Gravity (2013, dir. Alfonso Cuaron) ****/****

"Gravity" has jaw-dropping special effects and a suspenseful, engrossing story.  Sandra Bullock and George Clooney play astronauts on a space station 600 km above the Earth.  Things go horribly wrong when an explosion sends flying debris from a Russian missile towards their space station and does horrible damage and destruction.  The rest of the movie depicts how some of the astronauts must do what they can under extreme duress to find safety and return to Earth.  It is a simplistic plot but director Cuaron does a masterful job of creating a distressful, chaotic environment that is never quite free of impending doom and danger.   The 3D effects are amazing and will captivate the viewer.  At one point, Bullock's character sheds tears in zero-gravity and we are given a looming shot of a lone tear as it appears in 3D in the foreground hovering slowly and then vanishing off-screen.  The shots of Earth from above are a marvel and exquisitely beautiful.  At one hour and thirty minutes it is a short film and you are barely given time to breathe.  It is an action-packed sci-fi film that won't disappoint.