Grade: B+
Gravity is an impressively made, exhausting-to-watch disaster movie – the kind that is difficult to discuss or review without possibly giving away plot points. It has the second smallest cast I’ve ever seen in a film. [I almost forgot about Buried, in which we only see Ryan Reynolds.] Not counting one or two, um, non-speaking characters, there are only two people we see here (Academy Award winners Sandra Bullock and George Clooney), and less than a handful of voices we hear, including Ed Harris. It was amusing to see the cast list roll during the closing credits. Clooney makes quite an impression while we see him, but his role turns out to be just a minor supporting part (hint hint) – it’s really Bullock running the show. I underestimated her as an actress; no more of that now. There’s a speech she makes – the one where she is passing on a message to her daughter – and her delivery and emotional choices could not have been more perfect. The events of the plot seemed pretty cut-and-dry by the time I hit the hour mark; I wondered why we needed another half hour of movie. I had more to see. The last 30 minutes have some gasp-inducing discoveries, including a fake-out that I normally find to be so cliched in lesser movies and soap operas, but somehow didn’t bother me here. And there is the aforementioned speech.
Grade: B+
Film Reviews by Mark 
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