127 HOURS: 94 GRIPPING MINUTES

You know, I've been thinking. Everything is... just comes together. It's me. I chose this. I chose all this. This rock... this rock has been waiting for me my entire life. It's entire life, ever since it was a bit of meteorite a million, billion years ago. In space. It's been waiting, to come here. Right, right here. I've been moving towards it my entire life. The minute I was born, every breath that I've taken, every action has been leading me to this crack on the out surface.

It's hard to believe that a movie that has been credited with making people faint and sending them to the hospital after viewing a particularly gruesome scene, could be called life affirming and uplifting. This movie is closely, and I mean very closely, based on the story of Aron Ralston (brilliantly portrayed by James Franco) who despite being an excellent guide and hiker gets himself stuck in a canyon pinning his arm with a large boulder rendering him unable to move. Over the next five days Ralston videotapes himself chronicling his experience, the very material that was shown to Director Danny Boyle upon which the movie was true to. There aren't many films where an actor can keep you engaged while being stuck in one place, but this is certainly one that does. It is heart wrenching to listen to the messages he thought might be his final words to his parents. It is tragically funny to watch him make light of his situation and his stupidity of venturing out alone without telling anyone. And it is extremely difficult to watch him suffering both in physical pain and emotional pain as he reaches the crucial point where he has to decide to what lengths he will go to to live. Franco is able to show Ralston's zest for life and the despair he feels about losing his. Yes, the amputation scene is quite grueling and one of the most difficult things I have viewed on film. You would think with movies like the Saw series we would have become used to blood and guts, but when you know that something really happened you can almost feel the pain yourself and to imagine having to go through that is terrifying. If Colin Firth were not such a shoe in for best actor this year I think that James Franco would have scored it. This was an absolutely awesome film that I think everyone should see.