Gravity | Eastern North Carolina Now

Explorer Captain Kowalsky, George Clooney, is at his tether's end just before the second orbital impact of the expanding debris field - this time upon Soyuz: Above and then below.     Click image to expand.

    The Shuttle Explorer bore the worst of it, was rendered unworthy to use, and all of the crew, who we never actually meet, are lost. All that is left is Flight Captain Kowalsky and Mission Specialist Stone, and their continued existence was on tenterhooks. From here, the balance of this tight story was the supreme question of survival: Who lives and who dies?


    More than the outstanding, and rather captivating special effects of our world at a view from 354 miles up, the film's creator, Alfonso Cuarón, created a compelling story that made us care about it's main participants - Matt Kowalsky, George Clooney, and Ryan Stone, Sandra Bullock. The Director employed a spare 91 minutes - actually uses the tight programming as an efficient tool - to draw the audience in, capture their abject attention, and push us along for our collective bumpy, and most sympathetic ride until its fruition.


mission Specialist Stone, Sandra Bullock, in the escape pod of the proposed Chinese space station, Tiangong, which is not in space yet as of this post's publication: Above.     Click image to expand.
    Upon this backdrop of profound Earthly beauty, we experience the immutable danger met, and we the audience, through the protagonists, embrace the challenge to survive, through their supreme efforts, their sacrifice and their heroism. We identify with their challenge, we embrace their struggle and we mourn the well presented storyline that one lives, one dies, but both are heroes to their very human core. By the grace of God and the skin of their teeth, one will endure the ordeal, which we cheer, as we also mourn the heroic efforts of the one that did not come home.

    "Gravity" is a very good film. I watched it twice within a 24 hour period and loved it the second time as well (on the second viewing, I used the subtitles to catch every word of the communications between Mission Control and the astronauts, which helped with the story). It is a well acted story told well on a screen of dazzling special effects. It is definitely one of the five best films of the year. Soon, I hope to let you know of the other four films.

    Rated PG-13. Released on DVD February 25, 2014.



    Come join us at our new Movie Database. We welcome you our latest feature to sort through film data to discover information on actors, directors, film images, or just what is playing, when it will pay, or when it did play. It is a work in progress, so we would appreciate your input.