Not Oscar-worthy

Rating: 6/10 (20 October 2013)

This is a decent movie and the special effects were great. The 3-D very much enhanced the experience. That being said, despite the Best Picture and Best Actress buzz I've seen about this movie, it is not of that quality. Some of the events of the movie are simply implausible ... one might expect a miraculous event or escape in such a movie, but the constant move from one to another became distracting. It reminded me a lot of Speed in this regard. Sandra Bullock's performance was fine, but she was somewhat miscast. Her space shrieks were distracting (listen in the previews to her 'Ahh ... Ahh ... Ahh' in her nasally voice, if you want to know what I mean). George Clooney was also fine, but he was basically playing himself, which I didn't find particularly engaging or interesting. He was much better in the Descendants.
Overall a decent date movie with great special effects and 3-D. If it gets nominated, it will be on those merits. Don't go expecting an Argo quality story. In terms of other movies I've seen I describe it as Speed meets Life of Pi ... set in outer space.