space shuttle flying toward you. I know they must have used a green screen for most of the movie, but when it all came together, it was pretty remarkable.  The imagination knows no boundaries. And Clooney is a Michelin man suit still comes off as very charming and sexy.

Nicole: Well, that’s just it, isn’t it? That’s what this whole movie is about – the special effects. It’s not plot or dialog-heavy by any means. I’d dare say there’s probably only about 10 pages of dialog in the whole script. I have a feeling this movie was made solely because the filmmakers wanted to see if they could pull off what they did. Mission accomplished, pun intended. 

elizabeth: Clooney was the comic relief that the move badly needed. Bullock played an uptight scientist who was a bit anal retentive and you don’t know whether to like her or not care.  Her loneliness does bring you in and you hope against all odds that she gets home.  But she does go through the whole movie without getting scarped, bruised and her tee shirt and boyfriend briefs stayed nice and clean. I can’t get out of the house without cat and dog hair all over me. I might put in for a transfer.

Nicole: I still can’t decide if I liked this movie. The script was so lacking, but the special effects were incredible. And, the performances, despite the lack of dialog, were well done – but nothing to really write home about. Yet, it definitely kept me in my seat – wriggling in it, rocking back and forth and at times pulling my hair out – at which point Cassidy turned to me and said: “Um, are you OK?” The answer to that is always, “No.” 

elizabeth:  I did like the movie, it held my attention, it got me all freaked out about being trapped in space, but I just don’t like feeling sick. So I might need to be earthbound when we review our next movie.

Nicole: Roger, that.

The Film Fatales give Gravity