The Best Picture of the Year for me is Gravity. It was fresh original, stunning, exciting, visual, everything you want in a movie. My wife liked it and asked why I thought it was so good. It got me thinking why exactly did I love it so much.
I think I’m tired of the sequels, the remakes and the comic book movies. I want to see something I haven’t seen before. I want to be masterfully lead into a story by an authority. Gravity did that for me.
I’ve never seen a realistic space movie with this type of plot. It feels like it was very well researched. It feels real. I could be wrong about how realistic it is, and I’ve heard some critics talking about the science of it. I don’t care if it’s not entirely accurate, it feels well researched. It has a realistic tone to it. This makes it feel fresh. Maybe it’s also because it’s the first good space movie done in awhile (get ready for many copy cats coming soon).
This to me is what makes a great film now. It’s a unique story, well told that we haven’t seen in a while. This should have been a major consideration in thinking about nominating the screenplay. The story of Gravity is simply a survival story, and many criticize that it was too simple. What’s great about the writing is coming up with idea, and setting it in this world. We’ve never seen a movie like this. That’s incredible and I think it’s a shame Gravity wasn’t nominated for Best Screenplay.
Gravity was released at the end of boring summer where people were craving good movies. It was a hit because it was fresh, because it was well researched and because we had never seen anything like that before.
Walking out of the theater, I knew it would get Best Director and at least a Best picture nomination. That’s when you know you’ve seen something great. I don’t think anyone will remember any of the other nominees. Does anyone remember The Artist or Kings Speech? We just don’t factor in popularity enough in Best Picture and aren’t we picking the best movie? Shouldn’t people like it?
Gravity was my favorite film from 2013 and I’m so glad I got to see it on the big screen.