zero gravity movie review

• Action/Adventure
• Children's/Family
• Documentary/Reality
• Amazon Prime Video

More From Decider

Anne Hathaway's 'Tonight Show' Interview Hits An Awkward Snag After The...

11 Best New Movies on Netflix: May 2024's Freshest Films to Watch

John Green’s ‘Turtles All the Way Down’ Cameo Is a Treat for His...

Spider-Man Swings onto 'X-Men '97' — But This Isn't Just Any Spider-Man

'GMA' Weatherman Rob Marciano's Firing Sparked By "Heated Screaming Match"...

Huey Lewis Tells Drew Barrymore What He Learned About Bruce Springsteen...

Sydney Sweeney Sings “Unwritten” Into Glen Powell’s Butt in Iconic...

Holly Madison Calls Bob Guccione A "Horrible Person" For Publishing...

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Click to copy URL

Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity’ on Prime Video, A Docuseries Celebrating The Jazz Great’s Legendary Playing And Expansive Mind

Where to stream:.

• Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity

Billy Porter Speaks Out Against The “Unacceptable” American Education System For Refusing To Acknowledge “A Lot Of The Queer Stories Of People Who Were Invisible”

Stream it or skip it: ‘trap jazz’ on hulu, a doc about three atlanta musicians blazing a new trail of creative expression, stream it or skip it: ‘listening to kenny g’ on hbo max, tracking our love/hate relationship with the smooth jazz icon, ‘ella fitzgerald: just one of those things’ is a thorough overview of the queen of jazz .

Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity is a three-part docuseries that explores the life, work, and restless creative spirit of the jazz saxophonist, composer, and innovator. And though Shorter died in March 2023 at age 89, the interviews director and writer Dorsay Alavi conducted with him are a big part of Zero Gravity , as it’s a documentary project that’s been gestating for quite some time. Executive produced under Brad Pitt’s Plan B imprint, the doc also includes numerous interviews with Shorter’s friends, peers, and collaborators – Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell, Don Was, Carlos Santana (also an exec producer), Sonny Rollins – as well as biographers, writers, and jazz critics. And Zero Gravity is not presented only in parts, but rather in three “portals,” a hearty nod to Shorter’s fertile mind and resonant spiritual connection to the universe.      

WAYNE SHORTER: ZERO GRAVITY : STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?  

Opening Shot: “There are two great events in one’s life,” Wayne Shorter says over a rendered image of the moon. “One is being born, and the other is knowing why.” And a boy appears as Shorter at a young age, walking into the celestial heavens as a solemn orchestral fanfare plays.

The Gist: Zero Gravity covers the entirety of Shorter’s life over its three parts. “Zero Gravity,” the third portal, concerns the saxophonist’s later career and collaborations; “Faith is to be Fearless” explores his middle years and career, which included work that both defined and broke open genres as well as personal setbacks and tragedies; and “Newark Flash in NYC,” which starts at the very beginning. Before the New Jersey native got his jazz world nickname, Wayne Shorter was just a kid with a vivid imagination enlivened by radio mysteries and sci-fi, comic books, and a symbiotic relationship with his brother, the late free jazz musician Alan Shorter. “Within this ironbound land of steel and bricks,” Shorter biographer Michelle Mercer says of Newark in the 1930s and 40s, “Wayne’s mother cultivated he and Alan’s creativity, almost like hothouse flowers.” And that encouragement combined with Shorter’s undeniable artistic talent led him to attend Newark’s Arts High School.

With periodic interview drop-ins from Shorter himself, Herbie Hancock, and jazz greats from the bebop and hard bop eras, Zero Gravity weaves a searching visual narrative that incorporates illustration, animation, stock footage, clips of old Hollywood films, and reenactments that feature actors playing Shorter as both a child and a young man. He started on clarinet at Arts High, moved quickly to tenor sax, and started playing bebop as a teen alongside Alan in a group they dubbed “Doc Strange & Mr. Weird.” He heard Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie on the radio, and thought “These are the new guys; they were the new Superman and Captain Marvel.” And he enrolled at NYU to study classical composition while playing pickup gigs in Jersey, where jazzman Sonny Stitt first noticed the speed and dexterity of “The Newark Flash.” 

Art Blakey noticed, too, and as a member of the drummer and bandleader’s Jazz Messengers in the late 1950s, Shorter soared to new professional heights as a saxophonist and composer. He also issued solo work on Blue Note, impressing his fellow musicians, and in 1964 was recruited by Miles Davis for the trumpeter’s Second Great Quintet. (Shorter’s compositions were the only ones where Davis wouldn’t change a note.) Hancock, the Quintet’s pianist, knew even then about Shorter’s inherent vibe. “Wayne was weird. Intriguing, interesting, but a little weird. I had said, ‘I gotta find out if he’s a genius or if he’s just crazy.’ Not only was Wayne a genius, but he thought everybody else was, too.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? You can watch all ten episodes of Jazz , Ken Burns’ terrific Emmy-winning documentary series from 2001, either through PBS or Prime Video. And the artful visuals and elliptical storytelling of Zero Gravity have a fellow traveler in The New Bauhaus , filmmaker Alysa Nahmias’s 2019 doc about another visionary and innovator, the painter and photographer László Moholy-Nagy.   

Our Take: As the musicians and artists interviewed in Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity will tell you, the tenor saxophonist, composer, and bandleader was recognized to be at the top of his game from the moment he entered into it. Don Was, Herbie Hancock, Joni Mitchell: as they all say, nobody sounded like Wayne. Which certainly plays into the storyline of the documentary series’ first “portal,” as Shorter finds himself quickly ascending into the bebop and hard bop stratosphere. There’s a ton of super cool footage here, of Shorter throwing it down at Birdland in NYC with the Jazz Messengers, of their 1961 tour of Japan – they were treated to ecstatic screams rivaling the Beatles’ reception – and lots of audio, too, particularly of Shorter’s pioneering solo efforts from the early 1960s, stuff like Introducing and Night Dreamer . And Zero Gravity immerses us in it all. Wonderfully unpredictable editing layers drawings, animation, movie clips, and reenactment, so that the result is expansive and even dreamlike; it strives to reach the creative heights that Shorter so often found, and often does.

Zero Gravity also has the benefit of interviewing Shorter himself, and his recollections of his early professional era are vivid and equally layered. He became close to John Coltrane, because of course he did, and the two would jam for hours in Coltrane’s New York City apartment. “He had a piano,” Shorter remembers in one incredible passage. “And he would crush the lower part of the piano, and you get like what you call a tone cluster.” (Here he makes a deep, rushing noise.) “Like an explosion, and he would ask me, ‘See what you can find. No matter what sound you hear, try to find the face. A face. Find the person, find the story.’ And we started talking about the tone as a way of taking you places.” Zero Gravity takes us there, too.

Sex and Skin: Nothing here, though Shorter’s relationship with his first wife Teruko Nakagami and their daughter Miyako is explored here, particularly as to how the marriage fared and faltered in the midst of his work as a touring musician.  

Parting Shot: Veteran jazz bassist Dave Holland remembers one of the first conversations he ever had with Shorter, and it was one quite typical of his wavelength. “Wayne asked, ‘I wonder what happens when you get to the end of the universe?”

Sleeper Star: In the interviews for Zero Gravity , Shorter is thoughtful, expressive, sharp, funny, and always ready to add a wrinkle of personality, which he does whenever Art Blakey and Miles Davis come up. With a gleam in his eye, Shorter impersonates both men, Blakey’s gruff, authoritative growl, and Davis with his infamous hubris. The latter’s phone call to join him in the Quintet went something like this: “When you ready, let me know.” 

Most Pilot-y Line: Reggie Workman, who joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1962, says the bandleader knew exactly what he had in Shorter. “Art always wanted [Wayne] and allowed him to be in the forefront,” where his playing and composing would come to define a group that was already populated with elite musicians. 

Our Call: STREAM IT. Look, it’s almost autumn, and everybody knows that autumn goes great with jazz. With a wealth of archival performance footage and an intriguing visual style, Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity is an open door to exploring the saxophonist’s legacy, but also creativity as a beacon of light.  

• Prime Video
• Stream It Or Skip It

Does 'Yellowstone' Return Tonight? The Latest Updates On 'Yellowstone' Season 5, Part 2 Premiere Date

Jenna Bush Hager Embarrasses Hoda Kotb On 'Today' By Asking Her If She's "Recently" Made Out With Anybody In Public: "Don't Lie"

Anne Hathaway's 'Tonight Show' Interview Hits An Awkward Snag After The Audience Reacts In Silence To Her Question

When Will 'BMF' Season 3, Episode 10 Be On Starz?

'The View's Whoopi Goldberg "Enraged" After Donald Trump Claimed America Is "Anti-White": "Nobody In Your Family Was Hung"

Whoopi Goldberg Accuses 'The View' Producer Of "Side-Eyeing" Her After She Promised Not To Speak About Israel-Palestine Protests: "He's Starting To Get Annoyed"

The Definitive Voice of Entertainment News

Subscribe for full access to The Hollywood Reporter

site categories

‘wayne shorter: zero gravity’ review: amazon’s docuseries aims beyond formula to hit the high notes.

The three-part portrait explores the life and music of the revered and influential saxophonist, who died in March.

By Sheri Linden

Sheri Linden

Senior Copy Editor/Film Critic

• Share this article on Facebook
• Share this article on Twitter
• Share this article on Flipboard
• Share this article on Email
• Show additional share options
• Share this article on Linkedin
• Share this article on Pinit
• Share this article on Reddit
• Share this article on Tumblr
• Share this article on Whatsapp
• Share this article on Print
• Share this article on Comment

Awards, sure — over his 60-odd-year career, Wayne Shorter amassed his share of prizes and honors. But none of that conveys what a singular and visionary talent he was more powerfully than this simple fact: Miles Davis and Art Blakey, two of the greatest bandleaders in the history of jazz, fought over him.

Related Stories

Joni mitchell returns music to spotify years after boycotting streamer, who is joni mitchell these books tell the story of the beloved music legend, wayne shorter: zero gravity.

Alavi, who first filmed the sax giant and composer on tour in 2002, makes use of the usual talking-head setup, but she also takes chances. Line-drawing illustrations and black-and-white reenactments bring key childhood memories to the screen. Images of lotus blossoms and trippy New Age abstractions suggest the spiritual focus and expansiveness of Shorter’s music. Not all the helmer’s choices escape self-consciousness, and sometimes they’re too much or too literal, rushing to fill in the spaces between notes in ways that Shorter himself never did. But mostly Alavi’s inventiveness is in sync with her subject and his expansive approach to life and art.

And, best of all, most of the doc’s talking heads are musicians. When musicians talk about a fellow musician who inspires them, they speak a language that’s earthbound yet rarefied. In this case their inspiration is an incomparable virtuoso, and they’re such immortals as Joni Mitchell , Sonny Rollins, Ron Carter, Carlos Santana and Shorter’s dear friend and collaborator Herbie Hancock . (If the storm headed toward Southern California doesn’t interfere, Hancock will be hosting a Hollywood Bowl tribute to Shorter two days before Zero Gravity ’s debut, the concert’s all-star lineup featuring many of the musicians who appear in the doc.)

There’s a sweet poignancy and lilt to the brief, wordless scenes of the young boys, portrayed by actors, and that sense of soul-deep connection reverberates, later in the series, in vérité sequences of Shorter and Hancock working out an arrangement or melody. In a few words of delight and amazement, Terence Blanchard describes the uncommon psychic bond between the two men.

Dubbed the Newark Flash, Shorter joined Blakey’s hard bop Jazz Messengers when still in his 20s and soon became the group’s main composer. Blakey’s objections notwithstanding, he was eventually lured away by Davis and the free jazz experimentation of his Second Great Quintet. And in 1970 Shorter, Joe Zawinul and Miroslav Vitous formed the groundbreaking Weather Report, taking jazz-rock fusion to the stadium level. In a range of side projects and, beginning in ’77, as a core contributor to 10 Mitchell albums, Shorter’s musical explorations never ceased.

But for all his talent and confidence as a performer, composer and bandleader, Shorter was frequently overshadowed by showboats, not least his Weather Report bandmate Jaco Pastorius. Mitchell offers a captivating recollection of eavesdropping backstage at the Hollywood Bowl show that would turn out to be Davis’ last, just a month before his death at 65. She listened as the raspy-voiced Davis, on what happened to be Shorter’s birthday, advised his friend to push himself forward and claim the spotlight that was his due.

The third installment captures Shorter in his later years, interacting with awed young fans and, less rewardingly for the viewer, with such distracting visitors to his “fun room” home office (filled with figurines of fantasy characters) as Jeff Garlin and Neil deGrasse Tyson. (Alavi is not the first documentarian to think that well-known figures from other fields add gravitas or perspective or something to an artist’s story; I lost track of the number of docs not about presidential politics that included commentary from Bill Clinton for no discernible reason.)

Especially in the superb selection of vintage performances, the material is edited with a sure rhythmic connection to the music (Don Blush, Kevin Klauber and Edward Osei-Gyimah did the cutting). And the filmmakers let Shorter’s later orchestral experiments unfold and simply fly — “beyond harmony, rhythm and melody,” as Hancock sums it up. A performance of “Gaia” with co-writer Esperanza Spalding is an absolute stunner, Shorter’s singing saxophone and her deep-velvet bass and soaring vocals reaching uncharted musical territory.

Zero Gravity understands that flight. It understands that avant-garde improvisation was not only a way of making music for Shorter; it was a way of living for someone who knew that “you can’t rehearse the unknown.”

THR Newsletters

Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day

More from The Hollywood Reporter

‘snl’ cold open centers on columbia university’s handling of pro-palestinian protests, heidi gardner was “very protective” of travis kelce when he hosted ‘snl’, jon stewart tackles biden’s age, anti-woke culture at netflix is a joke show, ‘where is wendy williams’ producers say they were “worried” about her care under her guardianship, the world is on the brink in ‘the boys’ season 4 trailer, reese witherspoon’s hello sunshine, netflix team for ‘f1 academy’ docuseries.

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Movie Reviews

• LISTEN & FOLLOW
• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Amazon Music

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

Houston, We Have A Space Flick: A Sentimental Mission In Zero 'Gravity'

David Edelstein

In Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, Sandra Bullock plays Ryan Stone, an astronaut careening through space after an accident. Warner Bros. hide caption

In Alfonso Cuaron's Gravity, Sandra Bullock plays Ryan Stone, an astronaut careening through space after an accident.

• Director: Alfonso Cuaron
• Genre: Drama, Sci Fi
• Running Time: 90 minutes

Rated PG-13 for intense perilous sequences, some disturbing images and brief strong language

With: Sandra Bullock , George Clooney

In a season in which we're all talking about AMC's phenomenal Breaking Bad and Netflix's elating Orange Is the New Black, Hollywood needs you, your kids and everyone in Europe and China to get out from behind those TV monitors and into theaters. Movie studios are falling behind on compelling narratives. But they can give you what TV can't: absolute, total bombardment.

So now we get Gravity, in which director Alfonso Cuaron aims to put you right there in orbit with novice astronaut Sandra Bullock and veteran-on-his-last-mission George Clooney as their space shuttle gets demolished by debris from an exploded Soviet satellite.

"Right there" means making you feel as if you're floating and spinning and bashing into things along with Bullock and Clooney — who have to find a working shuttle to get home, maybe on the nearby Russian space station, preferably before those lethal satellite pieces come hurtling around the Earth again in — synchronize your watches — 90 minutes. Time is running out. Oxygen is dwindling. Communication with Mission Control in Houston is gone — which is why Bullock and Clooney begin their messages saying, "Houston in the blind ..." There are pieces of the shuttle and dead astronauts floating all over — it's a mess up there in that airless, gravity-less void.

The astronauts (Bullock and George Clooney) were repairing the Hubble Telescope before their shuttle was hit with debris. Warner Bros. hide caption

The astronauts (Bullock and George Clooney) were repairing the Hubble Telescope before their shuttle was hit with debris.

Sound or its lack is essential to the illusion: fast breathing, crackles of static, high-pitched space frequencies. After the shuttle explodes, Bullock hurtles end over end into space. We see it all from her revolving point of view, Earth, stars, debris, stars, Earth ... as she calls out to Houston.

Bullock is our most down-to-earth superstar, which makes her the perfect actress to connect with us from space. She talks a lot — to Clooney, to "Houston in the blind," to herself. Woven amid the bombardments and cliffhangers is a spiritual odyssey. Her character is dead inside after a personal tragedy. She needs to refind her faith and be born again — metaphorically but unmistakably, since in one shot she floats in the fetal position.

Gravity has more than a dash of old Hollywood: It's sentimental as all get-out. This isn't the first time that an old-fashioned religious theme gets past your defenses via state-of-the-art Hollywood technology, but it's one of the most effective. It wasn't actually shot in space — I know, big news. But even if everything happens in a computer, it's an awesome display of math and physics.

The first shot is very long and entirely fluid: a slice of Earth, a dot that turns out to be a shuttle moving toward us, faster than we anticipate, three figures attached — two working outside on the craft, one floating free. Throughout the film, I kept thinking of all the variables the filmmakers had to calculate: the way bodies drift vis-a-vis the Earth's rotation in zero gravity while stars move in the background ... the momentum and impact of an astronaut's body as it collides with another body or the side of a spacecraft with a head-rocking whomp .

I don't think my reverence for the physics is entirely separate from the characters' religious journey. A New York magazine reader of mine quoted Einstein saying, "Scientists have a religious feeling that takes the form of a rapturous amazement at the harmony of natural law." I felt that watching Bullock and Clooney in orbit.

I wish I'd worked harder in math.

Gravity is not a film to watch on your iPhone on the bus. You need to sit as close as you can to the biggest screen you can find — maybe a gargantuan IMAX screen. You need to put on those 3-D glasses and rock out. The movie is cornball. But higher Math produces the Higher Corn.

Read Another Review

The Inexorable Pull Of Cuaron's 'Gravity'

• Rent or buy
• Categories Categories
• Getting Started

Rediscover the music of the trailblazing jazz musician and composer, Wayne Shorter.

• Episode number
• Newest episodes
• Available to watch

Customers also watched

Cast and Crew

31 global ratings

How are ratings calculated? Toggle Expand Toggle Expand

• Amazon Newsletter
• About Amazon
• Accessibility
• Sustainability
• Press Center
• Investor Relations
• Amazon Devices
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell apps on Amazon
• Supply to Amazon
• Protect & Build Your Brand
• Become an Affiliate
• Become a Delivery Driver
• Start a Package Delivery Business
• Advertise Your Products
• Self-Publish with Us
• Become an Amazon Hub Partner
• › See More Ways to Make Money
• Amazon Visa
• Amazon Store Card
• Amazon Secured Card
• Amazon Business Card
• Shop with Points
• Credit Card Marketplace
• Reload Your Balance
• Amazon Currency Converter
• Your Account
• Your Orders
• Shipping Rates & Policies
• Amazon Prime
• Returns & Replacements
• Manage Your Content and Devices
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• Conditions of Use
• Privacy Notice
• Consumer Health Data Privacy Disclosure
• Your Ads Privacy Choices

Zero Gravity

Where to Watch

Cady Coleman (Self - Astronaut) Adrien Engelder (Self - Student) Jack Fischer (Self - Astronaut) Advik Gonugunta (Self - Student) Carol Gonzalez (Self - Student) Katie Magrane (Self - Innovation Learning Center) Tanner Marcoida (Self - Educator) Alvar Saenz-Otero (Self - MIT) Steven L. Smith (Self - Astronaut)

Thomas Verrette

Zero Gravity follows a diverse group of middle-school students from San Jose, CA, who compete in a nationwide tournament to code satellites aboard the International Space Station.

Recommendations

Advertisement

Letterboxd — Your life in film

Forgotten username or password ?

• Start a new list…
• Add all films to a list…
• Add all films to watchlist

Add to your films…

Press Tab to complete, Enter to create

A moderator has locked this field.

Add to lists

Where to watch

Zero gravity.

Directed by Thomas Verrette

The journey to space is just a code away.

Follows a diverse group of middle-school students from San Jose, CA, who compete in a nationwide tournament to code satellites aboard the International Space Station.

Tanner Marcoida Carol Gonzalez Advik Gonugunta Adrien Engelder Jack Fischer Cady Coleman Steve Smith

Director Director

Thomas Verrette

Producers Producers

Thomas Verrette Cady Coleman Haller Rice Jack Fischer Steve Smith

Editor Editor

Cinematography cinematography.

Carlos marulanda

Executive Producers Exec. Producers

Stacey Parks David Worthen Brooks Joey DiFranco Katey Selix Seth Hummel Katie Magrane Alvar Saenz-Otero Danielle Wood

Composer Composer

Penka Kouneva

Skylight Cinema

Primary Language

Spoken languages.

English Spanish

Documentary

Releases by Date

20 mar 2021, 21 apr 2023, releases by country.

• Premiere Cinequest Film and VR Festival

74 mins   More at IMDb TMDb Report this page

Popular reviews

Review by Colby Clanton ★★★ 1

Yo, space is pretty chill! Maybe you could like go there or something!

Review by Carlos Plummer ★★★½

this film reminded me how bad I am at coding

Review by Daniela RBS ★★★½

Review by bandsaboutmovie ★★½

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Fifty-two years ago, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the moon. After decades of space travel seeming to slow down, NASA and the corporate space industry are undertaking new missions. But to get there, we'll need to address the shortage of students interested in STEM -- science, technology, engineering and math -- and who want to undertake the careers necessary to push mankind further into the universe.

This film shows genuine portraits of a diverse group of students who are actively participating in the Zero Robotics program. They're more than just kids. They're our future in space.

Taking place in San Jose, CA, Zero Gravity is all about Tanner Marcoida, a young teacher who is trying…

Select your preferred poster

Just from the names, the cast of characters who parade through Woody Allen’s “Zero Gravity,” you know in’s going to be funny. Oh, the names! The stand in for Warren Beatty is a Hollywood Adonis named Bolt Upright. Larry Fallopian is New York’s hottest art dealer. (“Fallopian,” Allen writes, “is based on the real-life Murray Vegetarian, whose reputation as a gallery owner was made when he sold a sublime Marie Laurencin watercolor of two lesbians koshering a chicken for six million dollars.”) There’s the sleazy manager Waxy Sleazeman. “Waxy,” recalls a female singer, “discovered me singing with the rock group Toxic Waste at the Burgeoning Tumor, a joint downtown.” The health food store is called The Hardened Artery.

“Zero Gravity” is Woody’s first collection of stories and essays in 15 years. Its opening dedication says a lot about what living with Woody Allen, the family man quipping around his house, must be like.

To Manzie and Bechet, our two lovely daughters who have grown up before our eyes and used our credit cards behind our backs. And of course Soon-Yi—if Bram Stoker had known you he’d have had his sequel

Some of the pieces were in The New Yorker but ten of them are new. One is revised and updated. In her foreword, Daphne Merkin compares him to the great gods of the New Yorker, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, and SJ Perelman. Certainly, Woody’s pieces refer back to those titans, but also to a couple of others like Max Shulman and Jerome L. Weidman who Allen has also said he admires. Shulman, in particular, laid the groundwork for a kind of Groucho Marx like prose that bob and weaves through Allen’s; stories.

A lot of references in the pieces are to things long past, and often I had to look up words, like “afflatus.” (It doesn’t mean to inflate anything.) Woody is droll and hilarious but he’s not going to make this easy on us. Still, Miley Cyrus makes an appearance (it’s okay, Woody directed Miley in a mini-series) and so does Brady Pitt. Beatty gets a whole satirical story based on the allegation in a ridiculous book that in his life he bedded twelve thousand women. (One reports: “I’m still vibrating,” the brunette said. “He made passionate love to me while at the same time accompanying himself on the piano.”

There’s a lot of very welcome silliness. In “Udder Madness,” updated from 2010, a cow– yes, a cow– on a swanky upstate farm decides to kill a film auteur up for the weekend. This man is described as “neither a brooding cult genius nor a matinée idol but a wormy little cipher, myopic behind black-framed glasses and groomed loutishly in his idea of rural chic: all tweedy and woodsy, with cap and muffler, ready for the leprechauns.” Who does that sound like?

In “Not a Creature Was Stirring,” a proposed movie is all about mice. The pitch “centered on Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, where it seemed that a pizzeria owner was charged by police with planting mice in rival pizza shops. “We never had anything like this,” the Police Superintendent said, “where mice have been used as an instrument of crime.”

What follows is farce, high satire, long windups that end in abrupt spurts of punchlines that find you chuckling, snorting, guffawing. They take two reads sometimes, the material whizzes by so quickly, you’re not sure you’ve read it right. Allen is a humorist who has a light touch and a heavy hand at the same time. When he lands the joke, the writing has been so dense and elegant you’re just not expecting to be hit over the head with a whoopie cushion.

“Mice held up a bank?” I interrupted incredulously. “Why not?” Grossnose said. “The little rodents caused the traditional panic that mice do, and while the women are squealing and jumping on chairs they use their teeth and paws to relieve the tellers of two million pounds.”

Hollywood, a club to which Woody has never belonged, comes in for zingers. “What are you saying?” I asked, realizing that his latest film, Kreplach Serenade, had garnered just two Oscar nods, and not from the Academy but from inmates at Bellevue.

Kreplach Serenade? I’m making that movie immediately.

“ Glancing up, I came vis-à-vis with the corpulent scrivener slash director whom I dimly recognized as Hugh Forcemeat, a weaver of thirty-five- millimeter hallucinations that our studio had taken a flyer with several years ago, when we hired him to punch up ‘Psychotic Zombies of the Moon,’ our sequel to Buddenbrooks. “

Is there sex? Yes. A lot of it, most of it unfulfilled or incomplete. It rarely works out. There are young women, middle aged women, old women. The word ‘orgy’ is mentioned once or twice, always a punchline. None of it is to be taken seriously. (“As a boy, he had entered his parents’ bedroom during sex unannounced and caught his father wearing moose antlers.”) The narrator is too afraid of anything, it’s always the other characters that get into trouble. Woody, as he does in the movies, stands apart. He’s the ultimate observer of the ridiculous. And thank goodness for that. “Zero Gravity” is what we need right now.

Conde Nast Union Sets Up Go Fund Me Page for Possible Strike, Threatens Anna Wintour’s Met Ball: Will Celebs Ignore Them? (Video)

Box office: “the fall guy” not connecting with audiences, sees $25 mil opening weekend despite top reviews, solid word of mouth, francis ford coppola’s “megalopolis”: watch first look teaser for most talked about film of 2024, shake it off: taylor swift album knocked off top of charts by dua lipa after 2 weeks, ryan gosling “the fall guy” debuts with underwhelming $3 mil in previews, aims at low weekend, in other news.

Hollywood to the Hudson

• Celebrity 6621
• Movies 5960
• Television 3436
• Theater 1260
• Business 1165
• Privacy Policy

© Showbiz411.com

Movie Reviews

Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors.

Now streaming on:

Alfonso Cuarón's "Gravity," about astronauts coping with disaster, is a huge and technically dazzling film. Watching Sandra Bullock and George Clooney's spacefarers go about their business, you may feel—for the first time since " The Right Stuff ," perhaps—that a Hollywood blockbuster grasps the essence of  a job that many can't imagine without feeling dizzy. The panoramas of astronauts tumbling against starfields and floating through space stations are both informative and lovely. 

But the most surprising and impressive thing about "Gravity" isn't its scale, its suspense, or its sense of wonder; it's that, in its heart, it is not primarily a film about astronauts, or space, or even a specific catastrophe. At times it plays like a high-tech version of shipwreck or wilderness survival story that happens to take place among the stars, and that would fit nicely on a double-bill alongside " Deliverance ," " 127 Hours ," " Cast Away ," " Rescue Dawn " or the upcoming " All Is Lost ." For all its stunning exteriors, it's really concerned with emotional interiors, and it goes about exploring them with simplicity and directness, letting the actors's faces and voices carry the burden of meaning.  It's a film about what happens to the psyche as well as the body in the aftermath of catastrophe.  

Not content to observe the agonizing physical details of the astronauts' struggles, "Gravity" goes deep into the feelings  of one character, Bullock's Dr. Ryan Stone, a first-time space traveller who boards a shuttle alongside Clooney's Matt Kowalski to repair the Hubble telescope. When debris destroys the telescope and their ride home, Ryan finds herself marooned in orbit alongside Kowalski, taking an unasked-for crash course in disaster management, learning all she can from her more experienced partner, struggling to control the anxious heartbeat that flutters on the soundtrack along with her shallow breathing and the sporadic hiss of backpack thruster jets. 

"Houston, I have a bad feeling about this mission," Kowalski tells mission control (voiced, in one of Cuarón's only film-buffish in-jokes, by Ed Harris , a veteran of both "The Right Stuff" and " Apollo 13 "). We hear Kowalski speak this line for the first of many times during the majestic opening shot. We see space, and Earth—and beyond it, a tiny speck that slowly draws close, revealing the mission, the vehicles, the characters. 

In the hands of lesser storytellers, this shot and other, equally striking ones might play like showboating. (The filmmaker and his regular cinematographer, Emmanuel Lubezki , shot numerous films with spectacular long takes, including " Children of Men .") Luckily, Cuarón, who cowrote the script with his eldest son Jonás, roots every moment in a tactile present. The fragility of the body has rarely been spotlit so harshly, throughout the entire running time of a feature. Every time the astronauts move, or don't move, you worry they're going to end up like their colleagues: bodies frozen hard as bricks, faces caved in like pumpkins.

Ryan is our stand-in. The movie makes this notion plain by shifting between points-of-view within unbroken long takes. A lot of the time we're in what you might call third person limited, watching Ryan and Kowalski move through their treacherous environment and taking note of objects drifting with them, some menacing, others oddly poignant: a chess piece, a ballpoint pen, a Marvin the Martian doll, a puff of electrical flame, a lone teardrop. But then, gradually, subtly, "Gravity" will morph into first person, drifting towards Ryan and then seeming to pass through her helmet, edging closer to her face, then finally pivoting so that we're gazing out through her visor, hearing her voice and breath echo inside her suit as she looks for a space station, for Kowalski; for someone, something, anything to grab onto.

Some have already complained that "Gravity" is too melodramatic, too simplistic, too mystical, too something; that once we figure out that it's about the psychology of Ryan, we may write it off as less imaginative than we hoped.  I don't believe such shortcomings—if indeed they are shortcomings—can dent this film's awesomeness. If "Gravity" were half as good as I think it is, I'd still consider it one of the great moviegoing experiences of my life, thanks to the precision and beauty of its filmmaking. 

But even if we grant that the movie doesn't have the philosophical ambition of "2001", the space adventure to which it's most often compared, fairness demands we recognize that it's trying for something else. "Gravity" is reminiscent of "2001" mainly because it feels like a feature-length expansion of the sequence in which astronaut Dave Bowman gets locked out of the Jupiter spacecraft without his helmet. Beyond that, it's its own thing, and its storytelling is as simple as its visuals are complex. A surprising number of scenes are theatrically spare: just people talking to each other, telling stories, painting mental pictures for us. 

For long stretches, Cuarón trusts Bullock to give us a one-woman show, and she delivers. Her work here constitutes one of the greatest physical performances I've seen, and she's framed in ways that make each moment resonate. The way she twists and turns and swims through zero gravity is a master class in how to suggest interior states with gestures. An image of Ryan curled up womblike in zero gravity packs a primordial wallop: it's a dream image dredged from the Jungian muck. Some of the shots of Bullock's face through her helmet visor evoke Carl Dreyer's " The Passion of Joan of Arc ," the film that perfected the emotionally expressive closeup. "Gravity" evokes that silent classic and others—including Maya Deren's experimental short "Meshes of the Afternoon," whose most analyzed sequence, a series of shots boiling evolution down to four gestures, might have influenced the unabashedly metaphorical closing scene of  Cuarón's movie.

If anyone asks me what "Gravity" is about, I'll tell them it's a tense adventure about a space mission gone wrong, but once they've seen and absorbed the movie, they'll know the truth. The root word of "Gravity" is "grave." That's an adjective meaning weighty or glum or substantial, but it's also a noun: the place where we'll all end up eventually. The film is about that moment when you suffered misfortune that seemed unendurable and believed all hope was lost and that you might as well curl up and die, and then you didn't. Why did you decide to keep going? It's is a mystery as great as any in physics or astronomy, and one we've all grappled with, and transcended.

Matt Zoller Seitz

Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Large of RogerEbert.com, TV critic for New York Magazine and Vulture.com, and a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.

Now playing

The Listener

Christy Lemire

Blood for Dust

Nowhere Special

Sweet Dreams

Monica Castillo

Film credits.

Gravity (2013)

Rated PG-13

Sandra Bullock as Dr. Ryan Stone

George Clooney as Matt Kowalski

Basher Savage as Space Station Captain (voice)

• Alfonso Cuarón
• Jonás Cuarón

Cinematography

• Emmanuel Lubezki

Latest blog posts

The 10 Best Start-of-Summer-Movie-Season Films of the 21st Century

The Weight of Smoke (and Blue in the Face): The Magic of Paul Auster

Retrospective: Oscar Micheaux and the Birth of Black Independent Cinema

Phil Lord and Chris Miller Made the Multiplex Safe for ‘The Fall Guy’

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Zero Gravity

Zero Gravity follows a diverse group of middle-school students from San Jose, CA, who compete in a nationwide tournament to code satellites aboard the International Space Station. Zero Gravity follows a diverse group of middle-school students from San Jose, CA, who compete in a nationwide tournament to code satellites aboard the International Space Station. Zero Gravity follows a diverse group of middle-school students from San Jose, CA, who compete in a nationwide tournament to code satellites aboard the International Space Station.

• Thomas Verrette
• Cady Coleman
• Adrien Engelder
• Jack Fischer
• 2 User reviews
• 6 Critic reviews
• 18 wins & 28 nominations

• Self - Astronaut
• Self - Student
• Self - Innovation Learning Center
• Self - Educator

• (as Steve Smith)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

More like this

Did you know

• Soundtracks Zero Gravity Written by Dario Forzato and John Clinebell Performed by Willow Stephens

User reviews 2

• bridgecoffman-32047
• Oct 23, 2021
• How long is Zero Gravity? Powered by Alexa
• March 20, 2021 (United States)
• United States
• Official Site
• Production Company
• Gravedad cero
• San Jose, California, USA (Middle School)
• Skylight Cinema
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 1 hour 14 minutes

Related news

Contribute to this page.

• See more gaps
• Learn more about contributing

More to explore

Recently viewed

13 Best Zero Gravity Scenes In Movie History

Some of the earliest films in movie history took audiences into outer space — such as the 1902 silent classic "A Trip to the Moon." Capturing what it's really like in space has long been a fascination of filmmakers. But it wasn't until the advent of more advanced special effects techniques that audiences were finally able to experience the magic and mystery of the cosmos, and nowhere is this more resonant than when portraying the strangeness of zero gravity.

Whether captured through clever camera tricks, hidden wires, CGI, or even the rare movie filmed in actual zero-g, these scenes can mystify moviegoers while providing a rich backdrop for a story's most moving, heartfelt moments. In fact, some of the best filmmakers of all time have used the weightlessness of zero gravity to help explore characters and amplify drama, from Danny Boyle Stanley Kubrick. 

Whether they awed audiences with jaw-dropping effects, moved us emotionally while weightless, or were just plain cool, these gravity-defying scenes are worth writing home about. So get in your space suit and check your oxygen levels, because we're going on a spacewalk to explore the best zero gravity scenes in movie history.

Kaneda's sacrifice in Sunshine

"Sunshine" is set in a dystopian near-future where the inexplicable dimming of Earth's sun has led to global devastation, and if something isn't done, all life on Earth may be wiped out. A group of scientists and astronauts embark on a mission to detonate a stellar bomb aboard a spacecraft called Icarus II that could reignite the star. But the discovery of Icarus I — an earlier mission that failed under mysterious circumstances — threatens to derail their quest to save humanity.

A mix of horror, thriller, and science fiction, "Sunshine" features a sterling ensemble cast that included Chris Evans, Michelle Yeoh, Cillian Murphy, and Hiroyuki Sanada, and it's the latter who gets one of the film's most powerful moments. It happens in zero gravity, when physicist Robert Capa (Murphy) and ship's captain Kaneda (Sanada) must spacewalk on the outside of the Icarus II's heat shield to repair a series of malfunctioning protective panels before the sun's heat and radiation obliterate them both.

But with the final panel too far out. Kaneda is forced to sacrifice himself to save the mission. Knowing he won't make it back before he's enveloped by the sun's devastating energy, he chooses to face death head-on. As the emotional musical score crescendos, the floated, doomed form of Kaneda is consumed by fire all while the ship's doctor Searle — obsessed with viewing the Sun himself — desperately asks him to describe what he sees.

Dave battles HAL9000 in 2001: A Space Odyssey

Perhaps the most important science fiction film in the history of cinema, "2001: A Space Odyssey" redefined the genre amid the excitement of the very real space race in the late 1960s. Written by sci-fi luminary Arthur C. Clarke, the story kicks off with the discovery of a strange monolith on Jupiter, and a crew led by Dr. Dave Bowman is sent to uncover its secrets. But when their ship's artificially intelligent computer HAL 9000 begins acting strangely, Bowman must fight back against the ship itself to stay alive.

Thanks to groundbreaking special effects, "2001" dazzled audiences with several zero gravity sequences the likes of which audiences had never seen. From the rotating run at the film's start to balletic space walks and beyond, the film raised the bar for how movies portrayed space exploration. And one of the most riveting scenes takes place in zero gravity, inside the ship's computer core, when after HAL 9000 has already killed the rest of the crew, Bowman must race against time to shut down its programming. 

Floating through a vast storage room that serves as the heart of HAL's internal workings, Bowman must delicately maneuver his way through the system and remove a series of computer chips by hand, all while his A.I. enemy mocks him, taunts him, and then finally begs for his mercy as he slowly dies.

Kirk and Krall duel in Star Trek Beyond

The "Star Trek" franchise was rebooted in 2009 by J.J. Abrams, and got its third entry in 2016, "Star Trek Beyond." Here, the crew of the USS Enterprise find themselves marooned in a distant world and under threat from a deadly new foe named Krall (Idris Elba). 

Invading the massive city-sized starbase Yorktown that is home to thousands, Krall means to detonate a deadly bio-weapon, and only Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) can stop him. In one of the most remarkable sequences of the trilogy, Kirk and Krall battle for control of the weapon within the heart of the starbase's ventilation system, which just so happens to be situated at a neutral point in its gravitational field, where there is no up or down. In a duel to the death, Kirk must stop Krall from getting his hands on the device and killing everyone aboard the starbase, while swings in gravity pull them in every possible direction. 

In the eye-popping, mesmerizing action scene, Kirk manages to outwit the villain and save the day, but not before the pull of gravity has its way with them both.

Brad Pitt lets go in Ad Astra

A film that seems heavily influenced by "2001: A Space Odyssey," the 2019 psychological sci-fi drama "Ad Astra" is set decades after a mission to deep space to learn what happened to a previous mission that was sent to investigate signs of alien life. Unfortunately, the mission and its commander H. Clifford McBride (Tommy Lee Jones) were never heard from again, and now decades later, problems on Earth can be traced to McBride's last known coordinates.

Setting out to Mars to attempt communication, McBride's son Roy (Brad Pitt) hopes to solve the planetary crisis and find his long-thought-lost father. But the film is as much about Roy's relationship with his father as it is about the threat to planet Earth and the mission to end it, and what makes "Ad Astra" stand out is a zero gravity moment when father and son must make a tearful goodbye on a doomed space walk. 

Together after decades apart, Roy is stunned to learn that his father doesn't want to return home with him. But getting the information he needs to save the planet from destruction, Roy desperately and silently pleads with his father to come back with him. With no music, and almost no sound, it's a heartbreaking zero gravity moment as Cliff calmly tells his son: "Let me go." Roy does and watches helplessly as his father drifts into the void of space.

The hallway fight in Inception

Most audiences probably don't think of Christopher Nolan as a science fiction director, but step back and you'll see he's helmed some of the best sci-fi films of the last decade. This includes the outer space drama "Interstellar" and the time-twisted "Tenet," but his best is almost certainly the mind-bending "Inception." Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Elliot Page, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, the film centers on a group of mercenary dream-hunters who can enter people's subconscious and steal information. But this time, they're tasked with entering the dreams of a powerful tycoon to implant an idea rather than take one.

In what is easily the film's most unforgettable scene, set within the confines of a dreamscape where the laws of physics don't always apply, mind thief Arthur (Gordon-Levitt) is confronted by security agents in a hotel hallway. But in the real world, Arthur is actually asleep in the back of a van, and when the vehicle gets involved in a dangerous chase and tumbles off the roadway, the hotel in his mind begins to tumble as well. 

Now, with gravity pulling him from floor to ceiling to wall to back again, Arthur must battle the enemy agents in his mind, all while his life in the real world hangs in the balance too. With jaw-dropping practical effects that required the construction of a rotating hallway, it's also one of the most impressive achievements in a Christopher Nolan film. 

Crisis aboard Apollo 13

Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Ed Harris, and Gary Sinise, 1995's "Apollo 13" dramatized the remarkable true story of a NASA mission gone wrong. Aboard a tiny three-person capsule, astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise are forced into a desperate fight for their lives when a piece of their module explodes. With barely any power and only scant communication with Earth, NASA engineers must find a way to bring them home.

With some of the most realistic space-based effects, "Apollo 13" set the standard for zero gravity movie scenes, and for good reason: To this day, it remains the only outer space adventure in Hollywood to be filmed in zero gravity , captured aboard a reduced-gravity aircraft affectionately nicknamed the "Vomit Comet." Thanks to this unique aircraft, which flies parabolic maneuvers to create up to 25 seconds of weightlessness, sequences aboard the lunar module were an immersive experience for moviegoers. 

With as close to true zero gravity as is possible without actually filming in space, the actors glided effortlessly through the air, during both quiet moments of tension and the thrilling, fast-paced scenes where they raced to fix emerging crises. In one of the most nail-biting moments ever in zero gravity, the three men fly through the capsule hurriedly assembling a jury-rigged filter out of spare parts before their supply of breathable air runs out.

The training exercise in Ender's Game

Based on the seminal sci-fi novel of the same name by Orson Scott Card, "Ender's Game" was released in 2013 and saw Harrison Ford return to space as a grizzled veteran military commander in charge of training young recruits. As Earth is embroiled in a protracted war with a dangerous alien race, leaders have discovered that only adolescents make the best soldiers. The film introduces young Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield), a child prodigy sent to Battle School, where his teachers believe his keen instincts could make him the perfect commander of a group of elite soldiers for a mission that could finally end the war.

But when Ender first arrives at the training facility, he's underestimated and overlooked, until during a critical training exercise he's able to prove just how good he is. It all takes place in a zero gravity environment, where alongside a team of fellow youngsters, Ender devises ingenious new tactics to defeat a more powerful rival team. Filmed with a mix of wirework and CGI, the sequence is one of the film's best, not just for its technical achievement and awesome visual effects, but for its rising tension, and a satisfying, cheer-worthy conclusion. Constantly sidelined because nobody thinks he's good enough, Ender forces his way into the game, and his graceful zero-g maneuvers outsmart his opponent and prove he has what it takes to be the team leader.

A romantic evening in space in Mission to Mars

Thanks to the 1997 visit to Mars by NASA, there was a wave of interest in the Red Planet around the turn of the millennium. In 2000, audiences got two nearly identical films: "Mission to Mars" and "Red Planet." While neither was a true standout, one of them did feature an impressive zero gravity sequence that's good enough to make our list. Set in the far-off future of 2020, "Mission to Mars" sees astronaut Luke Graham (Don Cheadle) stranded on Mars after a dust storm forces his crew to leave him behind, and a rescue mission quickly scuttled.

On their way to Graham's rescue, married astronauts Woody Blake (Tim Robbins) and Terri Fisher (Connie Nielsen) decide to spend an evening on their long journey enjoying zero gravity.  Hearing her husband playing the Van Halen tune "Dance the Night Away," Fisher joins him via a walk through the rotating cabin, and the two share a floating moment together, creating a cinematic dance sequence unlike any other. 

Both romantic and visually engrossing, this zero gravity scene from "Mission to Mars" takes advantage of the full-scale, rotating spacecraft. In a film that is otherwise mediocre, it's a sweet, tender moment that doesn't need the pulse-pounding thrills of other zero-g scenes to stir the soul.

Tom Cruise in freefall in The Mummy

Not every movie that includes a pulse-pounding action sequence in zero gravity has to be set in outer space, and "The Mummy" proves it with style and flair. Led by superstar Tom Cruise and co-stars Annabelle Wallis and Sofia Boutella, the film was an attempt to revive the Universal Monster classic for the modern era. But while critics and audiences didn't respond as excitedly about the film as a whole, its most captivating action sequence takes place aboard an aircraft in freefall.

The action begins with US Army Sgt. Nick Morton (Cruise) escorting archaeologist Jenny Halsey (Wallis) back home after digging up the mummified remains of the Egyptian Princess Ahmanet. But when the spirit of the mummy Ahmanet takes over the pilot (Jake Johnson), it leads to disaster aboard the plane, killing the crew and forcing a nosedive. In a harrowing sequence, Morton and Halsey are thrown into zero gravity as the plane races toward the ground. As they plummet to their doom, the pair wrestle for stability, barely able to gather parachutes and rescue gear that will allow them to escape certain death.

Like "Apollo 13," the film used the 'Vomit Comet,' which to nobody's surprise was an idea that Cruise insisted on, to make the scene as realistic as possible. 

The gravity train in Total Recall (2012)

Just because a movie is a box office dud and a critical flop doesn't mean it can't have some truly innovative, exciting moments. The much-derided 2012 remake of "Total Recall," starring Colin Farrell, Kate Beckinsale, Jessica Biel, and Bryan Cranston, is one such movie, but fortunately for us, the highlight of the film's rare instances of creativity takes place in zero gravity.

Like the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic, the story finds apparent everyman Douglas Quaid (Farrell) unable to tell fiction from reality after he receives a memory implant of being a secret agent. As in the original, the procedure reveals that he may actually be an undercover intelligence operative who has betrayed the ruthless Chancellor Cohaagen. One new element not present in the 1990 film, however, is "The Fall," an elevator that takes commuters to the other side of the planet, and in which there is no gravity as it passes through the core of the Earth.

Aboard the elevator, while trying to stop Cohaagen's deadly plans, Quaid is confronted by heavily armed soldiers just as the elevator achieves zero-g. A tense firefight ensues, with Quaid using his high-powered machine gun to propel him through the air while struggling to maintain orientation. And if they can't stop the elevator from reaching the other side, an army of killer drones could kill thousands of innocent people.

The first walk in Gravity

A story of acceptance and grief, the 2013 drama "Gravity" is set entirely in zero gravity, and while most moments on this list come at the film's climax, the best moment in this one is the event that kicks off the story. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron, the film opens with a pair of intrepid astronauts — the experienced Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) and newcomer Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) — on a space shuttle mission to make adjustments to the Hubble telescope.

During their first spacewalk, though, disaster strikes as a field of space debris strikes the shuttle, which separates Stone from the ship, and could send her careening into the endless vacuum of space. In a daring and unexpected rescue, Kowalski manages to save her life but later must sacrifice his own in order to give her a chance to survive. 

A truly riveting sequence, it captures both the majesty of space and the sheer terror and hopelessness of being completely disconnected from planet Earth. While it opens with the serenity of space and the loneliness of overlooking the big blue marble, it's a quiet scene that quickly gives way to chaos, with the camera whirling and spinning almost as if out of control itself. The tension and fear is palpable, and it sets the stage for one of the most harrowing tales of survival in sci-fi movie history. 

Fulfilling a dream in Space Cowboys

"Ad Astra" wasn't the first time that Tommy Lee Jones played an astronaut. He'd done so nearly 20 years earlier, too, in the comedy-drama "Space Cowboys," alongside Clint Eastwood , James Garner, and Donald Sutherland. The four veterans play retired pilots, two of whom — Frank Corvin (Eastwood) and William 'Hawk' Hawkins (Jones) — harbored dreams of being astronauts. Though their prime years are long behind them, the four older men are called back into service after a 1950s Russian communication satellite begins falling out of orbit. 

They've been chosen for the mission because of their familiarity with the decades-old technology, but few around them believe they have what it takes to get the job done. In one of their first experiences while in orbit, Corvin and Hawk exit the shuttle, finding themselves weightless in the ocean of space, and witness for the first time the sight of Earth from above. Overcome with awe, they finally fulfill a dream they'd long given up on.

Peter Quill rescues Gamora in Guardians of the Galaxy

It might be surprising that there aren't a whole host of great zero-gravity scenes from superhero movies. But it takes a special filmmaker to be able to use the setting for both dramatic effect and to punctuate an emotional beat, and that has rarely been the case in comic book movies. Thankfully, we have James Gunn , a master storyteller who took the helm of Marvel's "Guardians of the Galaxy," and uses zero gravity to highlight the strength, power, and perseverance in one of the film's most gut-wrenching moments.

It happens as space assassin Gamora is left for dead by her even deadlier sister Nebula, who destroys her ship and leaves her alone in the cold dark of space where she will surely freeze and die. As she drifts off to her doom, the devil-may-care Peter Quill selflessly races after her. But before he does, he contacts Yondu and the Ravagers — who have put out a bounty on him — providing his coordinates to ensure they'll be rescued, even if it comes at the cost of his freedom.

Giving Gamora his helmet to allow her to breathe, Quill somehow manages to survive, and as the music swells, the Ravager ships arrive to save them. It's not just a fascinating visual delight, but a moment that proves Peter Quill is a true hero.

Movie tech: How 'Gravity' threw Sandra Bullock into zero gravity

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney seem to float effortlessly in "Gravity," a terror-filled tale of two shuttle astronauts set adrift by a space disaster. But getting that zero-gravity effect to work took years of effort and million-dollar innovations.

The first thing to get out of the way is that there are SPOILERS AHEAD. The second thing is to acknowledge that this is a fictional movie, not a physics lesson.

"There are places where they went against the science input that they got, because it blows up their story," Kevin Grazier, a planetary scientist who served as an adviser for "Gravity," told NBC News. "You have a choice. You can either say 'You can get to the ISS from here,' or you have a movie like 'Open Water' in space. That's a different movie, and that's not what they were shooting for."

So we won't dwell on how hard it would be to get from the Hubble Space Telescope to the International Space Station. That orbit-crossing trek is one of the movie's key plot points, but in reality it's virtually impossible — which led to  huge logistical complications for NASA's final Hubble servicing mission.

We won't discuss how unlikely it would be for the planned shootdown of a satellite to cause an immediate catastrophe for a space shuttle. (Though it's important to note that the cascading effect of orbital debris, also known as the Kessler Syndrome , is a real concern — as the Russians found out this year .)

And we won't worry about the fact that the space shuttles aren't flying anymore. ("It's a typical historical drama," Grazier said.) If it's nitpicking you're after, check out the critiques from Time , The New York Times  and  Blastr .

Instead, we'll focus on how director Alfonso Cuaron and his team made Bullock and Clooney look good in zero gravity — so good that "Avatar" director James Cameron says "Gravity" is  "the best space film ever done."

Previsualization The work that went into pulling off that feat started years ago. Early on, the filmmakers decided to map out the entire movie with computer-generated imagery in a process they called previsualization, or "previs."

Animators adhered to the rules of objects in weightlessness as they previsualized the film, shot by shot, using highly detailed computer graphics. "We had to relearn physics, since we were all used to motion arcs that are determined by weight," senior animation supervisor David Shirk said in the movie's production notes. "We had to forget all that."

The animation shaped the actors' performances. "The live action was limited by what was preprogrammed in the previs. ... Due to the technological process, the margin for improvisation and spontaneity was very small, which added to the challenge for Sandra and George," Cuaron said.

Underwater and on a wire But how do you get Sandra and George into zero-gravity mode? The weightless scenes in  "Apollo 13" were filmed in short takes during parabolic airplane flights , which provide about a half-minute of weightlessness at a time. Those potentially nausea-inducing flights weren't an option for "Gravity" — in part because Cuaron was going for longer takes, and in part because Bullock has a deathly fear of flying.

"When we told her that that wasn't going to be [using] the system, and we have these other sets of tools, she didn't care how painful the other tools were," Cuaron told ComingSoon.net .

For some scenes, the actors were filmed as they swam through their moves underwater . For others, they were hooked up with a 12-wire suspension system, and then filmed with robotic cameras while puppeteers pulled their strings. (The harness for the wires had to be made just right to fit under Sandra Bullock's skivvies .) Still other scenes were shot while the actors perched on a variety of rigs set up on a turntable. 

In the Light Box The filmmakers' most innovative tool was the Light Box: a 20-foot-high (6-meter-high), boxy enclosure outfitted on the inside with 4,096 LED bulbs. Those lights could be programmed to project moving images of Earth and space. When the actors were locked up inside, computer-controlled robotic cameras captured close-ups under just the right lighting conditions — even for the scenes where Bullock looks as if she's spinning out of control. In reality, it's the light patterns that are spinning around her.

The Light Box was the brainchild of "Gravity" cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki and visual-effects supervisor Tim Webber. "When the Light Box came together, I knew it was not only going to be the way I could light 'Gravity,' but would impact the way I light movies for years to come," Lubezki said.

Webber said the contraption also showed the actors what their characters were seeing during the scene being shot. "It was primarily so we could reflect the appropriate light on them, but it had the double benefit of being a visual reference for them, too," he said.

Putting it all together The computer-generated animations and the live-action clips were blended together in post-production. All traces of wires, rigs and harnesses were digitally removed, and more special effects were added in. The result is so seamless that you see Bullock's panic-stricken face loom through a computer-generated helmet visor as she slingshots from the computer-generated depths of space to an extreme closeup. 

In the production notes, Webber said one of the biggest challenges was rendering the mist from the characters' breath on those helmet visors. "In reality, you wouldn't see as much breath on the visor because the systems in the suits keep the air very dry, but for us it was a visual indication of their tension," he said.

Grazier, who has been a consultant on Hollywood projects ranging from "Battlestar Galactica" to "Defiance," said science-fiction filmmakers seem to be paying increasing attention to the details. Even if they don't always obey the laws of physics, they still want the Right Stuff on the screen. That's why Cuaron and his team sought advice from Grazier as well as NASA astronauts Andy Thomas, Shannon Walker and Cady Coleman.

"They did their homework," Grazier said of the filmmakers. "They wanted to know which direction the switches went, which way the hatches opened."

Grazier said the stakes are likely to rise even higher as moviegoers become savvier about their sci-fi.

"Hollywood and science are starting to butt together more, partly because we're starting to lose our suspension of disbelief," Grazier told NBC News. "If an idea gets out that a movie is silly because this doesn't work, or that doesn't look right, that can affect your bottom line."

More about 'Gravity':

• Sandra Bullock: Making the movie was 'unnatural'
• 'Gravity' highlights director's personal adversity
• CollectSpace: Fact vs. fiction in 'Gravity'

Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the  NBC News Science Facebook page , following  @b0yle on Twitter and adding  +Alan Boyle to your Google+ circles. To keep up with NBCNews.com's stories about science and space, sign up for the  Tech & Science newsletter , delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out  "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.

Log in or sign up for Rotten Tomatoes

Trouble logging in?

By continuing, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands .

By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes.

Email not verified

Let's keep in touch.

Sign up for the Rotten Tomatoes newsletter to get weekly updates on:

• Upcoming Movies and TV shows
• Trivia & Rotten Tomatoes Podcast
• Media News + More

By clicking "Sign Me Up," you are agreeing to receive occasional emails and communications from Fandango Media (Fandango, Vudu, and Rotten Tomatoes) and consenting to Fandango's Privacy Policy and Terms and Policies . Please allow 10 business days for your account to reflect your preferences.

OK, got it!

Movies / TV

No results found.

• What's the Tomatometer®?
• Login/signup

Movies in theaters

• Opening this week
• Top box office
• Coming soon to theaters
• Certified fresh movies

Movies at home

• Fandango at Home
• Netflix streaming
• Prime Video
• Most popular streaming movies
• What to Watch New

Certified fresh picks

• The Fall Guy Link to The Fall Guy
• I Saw the TV Glow Link to I Saw the TV Glow
• The Idea of You Link to The Idea of You

New TV Tonight

• Dark Matter: Season 1
• Reginald the Vampire: Season 2
• Bodkin: Season 1
• Blood of Zeus: Season 2
• Black Twitter: A People's History: Season 1
• Pretty Little Liars: Summer School: Season 2
• The Chi: Season 6
• Doctor Who: Season 1
• Hollywood Con Queen: Season 1
• Love Undercover: Season 1

Most Popular TV on RT

• A Man in Full: Season 1
• Baby Reindeer: Season 1
• Fallout: Season 1
• Dead Boy Detectives: Season 1
• Hacks: Season 3
• We Were the Lucky Ones: Season 1
• The Veil: Season 1
• Shōgun: Season 1
• Them: Season 2
• Shardlake: Season 1
• Best TV Shows
• Most Popular TV
• TV & Streaming News

Certified fresh pick

• Hacks: Season 3 Link to Hacks: Season 3
• All-Time Lists
• Binge Guide
• Comics on TV
• Five Favorite Films
• Video Interviews
• Weekend Box Office
• Weekly Ketchup
• What to Watch
• Star Wars TV Ranked

Netflix’s 100 Best Movies Right Now (May 2024)

Asian-American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander Heritage

What to Watch: In Theaters and On Streaming

2024-2025 Awards Calendar

Movie Re-Release Calendar 2024: Your Guide to Movies Back In Theaters

• Trending on RT
• Movie Re-Release Calendar
• Best Movies of All Time
• Play Movie Trivia

Zero Gravity

Audience reviews.

Screen Rant

Did i.s.s. film in the real international space station.

Throughout I.S.S., many shots show the intricate wiring and setup of the International Space Station, but was the movie filmed on the real spacecraft?

• I.S.S. did not film on the International Space Station due to its high cost. It was recreated based on research and footage.
• The replica of the International Space Station in the film is incredibly detailed and accurate, capturing the cluttered aesthetic.
• The production team used harnesses and tethers to recreate zero gravity, making performances from the actors more impressive.

Warning: This article contains spoilers for I.S.S.

The sci-fi thriller I.S.S. tells an entertaining story about the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, raising questions about whether they filmed on the real spacecraft. LD Entertainment’s film I.S.S. hit theaters on January 19 . The film starts with two American astronauts, Kira and Christian, entering the International Space Station, where one other American and three Russians live and work. Everything starts out copacetic, then a nuclear war breaks out on Earth. All the astronauts get an order to gain control over the station for their country at all costs, causing them to turn on each other.

Like other great space movies , this pulpy film has extremely divided reviews, with audiences either loving the film or hating it. One of the elements that people enjoy about I.S.S. is the fact that the setting looks eerily real. As such, many viewers find themselves wondering whether the actors and crew filmed on the real International Space Station. Making a movie on the International Space Station isn’t out of the realm of possibility either. Three feature-length movies and one short film have all been filmed in this exclusive setting, not including documentaries.

I.S.S. Did Not Film In The International Space Station

Filming in the i.s.s. costs too much for a small production company.

Despite the shockingly realistic appearance of the International Space Station, I.S.S. didn’t film aboard the real craft. Instead, director Gabriela Cowperthwaite instructed the production team to recreate the I.S.S. based on research, footage, and images. According to IMDb , they filmed the movie at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, North Carolina. This ended up being a smart and extremely practical decision. Film School Rejects estimates it would cost at least $500 million to film in the International Space Station, which would’ve made it the most expensive movie ever made and set impossibly high standards.

I.S.S. Review: Ariana DeBose Leads A Suspenseful But Thin Sci-Fi Thriller

LD Entertainment only ended up spending approximately $20 million on the film, based on IMDb’s estimates – not even one-tenth the amount required to film in the real I.S.S. By recreating the station, they could instead put their money towards casting phenomenal actors who can really capture I.S.S. ’s characters. Additionally, they didn’t need to bring in half a billion dollars just to break even and $1 to $1.5 billion to be successful – a feat only accomplished by 53 movies. This would have demolished the production company considering I.S.S .’s poor box office turnout.

How The I.S.S. Replicated The International Space Station

The i.s.s. replica is incredibly detailed and accurate.

The production team thoroughly studied the inside of the International Space Station before creating the set of I.S.S . They included bigger parts of the station, like the Cupola module – which allows astronauts to look out into space in many directions – and the International Space Station's robotic arm . Additionally, they paid attention to smaller details like the astronauts’ sleeping bags and items stuck to the walls. The set perfectly captured the clutter aesthetic for which the I.S.S. is known. These details are crucial to the success of I.S.S. because they allow the audience to connect with an unrelatable storyline.

On the other hand, the team behind I.S.S. made a smart decision by decreasing the amount of wires and panels on the walls of the replica. This change is the most obvious sign that the movie didn’t film in the real I.S.S. The actual station looks much busier on the walls. While this makes sense for a real-life spacecraft, it isn’t very conducive to filming. The busyness of the setting would take focus away from the actors, making the emotional and action-packed moments less impactful. The film set establishes the environment while minimizing distractions.

10 Space Movies With Great Ideas That We Wish Were Better

I.s.s. used harnesses to recreate zero gravity, the entirety of i.s.s. takes place in zero gravity.

Even though I.S.S . didn’t film on the real International Space Station, the production team convincingly recreated the physical effects of zero gravity on movement. According to Cowperthwaite’s interview with Collect Space , they achieved this by strapping the actors into harnesses and tethers that suspended them in the air , allowing them to create the appearance of the actors floating in the I.S.S. This system was extremely difficult to get in and out of, plus it sometimes caused the actors’ legs to go numb. These circumstances make the actors’ performances even more impressive.

The post-production team spent almost a year digitally erasing every tether from the film. Cowperthwaite told Collect Space that she now understands why zero-gravity movies aren’t common. This was clearly a labor of love for everyone involved, though. The attention to detail and realism are part of what makes I.S.S. such a compelling and fun movie.

Sources: IMDb , Film School Rejects , Collect Space

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

Apollo 13: In space, no-one can see you exaggerate

Apollo 13 (1995) Director: Ron Howard Entertainment grade: B History grade: A–

Apollo 13 was a 1970 moon landing mission mounted by Nasa's Apollo Space Program, which ran from 1961 until 1972. It ran into trouble after an oxygen tank exploded, leaving crucial systems damaged.

America's space program, a voiceover tells us, was "inspired by the late President Kennedy." John F. Kennedy's predecessor, Dwight D. Eisenhower, established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. In 1961, though, hunky Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. The Cold War was burning hot at that point, and there was no way the United States was going to sit back and let the Russkies take the moon. So, in May 1961, Kennedy challenged NASA to put a man on the moon before the end of the 1960s, and shoveled a few more billions of dollars their way to make it happen.

Sadly, Kennedy did not live to see Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in July 1969. The film shows astronaut Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) watching the great event, when Armstrong may or may not have fluffed his line (it should have been "one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind" – which Armstrong insisted was what he said). Lovell is in line for Apollo 14. "Anything is possible!" he explains excitedly. "Like a computer that can fit into a single room!" Aww.

Lovell is bumped up from Apollo 14 to 13, but his command module pilot, Ken Mattingly (Gary Sinise), is diagnosed with impending measles and replaced at the last minute by Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon). They prepare for launch along with lunar module pilot Fred Haise (Bill Paxton). Meanwhile, Lovell's wife has a nightmare in which her husband is sucked out of the capsule into space, and freaks out when her wedding ring slips off her finger and down a plughole. Dramatically convenient though these premonitions may seem, the real Jim Lovell has confirmed that they both really happened .

The zero-gravity scenes in the movie are extremely convincing, because they're real. Director Ron Howard persuaded NASA to let him film on its reduced-gravity aircraft, known as the Vomit Comet . Appropriately enough, up in space, Haise pukes. Don't puke in space. It floats off everywhere in horrible little chunks. Then we are treated to Lovell's urination ritual. "It's too bad we can't demonstrate this on TV," he says, bunging the stuff out of the disposal tube to make a golden shower in space. It's all fun, games, billions of taxpayer dollars and swirling bodily fluids until Swigert performs a routine stir of the oxygen tanks. There's a loud bang, and Lovell gets to utter the famous words: "Houston, we have a problem." Though, in real life, he said "Houston, we've had a problem ." Oh well, close enough. Does anybody get their lines right in space?

"We just lost the moon," Lowell says sadly. Swigert has noticed it's worse: "If this doesn't work, we're not going to have enough power left to get home." This column is not Reel Rocket Science, but the film seems to do a convincing job of explaining the technical faults – and most of the audience will appreciate that losing power, oxygen and bits of one's spaceship is not good news. The real Ken Mattingly outlined a few differences between the film and real life in a NASA oral history . His main point was that the film makes it look like "we invented a lot of stuff". In reality it was less chaotic, for NASA had already simulated many of the faults which would occur on Apollo 13. In the film, his character is rewarded for nobly not going into space by nobly saving his stricken crewmembers from the control centre. In real life, the tasks Mattingly performs were down to a whole team, and they were operating more closely along the lines of existing procedures. Of course, to show all this accurately would have been much less dramatic.

A well-researched adaptation of the Apollo 13 story makes for a pacy, compelling movie.

• Reel history

More on this story

Ron Howard on Made in America: 'Jay Z was worried what Odd Future might do to me'

Ron Howard to direct Jungle Book adaptation

Comments (…), most viewed.