Pissed Off at Movie "Gravity"

[Wingznut]

This sounds more like an urban legend than a real story. Although one of the ISS crew mentioned on the natural geographic show last week that he watched it on board the ISS.

He liked it, but didn't think it was overly realistic.

Yeah, I doubt it's a real story.

And the factual inaccuracies of this movie have been gone over, time and time again. Like I said, it's not a documentary.

 

[Eug]

The director himself said they took liberties in order to move the story along. Otherwise it'd be boring.

 

[mcvickj]

Gravity was 91 minutes of my life that I will not get back. I watched it over the weekend and all I could think is WTF am I watching. The camera work was pretty cool but the overall story was horrible.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

Gravity was 91 minutes of my life that I will not get back. I watched it over the weekend and all I could think is WTF am I watching. The camera work was pretty cool but the overall story was horrible.

Agreed. My girlfriend and I thought the movie was terrible and were completely disappointed by the overall "Story" and character.

I don't know what I was expecting going in, but the rave reviews I was seeing made me expect something better than what I saw. Hell, Sandra's character was not likeable at all and couldn't do jack shit right. The barking scene was about the time I hope she died and had the credits roll.

I know now that how many oscars a movie won means absolutely nothing about quaility as I'd see it. I watched The Dallas Buyer's Club and thought it was a meh movie too...

Oh... "blah blah blah...no taste in movies...blah blah blah...you're not refined enough to understand the subtleties of art...blah blah fart"

 

[AViking]

Suspension of disbelief is a key aspect of movie watching.

 

[AViking]

He liked it, but didn't think it was overly realistic.

Lord of the Rings wasn't realistic either. Or Star Wars. ET really wasn't realistic at all! The nerve of these movies!

 

[Eug]

I thought the movie was very good. A solid 3.5/5 and maybe a 4/5.

 

[Paratus]

Lord of the Rings wasn't realistic either. Or Star Wars. ET really wasn't realistic at all! The nerve of these movies!

Relax. Personally. In terms of realism it's much closer to Apollo 13 than Armageddon. They nailed the look of the Earth spinning below, the 0G shots looked about right in most cases, and the vehicle models were very accurate.

They even got the ISS computer displays mostly accurate. So all-in-all they put a lot of effort in for realism.

Plus MMOD is a real issue, we've had 3 potential maneuvers around debris this week.

They mostly just sped up the sequences and put all the vehicles into the same orbit. They also beefed up the Chinese space station.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

http://www.vulture.com/2013/10/astronaut-fact-checks-gravity.html

Former U.S. astronaut Scott Parazynski has done seven space walks, including the time he spent seven hours dangling from a robotic arm at the International Space Station, repairing a solar panel array that could have electrocuted him at any time. He had to watch that very solar panel get slashed to bits during Gravity, but aside from that moment, Parazynski loved the film. Vulture had a long, spoiler-filled conversation with the astronaut about space debris, jet packs, tears in space, and Sandra Bullock's underwear.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...6-11e3-9c68-1cf643210300_story.html?tid=sm_fb

Last weekend, my wife, Gabby, and I went to see the movie “Gravity” at our neighborhood theater in Tucson. I’m a retired astronaut who has been to space four times, so I’m usually a bit skeptical of films that take place in space. For me, watching movies about space is like a congresswoman watching “House of Cards.” It’s entertaining, but it’s obviously not the real thing.
Director Alfonso Cuarón does come remarkably close with “Gravity.” I’ve spent a total of 55 days in space so I know what to look for, and Cuarón really was able to capture what it looks like inside and outside of a spacecraft. It’s extremely difficult to film a movie that is almost entirely without gravity.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gravity-review-by-astronaut-buzz-639883

I was so extravagantly impressed by the portrayal of the reality of zero gravity. Going through the space station was done just the way that I've seen people do it in reality. The spinning is going to happen -- maybe not quite that vigorous -- but certainly we've been fortunate that people haven't been in those situations yet. I think it reminds us that there really are hazards in the space business, especially in activities outside the spacecraft.
I was happy to see someone moving around the spacecraft the way George Clooney was. It really points out the degree of confusion and bumping into people, and when the tether gets caught, you're going to be pulled -- I think the simulation of the dynamics was remarkable.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/enterta...ory-fni0bom0-1226742926433?from=trendinglinks

Actually I've been besieged with questions about what I thought about this movie ever since it came out. Just here at work at SpaceX last week, I was asked that question about a dozen times a day. I quipped that "What do you think of Gravity?" was becoming every astronaut's least favourite question, surpassing even "How do you poop in space?"
So, to help me deal with this onslaught, here is my more serious attempt at a movie review:
First of all, it's a great movie. The pace and story was definitely engaging and I think it was the best use of the 3-D IMAX medium to date. Rather than using the medium as a gimmick, Gravity uses it to depict a real environment that is completely alien to most people.
But the question that most people want me to answer is, how realistic was it? The very fact that the question is being asked so earnestly is a testament to the verisimilitude of the movie. When a bad science fiction movie comes out, no one bothers to ask me if it reminded me of the real thing.
The movie does an outstanding job of capturing what it is like to do a spacewalk - much better than any previous sci fi film. Having done three spacewalks myself, I can tell you - this is legit. The visual impact of having nothing but the glass of your helmet between you and the Earth is captured very well. (Although the Earth is a bit more sharp and vivid in the movie than the real thing. Plus there is almost always an interesting landmass to look at when in reality you spend most of your time looking down at a less-interesting ocean view.) Also, the movement and physicality of doing a spacewalk is rendered in a very accurate manner. The ease of starting a motion and the difficulty of stopping it in the vacuum of space is captured accurately in many scenes.

TLDL; It's a movie

 

[DigDog]

not my kind of film, but actually science-wise, i thought it was way more reasonable that most other films.
its kinda hard to make an entertaining film when everyone dies in the first 5 minutes.

 

[rockyct]

Gravity was 91 minutes of my life that I will not get back. I watched it over the weekend and all I could think is WTF am I watching. The camera work was pretty cool but the overall story was horrible.

Agreed. My girlfriend and I thought the movie was terrible and were completely disappointed by the overall "Story" and character.

I don't know what I was expecting going in, but the rave reviews I was seeing made me expect something better than what I saw. Hell, Sandra's character was not likeable at all and couldn't do jack shit right. The barking scene was about the time I hope she died and had the credits roll.

I know now that how many oscars a movie won means absolutely nothing about quaility as I'd see it. I watched The Dallas Buyer's Club and thought it was a meh movie too...

Oh... "blah blah blah...no taste in movies...blah blah blah...you're not refined enough to understand the subtleties of art...blah blah fart"

What was the setup/quality of how you watched it? It has been talked about endlessly in the other Gravity threads, but if you don't see it in 3D in a theater, you are much, much more likely to not be immersed in the movie. If you aren't immersed, you're going to think it's boring and stupid. It's really that simple.

 

[SlitheryDee]

It seems like they got the overall feel right, but took extensive liberties with details. I'm fine with that. It was an enjoyable movie AND it gave me stuff to nitpick later. I feel smart when I can nitpick the sciency bits of movies.

 

[JMapleton]

Is any movies these days realistic? Come on, you're expecting too much.

This is why I don't watch movies.

 

[SlitheryDee]

Is any movies these days realistic? Come on, you're expecting too much.

This is why I don't watch movies.

Hah. If movies got too realistic I'd stop watching them. I LIVE in the real world. Why the hell would I want to go there for my entertainment? Show me something fantastic please.

 

[JMapleton]

Hah. If movies got too realistic I'd stop watching them. I LIVE in the real world. Why the hell would I want to go there for my entertainment? Show me something fantastic please.

No I'm talking about stuff like being chased by aliens or gangsters and when one of the two beefcake co-stars turns to the other and quips a one liner before capping the skulls off 50 of the opposing villains with his Desert Eagle 50 Cal (which never seems to run out of backup ammo btw) and then he walks off with the money and the girl (whose hair somehow still looks great after being kidnapped for 8 days).

You don't know what movie I'm talking about, do you? Yeah, my point exactly. It could be one of thousands.

 

[SlitheryDee]

No I'm talking about stuff like being chased by aliens or gangsters and when one of the two beefcake co-stars turns to the other and quips a one liner before capping the skulls off 50 of the opposing villains with his Desert Eagle 50 Cal (which never seems to run out of backup ammo btw) and then he walks off with the money and the girl (whose hair somehow still looks great after being kidnapped for 8 days).

You don't know what movie I'm talking about, do you? Yeah, my point exactly. It could be one of thousands.

I guess even that stuff was cool the first time you saw it, but I get your point. It's definitely played out.

 

[AViking]

What was the setup/quality of how you watched it? It has been talked about endlessly in the other Gravity threads, but if you don't see it in 3D in a theater, you are much, much more likely to not be immersed in the movie. If you aren't immersed, you're going to think it's boring and stupid. It's really that simple.

I think the best possible comparison would be watching "Blair Witch Project" today, during the day, with 50 people all talking and telling you it's fake vs watching it alone in the theater the day it came out with no clue what it was about. One way is awesome and the other sucks.

 

[fire400]

Truth is stranger than fiction, including a us president that ordered that a teacher be sent out in the space shuttle despite having no real training.

pretty sure with the budget today, the united states would be happy to send (more) robots instead.

 

[Ichinisan]

How was Sandra supposed to cancel her rotation, OP? How? The thing she was tethered to broke. She had no propulsion device.

Anyway, if you weren't awestruck, then you didn't watch it in IMAX.

You probably didn't even watch in a theater, so you have no business talking about this movie. To put it another way: You saw a different movie.

 

[DigDog]

What was the setup/quality of how you watched it? It has been talked about endlessly in the other Gravity threads, but if you don't see it in 3D in a theater, you are much, much more likely to not be immersed in the movie. If you aren't immersed, you're going to think it's boring and stupid. It's really that simple.

you know, you are totally right.
but thats also the downfall of the film, for me at least. i immediately realized it was that kind of film which wants to drag you in and just amaze you.

i'm old, sad and miserable bastard, and i don't care to be amazed anymore.

 

[Newell Steamer]

As much as I adore Sandra, the movie annoys me because what it obviously tries to do is sacrifice any reality for the sake of trying to increase the viewer's own metabolic consumption.

,... you've been to space?!

 

[BlitzPuppet]

What was the setup/quality of how you watched it? It has been talked about endlessly in the other Gravity threads, but if you don't see it in 3D in a theater, you are much, much more likely to not be immersed in the movie. If you aren't immersed, you're going to think it's boring and stupid. It's really that simple.

Huge screen at one of the Santikos theaters here in town..not 3D.

It wasn't that I wasn't immersed, it was just that the main character was completely unlikeable.

 

[Ichinisan]

You don't throw the wrench TOWARD where you want to go blargl barlgrglrgl

Are you referring to some other movie?

 

[JulesMaximus]

I haven't seen it... probably won't bother seeing it either.

 

[Ichinisan]

OP you lack appreciation for the artful expression that survives the stuypidly-dripping-to-excess-gay, ultra-communist leftist movie production greenlight process.

Maybe the sole reason this flick got the go-ahead was the Mexican surname of the jefe. Hey Feds....we got one we can report!!!!

I found it excellent, except I didn't like the bit where

Spoiler

she hallucinated George Clooney

(why on earth is that stuuupid idiot famous??? I can't stand that guy, and also don't see any reason why movie producers would give him a penny??? He's a total idiot. Apparently chicks think he looks good? Why? He's a stupid bozo 100% through & through, and ugly. I don't get it AT ALL) Also the chick is too old to be the main chick. No way! THat was then this is now

Use spoiler tags.