"...two astronauts having an especially bad day in space."
We went to see "Gravity" last night. It was terrific! Sandra Bullock* and George Clooney were believable as "...two astronauts having an especially bad day in space," as the LA Times summed it up.
The story is on the wild side -- the Russians having blown up one of their satellites (a "spy bird," as the Clooney character surmises) and the debris colliding with other satellites, eventually including the international space station ("ISS," as the characters familiarly refer to it).
But I ought to go back to what reviewers noted was the long 20-minute opening sequence (the titles actually run at the close), with the two astronauts doing a "space walk" from a shuttle** working on the Hubble orbiting telescope. That lets us luxuriate in splendid views of Earth; the film is supposedly 60% "computer-generated effects," and they are mind-boggling.
Things quickly go south*** as they lose radio contact with Houston and soon the shuttle is badly hit by the debris. I probably need to preserve the rest of the plot, not wanting to be a spoiler -- suffice to say it gets suitably scary.
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I had fun, just now, with my all-purpose tags: "astrotwitch" is from March 2011 -- an artist on Flickr who I recall as doing funny futuristic nudes. (Alas, as happened for quite a few of my posts, Flickr has removed them -- their goddamned censorship at work!) It also pleased me to find new work for "hoist on petard" -- the bomb image seems an uncanny fit for this disaster movie.
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* It was originally set to star Angelina Joli (yeah, "Barbarella" comes to mind!), but Sandra seems to fit the character better. Robert Downey Jr. was supposed to do the Clooney role, but had a schedule conflict.
** making it more a "historical fiction" than sci-fi.
*** My pun not intended. I was surprised by astronauts referring to "east" and "west," but it makes sense.
The story is on the wild side -- the Russians having blown up one of their satellites (a "spy bird," as the Clooney character surmises) and the debris colliding with other satellites, eventually including the international space station ("ISS," as the characters familiarly refer to it).
But I ought to go back to what reviewers noted was the long 20-minute opening sequence (the titles actually run at the close), with the two astronauts doing a "space walk" from a shuttle** working on the Hubble orbiting telescope. That lets us luxuriate in splendid views of Earth; the film is supposedly 60% "computer-generated effects," and they are mind-boggling.
Things quickly go south*** as they lose radio contact with Houston and soon the shuttle is badly hit by the debris. I probably need to preserve the rest of the plot, not wanting to be a spoiler -- suffice to say it gets suitably scary.
*******************************
I had fun, just now, with my all-purpose tags: "astrotwitch" is from March 2011 -- an artist on Flickr who I recall as doing funny futuristic nudes. (Alas, as happened for quite a few of my posts, Flickr has removed them -- their goddamned censorship at work!) It also pleased me to find new work for "hoist on petard" -- the bomb image seems an uncanny fit for this disaster movie.
__________________________
* It was originally set to star Angelina Joli (yeah, "Barbarella" comes to mind!), but Sandra seems to fit the character better. Robert Downey Jr. was supposed to do the Clooney role, but had a schedule conflict.
** making it more a "historical fiction" than sci-fi.
*** My pun not intended. I was surprised by astronauts referring to "east" and "west," but it makes sense.