Catching up with the Oscar bait: GRAVITY

Yeah, you sort of do have to see this one in 3D. The effects are just too real and too I've-never-seen-this-before special to miss. That said, GRAVITY certainly does deserve some technical awards, but the buck stops there. While Bullock and Clooney are fine (when are they not?), the screenwriting from Alfonso and Jonás Cuarón (with a little help, it is said, from Mr. Clooney) is second-rate, if that. Characterization is clichéd (the Bullock character's back story is thuddingly awful!). Surely, between these three smart filmmakers, they could have come up with something better than dead-child sentimentality, complete with uber-grief to garner this character some empathy.

They neither went far enough nor stopped short and simply said, OK.Let be brave and give her no backstory. She's a human being up against the most difficult moments of her life. That should be enough to gain audience support. But they did neither and so end up with schlock.

And then there's the ridiculous series of stuff that the Bullock character has to do to get home. That she can handle it all beggars belief big-time. So, yes, it's a movie, folk. And other than the super effects, that's all it is. Ms Bullock actually gives a better performance and proves a hell of a lot more fun in The Heat.