Gravity

(Image credit: Courtesy of Warner Bros. Picture)

Sandra Bullock's medical engineer is on her first space mission with NASA veteran George Clooney when they are stranded after debris from a Russian satellite destroys their shuttle

Sandra Bullock's medical engineer is on her first space mission with NASA veteran George Clooney when they are stranded after debris from a Russian satellite destroys their shuttle.

Can they find a way back to Earth?

Director Alfonso Cuarón's ground-breaking drama won seven Oscars and provokes jaw-dropping wonder, dizzying vertigo, heart-stopping tension, spine-tingling shocks and visceral fear.

The spectacle is often disorienting, but Bullock's gutsy resilience and Clooney's folksy charm give the film its human touch.

Plot contrivances notwithstanding, this is is an overwhelming cinematic experience. Even real astronauts have given it the thumbs up; for the rest of us, this is the closest we'll ever come to being in space.