Movie Review: Gravity (2013)

A visceral film that feels like a lucid dream.

I once had a film professor who told me that movies should overwhelm you, fully absorb you into them, and truly become larger than reality. For this reason, he opposed watching a movie on small media devices, feeling as though the experience is damaged in the process. I always agreed with him. But I never agreed with him so firmly until I saw Gravity, the epic by visionary director Alfonso Cuarón, who very well may have just crafted his masterpiece. Watching Gravity on anything other than a high quality, large screen would be a sin from which there is no penance, dooming you to lose the full effect of one of the most moving works to ever grace cinema.

Rarely is every aspect of a film -- from the acting, direction, photography, and beyond -- in such perfect sync, uniting harmoniously to craft something that will undoubtedly become timeless. Gravity is one of the most awesome things I have ever witnessed. It’s a visceral film that feels more like a lucid dream, and it’ll stand as a compelling example of purely visual storytelling.

The story is, at least on the surface, a simple one, taking place in near real-time, while avoiding the gimmicky feel that usually accompanies the idea. On a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) are caught in a cascade of debris caused by a missile strike, which is systematically wiping out everything in low-Earth orbit. As time goes on, these characters attempt to survive one terrible event after the other, culminating in one of the most intense films I have ever seen.

Movie Review: Don Jon (2013)

Jon Martello (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) basically has his pick of an array of hotties on the New Jersey bar scene, never scoring below an eight, even if he’s had a few too many drinks. Jon has a natural way with women; shoot them once glance and it’s a near guarantee he’ll be taking them back to his place before the night’s out. But this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; after all, his friends do call him “Don Jon”.

So, if Jon is such a master of finding women to slam, why does he spend most nights alone at his computer, masturbating compulsively, even after he’s just had sex with a dime? Jon explains to us – in the graphic detail you’d expect from a Jersey-Italian stereotype — that he simply doesn’t get off to women like he does porn. Women in porn will do anything to please a guy and, let’s face it, real women rarely have perfect porno bodies. To Jon, the real thing is boring by comparison. When it comes to the ladies, Jon seems to be more into the game of womanizing than he is the actual sex – or hell, the women themselves.

Movie Review: Enough Said (2013)

"Enough Said” displays the late James Gandolfini in an unusually sweet, quiet role about a simple middle-aged man who is looking for companionship and comfort. It’s a side of Gandolfini we didn’t get to see enough of and, after you see “Enough Said”, you’ll understand just how sad that really is.

Gandolfini plays Albert, an overweight divorced father who works as a TV historian and seems to really enjoy the simple life. He meets Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) at a party, and the two bond over being divorced parents whose only children are about to go off to college.

Coincidently, Eva also unknowingly meets Albert’s ex-wife, Marianne (Catherine Keener), at the same party. A poet whose hobbies include trashing on her ex-husband endlessly, Marianne slowly poisons Eva’s perception of Albert, whose quirks quickly go from endearing to unbearable. At first Eva doesn’t make the connection, but once she puts the pieces together, she continues her relationship with both of them, for reasons even she can’t articulate.

Movie Review: Riddick (2013)

Five years have passed for Riddick (Vin Diesel), who has grown uneasy in his role as Lord Marshall of the Necromonger empire. He fears assassination everywhere, going so far as to deny the hottest of ladies sexual satisfaction, knowing that they could kill him while he’s most vulnerable.  He needs a way out. But typically there’s only one way people can leave the throne – death.

After striking a deal with Commander Vaako (Karl Urban), Riddick has agreed to hand over his position as Lord Marshall in exchange for a ticket back to his home planet of Furya. Riddick is finally going home -- or so he believes.  Betrayed by Vaako, Riddick finds himself left for dead on a barren planet, full of dangerous creatures that lie dormant, waiting for the next wet season to set them free. A storm is coming. If Riddick wants to survive, he has to get off this planet. Luckily, he has a plan.

In a way, Riddick is a homage to first film in the series, Pitch Black, which pitted badass vs. monster in a film designed purely to provide bloody entertainment. Riddick embraces this simplistic approach, giving the audience all the dark humor, brutal kills, and testosterone they could possibly handle, without the excessiveness of the last sequel. To put it another way, Riddick is both unreasonably ridiculous and absolutely awesome. If you’re looking for an escape from reality, this movie is definitely for you.