Interstellar - Part 7

[Agent Orange]

Interstellar's Metacritic score is right in line with Nolan's other movies (so far) through 9 reviews. 77

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/interstellar

 

[kvz5]

Hard to regress when he never progressed with female characters in the first place. They are always his weakest point.

There's room for improvement but Mal and Selina Kyle were great IMO. Although I have a feeling Kyle was more of Jonah's work than Chris'.

Minus venturing to a [blackout]cliche love interest[/blackout] in the 3rd act, I thought Brand was promising (Hathaway's character) in Jonah's draft so I'd be curious what tweaks were made and how the performance factored. Same with Chastain's role considering it was pretty non-existent in the old draft.

 

[TheNextNolan22]

So the movie is good, but falls short of its ambitions? Okay, I'm not seeing this on theaters now. Bootleg FTW.

 

[weezerspider]

I think Nolan's last film is a perfect example of 'too ambitious'. Nolan wanted a whole city siege/revolution. Nolan wanted a huge battle between cops and Bane's men. Nolan wanted an atomic bomb in the climax. All of this is vey ambitious, but it seemed to become too much for one film, and he tried to fit all of this together which lead to weak writing and plot holes. Why the hell would anyone send the whole police force into the sewer after one man? Why the hell don't the officers have any weapons for the climatic fight? How the hell does Batman get a nuke far enough from the city where the city would no longer be in the blast radius nor deal with radiation in such a short time? I like TDKR, but these are legitimate writing hiccups that certainly hinder the film. If Interstellar is filled with even more of that stuff and the general narrative isn't good enough to overcome them, it's perfectly plausible for this film to be 'too ambitious'.

 

[DKDetective]

Yeah, I've been thinking this could potentially have another "Prestige"-like effect, albeit on a much larger scale because Nolan is a much bigger name playing on a much bigger scale with much bigger expectations now.

Or Nolan is pulling a Peter Jackson and becoming self-indulgent, such that his flaws as a filmmaker are becoming more and more apparent and harmful to his films. In broad terms, arguably, TDKR is like Jackson's ROTK where the filmaker's weaknesses were more readily apparent and the film is somewhat marred by them. Following that metaphor, Interstellar could be Nolan's King Kong - big passion project follow-up to blockbuster trilogy that overdoes it and misses the mark.

I am still looking forward to Interstellar, but I have been trying to keep my expectations in check to avoid disappointment - something that I learned from TDKR and MOS.

 

[weezerspider]

Or Nolan is pulling a Peter Jackson and becoming self-indulgent, such that his flaws as a filmmaker are becoming more and more apparent and harmful to his films. In broad terms, arguably, TDKR is like Jackson's ROTK where the filmaker's weaknesses were more readily apparent and the film is somewhat marred by them. Following that metaphor, Interstellar could be Nolan's King Kong - big passion project follow-up to blockbuster trilogy that overdoes it and misses the mark.

I am still looking forward to Interstellar, but I have been trying to keep my expectations in check to avoid disappointment - something that I learned from TDKR and MOS.

This is perfectly plausible as well.

 

[Deserana]

Wasn't 2001 initially polarizing? These films always are.

 

[Rowsdower!]

Oh great. Here's comes another 20 pages of "Why ROTK is an Overrated Failure," courtesy of a bunch of people who have never written or directed anything in their lives.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

I think Nolan's last film is a perfect example of 'too ambitious'. Nolan wanted a whole city siege/revolution. Nolan wanted a huge battle between cops and Bane's men. Nolan wanted an atomic bomb in the climax. All of this is vey ambitious, but it seemed to become too much for one film, and he tried to fit all of this together which lead to weak writing and plot holes. Why the hell would anyone send the whole police force into the sewer after one man? Why the hell don't the officers have any weapons for the climatic fight? How the hell does Batman get a nuke far enough from the city where the city would no longer be in the blast radius nor deal with radiation in such a short time? I like TDKR, but these are legitimate writing hiccups that certainly hinder the film. If Interstellar is filled with even more of that stuff and the general narrative isn't good enough to overcome them, it's perfectly plausible for this film to be 'too ambitious'.

Scaling his script to an "appropriate" runtime is what hurts TDKR. The movie should have been "Gone with the Wind" size.

 

[redfirebird2008]

This is perfectly plausible as well.

That's possible, as is your theory. Another is that it requires multiple viewings to appreciate everything. King Kong told a very simple story and was an hour longer than it should have been.

I'm sure Interstellar is an example of Nolan reaching beyond his own grasp, but at least there seems to be a decent reason for it given the subject matter. I actually like King Kong a lot, but there is no reason for a Kong movie to ever be over 3 hours long.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Oh this is going to be an interesting next few weeks.

 

[BatLobster]

Or Nolan is pulling a Peter Jackson and becoming self-indulgent, such that his flaws as a filmmaker are becoming more and more apparent and harmful to his films. In broad terms, arguably, TDKR is like Jackson's ROTK where the filmaker's weaknesses were more readily apparent and the film is somewhat marred by them. Following that metaphor, Interstellar could be Nolan's King Kong - big passion project follow-up to blockbuster trilogy that overdoes it and misses the mark.

I am still looking forward to Interstellar, but I have been trying to keep my expectations in check to avoid disappointment - something that I learned from TDKR and MOS.

Sure, it's possible. Then again, I unapologetically love the hell out of TDKR. I think Nolan's progression as a filmmaker is interesting...as his career goes on, I think his work has been getting more personal as much as it's been getting more ambitious. So certain recurring flaws/characteristics may be revealing themselves more, but I also think he's been making huge strides from film to film in different areas. This, along with his hype, is making him a more polarizing filmmaker than I ever imagined he'd be, but fascinating to watch nonetheless.

Wasn't 2001 initially polarizing?

You better believe it was.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Oh great. Here's comes another 20 pages of "Why ROTK is an Overrated Failure," courtesy of a bunch of people who have never written or directed anything in their lives.

RotK isn't a failure, but it isn't a very good movie either.

I see none of Jackson in Nolan. Nolan's "ambitious" isn't the same as indulgent Jackson.

 

[DKDetective]

Oh great. Here's comes another 20 pages of "Why ROTK is an Overrated Failure," courtesy of a bunch of people who have never written or directed anything in their lives.

And here comes another snarky ad hominem fallacious argument that not having written or directed a film undermines one's ability to appreciate or criticize films.

 

[Donut]

Oh this is going to be an interesting next few weeks.

This thread went from being over hyped 2 hell & back 2 being cautious now LMFAO fan boys

 

[DarthSkywalker]

That's possible, as is your theory. Another is that it requires multiple viewings to appreciate everything. King Kong told a very simple story and was an hour longer than it should have been.

I'm sure Interstellar is an example of Nolan reaching beyond his own grasp, but at least there seems to be a decent reason for it given the subject matter. I actually like King Kong a lot, but there is no reason for a Kong movie to ever be over 3 hours long.

How are you sure of this?

 

[redhawk23]

Oh great. Here's comes another 20 pages of "Why ROTK is an Overrated Failure," courtesy of a bunch of people who have never written or directed anything in their lives.

RotK is fine though not as good as the first two films. The reason it catches so much flack is that it was kind of a portent for many of the problems that are more present in his films that came after.

 

[DKDetective]

This thread went from being over hyped 2 hell & back 2 being cautious now LMFAO fan boys

To be fair, there have been a few voices in here that have dissented against the crazy hype train as of late. Those who pointed out the parallels with TDKR - the incredibly enthusiastic initial Twitter reactions, which were followed by more tempered critical reviews and divided review from forum members.

RotK is fine though not as good as the first two films. The reason it catches so much flack is that it was kind of a portent for many of the problems that are more present in his films that came after.

Precisely what I meant.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Oh this is going to be an interesting next few weeks.

This thread went from being over hyped 2 hell & back 2 being cautious now LMFAO fan boys

I just had literal deja vu.

 

[Schlosser85]

ROTK only "catches flack" over a decade later after Jackson's King Kong and Hobbit series. At the time, it pretty much swept the awards.

 

[redhawk23]

Wasn't 2001 initially polarizing? These films always are.

You know, I find that it still really is. Though it makes a lot of "Best films of all time" lists, I also see people describe it as "A movie I think/know I should like, but don't."

 

[Pfeiffer-Pfan]

So the general consensus so far seems to be ''good, not great... just falling short of a masterpiece''.

Not that I overly care, but I think that's a pretty good start. Although it seems like Oscar glory could be slipping away from Nolan once again.

 

[redfirebird2008]

How are you sure of this?

Based on the script I've read, the runtime, and the sheer scale of the film.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

ROTK only "catches flack" over a decade later after Jackson's King Kong and Hobbit series. At the time, it pretty much swept the awards.

I a lot of reviews almost seemed to be "apologizing" for how RotK ends, even back then. That being said, in its time it was very successful.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Based on the script I've read, the runtime, and the sheer scale of the film.

Oh my, you actually answered that. And the answer wasn't, "I have seen the film".