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Is Gravity the most overrated movie of the past decade?
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I wish to eagle drop you into Mount Doom.
Atraveller
Banned
See? Not too hard is it?
Andy didn't see too much cruelty of the prison because he's the warden's pet, bullying from other prisoners stopped with him working for the guards. And I don't see how a character must be super complex for audiences to empathize with him.
You made it sounds like people paid real money and registered on IMDb just to rate Nolan's films high. No, people are already on there, and they happened to like his films.
I just didn't enjoy the characters that much in general. The dialog between the characters felt too forward and direct.
A prison drama I did enjoy greatly is Animal Factory, would highly recommend it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Factory
Prophet Steve
Member
Yes, Gravity is primarily an audiovisual experience. There are few dialogues, the plot isn't much more than providing a bit of a motivation and a goal.
But it does it so, so well. You see Michael Bay movies? They are the same, trying to impress the audience with a huge amount of special effects, but he manages to butcher it in so many ways.
There is such a huge mess going on that you don't know what happens, a lot of screen time is spend on atrocious characters with annoying dialogues, you get overloaded with explosions without there being any build-up and you lose any interest in them.
Gravity uses build-up, you see hints before you know shit is going to go down, such as the fire and the few pieces of debris. The music that increases in excitement and then the shit goes down, and it is incredible. After which everything calms down again and it builds-up for the next point.
The pacing is incredible for what it does, and the movie is bogged down very little by the rest of the elements.
Also the ending is superb, wtf.
But it does it so, so well. You see Michael Bay movies? They are the same, trying to impress the audience with a huge amount of special effects, but he manages to butcher it in so many ways.
There is such a huge mess going on that you don't know what happens, a lot of screen time is spend on atrocious characters with annoying dialogues, you get overloaded with explosions without there being any build-up and you lose any interest in them.
Gravity uses build-up, you see hints before you know shit is going to go down, such as the fire and the few pieces of debris. The music that increases in excitement and then the shit goes down, and it is incredible. After which everything calms down again and it builds-up for the next point.
The pacing is incredible for what it does, and the movie is bogged down very little by the rest of the elements.
Also the ending is superb, wtf.
bobawesome
Member
It could have been great (the beginning was fantastic) but the overbearing soundtrack, dialogue and plot dragged it down. I really wished it would have focused more on the empty vastness of space but it traded that for cheap thrills and heavy handed symbolism.
I do have to give it credit for giving me wobbly legs when I got up. But it's not something I'd ever watch again
I do have to give it credit for giving me wobbly legs when I got up. But it's not something I'd ever watch again
Atraveller
Banned
Will check it out.
See guys? It's not so hard to discuss movies without using the word "overrated".
dark_inferno
Member
Am i bad when i find Sunshine better than Gravity?
Of all-time? No, I think that's saying a lot. Of recent times, of 2013, I'd say... probably, yeah.
It's impossible to say so objectively, but it fulfills the criteria of being widely lauded and being something I didn't really care for. I didn't hate it, I just left the cinema feeling underwhelmed.
I saw sixty-six films in 2013 and Gravity didn't even make my top thirty.
It's impossible to say so objectively, but it fulfills the criteria of being widely lauded and being something I didn't really care for. I didn't hate it, I just left the cinema feeling underwhelmed.
I saw sixty-six films in 2013 and Gravity didn't even make my top thirty.
Atraveller
Banned
All disaster/survival movies are like this
I wouldn't call it overrated, because it's not universally acclaimed.
AHA-Lambda
Member
No cos it's Avatar
Robot Pants
Member
I agree with the OP 100%.
It's a bad movie with some great looking effects. That's it.
It really is one of the most overrated of all time.
It's a bad movie with some great looking effects. That's it.
It really is one of the most overrated of all time.
And there aren't many good ones. Correlation.
Atraveller
Banned
Fixed.
SCULLIBUNDO
Banned
Gone With the Wind.
More like 9/10s that get treated as 10/10s.
Watched it for the first time on DVD, might explain why I thought the movie was utterly boring with completely shit characters. Does the protagonist even HAVE any control or make interesting decisions on her own in this film? She doesn't even get to make her own choice in the most important scene of the movie, that's literally what the male astronaut tells her. It's like they get rid of actual meaningful drama for repetitive "oh no the ship broke again!" scenes. So shit. The other "loss" subplot was totally hackneyed and didn't translate to me at all because it was so forced. The male lead was completely unlikable, hardly even felt like a real human being he was so "brave" give me a break, script.
CesspoolofHatred
Member
Probably not the greatest, yeah, but considering it's the first superhero group movie that's actually WORKED in recent years, and how time was spent building up the universe? It could've gone a LOT worse, and I'm personally grateful for that.
I have no idea how Avengers 2 will deal with the legal clusterfuck that is Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch, though.
Atraveller
Banned
Clooney was dead at that point, it was her own idea.
FlutterPuffs
Member
SJRB
Gold Member
Gravity only works the first time viewing because it overwhelms you with crazy visuals and escalating situations that leaves little downtime to analyse what the hell you're even watching.
Second time around you start noticing how extremely silly everything is, from cast to script. Bullock's character completely falls apart, you notice that one situation [breakdown - escape to other craft] is carbon-copied three times in a row. The fire extinguisher. The horrendous monologue. A lot of nonsense, really.
Z..
Member
And now we know why you didn't like 2001. The subtext was wasted on you.
Squall5042
Member
Gravity was an amazing experience. My partner drags to me a lot of movies and I like so few, but I forced him to see Gravity with me and it was absolutely incredible.
He was already dead during that "I'm not letting you go!" etc scene? I switched off my attention when the film started pulling the "stuff wasn't real" card, by that point I was sick of it.
My main issue is that it was never moving. The phrase "it's an experience" get's thrown around like it means something but I just don't see it, all I see is a movie thinking it deserves some ethereal, sad, uplifting reaction from me but all it did was make me cringe all over from it's cliche dialogue, unsubtle phoned-in "I lost my child" oscar bait and the so-called "beautiful" repetitive disaster scenes that replaced actual plot development. Clooney was the most fake "charismatic" character I've seen in a movie to date, and the idea that that thing INSPIRED the female lead in some deeply personal way was insulting. I just really loathed this movie. But I loved Shawshank, because instead of pretending to have all the right qualities like Gravity does, it actually HAS them.
Atraveller
Banned
I thought you were talking about the landing thrust system, also oxygen deprivation can cause hallucinations sometimes.
Z..
Member
It's literally ALL about the direction. You can completely ignore the rest.
The only reason the movie isn't hated like Only God Forgives was is that it at least had the decency to be unpretentious. It's shallow and basic, but functional.
But the technical aspects are all that matters. That's where Cuaron can be felt.
The rest is production studio bullshit and you should ignore it. This one is all about the eye candy.
Definitely the most overrated movie of last year. It's good. Don't get me wrong. It's beautiful, the story is well paced, the script is tight, and the acting is top notch. There's really nothing wrong with it. It just lacks what I expect a great movie that it was hyped as to have, depth.
What do you mean exactly by "Cuaron can be felt." ? Is this movie supposed to be some kind of Fantasia/IMAX type experience at heart? I mean it was good looking, really exciting in one shot, but I still don't get it. Why not be a special effects director and not a full movie director? Am I supposed to just excuse the rest of the movie?
Woody Invincible
Banned
Forrest Gump. Who's dick got sucked for it to beat Pulp Fiction that year?
Z..
Member
Nope, not like fantasia... It's just an absolute masterpiece as far as the direction is concerned. That's why it's so acclaimed. But on the other hand, the plot is pretty much irrelevant and has the oily prints of studio execs all over it. It's just there to give you something to think about while you experience the direction.
It's basically the greatest average movie ever made, if you catch my drift...
Haloid1177
Banned
Titanic and Avatar are definitely more overrated than Gravity.
A title it deserves far more than being the all-time box office champ, that's for certain.
WorriedCitizen
Member
Citizen Kane says hi.
Yeah, I catch your drift, but even then the visuals of it weren't spectacular to me outside one particular take and a few puffs of particle effects, and it owes a few of its Earth shots to Kubrick ... it could be that I'm jaded after seeing similar kinds of photography in movies set in space, so that the cinematography in Gravity by this point feels cliche, or maybe not cliche but just old. I think it's stronger if you feel for the vulnerable lead character at the centre, which though leads back to the issue that I didn't, because the vulnerability was forced just like a typical disaster/horror movie as someone above mentioned (with a script just as weak and inhumanly cliche as their average-tier movies, if not worse because at least some of those movies are parodies.) Better movies work harder than that. You can't just cling to one aspect (visuals) when it relies on another, broken one (character emotion) to empower it.
Z..
Member
No, it really doesn't.
I get what you mean, but it deserves all the love it gets and more.
Trent Strong
Banned
What other word do you want to use to describe a movie that's highly acclaimed, but that you think doesn't deserve all the acclaim? Overrated seems like a good word to use in that situation.
~Devil Trigger~
In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
Nope its a great movie
Atraveller
Banned
I would type out actual criticism instead of just "X movie is overrated".
Now the whole thread is doing "you're wrong", "no! you are", do you think anyone has gotten anything out of the exchange?
Revolutionary
Member
Probably. It is an absolute visual spectacle but lacks the substance that Cuaron is known for.
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