At the Cinema - October 2013

Gravity – 9
You’ll like this movie if you like Jim Valvano, Space Movies, and Sandra Bullock. 
The late basketball coach Jim Valvano is famous for his last speech before dying of cancer.  He said “Never give up,” and that is the only choice Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) has as she is set adrift after a space accident.   Her perseverance as she is buffeted through space is the emotional hook in a movie bound to amaze you.

The visual hook is cinematography like nothing you’ve ever seen.  I guess it’s cinematography.  Maybe it’s just computer graphics.  Whatever it is, it is stunning.  And here’s a sentence I don’t say often – see it in 3-D.  Somehow director Alfonso Cuaron has captured space as we think it is. 

Dr. Stone and Mission Commander Matt Kowalski, played by George Clooney, are space walking at their space station trying to do some repairs, when the station is destroyed by debris that is circling the earth.  This won’t be the last encounter with the debris, and are those scenes something to behold!  Quite simply, there’s never been a film like this.  It’s even relatively short at 90 minutes.  The story is told well, economically, and memorably. 

There is only one quibble with this movie.  The music and the soundtrack are over the top.  This is a visual movie, that needs little dramatic emphasis, but for some reason the soundtrack explodes at times with music and sound effects that are meant to heighten the drama, but instead distract from it.  I love music and great sound effects, so for me to object to the sound is really saying something. I’d like to see this movie without the musical effects.  The panorama that fills the screen needs no emphasis.

 

Captain Phillips – 9

You’ll like this movie if you like Tom Hanks, True Stories, and Military Muscle. 
One of my favorite underrated movies of the last few years is director Paul Greengrass’ United 93.  He told the amazing story of the plane which crashed into the Pennsylvania farm country on 9/11 when the passengers overthrew the terrorists who had taken over their flight.  Greengrass did a magnificent job telling this story but let’s face it – no one really knows what happened on the plane that day.  All the witnesses are dead.

Not so here.  Captain Phillips is the real life captain of a ship that was taken over by Somali Pirates in 2009.  He lived to tell his tale, write a book, and be played by Tom Hanks in one of those first class action movies that Greengrass does so well. 

Tom Hanks isn’t Bruce Willis, or any type of action hero.  He’s just an everyman trying to use his wits and experience to survive and keep his crew safe.  He becomes a hostage, and the interplay between Captain Phillips and his squabbling captors is the anchor of the movie.  The desperation of both parties is illuminated as the minutes tick away.  The suspense is on a steady build until the Navy Seals arrive, bringing the full power of the US military to rescue an American at risk.  If at the 2 hour mark of the film Hanks hasn't staked his claim to an Oscar, he surely does in the final 15 minutes.  All quite impressive. 

 

Scanning the Satellitea

The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) – 9

I missed this wonderful little movie when it came out last year.  Had I seen it then, I know what I would have done.  I would have run right out and bought the CD to relive the great music. 

Emma Watson is enchanting as a High School senior who befriends a befuddled freshman in Pittsburgh in 1991.  Her name is Sam, and she not only welcomes the awkward freshman Charlie to “the island of misfit toys” but becomes his first crush.  You remember that first high school crush don’t you?  The hurt, the elation, the music.  It’s all here.

Charlie, played by Logan Lerman, is more than a wallflower.  He has secrets of his own and they frame  his freshman year, which begins by him counting the days until he graduates.  At least I never did that.  Hats off to Writer/Director Stephen Chombsky for a new take on an experience we all remember, but haven't seen much of since John Hughes left us.