Gravity (2013)

Movies
245

I just saw it again a few hours ago. I took a friend from Portland to see it in 3D & teared up a bit myself, but less than last time.

I did, however, notice that my heart rate was more stable this time. I was still tense, of course, but my friend was so on edge that I was worried she might start hyperventilating. It took her a while to fully recover after the end. I felt about like that the first time, too.

The criticisms I’ve heard, which I paid special attention to this time, are all overblown. Even the water on the lens. Except the CG droplet on the lens. That one’s just silly.

246

Hey, I said I wasn’t complaining, and I wasn’t criticizing! I was… commenting. (I’m the guy who teared up watching the first Narnia movie with his eight year old this weekend…)

As for the Oscars, we’ll find out soon enough, but I think Gravity will get a lot of nominations and I think Bullock has significant chance (> 20%?) of winning. Desslock is assuming that sci-fi movies never get anything but special effects awards, but I think this one is a bit different.

247

I never go to a movie alone because I expect and want my experience to be colored by the company I’m with.

248

Oh I realize that. It’s just that I think the comment is a legitimate criticism. What’s more, I certainly don’t mind you pointing it out as I don’t really see it as a flaw. Though I could understand if some did. I think we’re on the same page.

One of the weird things about many 3D experiences is how isolating it is. For me anyway. I feel it really cuts me off from the people I’ve gone to see the movie with, especially when they are the heavy powered 3D glasses the Arclight theater I go to most often used to use. I really think that is one of the things that makes me hate 3D.

-xtien

“It’s scary shit being untethered up here, isn’t it?”

249

I said it wouldn’t win - not that it wouldn’t get nominations. Its commercial success is also making it harder to ignore. But 12 years a slave won already, probably prior to filming.

250

I don’t think we know that until we hear the Quarter To Three podcast on it. It’s the ultimate bellweather, right?

251

I stand corrected on using the word ‘categorically’ to characterize your stand. But I would say she has more than an off-chance. I’d say she is a shoo-in for a nomination. But we shall see.

-xtien

252

I just watched this movie today. What a fantastic movie. I loved it.

Haters gonna hate

[spoiler]Dr. Ryan Stone: “I hate space!”

Lara Croft in the reboot of Tomb Raider: “I hate tombs!”

And even pronounced almost the same way.[/spoiler]
…coincidence?

Also, when Clooney was having an awe moment and said “Oh my god…” I thought he might continue with “…it’s full of stars!” (But he didn’t.)

253

No … they’re both referencing the same thing.

(The Tomb Raider line was the low point of that game for me. It made no goddamn sense. Not only would an archaeologist not hate tombs, but when the line came it was already clear that tombs were the safest places on the entire island.)

254

Well, to be fair to Lara she did say it after entering a new room and being swarmed with something nasty (I can’t remember if it was bats or moth or whatever).

EDIT: Looks like it was moth or flies.

255

So the “spin-off” of Gravity has surfaced, which is essentially a 7-minute film of the other side of Stone’s conversation over the radio with the mystery person (this is why there’s a Greenland location credit in the movie that had some folks intrigued). It got submitted to the Oscars for the short film category, and if it won along with Gravity itself, that would be an impressive undertaking.

You can read more about it and see the short film at http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gravity-spinoff-watch-side-sandra-657919

— Alan

256

That was an interesting exercise, I suppose, but there’s not a single thing there I needed to see. Or even anything particularly well done. And whereas it didn’t bother me that they had a two-way connection going in the capsule – who knows how all that stuff works in spaceships? – it made no sense to show Honey Gong with an old fasioned CB radio mic that you have to press to talk. So he was, uh, mashing the button the whole time and also listening to Sandra Bullock from the movie Gravity?

But at least I can say I know what Honey Gong looks like!

-Tom

257

If it had been one continuous shot, which I thought it was going to be, that would have been a bit more impressive.

And I think it’s probably a shortwave radio. Get it right, Chick.

— Alan

258

Great idea, but the short itself was a bit uninspired.

259

Nothing particularly well done? Egad, sirs. I would defend the short, but my comments would be hyper-spoilery.

260

Uhh we’ve already pretty much spoiled the movie in this thread. Or do you mean hyper-spoilery for the short?

— Alan

261

Yeah, no wussing out, Dave. I just felt I didn’t really need to see Honey Gong’s perspective on that scene, but I’d be interested in knowing why it worked for you, or what you liked about it. This far into the thread, anyone who’s reading who still hasn’t seen Gravity should have stopped reading about six or seven pages ago.

-Tom
262

They should have been put in a headlock and dragged to the movie theater, you mean. I went yesterday to see it for the second time with a friend who hadn’t seen it yet. I quote: “All the movies I’ve seen this year? This just crushed them.”

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I will comply soon! Happy to be invited to continue talking about the short.

264

I meant for the short, not the movie. Spoilers for the short follow:

I rewatched the short and found to my amusement that Stone indeed does refer to the man as Honey Gong. :)

In Gravity, we don’t know the nature of Stone’s radio partner. I pictured him as Asian, and sitting in a low-income sort of house, in a side room lit by low light, as if from a lantern or some candles. The dogs were outside in a neighbor’s yard, and the baby was brought to him by his mother. My imagination got just one match out of four.

What the short shows is far more compelling. Honey Gong is not just outdoors, but in a place barely more hospitable than space. It’s as blindingly white as space is achingly black. I love that his survival is provided by animals (polar bear fur, dogs) while Stone’s is provided entirely by human beings (aluminum, steel, glass). When the short opens, he is operating some kind of a crank. I imagine that this crank is old-school, that tools like it were in use for hundreds of years. What does it do? I don’t know the answer any more than Stone knew what buttons did what on various panels. It seems that Honey Gong’s livelihood depends on it.

Most central to my appreciation for this short: I think that Honey Gong has been obsessing over his old and loved dog for a while, and I think that admitting this to Stone frees him to let the dog go. Each person is unburdening to the other, yet neither can understand the other. In Honey Gong’s case, he has a family and a purpose, so his unburdening opens the door for him do something difficult. Stone lacks anyone to pray for her, or mourn her loss, and her unburdening leads to a suicide attempt. This contrast is compelling to me. And Honey Gong’s pained expression, and his vague, frustrated arm motions, struck me as genuine. I was really moved by his speech about his dog.

When he took his gun over toward the dogs, I thought he was going hunting. The sudden shot caught me unawares and I felt a jolt of pain. I suspect that I am 1 in a 100 who didn’t see the euthanasia coming. But I’m glad I didn’t, because I felt something that otherwise would have been lost to me.

Those are some thoughts on the short, and I’m happy to discuss further.