By Brett Blake I’m not sure where to begin with Ridley Scott’s THE COUNSELOR. That’s probably a side effect of not fully knowing whether I even liked it or not. It’s well-made, to be sure, and it has some absolutely tremendous moments, but its utterly black, grim heart should make it nearly unapproachable for most people in the audience. I make a habit of being pretty “bare bones” when I describe the plots of films in these reviews, and that’s really easy for this one, as the plot and its mechanics are presented in such an oblique manner as to be almost perfunctory. We meet the titular Counselor (who’s never given a proper name), played by Michael Fassbender, as he embarks on a drug deal of some sort (don’t expect the movie to provide many details in this area) with Reiner (Javier Bardem) and Westray (Brad Pitt). When the deal goes bad, the three men find themselves - and their loved ones - in extreme danger. As I said, “bare bones.” The plot exists mainly as a springboard for a series of long dialogue scenes between the actors; luckily, most of these sequences really crackle and have an edge to them that’s great. The dialogue writing, particularly, is exceptional, and if the movie has anything worthwhile to offer, it's watching great actors sink their collective teeth into said excellent dialogue. Speaking of the actors, Fassbender’s a solid lead, but he’s somewhat undercut by the screenplay (from author Cormac McCarthy), which treats him as a bit of a cipher. Fassbender’s good enough to get us to invest in him, to be concerned about the situation he’s gotten himself into, but there’s not a whole lot there on the page. Pitt’s also good, and his two big scenes with Fassbender are highlights of the film. The same goes for Bardem, whose character is actually a bit of a riot, bringing some much-needed levity to the proceedings at key points. Cameron Diaz pops up as Bardem’s girlfriend, a femme fatale-ish character that Diaz feels somewhat miscast in; she does what’s asked of her, but it’s all kind of one-note. THE COUNSELOR is perhaps most interesting when looked at in the context of director Ridley Scott’s entire body of work. He’s most known, probably, for his “bigger” films, movies like BLADE RUNNER, GLADIATOR, and KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, but he’s equally at home with more grounded stories, such as THELMA & LOUISE and MATCHSTICK MEN. He’s worked in virtually every genre, from science fiction, to urban warfare, to historical epics, to light comedies, and he’s excelled in pretty much all of them. But whether he’s going bigger or smaller, his films have always carried his thumbprint to some degree… until THE COUNSELOR. In style and tone, it feels nothing like any of his previous works; it’s totally unlike anything he’s done before. This is both a good and bad thing. It’s good because it’s always fun to see a director step out of his comfort zone. It’s also a bad thing in this case because - in the process of stepping outside his usual style - Scott has presented us with one of the most mean-spirited and angry mainstream films I’ve seen in years. Nihilistic is a word that doesn’t really begin to describe the depths of the grimness on display; the film’s an almost despairing look at humanity (or inhumanity, if you prefer), and that makes for a really tough watch. Now, I’m not one to usually have a problem with a film this dark as long as it’s serving a purpose; in this case, I’m confident Scott and writer McCarthy absolutely see it as having deep thematic meaning, and perhaps I’ll one day see that meaning for myself. For right now, though, it feels like it’s dour simply for the sake of being dour. There’s also the issue of the ending, which I can’t imagine many people would find satisfying in any way. Not because of what happens to any of the characters, but for the place the film chooses to resolve itself and cut to black. Those who remember the somewhat abrupt (though, in that case, enormously thematically resonant) ending to NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (based on McCarthy’s novel) will look back fondly on that climax after having seen the oblique and arbitrary denouement presented here. It seems designed purely to frustrate, irritate, and otherwise piss off its audience with the total lack of closure. And again, this is perfectly acceptable if it serves a point (as NO COUNTRY’s ending does); in THE COUNSELOR, it just feels like a gimmick. Having said all of that, it probably looks like I should have hated this movie, but I really didn’t. The actors and their dialogue really save it. Plus, the film’s beautifully photographed, as is usually the case with Ridley Scott’s movies, and at a tight 111 minutes, it’s briskly edited while allowing the lengthy conversational scenes to breathe. THE COUNSELOR is a classic mixed bag. It’s too well-made to ignore and has great individual moments and sections, but it’s nowhere near a movie that I could imagine anyone saying they “loved.” It’s a film most people, I’m sure, will not like much at all. It’s just way too bleak. Speaking for myself, I liked it more than I disliked it, I suppose... but only just barely.
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Bad Grandpa By Brenton Thom BAD GRANDPA is an MTV movie starring Johnny Knoxville that takes one of the “Jackass” characters and develops a story and pranks around him. The movie's about 86-year-old Irving Zisman, newly “free” as his wife of 46 years has finally died. He wants to take this new freedom to spread his loins and live like a bachelor again. But when his crack-whore daughter goes to prison he is left with his grandson, Billy. Not wanting the responsibility of watching his grandson and feeling “cock-blocked” by the 9-year-old, he decides to leave the kid with his son-in-law across the country. This story is basically a road trip with the grandfather and his grandson, with pranks and hidden camera gags along the way involving real people, similar to what we saw in BORAT or BRUNO - a narrative story mixed in with hidden camera gags. Right off the bat, you have to commend the makeup artists for the work they did on Johnny Knoxville. He does look like an old man, and does fool a bunch of people the entire way across the road trip. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a nomination for the makeup at the Oscars. I also give props to Knoxville for going under the long hours of makeup for that role. Technicalities aside, the movie is decent. I’m not saying it’s a great film, but it does have its laughs. A lot of the jokes you see in the movie are in the trailer, so it was kind of spoiled in the marketing a little bit. But I was surprised that a lot of the humor I thought was funny was the stuff not in the trailers, the stuff that they couldn’t show, primarily Grandpa’s or the little boy’s rebuttals and one liners to people. Those were funny. There are a few physical jokes and gags that were great that they didn’t know in the trailers, as well. But overall, it's a semi-funny movie that does try to have a happy ending, and that’s one thing I want to point out that I’ve noticed with Knoxville. He started doing toilet humor stuff and physical injury comedy, but over the years, he's tried to create movies with more meaning and heart behind them. It was first noticed in THE RINGER and then at the end of JACKASS 3D. The ending of JACKASS 3D felt like it was the conclusion. All the friends that worked together all these years and had grown older together had finished their painful shenanigans and it wrapped up the program. So, it was no surprise that the ending of BAD GRANDPA was almost a tear-jerker and had heart in the way the relationship developed between grandfather and grandson. Personally, I wouldn’t recommend this movie to everybody, but if you want a laugh with your friends, I’d recommend watching this movie with a large crowd. I was fortunate enough to see this movie in a packed cinema and the audience reaction is also what made it enjoyable. All in all, though, you could wait for video and a night with your friends for a few laughs. Gravity By Brenton Thom GRAVITY is a “science fiction” (using the genre loosely) thriller that stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney. The movie takes place in near future or present time, where Dr. Ryan Stone (Bullock) is conducting repairs on the Hubble telescope, while in space for the first time. She is working with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (Clooney) who assists her in the repairs. They have to cut their repairs short when they get warning from mission control (voiced by Ed Harris) that a defunct Russian satellite has been shot out of the sky. The orbiting debris is circling around the planet and on its way toward the shuttle and its crew. It’s safe to say they don’t get away in time, and the crew gets pummeled by the debris moving at over 10,000 miles per hour. I don’t want to give any spoilers away, but this is a disaster/survival story. Stone and Kowalski have to find a way to get themselves to safety and back on Earth. They also have to race against the clock because every 90 minutes the debris completes its revolution around the planet and strikes again. The film also deals with isolation, for the two are the only ones in an empty, silent void. I personally found this to be an exciting movie. Everything about it was engaging and fantastic. From writing, story, pace, characters, visuals, sound design, and music. Starting with the actors, Bullock and Clooney do a fantastic job in the movie. You care for them and are invested in their survival in this hostile environment. One of the things that ties into that is the visual look. Granted I saw this movie in 3D, and I think that helped immensely with the atmosphere. It feels like we are there in space with the characters. Most of the takes are incredibly long with no cuts. There had to be maybe only 6 cutaways in the film! Okay, maybe not that few, but most of the film was seamless and the camera would float around the characters instead of cutting to a new angle. What also helped set the atmosphere and environment was the sound design. As minimal as it was, it felt real! In space there is no atmosphere, so sound cannot carry and you don’t hear anything unless it’s in your helmet and bounces along your suit. So with all the destruction that happens in the movie (which is a lot), you didn’t hear any of it. To counter the soundless action, we have a fantastic score by Steven Price. The music has a feel of other scores like CONTAGION and PROMETHEUS. It sets a perfect creepy and intense mood without being over the top. It was music that felt like a blend of sound effects over actual instruments – being that it was synths and techno mixes. When a character goes flying off in the distance of space, unconnected and no resistance to stop them, they keep going. So the thought of being left alone and leaving the area with no return is scary! You struggle with them as they strain to grab a hold of something to stop them from floating away. There are scenes where the characters are running out of oxygen and you can’t help but hold your breath. You put yourself in their shoes and you want to breathe when they breathe. The characters are engaging because they feel like real people. Clooney feels like a person you’d want to hang out with, and Bullock feels like she is your neighbor or even family relative. I think she reminded me of the school teacher that died in the Challenger shuttle explosion back in the 1980s. The only negative a person could possibly argue about this film is the factuality of some of the elements. The Space Shuttle program shut down over 2 years ago, so the idea of this movie taking place in the future with a shuttle is somewhat unbelievable. But, again, it’s a movie and it’s still enjoyable. And the most important elements – the physics and mechanics of being in space – feel very authentic. Overall, I HIGHLY recommend this movie to the mass audence. Especially in 3D! It felt so real and I was in suspense the entire time. I wanted the characters to survive this ordeal and get back to Earth! Go see GRAVITY! You’ll be drawn to it... By Brett Blake In the hands of lesser storytellers, a movie like CAPTAIN PHILLIPS could have easily become sensationalized or even exploitative. In the hands of director Paul Greengrass, however, it is an expertly-staged procedural thriller, documenting an intense situation with precision filmmaking and terrific acting. That the story is - more or less - a true one adds a certain layer of inherent verisimilitude, but it’s Greengrass’ steady hand (in conjunction with the script by Billy Ray) that makes the events of this film all-too-easy to believe and buy into. The premise (for those who don’t recall how this all went down back in 2009) involves the hijacking of a United States commercial freighter by Somali pirates. Tom Hanks is the titular Captain of the ship, and we watch as he and his crew try to extricate themselves from the dangerous situation. When they prove unable to do so without outside the help, the U.S. Navy soon arrives on the scene, and then things begin to escalate. I would expect many people to know the outcome of this story, but for those who don’t, I’ll not detail it here. For the most part, the movie adheres to a basic thriller structure, with a slow ramping-up of tension as the script moves towards its third act. And what a third act it is. Some might find it to be unbearably tense; heck, I’ll even toss out the old “nail-biting” cliche, because I think that’s a pretty apt way to describe the proceedings leading up to the climax. What’s so truly exceptional about this is, again, the fact that many people (including myself) know how this is going to end, but the filmmaking is so strong (including the brilliant editing) that you still find yourself in knots watching it unfold. In that sense, CAPTAIN PHILLIPS feels like something of a kindred spirit to other “Based on a true story” thrillers, like 1995’s APOLLO 13 and 2012’s ARGO. The movie is executed on such a high level that you forget you know the outcome and allow yourself to be pulled in by the incredibly suspenseful execution. A big reason for this, as I’ve already alluded to, is director Greengrass and his unfailing ability to generate intensity and suspense with seeming ease. Going back to his two entries in the BOURNE franchise, and perhaps especially his 2006 film UNITED 93, you can see a consistently high level of quality, and he brings that to the table here. He also brings what one could call his directorial trademark: the so-called “shaky cam,” which he made part of the cinematic lexicon with his first BOURNE outing, 2004’s THE BOURNE SUPREMACY. In CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, the camera is frequently hand-held, and yes, it does jostle around quite a bit, but rather than being a distraction, it heightens the intensity, giving the movie an immediacy - a “You are there!” feeling - that fits perfectly. The whole film has a visceral, even thrilling quality to it. The other tech specs are top flight; the sound design matches the escalating intensity in a great way, and just as was the case with GRAVITY earlier this month, the use of silence (or, more accurately, strategic and delicate sound effects placement) is enormously effective. The production design has a very authentic vibe, as well. At the center of the film, we have Tom Hanks, giving one of my favorite performances of his career. It’s a very demanding role, and Hanks gets to call upon all of his abilities as we watch his character attempt to delicately maneuver his way out of a life-or-death situation. He plays Phillips as a classic everyman, a decent, competent, and ordinary man who’s thrust into a scenario beyond his control; watching Hanks dealing with his captors makes for some high drama. Hanks has such an inherent likability factor that it’s incredibly easy for the audience to side with him, root for him, etc., and the movie uses this to full effect. It’s kind of a shame that I can’t really dig into spoilers, because I think that’s what’s required to fully do justice to Hanks’ performance; all I will say is that he has a little string of scenes as the film draws to its close that are as emotionally bare and moving as I’ve seen from him (maybe ever), and they guarantee he’ll have a shot at another Academy Award early next year. He’s that good. Perhaps one of the most surprising elements of the film is the way it treats the pirates themselves, who are, let’s be honest, the ostensible “villains” of this story. The easy (read: lazy) way to handle them on a script level would be to make them mustache-twirlers, heartless thugs without any hint of complexity or empathy. Luckily, screenwriter Ray goes the far more interesting (and, I gather, true-to-life) route of having the pirates be full-fledged “real” people. We get to know them, we get to see where they come from and what motivates them to get into piracy, and - most importantly - we get to see moments of doubt, moments where they question their mission and each other; all of this makes them very compelling, and although the movie never once attempts to excuse their actions, it does force the audience to view them as real human beings, not caricatures. As Muse, the pirate leader, actor Barkhad Abdi is terrific, conveying a sense of intellectual cunning as well as a feeling of desperation that is entirely convincing, and his interplay with Hanks is superb. I would not be at all surprised if he were also up for some recognition come awards time; he certainly deserves to be in the conversation. CAPTAIN PHILLIPS is filmmaking at the highest level, as strong a thriller as you’re likely to see all year, and it has Tom Hanks at the top of his game. That should be enough to get you to check it out, but if you want me to really spell it out, I’ll go even further: it’s one of my favorite films of the year. Getaway By Brenton Thom GETAWAY is an action-thriller about an ex-race car driver whose wife is abducted, and who is forced to drive around the city and cause havoc in a stolen car to get her back. The film stars Ethan Hawke as Brent Magna, the ex-race car driver, Selena Gomez as a character known simply as “The Kid,” whose car he steals, and Jon Voight as “The Voice” on the phone giving instructions to Hawke. Right off the bat I can tell you to "get away" from this movie. It is hardly worth watching. Now, I’m not saying one specific thing is bad about this movie, but a collection of things. From the start, you have to question yourself, why is this movie being made? Well, like all movies, they start from the script... and what a bad story/script this was. Just bad writing altogether. The story feels forced and rushed. For some strange reason, the main characters in this movie are American, but they live in Sofia, Bulgaria. There are no questions or answers to why these people are living here in this location. The only thing that can come to mind is some rich guy in Bulgaria wanted to make an “American-action” movie, and boy let me tell you, there is action. I don’t think I’ve seen so many European police cars get destroyed before. I think that was majority the budget (or maybe those Euro cars are so cheap, they can afford to destroy so many). Back to the script - it serves no purpose for this story to be told and shot in Bulgaria. Besides the visuals, it serves no greater purpose to the plot. The characters are unbelievable, minus Hawke's character. He seems the most realistic out of all these people. Maybe it was Ethan Hawke’s performance (but Hawke alone sadly can not save this movie). His character has purpose: his wife has been kidnapped and he’s doing anything in his power, while being monitored under cameras, to get his wife back and follow the instructions from the car phone. “The Kid.” Selena Gomez’s character. Ey, ey, ey. Where do I begin with her? She's by the far the most unrealistic and unbelievable character. You know the main car that Hawke drives in this movie? The Shelby Mustang. Well, that’s her car he stole. Hers. This 19 year old girl, who tries to rob him at gunpoint to get her car back. Where did she get this gun? Why and how can she afford this car? Also, she’s a gear head. She knows a ton about cars and how to torque the engine and make it faster and better. Did I also mention she’s a computer genius, can hack networks and various computer programs, and knows about what's going on in the story they are stuck in? She basically becomes the exposition. When Hawke is confused, she has to explain it for us simpletons, but with a sarcastic tone. Example: “The feed was re-routed to a government server so we can’t track the IP address, but anyone could access the feed, duh!” Are you kidding me? She was the biggest mistake of this movie. How she can afford all this stuff, be a genius, and also hack and shut down power plants is beyond me. She should be an evil genius if she can figure out evil people’s plots while stuck in said evil plot. Now, I’m sure Selena is trying to broaden her range (after working for Disney up to this point) by doing SPRING BREAKERS and now this action theft movie, but her dialogue is bad. I counted her saying “shit” or “oh-shit” variations at least 13 times (and that’s just her - Ethan Hawke said it a few times as well). Part of me thinks the writers took a page out of SOUTH PARK’s book when aired programs can say “shit” on television and went to town by overusing the word. Another issue is the physics and “reality” within the movie. I honestly think the film is probably just one big commercial for the Shelby Mustang. This car swerves, crashes, and gets shot up a ton, but not once do any of the windows crack, shatter, or explode, nor does the body get scratched up, at least until the very end (I never realized this car has been reinforced with armored plates and bulletproof glass). The car never stalls, and the engine always roars. But for being such a powerful American automobile, it sure does a poor job leaving the Euro cars in the dust. EVERY police vehicle catches up to this muscle car when they are in pursuit. If that’s the case, why even have this specific fast car if other cars can catch up to it? Again, this could come back to a writing flaw. The one good thing about this movie is its “climactic” chase scene, which is shot from the point-of-view of the car itself, chasing down "The Voice" through the streets of Sofia. It's a cool scene done entirely in POV. We hear the engine roaring, the gears shifting, and the vibrations of the car as it cuts lanes and crosses intersections chasing the other car. Again, if this fast car can’t catch up to other cars or leave others in the dust, why use it? Advertising! Overall, I would NOT recommend this film to anyone. The movie drags on, nothing is accomplished, the story is boring, the characters are flat and we don’t care for them. I can only recommend this movie if you want to watch a non-traditional holiday movie, because this movie takes place during the holiday season with Christmas approaching. Otherwise, skip this movie all together. It annoyed me. It wasn’t even good (or bad) enough to make fun of, because it took itself too seriously. Elysium By Brenton Thom ELYSIUM is a sci-fi/action movie that takes place in the future of 2154. The rich live on a ring-shaped space station outside Earth’s atmosphere. There is no sickness, no cancer, and no poverty. They even have health pods to keep them healthy and clear them of any cancers, giving them the ability to live forever. Meanwhile, the poor live on Earth in the ghettos with sickness and disease. Our main character, Max, played by Matt Damon, is a former car thief, now on parole and living in a ruined Los Angeles. He just gets by making his living working in a factory that constructs robots. The story kicks off with Max trying to get his life in order and save up enough money to buy a ticket up to Elysium, but his plans are cut short when a patrol robot breaks his arm. His inability to work properly causes him to be locked in a radiation chamber, where he's exposed to deadly radiation levels. With only a few days left to live, Max decides to sneak aboard Elysium to cure his sickness. In the meantime, on Elysium, the Secretary of Defense, Jessica (played by Jodie Foster), wants the president of Elysium to have better control and shoot down any immigrants trying to pass into Elysium's airspace. She doesn’t think the president’s standards are high enough, so she plans a military coup to take over. The stories intersect when Max steals computer codes that can control Elysium's systems in order to get aboard the space station and cure himself. Jessica has a sleeper agent, Kruger, played by Sharlto Copley (star of DISTRICT 9), hunt down Max and retrieve the codes. This sci-movie explores many political themes such as the difference of social classes, immigration, overpopulation, and healthcare. The movie does point out some stuff, but it doesn’t beat it over your head. Writer and director Neill Blomkamp (director of DISTRICT 9) does a superb job telling this story. The atmosphere and world feel real. With a perfect blend of real locations and CGI graphics, everything is there to enhance the story. Everything feels convincing and gritty; you can’t help but think the world is real. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and was very glad to see it on the big screen. But, for some odd reason, something felt a little off about this film. To quote a friend of mine, “It was a fine sci-fi movie, but it was no DISTRICT 9.” I’m not certain why, but maybe it’s the fact the movie does parallel and have similar elements from other science fiction movies, but in any case, this movie is well done in that regard. The cast is good, and the visuals and music are great. You can care for the characters and understand their hardships even if that isn’t your lifestyle. In some ways, you can relate to their struggles. All in all, I’d recommend this movie to any movie fans, especially science fiction fans. This film could almost be science fact-ion. Some real parallels to what’s going on in the world are in here. This movie is worth to see on the big screen and the price of an admission ticket. By Brett Blake GRAVITY is one of the best films of the year. I just wanted to get that out of the way right up front, and whatever nitpicks I have (or others have), nothing can take away from the fact that it’s an incredible example of the cinematic art form, and as astonishing a piece of technical filmmaking as I’ve seen in a long, long time. That it comes up a little short of being some kind of cinematic “Second Coming” should not take away from what director Alfonso Cuaron, the cast, and the crew have achieved. It is masterfully directed, at times almost unbearably tense, and more frightening than most full-blooded horror films could ever hope for. The story is straightforward. Astronauts Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Kowalksi (George Clooney) are in the process of making repairs to the Hubble Telescope when their shuttle is struck by debris from a Russian satellite. Flung out into space, the two must attempt to find a way to survive. It’s pretty much that simple; no convoluted plot machinations, no intricate motivations or digressions, just two people trying to stay alive in the most unforgiving environment imaginable. This is one of the movie’s biggest strengths - by presenting a stripped-down, nearly real-time narrative, we truly feel like we are on a life or death journey with these people, which makes for some incredibly compelling drama. Given that they’re - essentially - the only two people in the whole film (save for a few vocal cameos, including one by Ed Harris), Bullock and Clooney have to shoulder the bulk of the responsibility for keeping the audience engaged, and they both do terrific work. Clooney’s obviously quite a charismatic guy, and he uses this to full effect with Kowalski, rounding out the character without resorting to elaborate explanations of who he is; we get the sense that he’s a “big deal,” one of the rock stars of NASA who’s about to retire. Clooney provides a nice, calming anchor for Bullock’s Stone, who’s something of a “rookie,” relatively uncomfortable with working in space. Though the film starts out as a story with two leading characters, it’s Bullock who eventually emerges as the movie’s true focus, and it’s one of her finest performances. It’s also a demanding one, wherein the character has to be frantic and frightened a lot of the time, and other, less skilled performers might have had trouble making such a character interesting, but Bullock nails it. We sense her panic, her deep fear, and - ultimately - her will to survive the horrifying ordeal she’s going through. Having said that, while Bullock is consistently affecting, the screenplay does try a bit too hard to add some extra emotional layers to the proceedings that, I think, are frankly unnecessary. I won’t get into what that entails, but there are points where the movie almost stops to present us with some moments that border on the overly-saccharine. I understand the impulse, but the nature of Bullock’s struggle is really compelling enough without having to add on those additional elements. A nitpick, sure, but it did stick out to me, and I think the movie could have done without it. But let’s talk about what really makes the movie special: the sheer cinematic craft that is on display. It is filmmaking at the very highest level, and all of the technical categories are absolutely phenomenal. The cinematography is utterly astonishing, employing long takes and incredibly complex camera moves that - to borrow an awful, old cliche - really put you right in the middle of what’s happening. The first shot of the film, for example, seems to last well beyond ten minutes without a cut (though surely there are some “hidden” cuts in there somewhere), and it’s part of a dazzling (and terrifying!) opening sequence that pinned me to my seat. It’s an incredible setpiece, but there’s even more to come, and the usage of the camera is always totally first-rate. It feels like the sort of thing people would call “ground breaking,” and it’s certainly remarkably ambitious. Going hand-in-hand with that are the special effects, which are also on an incredibly high level. One would assume that a great deal of what we see in the movie has been created inside a computer, but for the most part (and save for some dodgy zero-gravity fire effects), the CGI is seamless and completely photo-real. There are moments when the characters are being flung across, into, and around the surfaces of various satellites, shuttles, and space stations, and I found it impossible to ascertain what was a real set and what was computer generated. I’ve heard that the film’s effects were worked on for nearly two full years, and that kind of investment of time has really paid off in a huge way. If the film wins anything come Oscar time (and, hopefully, it wins quite a few things), the “Visual Effects” category should certainly be a lock. Also of note are the sound and music, which form a kind of harmony not often seen (or, rather, heard) in most films. Most of the time, there’s a kind of tension between the sound effects and music departments, with each jockeying for supremacy (that’s a gross overstatement, but you get the idea), but here they truly complement each other. Given that sound cannot travel in space, the sound design makes use of low, droning tones to underline the unsettling absence of conventional sound effects, and similarly, the music is of a rather ethereal, atmospheric quality (except for the more intense, action-y scenes, which have an appropriately harsh and scary edge to them). The strategic uses of complete silence at certain points are also enormously effective. Of course, the person who orchestrates all of these departments, the one who brings it all together, is the director, and Alfonso Cuaron has done the finest job I’ve seen this year. There is such a clear vision behind that camera, and then such a clear execution of that vision, that I can’t praise Cuaron enough. GRAVITY is bravura filmmaking on multiple levels, and I can’t overstate how thrilling it is to be in the hands of someone with complete command of the cinematic medium. There’s really not much else to say. If you’re somebody who likes movies, who likes to go into the dark and see something incredible, then you owe it to yourself to see GRAVITY on the biggest screen you can find. It may not work entirely for everybody who sees it, but I doubt anybody could deny that it’s an exceptionally-made picture, and a fantastic technical accomplishment. |
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