DA_Champion
Avenger
- Joined
- Aug 26, 2013
- Messages
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- Reaction score
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- Points
- 73
Interstellar (2014)
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Mathew McConaughay, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar is a rare gem: a "hard" science fiction space opera blockbuster from Hollywood, off the top of my head I can't think of any having been made since Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Think about it: nobody's made a hard science fiction space opera blockbuster in 46 years, and Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and Kip Thorne had the courage to do so. It is as such a movie building a new foundation, treading new ground and establishing the standard ... and it succeed spectacularly. Interstellar incorporates commentary about global warming and the failings of human leadership, the drive and power of exploration, and genuinely well thought-out science in several aspects. There is rational world-building in this movie that I can't recall seeing in any recent film.
The world of Interstellar is a dying world, environmentally and sociologically. It's like the dust bowls from the 1930s, but this time in the 2030s, or some other upcoming decade. Apparently the environmentally wasteland scenes are filmed in Alberta, Canada, and thus I think that the robot's name "TARS" may be a reference to the environmentally devastating Tar Sands, though I'm not sure. This world is decaying sociologically, school children are now taught that the moon landings were faked, a clever piece of writing in building a hopeless future. It's not altogether different from how we sometimes diminish or deny the successes of past societies.
It's when Cooper goes to space that the movie takes off. There's the obligatory shot of Saturn ... nearly every space opera including Man of Steel and Star Trek includes a shot of Saturn, it's the most beautiful planet in the Solar system, though Nolan manages to make it even more beautiful. Nolan is simply a superior visual artist. We then see something magnificent, a shot of a worm hole and what it would like (worm holes are probably impossible), the travelling through a worm hole, and then a different kind of solar system than the one we're used to seeing on Earth.
People who hate science are going to hate this movie. This movie doesn't just put pixels on the screen and calls them "worlds", it builds these worlds coherently and has the audacity to explain them. We see things we've never seen in movies before: planets where the gravity is not the same as on Earth, planets that are nearly habitable but not habitable, ... it was exciting, I can't recall the last time that I had seen a sensible alien world, we just always get phoney alien planets like in Pitch Black or in Guardians of the Galaxy or in Star Trek. One of the planets, shown in the trailers, has these monstrous tidal waves... I hadn't expected that, but once I saw it, it made perfect sense, obviously a planet in a large gravitational field would have huge tidal waves. Nolan has given me something I've wanted to see for a while: alien worlds.
Unsurprisingly, these worlds are more interesting than what we're used to seeing, and hopefully Nolan will have succeeded in elevating the standard of the standards of world-building.
Some other interesting bits:
- The physical design of the robot TARS, also, his comedy was excellent, I don't think I've laughed so genuinely in theatres this year outside of The Lego Movie;
- Seeing the accretion disk around the black hole, I didn't know you would be able to see it from all four sides but once I saw it, it immediately made sense, I wonder if people had already realised that;
- What Matthew Matthew McConaughey went through at the end of the movie was a good homage to the 4th act of 2001, and was actually an upgrade. The design of the meta-library reminded me of something I learned in General Relativity class;
There's some very strong character work in these films. As pointed out elsewhere previously, Brand (Anne Hathaway) checks on her samples immediately after the damage. There's a good treatment of the conflict between emotion and reason, in her discourse of which planet to go to. Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) going crazy is extremely plausible, and it's not something that would ordinarily be shown. Here we have an intelligent, good-looking character become a temporary antagonist and in some ways an indictment of the system -- that's writing contrary to standards. NASA is actually afraid of people going crazy on trips to Mars, and simulations show this to be a real threat. Anybody who doesn't cry or is close to crying when Cooper cries halfway through lacks a soul. Murph (Jessica Chastain) working for years to develop her theory is also not what Hollywood shows -- normally progress comes instantly. Here, progress came in a slow steady stream, which is sure to confuse modern audiences. Also, Murph trying to get her brother's family out of that home is good writing, it shows her general intelligence is not just about numbers -- which unfortunately may confuse mainstream audiences since it is contrary to Hollywood standards.
There are a few errors though:
- Why is Murph calling Professor Brand (Michael Caine) "professor"? After years of working with him she should be referring to him by his first name;
- The music was really loud. That may just be a problem with my specific theatre but I had trouble making out a lot of the dialogue. That's a problem with a lot of movies lately, the music was also way too loud in Darren Aronofsky's Noah. I do think the score was good, but ... it was too loud.
Overall, an excellent movie. I hope I have another chance to see it, hopefully in a city with an IMAX theatre, while it's still playing. Most of the negative reviews of the film are rooted in ignorance and generalised anti-intellectuality, though that doesn't bother me I hope the film's reputation eventually rises above that cult of mediocrity. This is a brilliant film ... it's engaging, beautiful, and unlike anything we've ever seen before. It expands the conversation of what constitutes cinema, and it will even lead to some new scientific papers coming out
Grade: A
Rotten Tomatoes: 73%
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Mathew McConaughay, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain
Christopher Nolan's Interstellar is a rare gem: a "hard" science fiction space opera blockbuster from Hollywood, off the top of my head I can't think of any having been made since Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Think about it: nobody's made a hard science fiction space opera blockbuster in 46 years, and Christopher Nolan, Jonathan Nolan and Kip Thorne had the courage to do so. It is as such a movie building a new foundation, treading new ground and establishing the standard ... and it succeed spectacularly. Interstellar incorporates commentary about global warming and the failings of human leadership, the drive and power of exploration, and genuinely well thought-out science in several aspects. There is rational world-building in this movie that I can't recall seeing in any recent film.
The world of Interstellar is a dying world, environmentally and sociologically. It's like the dust bowls from the 1930s, but this time in the 2030s, or some other upcoming decade. Apparently the environmentally wasteland scenes are filmed in Alberta, Canada, and thus I think that the robot's name "TARS" may be a reference to the environmentally devastating Tar Sands, though I'm not sure. This world is decaying sociologically, school children are now taught that the moon landings were faked, a clever piece of writing in building a hopeless future. It's not altogether different from how we sometimes diminish or deny the successes of past societies.
It's when Cooper goes to space that the movie takes off. There's the obligatory shot of Saturn ... nearly every space opera including Man of Steel and Star Trek includes a shot of Saturn, it's the most beautiful planet in the Solar system, though Nolan manages to make it even more beautiful. Nolan is simply a superior visual artist. We then see something magnificent, a shot of a worm hole and what it would like (worm holes are probably impossible), the travelling through a worm hole, and then a different kind of solar system than the one we're used to seeing on Earth.
People who hate science are going to hate this movie. This movie doesn't just put pixels on the screen and calls them "worlds", it builds these worlds coherently and has the audacity to explain them. We see things we've never seen in movies before: planets where the gravity is not the same as on Earth, planets that are nearly habitable but not habitable, ... it was exciting, I can't recall the last time that I had seen a sensible alien world, we just always get phoney alien planets like in Pitch Black or in Guardians of the Galaxy or in Star Trek. One of the planets, shown in the trailers, has these monstrous tidal waves... I hadn't expected that, but once I saw it, it made perfect sense, obviously a planet in a large gravitational field would have huge tidal waves. Nolan has given me something I've wanted to see for a while: alien worlds.
Unsurprisingly, these worlds are more interesting than what we're used to seeing, and hopefully Nolan will have succeeded in elevating the standard of the standards of world-building.
Some other interesting bits:
- The physical design of the robot TARS, also, his comedy was excellent, I don't think I've laughed so genuinely in theatres this year outside of The Lego Movie;
- Seeing the accretion disk around the black hole, I didn't know you would be able to see it from all four sides but once I saw it, it immediately made sense, I wonder if people had already realised that;
- What Matthew Matthew McConaughey went through at the end of the movie was a good homage to the 4th act of 2001, and was actually an upgrade. The design of the meta-library reminded me of something I learned in General Relativity class;
There's some very strong character work in these films. As pointed out elsewhere previously, Brand (Anne Hathaway) checks on her samples immediately after the damage. There's a good treatment of the conflict between emotion and reason, in her discourse of which planet to go to. Dr. Mann (Matt Damon) going crazy is extremely plausible, and it's not something that would ordinarily be shown. Here we have an intelligent, good-looking character become a temporary antagonist and in some ways an indictment of the system -- that's writing contrary to standards. NASA is actually afraid of people going crazy on trips to Mars, and simulations show this to be a real threat. Anybody who doesn't cry or is close to crying when Cooper cries halfway through lacks a soul. Murph (Jessica Chastain) working for years to develop her theory is also not what Hollywood shows -- normally progress comes instantly. Here, progress came in a slow steady stream, which is sure to confuse modern audiences. Also, Murph trying to get her brother's family out of that home is good writing, it shows her general intelligence is not just about numbers -- which unfortunately may confuse mainstream audiences since it is contrary to Hollywood standards.
There are a few errors though:
- Why is Murph calling Professor Brand (Michael Caine) "professor"? After years of working with him she should be referring to him by his first name;
- The music was really loud. That may just be a problem with my specific theatre but I had trouble making out a lot of the dialogue. That's a problem with a lot of movies lately, the music was also way too loud in Darren Aronofsky's Noah. I do think the score was good, but ... it was too loud.
Overall, an excellent movie. I hope I have another chance to see it, hopefully in a city with an IMAX theatre, while it's still playing. Most of the negative reviews of the film are rooted in ignorance and generalised anti-intellectuality, though that doesn't bother me I hope the film's reputation eventually rises above that cult of mediocrity. This is a brilliant film ... it's engaging, beautiful, and unlike anything we've ever seen before. It expands the conversation of what constitutes cinema, and it will even lead to some new scientific papers coming out
Grade: A
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But he has issued a partial retraction regarding Interstellars black hole/science mistake [blackout](particularly the 1hr=7 years time dilation stuff).[/blackout]
