Review LXXI - Gravity

Review LXXI
Gravity (2013)

It takes a lot to get me to go to the movies, especially as of late. Sure, school may be one excuse, but it's primarily because the films that are released on a weekly basis all look awful. When I saw the trailer for Bad Grandpa before seeing The World's End, I nearly walked out of the theatre. Instead, I should have taken it as foreshadowing for the film I was about to watch... But seriously, I'll enjoy a little piece of Hollywood extra-sweet fudge every once in a while. I did enjoy The Last Stand after all, and Con Air (directed by the same guy who directed the Rick Astley "Never Gonna Give You Up" video, Simon West) is one of my top films. Nonetheless, it's hard for me to actually pay to watch these films in theatres, and I'm still nitpicky as schnitzel when it comes to watching these bad films. When I heard that Alfonso Cuarón had directed Gravity, and I heard out-standing reviews for the film, I decided it was time to visit the theatre once again.

Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are on their final spacewalk for their mission in fixing the Hubble Space Telescope (which will soon enough be replaced by the James Webb Space Telescope! The new telescope will focus on taking in infrared rays with a primary mirror being five times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope. The reason, by the way, that these telescopes are set in orbit is because the atmosphere does not allow for all types of electromagnetic waves to enter it. Thank you, Astrophysics! I knew you'd come in handy one day!). However, Mission Control warns that Kessler syndrome (chain reaction of destruction) is playing into effect after debris from a Russian missile have hit an old satellite. The Hubble Space Telescope is hit, and Stone is sent hurtling into space. Kowalski manages to get her back, but it comes to their realisation that they are the lone survivors. They desperately try to communicate with the ground crew in hopes they can hear them, however, they are soon faced with a difficult path in order to try and survive.

I'd just like to thank humankind for leaving junk, not only on the ground, but in space, as well. Earth may one day have rings, but they'll be made of garbage, not destroyed planets/moons because of the Roche limit. ... Now that that is out of the way, I'll just go ahead and compliment the film on its long shots, as expected from Alfonso Cuarón (who directed Children of Men, which I reviewed!). Of course, these long shots were filled with absolutely stunning cinematography. The view of the Earth was outstanding. It's kind of crazy when you think how far we've come in cinema - and space travel. But I digress... The cinematography was great, and I bought into it. My friend really enjoyed how the crew paid attention to detail on the space suits (I don't question his statement), as well. I'm also studying Chinese, so I was excited to recognise the characters for electricity (电) and power (力)! But seriously, it was well-filmed. Aesthetically, this film got it DOWN.

The acting was also great, but this was expected. My friend really enjoyed George Clooney's acting (or, maybe, it was really just his character), and I really enjoyed Sandra Bullock's. But, then again, this is expected. Sandra Bullock is a phenomenal actress, and George Clooney, well, he's good. He plays the manly character well - I'll give him that.

If you're looking to see a good film in theatres, take your chances on this one - it'll be showing up at the Oscars, I'm sure, and it's well done. You won't be wasting your money! I didn't see it in 3D, but it was made for it. If you can't sit through 3D films, don't worry, it's just as grand without the 3D effects.

Review XXIV - Children of Men

Review XXIV
Children of Men (2006)

I read P.D. James' novel The Children of Men six years ago, and I hardly recall anything about it. However, the idea of mass human infertility driving the species to extinction always fascinated me. Although there is some speculation on whether men's sperm counts are actually going down, I have read a book and several articles on the prediction that the y chromosome is being driven into the ground, and it is only a matter of time before everyone will have to rely on in vitro fertilisation in order to have children. Okay, perhaps that is a bit exaggerated, but The Children of Men brought this idea to an extreme and it was highly praised. Obviously a movie was made, and ever since I read the book, I always wanted to watch the film adaptation directed by Alfonso Cuarón and starring Clive Owen, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Pam Ferris. Years went by (seriously, six years?), and recently I was talking to a friend from school when he told me he had downloaded Children of Men. I told him I'd been meaning to watch it for ages, so finally today he brought his laptop to school and we watched it in the library. Anyway, enough with the anecdotes - on to the review!

The movie opens up to the death of the youngest person - an eighteen year old male - on Earth being killed by a bullet wound as a result of refusing to sign an autograph. People stand around a coffee shop in Britain, horrified at the news, as Theo Faron (Clive Owens) orders a black coffee, listening to the news as well. It has been eighteen years since the last child was born as women have all become infertile. The masses have gone crazy, and immigrants have flooded into Britain, which has become a military state. Theo, a former activist, visits his drug dealer and good friend, Jasper (Michael Cain) and works at a desk job where the manager doesn't care too much about lates and absences from its employees. He is kidnapped and is re-united with his immigrant-rights activist ex-wife and asks him to get transit papers for a young black woman, Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey). He is thrown into the middle of the battle when he discovers Kee is pregnant and takes the responsibility of delivering her to the Human Project, an organisation aiming to cure infertility.

I thought it was interesting that they changed the infertility from men to women, and I know they changed a few other elements of the original novel, but as I mentioned, I barely remember the novel, so I won't be able to compare. I thought the film was really well done, and I was surprised it was only about a ninety minute film. It managed to pack in a lot and do it very well. It wasn't a rushed plot, and it wasn't like it delved right into the pregnancy - that came reasonably later.

The acting was also superb. It's strange to imagine how people would behave knowing their species is going extinct, but I thought the portrayals were wonderful. Clive Owen and Clare-Hope Ashitey did a great job as Theo and Kee, respectively. Okay, I did think it was a little strange that Kee was up for absolutely any idea thrown at her, but at the same time, if you believed your only hope was kilometers (yes, kilometers) and kilometers away, and you might be the last hope for humanity, I guess maybe you'd do anything to get to where you needed to go. It was strange seeing Michael Caine as a hippie, but he did a wonderful job. As well as Chiwetel Ejiofor as the rebellious leader and Pam Ferris as the religious midwife. No actor or actress made me groan because their delivery was less than decent - it was all well portrayed.

The scenery was well established, and it reminded me of third world countries at war... Yeah, what a romantic way to explain it. Seriously, though, it was grim the whole way through, and it was just interesting to see England as such a war zone.

Now, the part I will compliment the most, excluding the plot idea, will be the cinematography, if that's what it would be under. The way the scenes were shot was amazing, and I can name two major scenes that were done in one take. I'm not sure you realise how rare that is - especially in a huge gun fight. Most of them show one person shooting, screaming, and then another shot of the other, and another shot... Cut cut cut. In this film, as I said, I can name two scenes where one take was used, and they were very intense and long scenes. I thought this was amazing, and it made me compliment the actors and the grips and whoever else was involved in filming that single take.

I've just been praising this film like mad, haven't I? I'll just give my rating then - eight point five stars on ten. It was entertaining, had good portrayal, was interesting, and possessed a thought-provoking plot. I thought maybe it would have been better to go into the history of the infertility a bit more and explain the Human Project a bit more. Still, it's possible I missed that because I was in the library and everyone was talking around, so I won't really nitpick about that. I thought it was grand, and I recommend it. It's a depressing film, though, so don't expect to come out of it happy. Still, I prefer a film that gets me thinking and saddens me than one that just skims the surface - real good thinking films are a dime a dozen.

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