Gravity discussion- Contains spoilers

Watch Gravity directed by Alfonso Cuaron before reading on.  It contains major spoilers.

So Gravity dominated the US box office.  I'm not surprised.  The marketing was well done.  It focused on the two big name actors.  The marketing built up suspense.  You see that the plot is two astronauts trapped in space.  You wonder how they will get out of the situation.  The title itself lets you know that they will have a difficult challenge.
Another wise decision behind Gravity was to have Alfonso Cuaron direct.  He's had a good track record of descent films.  His most famous film was Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.  It's one of the better Harry Potter films.  He also did a film called Y tu Mama Tambien.  It's one of Mexico's most widely recognized films.  Every Mexican I ever met heard of it.  A lot of people who study film have seen it.
This brings up the question of how to get good films in Hollywood.  One way is to keep on descent people as part of creative teams.  This is key to Disney's success.  When they aquire a franchise, they keep the creative teams, as long as they continue to do well.  This applies to Marvel, Pixar, the Muppets and Star Wars.  As long as the creative teams are doing well, they keep them.
Another way to get descent films in Hollywood is big name directors.  Studios are willing to take a risk on a big name director because their name will draw people in.  This can be said of Inception.  The studios knew that the name Christopher Nolan can draw in a crowd, so the studios gave him as much money as he needed for Inception.
On to m review of Gravity.  It seems to remind me a bit of 2001: A Space Odyssey, in terms of how realistic it is and how it is paced.  Here is what I will say about the pacing, it knows how to have a good action scene.  The book The Screen writer's Bible says that a good action scene is a series of good news and bad news.  Here is an example from Gravity.
Good News- Ryan's in the ISS.
Bad News- There is a fire.
Good News- She gets in the escape pod.
Bad news- It's stuck.
I like the terminology of good news and bad news.  I think of it this way.  Keep adding another complication as soon as the character gets past another complication.
The cinematography was very good.  Earth was a great background.  Much of he creativity was in terms of when the character was over the night side of Earth and the day side of Earth.  The distance from Earth was also great.  It was close enough that you knew that the character was hovering over the planet.
The characterization was rather unique.  There are only two characters, Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney).  A few other characters are heard over radios, but remain unseen.  Matt is experienced, but not serious.  Ryan is inexperienced but serious.  Still, Matt acts as a mentor to Ryan.  Of course, the mentor usually leaves the hero.  This is when Matt floats off into space so that Ryan can live.  This leaves Ryan to surviving without any help.
The most impressive part is the use of the mythological cycle.  Ryan is deeply hurt and troubled by the loss of her daughter.  She is reborn in the end as someone who can move on with life.  The rebirth is at the end when Ryan starts walking on land.  She actually looks like a child learning how to walk.
The image of rebirth is foreshadowed when Ryan first enters the international space station.  She is in the fetal position.  The door in the background is the circular womb.  The oxygen tube is the umbilical cord.  This shows that she is starting to develop.  The time in the space stations, escape pods and water are her development.
There is even an instant of death and rebirth.  Her death is when she lowers the oxygen in the escape pod.  This sends her into the dream of Matt.  The dream is where she realizes that she can move on.  Her rebirth is when she re awakens and turns the oxygen back up.
This movie shows a clear cut example of a personal and situation plot together.  The situation plot is the external situation that the protagonist is trying to deal with.  The personal plot is the internal struggle of the protagonist.  In this case the situation plot is being stranded in space.  The personal plot is coping with the death of a daughter.
Gravity is a brilliant film because it tells a personal story in a suspenseful situation.  It's unconventional with it's lack of characters.  It could also be a career booster for Alfonso Cuaron.