The Heavens Above Us

In the title of this post, I am speaking of the force of gravity, not the movie by the same name. I went to go see the new movie Gravity last night. It is an excellent show and I highly recommend seeing it, especially in 3D. Its story is simple, (The visuals are the most amazing aspect of this movie.) on a routine space shuttle mission, an accident occurs and then life in space becomes a race for survival. I won’t spoil it, except to say that the movie’s ending was fantastic.

The movie’s opening sequence is one long shot. In the few minutes before all hell breaks loose we meet mission specialist Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski (George Clooney). They are on a space walk together, repairing the Hubble telescope. Stone is uptight and withdrawn, while Kowalski is astronaut archetypically expansive and folksy. In a nice touch, Ed Harris voices mission control. This movie was created by the father and son team, Alfonso and Jonás Cuarón. Alfonso is best known for his movie, Children of Men. The bleak world outlook of that movie could not be more completely contrasted with Gravity.

What criticism that has been leveled at this movie has been generously leavened with praise. These critics are self-proclaimed nerds and their critiques are all of the scientific realm. They are totally onboard with the art of this movie. They alternately laud the movie for getting the constellations correct, while complaining about flaws in its orbital mechanics. In the movie, you can see Orion and Taurus that are also pictured above. Who cares if a jetpack doesn’t have enough gas to get from point A to point B? Excuse me, I mean MMU (Manned Maneuvering Unit). I’ll leave you with this video clip from the movie. It is called Drifting, but in light of the government shutdown and the ongoing political turmoil in Washington, it could just as easily be re-titled, The Unluckiest Federal Employee. Hee, hee, hee, hee … [KW cackle co-opted]