When Gravity first hit cinema screens, it was arguably the best movie of the year, a film that seemed to be a sure bet for Oscar glory for Best Picture as well as Sandra Bullocks bravura performance as an astronaut stranded alone in space, trying to find a way back to earth, and learning more about herself than she ever knew before in the process.

Since then, many more excellent films have emerged as Oscar Best Picture front runners with 12 Years a Slave or American Hustle most likely the film to take home the gold, and Cate Blanchett an almost sure thing to overtake Sandy as Best Actress for her brilliant performance in Blue Jasmine. Looking at Gravity again on Blu-ray, it still holds up as a pretty exciting thrill ride, but even considering it as Best Picture material seems a bit of a stretch (and who knows, if the two front runners split the vote, Gravity could end up winning).

If you still have not seen the film though, it’s a great nail-biter as Bullock’s Dr. Ryan Stone navigates her way through space to some strategically placed space stations (which would be impossible in a real life situation) as a massive debris field circles the earth every ninety minutes, destroying almost everything in its path. While on the surface the film seems to be a science-based action thriller, it’s more about Stone’s life, acceptance of her fate, and rebirth as a stronger person than she thought she was. And the whole thing runs about ninety minutes!

Warner Brothers’ new home video release on Blu-ray presents the film in a spectacular 1080p/AVC video transfer that is sharp, clear and colorful, representing the theatrical presentation accurately. The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio is also spectacular and will give your surround system a real workout … quite an achievement considering the lengths director Alfonso Cuarón went to to accurately portray the vacuum of space. If I had one criticism about the audio, it’s that Warners did not include their usual 7.1 audio track which would have served the attention to audio detail (such as moving the music and effects around the speaker array with the characters and objects on screen) that went into the mix. That quibble aside, the film still looks and sounds terrific. For those with 3D set-ups, the film is also available in a 1080p/AVC 3D presentation which is also outstanding, and the process serves the weightless setting of the film extremely well. The DVD also has a nice picture, but the deep blackness of space on the Blu-ray comes off a bit grey on DVD (at least on an HD monitor).

The last few Warner Home Video Blu-rays have been rather disappointing in the special features department, but they’ve finally done things right with this release. The bonus features on the 2D Blu-ray include:

• Gravity:Mission Control (9 chapters; 1:46:36) — A very in depth look at the making of the movie from beginning to end. Fascinating behind-the-scenes footage showing how the Zero G footage was accomplished, the astonishing amount of CGI, the lighting and set decoration all created in the computer, and creating a soundscape for an environment that has no sound. Also some fun footage of Sandra Bullock and George Clooney goofing off on set. Real film buffs will totally enjoy this feature, which is actually longer than the movie!
• Shot Breakdowns (5 chapters; 36:48) — More behind-the-scenes featurettes focusing on specific aspects of the film (which could really have been included as part of the Mission Control feature) including creating the helmet visors completely in CG, the space station fire and the “rebirth” Zero G sequence.
• Collision Point: The Race To Clean Up Space (22:28) — Documentary narrated by Ed Harris presenting an interesting and alarming look at the problem of space debris orbiting the earth, the dangers this poses to satellites and space travel, and the ideas proposed to clean up the debris.
• Aningaaq – A Short Film By Jonás Cuarón (6:53 / 10:11 with intro) — A companion piece to the segment where Dr. Stone makes radio contact with a man on earth who does not speak English, as seen from his point of view. Viewable with an optional introduction by the father and son filmmaking team.

The DVD includes the Aningaaq short (with the optional introduction) as its only bonus.

I seriously doubt Gravity will pull off a Best Picture win at this point in time, but after watching all of the excellent behind-the-scenes material included on the Blu-ray, I have no doubt that Alfonso Cuarón will win Best Director. He did things to get this movie made that have never been done before, and for just moving the art of filmmaking forward he should win. The film should also pull off wins for Cinematography, Sound Editing and Mixing, and especially Visual Effects. Once you see the extras and realize that a large percentage of the film was photo-realistic CGI, right down to the visors on the helmets, your mind will be blown.

If you enjoyed the movie, you can’t go wrong with the Blu-ray release of Gravity, and if you’re a real film buff who likes to know how things are done, the extras packed onto this disk make this one of the must-have releases of the year.

The Gravity Blu-ray 3D combo package was generously provided by Warner Home Video for purpose of review.

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Unlike many of my Clacking Contemporaries, I love internet lists; especially end-of-year-compilations. I love the arguments that develop over the placement of one particular show/flick/book/video game over the other. What I don’t always appreciate is the idea of “best.” Take a look at some of the “Best of 2013 Films” lists floating around the Internet this week: Are there a couple of flicks you have never heard of, let alone had the opportunity to see? Yeah, that’s not how I see things. I think we can celebrate the “best.”

I’m going to let you in on a little secret: I don’t like Mad Men and I haven’t yet tackled Sons of Anarchy or (GASP!) Breaking Bad. I didn’t see every movie I wanted to (The Butler, About Time and Fruitvale Station probably top that list). Again, this is about what I really liked this year, not about what I — or the Internet as a greater whole — thinks “best.” I think that approach is much more true and much more fun.

Scandal

I have my problems with Shonda Rhimes’ latest show, but that doesn’t keep me from love everything else about the show. Put simply, Scandal is batshit crazy, and there’s not a single positive character on the entire show. As much as Olivia and her crew talk about their white hats, you can’t add enough white to grey to get the black out; Huck’s actions last week are proof positive of that. But Scandal has also been home to some of the year’s best performances; Bellamy Young and Jeff Perry both have had a couple of scenes that were simply phenomenal.

The Veronica Mars Kickstarter

The announcement that Rob Thomas and Kristen Bell would be taking their plans for a Veronica Mars flick to Kickstarter nearly blew the doors off of my Twitter feed. The project quickly met its goal of $2 million within 11 hours, and more than doubled that by the time the funding period was over. The viral campaign leading up to filming was phenomenal; many of the actors filmed quick videos for YouTube announcing their participation, a process that helped build the hype for the show’s cult fandom.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Veronica Mars’ presence at Comic-Con this year. While I wasn’t able to make the Hall H panel, fellow Clacker Keith McDuffee and I did back the Kickstarter project high enough to get a reserved seat at the fan event held later that evening. The event itself was far from perfect, but it was a pretty damn cool experience nonetheless.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DTZ-fXU4iE

Netflix’s House of Cards and Orange is the New Black

Was there an entertainment company that had a better year than Netflix? Bringing back Arrested Development was a big coup, but it was the other two shows that really tripped my trigger. House of Cards is the kind of show that was conceived personally for my enjoyment. I love a good political yarn, and Kevin Spacey absolutely chews every second he is on the screen. Orange is the New Black was different, “coming out of nowhere” to really surprise some people (Not this particular blogger, who wrote about lead Taylor Schillling: “She has the look, and the talent, to be a breakout star” four years ago).

Gravity

Gravity was one of those flicks that had been in pre-production for a long time. I had followed the project for years as director Alfonso Cuarón waited for technology to catch up to the script, as well as go through the myriad casting changes the project experienced. The final product was phenomenal. Sandra Bullock and the film’s technical mastery easily covered for a rather pedestrian script. There are very few movie’s that I believe are “must see” in 3D – and in this case IMAX as well – but Gravity was one of them. I’m a little worried that the film won’t hold up on people’s TVs at home, but the theatre experience was unforgettable.

Arrow

Arrow has received a great deal of buzz this year as being greatly improved from its inaugural season last year and while I won’t deny it has been pretty damn great, I thought that season one was pretty good, too. The promotions of Colton Haynes, Manu Bennett and (particularly) Emily Bett Rickards have filled out the show nicely. The CW is now using the show to launch a show centered on the Barry Allen version of the Flash, and there are continued rumors (that are often denied and then pop up again) that both shows might be linked to the DC Cinematic Universe.