Best of 2013: #2 Gravity

I know, I know.  It's taking me forever to burn through this list.  Originally, I thought I'd be able to do it in like a week and a half.  I should have known better.

More than anything, I feel sorry for you, Dear Reader.  Having to wait like a month for me to get through this list must be agonizing.  Don't worry, we're almost there.  The wait is nearly over.

Like I said with my last post, the top three movies on my list should really be considered a near-tie for Number One.  Sure, there's a slight ranking and separation in my mind at the moment.  But, in the long-run, I could see myself considering any of these three movies the best movie of 2013.

Gravity is just an amazing film.  It's a brilliant cinematic achievement that will change the way we look at movies and, more specifically, how they are made.  It's a game-changer that reminds us why we like going to the movies in the first place.

On the surface, the story is a simple one.  It's about one woman's struggle to survive in what is the literally the harshest environment imaginable.

But, it is so much more than that.

This movie is about all of humanity, about our collective existence that is, in and of itself, something of a miracle given the impossibility of life throughout most of the universe.  It is wrought with symbolism about life itself and our shared desire for connection.  Dr. Ryan Stone (played by Sandra Bullock) is our stand-in, having lost that desire along the way only to regain it in space where such connection would seem impossible.

I could go on and on about this movie.  But I won't. As luck would have it, I blogged about this movie a while back.  In fact, it was this movie that inspired me to start posting movie reviews again after a long, long hiatus.  I won't say that my original post did the movie justice.  But, it said enough.

For those of you that haven't seen this movie, you need to go see it now while it's still in theaters.  This is not a wait-for-the-DVD movie.  It's not a movie you see so much as one you experience...and that experience just won't be the same at home in your living room, I don't care how big your TV is.

What a glorious piece of filmmaking Gravity is.  I've seen it three times and, each time, I've loved it more.

Read my original blog post here.

In Theaters: Gravity ****

I suppose it's rare to sit in a movie theater and realize that you're watching a landmark film, a game-changer assured a place of honor in the cinematic pantheon.

I'm not going to lie, I've thought that about a few movies I've seen and, most of the time, I've been wrong.

For example, in 2007, I thought for sure that No Country For Old Men was destined for that kind of long-lasting, Kubrick-like acclaim.  Then, a couple years later, I watched it on Spike TV, where it was interspersed with commercials for Axe Body Spray.  So...maybe not.

My point is that, when I say that Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity is that kind of movie, you'd probably justified in taking it with a grain of salt.  Still, I don't think I'm wrong about this one.

Set 400 miles above the surface of the Earth, Gravity tells the story of two astronauts -- Ryan Stone (played by Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (played by George Clooney) -- marooned in space after their space shuttle is destroyed by debris from a Russian satellite.  We are introduced to the characters and witness the destruction of their ship all in a single opening shot that lasts for roughly 17 minutes (17 minutes!). What follows is a harrowing story of survival in literally the harshest of harsh environments.  Bullock -- in a hefty, Oscar-worthy performance -- carries most of the weight of the film.

That's all I'm going to say about the plot.  For those of you who were worried that the best moments were given away in the trailers -- don't be.  Most of what you've seen comes from the opening sequence...there's a whole lot more to see after that.

This movie is destined to win every technical award on the planet.  From special effects and cinematography to sound and editing, Gravity is an astounding technical achievement.  The expertise and filmmaking prowess on display in this film are, quite simply, astounding.  This is a movie that begs to be seen on the biggest, best screen possible -- IMAX 3-D, if you can swing it.

What makes it a masterpiece is that it seamlessly blends all that technology with a story it is, at its core, very intimate and personal.  While some have compared Gravity to 2001, the space setting is really the only thing the two movies have in common.  Gravity is very much a story of survival, a celebration of the human will to live.   While, admittedly, I'm not the first person to make the comparison, the movie that it most reminded me of thematically was 127 Hours.

Returning Sandra Bullock, she has never been better.  And, as a friend of mine remarked, she's never looked better -- the movie lists two personal trainers for her in the credits.  She won a sham Oscar a few years back for The Blind Side. So, while she may not win this time around, she'll definitely be in the conversation.

Alfonso Cuaron's last movie was Children of Men, another brilliant piece of filmmaking that, in my view, was one of the best movies of the last decade.  I made a Top 30 movies of the 00s a few years back...Children of Men was #3.  With Gravity, two of the Top 10 movies of the young millennium are his.

Yes, I'm aware of the danger of overselling this movie.  I don't care.

It's just that damn good.