Box Office Bomb: Episode 9

What a solid intro. That awkward touch only Rorie can bring.

woo

Maybe this was obvious to everyone else, but did you guys know that basically everything in the outer space shots is CGI? Everything except the actor's faces. It all looks so real. My mind was just blown when I found that out.

Sandra Bullock's face is at least 90% artificial at this point as well.

It looked like CG to me in the trailers. Haven't seen the movie yet.

Love Gravity need to see it for my third time

Yeah, that looked super fake to me. Especially the way the camera was zooming around like it was a video game cutscene. I was a little disappointed in that after all the incredible camerawork in Children of Men.

@gordy said:

It is still incredible. Children of Men's amazing shots were assisted digitally as well - that one at the end is like 3 takes stitched together and the car scene uses a crazy car rig and digital elements to cover up the machinery.

What is most impressive about Gravity is that the long takes are never long just because they can be long with effects. They are long for a reason, with every shot centering you in the area where chaos is about to take place, and then letting you ride it out with Bullock. I never really thought the camera zoomed around like a video came cutscene. It DOES take place in outer space, after all. I felt like they moved the camera like you really could in zero g.

Sweet, now I finally have a reason to quit making excuses. IMAX Gravity tomorrow morning, woo!

Well call me gullible but it all looked 100% real to me. Even if it was mostly CGI, it's was definitely some next-level shit that had a lot of care put into it.

pattie oh'klapik

Agreed. It also looked way better in the theater than it did in the trailers for some reason. "Crisp" is the word I would use.

I always like hearing Alex talk about movies. Very enjoyable. And I would love to hear Patrick come on and talk horror movies before Halloween.

It all looked real to me also. My mind wasn't blown though because when I thought about about it for a half a second, it looked so good that the only way it was possible was that either Sandra Bullock was IN SPACE or it was all CG. There was just too much dizzying and immersive stuff for it to be filmed underwater or filmed in the falling airplane.

This is the first time I've ever seen a CGI-heavy film without even once stopping and thinking "Wow, that's some amazing CGI!" Why? Because my brain didn't even consider what it was processing to be CGI throughout the whole movie. It was that good. And the sound design... holy balls. So incredible. I've never said this about any other movie ever, but if you can see this movie on a big screen with a quality sound system, GO SEE IT IN 3D. Do it.

Those audio waves are fucking awesome.

Just saw Gravity tonight. I saw it in 3D Imax. I'm not a big fan of 3D but this is an exception. It was awesome.

@tinygrasshopper: I thought at least maybe the suits were real. I dunno. It looked great to be sure!

I find any 2D vs 3D arguments for Gravity moot.

You want to see it in D-Box.

Fuck 3d

If only you knew.

:D

@Rorie I'm having trouble downloading this. For some reason the iTunes feed won't update, and when I try to use the RSS feed here it says its an invalid podcast. Any help?

Gravity proves that 3D, when used effectively, can actually add something to the experience of seeing a movie.

Unfortunately, it won't change the fact that most of the time 3D is pointless and lazy.

Note, the spoilers only actually happen until 41:20.

I guess I'm turning into this movie's internet defender, but a quick thing about the backstory issues they have - I totally buy that Bullock wouldn't have told him every single thing about herself. She wasn't written as a hugely personable person, she was quiet, etc. So I can buy her saying nothing about her life and then a life and death situation allowing her to talk.

@stonyman65: You may want to try subscribing to http://username:password@www.giantbomb.com/podcast-xml/premium/ and seeing if that helps.

Just got back from Gravity and was a little underwhelmed. I really enjoyed it and would give it like 4/5 stars, but the universal praise had me expecting something better. Not even my favorite sci-fi movie of the past few years. But certainly worth seeing, 3D was pretty cool.

This podcast is the reason I went premium.

same here...

@sweep: Oh damn, sweep worked on some Gravity. How big was your role sweeps?

I'm with Alex on this one, I feel like people have been predicting the comic book movie "crash" for years...which sorta shows a lot of people incorrectly lump "comic books" into a single genre. I mean if you really look at Capt. America, Dredd and Thor side-by-side, you get "period action movie," "sci-fi satire" and "fantasy movie." It'd be like saying "Whew, after The Hobbit movies, Ender's Game and and The Hunger Games, this 'novel movie' bubble is ready to POP!"

Awesome having Drew on the 'cast, and great job as always.

I saw Gravity in 3D and greatly enjoyed it as well. Definitely recommend seeing it in 3D for the reasons Drew mentioned. I thought the parts of Sandra Bullock's body outside of the suit looked real but maybe that was CG as well. Either way, she looked attractive.

Glad to see Alex went and saw Metallica and enjoyed it. I thought the concert part was great and the story part completely ridiculous and pointless. It was an OK breather between the music parts though. The 3D was good and the stage show was cool. It was hard to find though. My IMAX theater never got it and it was only playing at one of the 3 theaters that I usually go to. Went on a Saturday afternoon on opening weekend and there was only 3 other people in the theater. 3 out of 4 of us were wearing Metallica shirts and certainly enjoyed it.

I'm surprised Machete Kills isn't in 3D. Seems like a good fit and something that Rodriguez would do.

Definitely with Alex on looking forward to Escape Plan.

Can't believe they didn't mention that The Walking Dead starts again this Sunday. I don't think Rorie watches it but I'm pretty sure I've heard Alex talk about it before.

Also, I've yet to be blown away by the Dolby Atmos sound system. I prefer the IMAX sound system. My local IMAX theater is one of the "fake IMAX" screens everyone seems to keep whining about but I find it to be the best movie going experience I can have right now. The picture color and clarity is outstanding and the sound is loud and clear. The movie also looks larger to me even when it isn't taking full advantage of the dimensions of the IMAX screen. I like to sit about the fourth row up from the bottom of the stadium seating. I don't like sitting in the back and seeing the audience in front of me. It's like looking out a window into the world of the movie when you are sitting close. Ghost Protocol was cool, Rorie. Especially the scene you talked about.

A movie not being loud enough has definitely hurt my experience with movies before. Even when watching at home, I want to be able to hear everything. Straining to hear it totally distracts and annoys me.

I don't know why everyone feels the need to tear apart Gravity for the realism factor. Maybe its the plot version of the uncanny valley: the closer it is to realism, the more glaring the faults...

Also, what's so great about Gravity is that the characters felt like HUMAN BEINGS the entire time. I don't know how you can get more realistic then that.

Honestly, the whole "Will Super hero movies die out?" argument is the same as the "Is PC gaming dead?" argument; its ignorant, honestly. Super Hero movies aren't a singular genre but a mix. Are romantic comedies going to die out? Are cop movies going to die out? Are suspense filled political thrillers going to die out?

No.

Great podcast!

@aegon: Nothing crazy, but I had a bunch of shots. The majority of the work was done by Framestore and, yeah, it looks fucking awesome.

Metallica's thing made me a believer in IMAX 3D. A couple weeks ago I wouldn't have even considered seeing Gravity that way.

@polyesterpimp: Then we shall be Box Office Bomb buddies for all time.

Have you seen Ghost Protocol? Let me tell you about Ghost Protocol.

@rorie: This solution worked for me on Android, using Pocketcasts, which had resisted all previous attempts to grab the premium content, so thank you good Sir!

@rorie Did you manage to sneak a Pentagon Wars reference in there? With all that Down Periscope talk, I wouldn't be surprised.

That is in fact exactly what I love Rorie for.

Thanks Rorie! Been wanting to subscribe to the podcast through iTunes for the longest time, but didn't know how.

As far as Gravity is concerned, I thought it was a technical masterpiece and a great movie. Although the writing was a bit thin, it was an awesome movie with the 3D that had every moment of my attention. The scene where the debris is tearing apart the ISS is fucking spectacular.

gravity, imo, is just another space movie. its beautiful but totally devoid of storytelling

Fun spoilery detail that I really liked in Gravity:

In the scene where Sandra is hallucinating Clooney's presence, the filmmaker tells you she's begun hallucinating by making her breath no longer visible. Before she starts hallucinating, you can see her breath because the capsule has gotten incredibly cold (they show the window freezing over as well) - then as soon as she starts the capsule gets warm and you can't see her breath anymore.

When I was watching, my brain sort of picked up on the cues automatically and it was weirding me out - then it all 'clicked' once the movie showed what was up.

Kate Blanchett was fantastic in Blue Jasmine. Oscar worthy for me.

Holy motors is a great movie. With one of the most amazing movie endings ever. I would really recommend it.

@rorie I didn't hear any talk about Don Jon in this episode, which is pretty unfortunate. I saw it the same weekend as Gravity and ended up liking it a lot more. Gravity was cool, but Don Jon was funny and really fascinating. I just had a huge smile on my face the whole movie, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt turned out to be a great writer/director/actor combo. Lots of clever repetition in the way it's shot, lots of really funny scenes, and lots of really interesting things to say about modern dating and the way we all engage in our own forms of porn and how that affects us, etc.

And Tony Danza. Oh god. Tony Danza was incredible.

Like I said, I liked Gravity. It was an intense, beautiful movie, but it was disappointing how much the structure of the movie boiled down to "safety, sudden danger, safety, sudden danger, safety, sudden danger, safety." It never surprised me once. If she was in danger, I knew she'd manage to get to safety. If she was safe, I knew something would come along shortly to put her in danger.

I definitely feel like I missed out watching it in 2D though because I assumed the 3D wouldn't add anything. It was a pretty pronounced feeling of, "Oh, look at that thing floating toward the camera. I was clearly supposed to see it in 3D." Which makes it one of three movies released to date that are improved with 3D: Jackass 3D, Tron: Legacy, Gravity.

But yeah, I hope you and @alex both see Don Jon and can talk about it next time because that movie was awesome. I have literally never heard so much deep discussion before from everyone in the audience as they leave. People were having real discussions about the themes of the movie. So cool.

I don't want to say too much more because I don't want to influence your opinion too much, but yeah. Definitely worth seeing in theaters. Very fun to have a big audience, especially during the scene in the store where JGL and Scarlett get in an argument about Swiffers. The whole theater got profoundly quiet and uncomfortable during that scene.