Gravity (2013) (1 Viewer)

[RobertR]

Why would an astronaut not have to tell a "space first-timer" to check their oxygen?

I wasn't talking about "checking the oxygen". I was talking about the medical effects of oxygen deprivation. It hardly makes sense for him to know more about that than she does.

 

[DaveF]

Overall, I enjoyed it, but I don't consider it the earth shattering masterpiece some are making it out to be.

It is a satellite-shattering masterpiece.

 

[RobertR]

It is a satellite-shattering masterpiece.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Taking those kinds of liberties with history was part of the conceit of Inglourious Basterds. Tarantino expected his audience to know that Hitler wasn't assassinated in a movie theater, and established an over-the-top story that doesn't rely on precise historical fidelity.

Gravity has no such conceit. It presents itself as a serious movie taking place in the real world. Fantastical physics aren't problematic in a movie that establishes itself as taking place in a fantastical world, which is why movies like Star Wars and Harry Potter work so well. But Gravity isn't such a movie, and doesn't do what is required to get away with such sloppy science.

Oh, now you tell me! Where are spoiler tags when you need them???

 

[RobertR]

Taking those kinds of liberties with history was part of the conceit of Inglourious Basterds. Tarantino expected his audience to know that Hitler wasn't assassinated in a movie theater, and established an over-the-top story that doesn't rely on precise historical fidelity.

Gravity has no such conceit. It presents itself as a serious movie taking place in the real world. Fantastical physics aren't problematic in a movie that establishes itself as taking place in a fantastical world, which is why movies like Star Wars and Harry Potter work so well. But Gravity isn't such a movie, and doesn't do what is required to get away with such sloppy science.

I'm somewhat ok with placing the space stations in such close proximity to each other. After all, there had to be some plausible way for her to get out of her predicament. What really bothers me is the "she had to let go of him" scene. The physics made that unnecessary. Once he stopped moving, there was zero tension on the line. A slight tug would have been sufficient to pull him towards her. Even if the line wrapped around her had a tenuous grip, all she had to do was reach down and grab it (which she obviously did later), then pull him towards her.

 

[Sean Bryan]

This is simply a beautiful movie and a special experience. Best film I've seen I years. I took in a second viewing tonight and would love to go see it again. It really sticks with me. I love "movies" and am a big fan of the SciFi comic book hero films, etc. Ultimately those are entertainment and things I can enjoy on that fun escapist movie adventure level. But every once in a while I get to experience something special that really touches me in a special way. It's just a different type of experience. The word I found myself using over and over again tonight after the second viewing was "beautiful". Both in the visuals of the environment but more so in the character journey of Ryan Stone. Her being "reborn" through this experience after having shutdown her life after her loss was , well... Beautiful.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm somewhat ok with placing the space stations in such close proximity to each other. After all, there had to be some plausible way for her to get out of her predicament. What really bothers me is the "she had to let go of him" scene. The physics made that unnecessary. Once he stopped moving, there was zero tension on the line. A slight tug would have been sufficient to pull him towards her. Even if the line wrapped around her had a tenuous grip, all she had to do was reach down and grab it (which she obviously did later), then pull him towards her.

Yes, but when it comes to entertaining the mass audience and further engaging them into the dire straits of her situation, it would be lousy filmmaking. A times, a director has to take certain liberties and compromises with actual facts/laws in order to fully engage his audience into his film.

 

[Tino]

I'm somewhat ok with placing the space stations in such close proximity to each other. After all, there had to be some plausible way for her to get out of her predicament. What really bothers me is the "she had to let go of him" scene. The physics made that unnecessary. Once he stopped moving, there was zero tension on the line. A slight tug would have been sufficient to pull him towards her. Even if the line wrapped around her had a tenuous grip, all she had to do was reach down and grab it (which she obviously did later), then pull him towards her.

This is a valid criticism and it bothered me a bit too but I'm willing to forgive it and chalk it up to dramatic license because as a whole, the film gets MUCH more right than wrong and in the grand scheme of things it is imo a minor flaw in a masterpiece of filmmaking.

 

[Tino]

This is an interesting excerpt about the score for GRAVITY by Steven Price from the Wired article linked earlier in this thread. I LOVE the score and have been pretty much listening to it nonstop since the film came out:

“Ordinarily in an action film you’re often competing with explosions and god knows what else, whereas with this [movie] music could do things a different way,” Gravity’s composer Steven Price told WIRED. “With everything we did we would try and look beyond the normal way of doing things. … [For] some of the action sequences where there are explosions, I knew that my music had to – those explosions had to be inherent.”So what went out the window (or airlock) in the process? Percussion. Omitting it was Cuarón’s rule, Price said, to avoid the “cliché of action scoring.” Instead they wanted to get the same swooping cinematic effect without using the usual tricks, like loud drums and crashing cymbals. There are booming ominous tones, mind you, but not the thud of timpani drums often in thriller or action flicks.The composer, who previously scored Attack the Block and The World’s End, also was tasked with conveying the emotions characters were feeling, but that they couldn’t necessarily verbalize. His job, essentially, was to make the audience understand what a character was feeling through mood music — meaning he would place overwhelming sounds in places where, say, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) couldn’t easily say, “Man, I sure am overwhelmed by all this space.”As a result the score for Gravity serves as more than just musical accompaniment – it also provides the movie’s sound effects. There are some non-music sounds that would be space audible, like the ones transmitted by vibrations characters feel in their spacesuits, but for the most part everything that happens in open space is accompanied only by Price’s music and the voices of Stone and astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), which “freed up the rest of the frequency spectrum for me,” Price noted.Price used a mix of organic and electronic sounds to meld the natural world of space with the mechanical world one of the space exploration. There are also moments where he took an analog instrument – a cello, for example, or even a human voice – and ran its notes through a synthesizer or processor in order to create a whole new sound. And for the opening song on the score, “Above Earth,” Price took a track he was already working on and slowed it to about 1/60th its original speed. “Basically,” Price said, “what you’re hearing is the space between the notes.”Perhaps the most interesting sound in Gravity is one that – like a scream in space – you can’t really hear in the film. There’s a fizzing noise at the end of the song “ISS,” created when Price funneled a trumpet recording through an old synthesizer that he’d borrowed from a friend. The effect sounded great, but it ended up destroying the music machine. While it’s difficult to discern during the action of the film, the noise is audible on the soundtrack.“You can hear the synth dying,” Price said. “We killed it. It synthed its last. It made a great noise, but sadly not one I can ever repeat.”

It will be Oscar nominated for sure and I'll be very happy if it wins.

 

[Tino]

Speaking of Gravity and Oscars here is my prediction/wish list for its nominations:Best Picture Best DirectorBest ActressBest EditingBest Musical ScoreBest CinematographyBest Visual EffectsBest SoundBest Sound EditingBest Art DirectionBest ScreenplayBest Supporting Actor

 

[Jason_V]

I wasn't talking about "checking the oxygen". I was talking about the medical effects of oxygen deprivation. It hardly makes sense for him to know more about that than she does.

Maybe it was for our benefit (the audience) and not necessarily any character. There were very lmited ways to get the exposition/reasoning to the audience in this movie after all.

 

[RobertR]

Maybe it was for our benefit (the audience) and not necessarily any character. There were very lmited ways to get the exposition/reasoning to the audience in this movie after all.

I think you got it exactly right. It was for the benefit of the audience. However, it would have made much more sense for her to tell him that she was feeling the effects of oxygen deprivation. That way, the audience is still informed, and we don't get the illogic of a non medical person telling a medical person about medical effects.

 

[schan1269]

So a person under the effects of oxygen deprivation is supposed to tell the other person they are feeling it.

So, the airlines have it backwards...put the other persons oxygen mask on first...then your own...

 

[RobertR]

So a person under the effects of oxygen deprivation is supposed to tell the other person they are feeling it.

Yes, based on the fact that she knows what the effects are, and is very much aware that she's running out of oxygen (she even gives him a running count).

 

[Tino]

Another terrific hold for GRAVITY..$31 million in its third weekend. From box office guru:

THIS WEEKEND Grossing more than all the new releases combined, the space smash Gravity led the North American box office with ease for the third straight time collecting an estimated $31M. The Warner Bros. blockbuster displayed tremendous legs once again by slipping only 28% allowing the 17-day cume to soar to an eye-popping $170.6M. Only one 2013 film has grossed more in its third weekend - the year's top hit Iron Man 3 which did $35.8M. And The Butler was the only other film this year to spend three weeks at number one with its third frame winning only thanks to a holiday.Gravity is tapping into repeat business and is broadening its audience as newcomers are finding the Sandra Bullock-George Clooney disaster pic through stellar word-of-mouth. A final trajectory towards the $250-275M range seems likely for the domestic market which would be third best for the year. These are summer-like grosses in the fall. An incredible $38M has come from the 318 IMAX screens representing 22% of the total and that amount could climb up to about $60M which is more than what most new films opening this month will make from all screens.Bullock has now become the first star of 2013 to anchor two different hits grossing over $150M domestic each. Her summer action-comedy The Heat has grossed $159.3M to date and also had a leggy run thanks to high customer satisfaction. The Oscar-winning actress has now led four hits past the $150M mark over the last four years and is arguably the most bankable star in Hollywood today, male or female.Overseas, Gravity was tops again pulling in $33.5M from 51 markets pushing the international total to $114.2M and the worldwide tally to $284.8M. Korea and Mexico scored solid openings this weekend with $7.1M and $5.7M, respectively, while Russia leads overall with $17.3M after its third weekend. Some huge markets are still to come such as France, the U.K., China and Japan so surpassing $500M next month will not be a problem for the Alfonso Cuaron-directed thriller.

I think it has a good chance to hit $300 million. Amazing.

 

[Jeff Brooks]

We saw this Wednesday, while on vacation in St. Augustine FL, (World Golf HOF IMAX, supposedly biggest screen in the SE, no Dolby Atmos, though). This was also our first 3D experience. Wow. This is a movie that just has to be seen on the big screen. We were totally immersed.

 

[DaveF]

2nd viewing, AMC Tyson's, ETX theater with Atmos. Fantastic. Best movie I've seen this year. As someone explained to me, it seems IMAX is brighter than RealD. But I think RealD is better 3D. In this showing, the intro text and credits weren't 3D. IMAX they were, but were nearly unwatchable due to crosstalkAtmos is impressive, but loud. Second loudest movie this, after Pacific Rim, perhaps. Cuaron hits me in an emotional solar plexus. Love this movie. Want to see it again.

 

[DaveF]

I'm somewhat ok with placing the space stations in such close proximity to each other. After all, there had to be some plausible way for her to get out of her predicament. What really bothers me is the "she had to let go of him" scene. The physics made that unnecessary. Once he stopped moving, there was zero tension on the line. A slight tug would have been sufficient to pull him towards her. Even if the line wrapped around her had a tenuous grip, all she had to do was reach down and grab it (which she obviously did later), then pull him towards her.

My friend had the same reaction.My perception, perhaps I'm unconsciously retconning, is different. I perceive them both still in motion, unraveling the parachute cords. They are in tension. They have some momentum. The spring force of the parachute isn't linear, but is decreasing. Cutting Kowalski halves Stone's mass and momentum. He continues on his course. She now reacts less massively to the fleeting spring force and is drawn back in. It didn't feel obvious to me, but it didn't feel wrong. Not "wrong" like idea of a researcher working as a mission specialist and plugging in her R&D into the Hubble. Or having a space shuttle to use. Or Hubble servicing missions to use a shuttle for. This whole story seem wildly implausible before they even leave the ground.

 

[Edwin-S]

I'm somewhat ok with placing the space stations in such close proximity to each other. After all, there had to be some plausible way for her to get out of her predicament. What really bothers me is the "she had to let go of him" scene. The physics made that unnecessary. [bold]Once he stopped moving, there was zero tension on the line. A slight tug would have been sufficient to pull him towards her. Even if the line wrapped around her had a tenuous grip, all she had to do was reach down and grab it (which she obviously did later), then pull him towards her[/bold].

That was the mistake I noticed the most. I probably could spot more if I was totally familar with orbital mechanics, but the one you pointed out is the one that anyone with even slight familiarity on how objects behave in space would spot.

 

[Edwin-S]

My friend had the same reaction.My perception, perhaps I'm unconsciously retconning, is different. I perceive them both still in motion, unraveling the parachute cords. They are in tension. They have some momentum. The spring force of the parachute isn't linear, but is decreasing. Cutting Kowalski halves Stone's mass and momentum. He continues on his course. She now reacts less massively to the fleeting spring force and is drawn back in. It didn't feel obvious to me, but it didn't feel wrong. Not "wrong" like idea of a researcher working as a mission specialist and plugging in her R&D into the Hubble. Or having a space shuttle to use. Or Hubble servicing missions to use a shuttle for. This whole story seem wildly implausible before they even leave the ground.

Except that he shot the scene like there was a constant acceleration away from each other. They were always in tension like as if there was a headwind, even though they were stopped rleative to each other and the station. She never "bounced" back like there was a spring force in action. It is a "mistake" but, to me, it is moot since the "mistake" was really an artistic liberty taken to increase the dramatic tension that, once again, she was about to lose someone and was essentially powerless to stop it.