The fall movie season is off to a great start with the release of Prisoners two weeks ago and Rush last week, both getting fantastic critical reviews and great audience reaction, but this weekend they have some stiff competition.
Although there are hundreds of movies released each year, it is not often you see movie history being made. Critics are heaping praise on Gravity, and many are using the word “masterpiece.” Even James Cameron is calling it the best space movie ever made, and that’s coming from the creator of The Terminator, Aliens, Avatar and Titanic.
Gravity stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in a heart-pounding thriller that pulls you into the infinite and unforgiving realm of deep space.
Bullock plays Dr. Ryan Stone, a brilliant medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, with veteran astronaut Matt Kowalsky (Clooney). But on a seemingly routine spacewalk, disaster strikes. The shuttle is destroyed, leaving Stone and Kowalsky completely alone. Although Bullock and Clooney have their names above the title, the real star is Mexican writer-director Alfonso Cuarón, the visionary behind such movies as A Little Princess, Y Tu Mamá También, Children of Men and, my favourite Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
As this is being written, Gravity holds a 96 per cent favourable rating on Rotten Tomatoes and even more telling is that the average rating of all the critics is 8.8/10. And the most respected critics in North America, from publications like Variety, The Hollywood Reporter and Entertainment Weekly, are unanimous praising the movie’s story, special effects and the use of 3D to create a thrilling survival story.
Richard Corliss from Time Magazine calls it “…the glory of cinema’s future.”
It sounds like Gravity will have a lasting impact like 2001: A Space Odyssey, but keep in mind that 2001 was not universally praised by critics back in 1968 and was actually hated by many.
Gravity has advance screenings Thursday, Oct. 3.
However, Gravity only has a week before getting some critical competition from Hollywood heavyweights Tom Hanks and Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy). Next Thursday is your first chance to see Captain Phillips, in which Hanks stars in the true story of a captain of a U.S. container ship which is hijacked by Somali pirates.
Also opening this weekend is Runner Runner. Justin Timberlake stars as Richie Furst, a Princeton student who is cheated out of his tuition money by playing online poker. When he learns that the site is hosted from a remote island location, he goes to confront the site’s corrupt owner, Ivan Block (Ben Affleck), but is lured into becoming Ivan’s protégé and right-hand man.
Their relationship starts to reach a boiling point when an FBI agent tries to use Richie to bring Ivan down.
Also starring Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters), Runner Runner also has advance screenings Thursday, Oct. 3.
