Gravity

Sometimes, when a movie gets less than a 10, it’s because a movie has flaws. And sometimes, it’s because the movie just has a ceiling it’s never going to get past. For me, Gravity has a ceiling. Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are great (even if Clooney is playing Clooney, I never have a problem with that). The score is lush and majestic. The cinematography is unparalleled, giving the viewer the true feeling of what it’s like to be in the dead, cold nothingness of space — don’t take my word for it, astronauts have said it. The tension is well built, there’s good character development with Bullock’s character, it’s all really well done. It’s just not blow-you-away excellent. The spectacle of the situation is awesome, but in the end, it is what it is — human overcoming a singular challenge — and that’s all it is. It doesn’t have to be anything more, that’s enough on its own to make a very good movie. By being basic, it just installs that ceiling on the movie. But that’s okay. Not every baseball player has to be Babe Ruth, and not every movie has to be leave-you-speechless amazing. Very good is very good indeed, and this is very good.