Gravity
While the home release of the Oscar-nominated "Gravity" certainly doesn't have the scope it does when seeing it in a 3D IMAX theatre, the fact of the matter is even on your home television screen the film still astonishes. Just as crisp and detailed as it was on the big screen, Alfonso Cuaron's nail-biting roller-coaster ride of a film works in a smaller format thanks to the masterful filmmaking on display. Add to that a gripping physical and emotional performance by Sandra Bullock, and a classic has been born.
But aside from the film -- which is seriously a masterpiece -- the extras are worth the price of the disc:
The first is a feature-length behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film called "Gravity Mission Control." Covering a myriad of topics such as special effects, training, script, and music, this is an intensive look at the process of making the film with great interviews with Cuaron, his son co-screenwriter Jonas Cuaron, Sandra Bullock, and more. Curaon discusses just how intimate the script really is and what they intended the whole experience to mean. Composer Steven Price talks about his score and how a lot of it substituted for sound effects since there is no sound in space. (That's a whole section to itself.) But also fascinating is how they used the score as its own effect and how they moved the score around the screen and the audience to give an all-encompassing experience.
In a similar vein is a shorter documentary called "Shot Breakdowns" that looks at various sequences of the movie and how those shots were choreographed and filmed. It's incredible how many scenes utilized CGI shots that go completely unnoticed by the audience.
Other special features include:
Aningaaq - A short film by Jonas Cuaron: This short shows us the who and the what as to what was going on down on Earth when Dr. Ryan Stone made that heartbreaking call from her shuttle.
Collision Point: The Race to Clean Up Space (Narrated by Ed Harris): This featurette discusses the problems with the man-made junk that stays up in space which can cause havoc on Earth and what we need to do about it. Pretty informative stuff!
"Gravity"
Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy version
$35.99
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Kevin Taft is a screenwriter/critic living in Los Angeles with an unnatural attachment to 'Star Wars' and the desire to be adopted by Steven Spielberg.