"Gravity" (currently 98% positive ratings on RT)

[SKORPI0]

How Realistic Is the Movie Gravity?

Gravity Fact Check: What the Season’s Big Movie Gets Wrong

Movie tech: How 'Gravity' threw Sandra Bullock into zero gravity

 

[Ichinisan]

Gravity Fact Check: What the Season’s Big Movie Gets Wrong

Then there was all the spacewalking. When the movie opens, we see Bullock and another crewmember hard at work on the Hubble and the shuttle, while George Clooney, wearing a Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU, essentially a space jet pack) zips around them, having a grand time as he listens to country music and wisecracks. It’s the only bit of the movie that looks slightly silly—and it also grossly overstates the speed and maneuverability of the MMU. What’s more, NASA would never countenance such cosmic silliness because the MMU’s fuel was limited and could easily run out—something that in fact happens in the movie. When disaster strikes and Clooney is adrift, it’s fair to wonder if his character wishes he’d cooled it a bit on the earlier horseplay. Bullock, who is not wearing an MMU, finds herself in similar free-floating peril. While spacewalking astronauts wear tethers, they are also equipped with a small backpack called SAFER (Simplified Aid for EVA Rescue) which would allow them to maneuver back to the safety of the ship if the tether should break. Bullock’s does, but she has no SAFER. Later, when she improvises, using a space station fire extinguisher as a sort of handheld jetpack—well, suffice to say that actually maneuvering with such a thing would be far less successful than it is on screen.

Read more: http://science.time.com/2013/10/01/what-gravity-gets-right-and-wrong-about-space/#ixzz2gyq3fVZt

The movie specifically implies that it's a newer prototype and he was supposed to be putting it through such paces to see if fuel capacity / duration was as good as the engineers expected. Not sure how this writer missed that.

 

[slugg]

I saw it after seeing this thread and I forgot to say how much I enjoyed it. Simply amazing. I'd give it a 9/10. And just for reference, I can't think of a single movie I'd give a 10...

 

[CZroe]

I saw this last night. Excellent movie. I love how it was shot. The 3d was spectacular. The action parts were so intense that at times I found myself leaning forward in my seat and trying to will the characters to grab handholds before they flew off into space forever. For practically the whole time I felt certain that this was what it would be like to be in space, and that went a long way toward adding to the tension of the movie. I have no personal experience to draw from, but I can't help but think that this movie had to have nailed the overall look and feel of zero-g movement.

I do have a few gripes though. The movie was so immersive that anything that took me out of it felt especially jarring. The parts that took me out of the movie turned out to be nearly all of the quieter scenes when Sandra Bullock found herself temporarily out of danger. For all the technical mastery of the movie, they approached the concept of having us identify with the character in a sort of ham fisted way. The monologues that Bullock kept having with herself did nothing but make me think "hmmm, the director want me to feel sad now", or "hmmm, the director wants me to feel triumphant now". Instead of just identifying with the character and feeling something for her, I was all too aware that the movie was trying to push me in a certain direction, and it kept messing with my ability to suspend disbelief. There were a lot of times in those scenes where I was just hoping the debris field was coming back soon.

There were a few shots during these times that the director clearly just wanted in the movie, like the one where

Spoiler

she has just entered the ISS and is floating in the doorway in a semi-fetal position, with her legs and arms positioned "just so" and the shot is held for entirely too long

. The director clearly was in love with that scene and wanted it in there. The problem is that while I was looking at the shot, I was being taken out of the movie.

Overall though, awesome movie. I wouldn't give it 98%, but I would give it a solid 8.5/10. It says something when the only complaints I have are related to the fact that parts of the movie are so utterly convincing that I demand perfection everywhere else as well. Go see it in 3-d if you haven't yet. It's definitely a better movie than the trailer makes it appear to be.

I groaned at the start when they started telling Bullock's character that her instrument/equipment thing was the whole reason for the mission... as if she really wouldn't know! They tried to play it off like they were thanking her or something but it was so forced that it was laughable. Obviously-forced expository dialog is a pet peeve of mine specifically because in breaks the immersion. At least it happened near the very start.

 

[Harrod]

I enjoyed the movie, I just wish it had ended like the beginning of planet of the apes.

 

[wazups2x]

Yea, someone needs to explain the physics in this scene. Is it movie physics, or is it real physics that I'm just not understanding?

The only possible explanation that I can come up with is

Spoiler

that the entire ISS is spinning ever so slightly. When they're holding on for dear life, the tether and cords are fully taught and they are at a large distance away from the ISS. If it's in fact barely spinning, then the large distance from the axis of rotation increases centripetal force. If this is true, this is why Sandra Bullock is able to pull herself in (i.e. she is closer to the axis of rotation, less force) whereas George Clooney cannot (i.e. too far away).

My understanding of these physics may be wrong. If I could just watch that scene again, I'll pay more attention next time for any clues that may support or disprove my theory.

This is the one big problem I had with the movie and I think your explanation makes perfect sense. Now I can continue loving this movie. Thank you.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

I'm 38. Is this a movie that my similarly aged wife would like?

 

[zerocool84]

I'm 38. Is this a movie that my similarly aged wife would like?

Do you like good reviewed movies? If so then go see it.

 

[RaistlinZ]

I'm 38. Is this a movie that my similarly aged wife would like?

Not sure what age has to do with it. What kind of movies does your wife like?

 

[purbeast0]

I'm 38. Is this a movie that my similarly aged wife would like?

you obviously have no clue what you and your wife like, so why would we have a clue?

 

[Ns1]

n/m.

 

[cuafpr]

Who you calling fat?

this...this... just made my night at work....

 

[Paratus]

If anyone has questions about EVA's or the ISS I'm happy to answer. I've sat at least 10 EVAs in Mission Control and I don't mind being spoiled about the movie.

Plus, thanks to congress, it's not like I'll be at work any time soon.

 

[Printer Bandit]

If anyone has questions about EVA's or the ISS I'm happy to answer. I've sat at least 10 EVAs in Mission Control and I don't mind being spoiled about the movie.

Plus, thanks to congress, it's not like I'll be at work any time soon.

is joking around / banter, music playing in the background, etc. common ?

 

[Wingznut]

Saw it today, and I loved it. The movie is absolutely beautiful, and the 3D is exactly how it should be done in movies. At 93 minutes, it is the perfect length to rarely let up on the tension just long enough to ring it back up.

If you'd rather nitpick a few physics inaccuracies in a fictional movie instead of just enjoying it, then this isn't the movie for you. (But then again, I'm not sure what fictional tale would be good for you, because one could find enough discrepancies in any movie, if so determined.)

 

[OverVolt]

Every-time I see the trailer I can only think to myself "well she either floats off into space or burns to a crisp in the atmosphere, thats going to be a short movie."

 

[Paratus]

is joking around / banter, music playing in the background, etc. common ?

Music? Only for crew wake up. I can't think of a time when we would have played music during an EVA.

Banter can happen, generally if things are going well. The crew normally is very professiona so it doesn't go on for very long when it does.

We do banter a bit on the ground, again if things are going well. I remember during one EVA, when we were trying to repair a tear in a solar array and had an astronaut way out on the end of boom which was at the end of the stations arm the robotics officer was kind of sweating it. We had never had a crewmember that far out before. Nor had we ever done that kind of repair before.

Anyway every time we had a Loss of Signal, (LOS, 30s or more of no communication when we switch communication satellites every 20 to 40 minutes), I would stand up and say to the robotics officer over his console, "I just want to say Good Luck. We're all counting on you." After the third time he loosened up and laughed.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Not sure what age has to do with it. What kind of movies does your wife like?

M wife does not like sci fi movies. This doesn't seem like sci fi other than it is about outer space.

If this is a sci-fi movie though, I'm better off seeing it with my brother in law.

 

[notposting]

lol you're going to see this all by yourself? That sounds pathetic which is exactly what I would do.

No way would my wife be interested in this, plus 3 year old and nursing 2 month old.

Why she wouldn't like it:

has space
attempts to have plot
cinematic wonder and awe
3d will make her sick

I may loser it up and head out tonight to go watch it solo

Do Clooney and Bullock get impaled on space debris? That will really seal the deal for me. :sneaky:

 

[slag]

I took my wife and 3 kids to the movie in 3d. We all thought it was awesome, great visually and very immersive. Definitely movie of the year material. There was not a boring bit (well, except for when she got inside the ISS for a minute), but every other part of the movie was very very well scripted and really sucked you into the story.

Bullock definitely is in shape.

 

[Ns1]

Scientists who nitpick inaccuracies in #Gravity probably also remind their kids that Mickey at Disneyland is just a sweaty underpaid actor.

lol

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Its tanking fast, down to 97%.

 

[KlokWyze]

must see this. was going to go see rush, but I'll convince the ball & chain to see this instead.

 

[Dankk]

If anyone has questions about EVA's or the ISS I'm happy to answer. I've sat at least 10 EVAs in Mission Control and I don't mind being spoiled about the movie.

Plus, thanks to congress, it's not like I'll be at work any time soon.

Since the partial government shutdown, what about the US astronauts who are currently in space? Still working as normal? This website says there are currently six people in space right now (two of them are American). How does the shutdown affect them?

Shutdown or not, I figure they can't exactly just pack up and head home. There's still a skeleton crew of mission control people on the ground supervising them, right?

 

[CZroe]

Since the partial government shutdown, what about the US astronauts who are currently in space? Still working as normal? This website says there are currently six people in space right now (two of them are American). How does the shutdown affect them?

Shutdown or not, I figure they can't exactly just pack up and head home. There's still a skeleton crew of mission control people on the ground supervising them, right?

85% of the government is still fully funded and that includes anything like that.