dvd of the week
The plot of Gravity is quite simple. NASA astronauts have taken a space shuttle into orbit in order to repair the Hubble telescope. It is Matt Kowalski’s (George Clooney) last mission and Dr. Ryan Stone’s (a brilliant Sandra Bullock) first. While they are on a space walk outside the shuttle working on the telescope, a Russian anti-satellite missile test goes horribly wrong and masses of satellite shrapnel hurtle toward them. Before Stone and Kowalski can return to the shuttle, the debris arrives, destroying the telescope and the shuttle and killing the mission’s other astronauts. Stone and Kowalski are sent hurtling into space. Will they survive? Director Alfonso Cuarón’s use of CGI, 3-D and IMAX photography is so skilled that I found myself nearly ducking the space shrapnel hurtling toward the audience. Such an enveloping, unnervingly real film, Gravity is a truly astonishing experience. It is technologically revolutionary and will redefine the genre and the possibilities of space movies.
It’s a must have DVD.