10 Best Space Movies Of All Time

Self-contained and tight, or claustrophobic, depending on who you are, Alfonso Cuarón's Gravity uses two recognisable faces and a lot of space to tell a shipwreck story with a difference.

The film largely takes place in no fixed location, outside the Earth's atmosphere. Following an orbital disaster that results in the destruction of their space shuttle, two astronauts (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) are left to pick up the pieces and try, against all odds, to survive and find some way of returning home.

Though a big deal was made of the 3D experience behind this picture, it floats well on its own two legs without it. Far from a gimmick-driven film built around blue aliens and a hackneyed plot, or things being constantly thrown at the camera, Gravity is carried by Bullock's all-in, realistic, living-on-the-very-edge performance. That said, it also looks great.

Yes, Gravity may be from the director-producer team that brought you Harry Potter 3, but this is very much Cuarón's definitive mood piece, in space. The film masterfully balances the minutiae of a specific emotional human experience with out of control technologies, all against the vast, mean backdrop of the universe itself - and the final evolution metaphor should be lost on no-one.