Interstellar (2014)

[Dementeleus]

Come on, Anne Hathaway's corny love speech didn't drag it all the way down to a B-

 

No, that was dragging it below that.

[AndyLL]

I  guess I'm the only one who didn't have a problem with her speech.

 

Yeah... probably.

 

That was as cringe worthy as the idiot scientists in Prometheus

[Dementeleus]

Yeah... probably.

 

That was as cringe worthy as the idiot scientists in Prometheus

 

I can sorta buy her being so impassioned she felt she had to make the speech. What I can't buy is any of them taking her seriously.

[AniNate]

I dunno, given the predicament they were just in, I find it understandable for her to give in to a sense of desperation (and I especially loved how she threw the emotion v practicality conflict back in Cooper's face in the following scene)

[lilmac]

 

At the very real risk of becoming a pariah on this site, I'm going to be honest. I didn't like this film much. In fact, I'd call it the first Nolan film I actually dislike.

 

Now, before I get started with my actual review, allow me to make a few things clear. I didn't find the movie too confusing. In fact, I followed the science and plot rather easily. I don't hate the film because it had very little action or because it was 'too intellectual and/or artsy'. I love 2001: A Space Odyssey and that's far more intellectual and/or artsy. And, while the movie's runtime is one of my key issues with it, I'm not automatically opposed to films with long runtime. Hell, The Good the Bad and the Ugly is my 2nd favourite live action film of all time and it's longer than Interstellar. And, while I did make many annoyed comments on the Top 100 thread, I'm not biased against Nolan. Like I said, there's not been a single film of his (until now) that I've disliked. Not even TDKR (although it is very flawed). And I did my best to go into this film with no major expectations, low or high, not towards 2001 or towards TDK. I was content to just sit back and see what Nolan had made. 

 

Alright, now I'm finished covering my own ass, I found this movie boring. So very boring. The visuals didn't excite me in the least, most of the characters were flat and the dialogue, aside from a few shining moments, ranged from forgettable to background noise to 'Just stop talking already' (especially that Science of Love crap speech Hathaway made halfway through). But, on reflection, none of those are what really turned me off this film. Honestly, it was the directing. There were so many shots and moments in this film that I felt were entirely pointless and only served to slow down proceedings (primarily in the 2nd act). And in many of those shots, it felt like Nolan was trying to show something profound and awe-inspiring but, more often than not, he failed. And the more he failed, the more I was drawn out of the movie. And the more I was drawn out of the movie, the more difficult it became for me to get back in when actually interesting stuff was happening. Also, the more I was drawn out of the movie, the more I felt its length. And this felt long. To me, this felt longer than it actually was. And it's nearly 3 hours. Also, while I realise this admittedly more down to my personal taste, the colour scheme, like MoS, was just so drab. Everything was brown or gray, it just made so much of the movie feel dull and uninteresting to me. 

 

Don't get me wrong, there are positives to the film. Matthew McConaghey is such a good actor and gave a lot of life to a main character who was, honestly, really pretty bland and could've been so much worse in the hands of a lesser actor. And, honestly, I really liked Murph's story and character. She was one of the few characters who really felt three-dimensional and her subplot was much more interesting than Cooper's (to the point where I wished they'd just made her the main character/focue). In fact, generally, when it was on Earth, it was much more enjoyable and emotional. Even when it was just videos. That one scene where McConaghey is catching up on 23 years of video from his family, I adored that scene. That was great. When the film does emotion, it usually does it pretty damn well. It's everything else that feels like such a drag. As other people have mentioned, TARS and CASE were great and, after he explained the motives for his betrayal, I got a new appreciation for Matt Damon's character who walked the line between sympathetic and selfish. And the docking scene was one of the few spaceship moments that really sucked me in. But it just wasn't enough. Especially compared to how much indulgent padding there was.

 

To sum up, while it has a lot going for it, I can't honestly say I liked this film. It's just too long and indulgent and grey. While I can appreciate Nolan trying something different, it really didn't work for me. Maybe it's the sort of film I need to watch in IMAX to fully appreciate but, honestly, I don't think I could get the motivation to sit through this slog of a movie again. I'll give it a C- for now but I could easily see that slip down given time.

 

Why did he betray them?  To force them to establish a colony in that galaxy (but not necessarily that planet)?

[AniNate]

I can sorta buy her being so impassioned she felt she had to make the speech. What I can't buy is any of them taking her seriously.

 

But they don't. I mean, they listen to her but they don't actually take her advice.

[Dementeleus]

I dunno, given the predicament they were just in, I find it understandable for her to give in to a sense of desperation (and I especially loved how she threw the emotion v practicality conflict back in Cooper's face in the following scene)

 

Yes, but the film (and the other characters) bought in for that moment. Very absurd. I did like that moment you mention, though.

[Blankments]

Oh boy...

 

Tentative B- to start with. Parts I really liked.... parts I thought were the worst stuff Nolan's ever done. Like, laughably bad. The ending saves it for me, I think (not the tesseract, the human stuff afterwards).

 

Oh yeah, and I'm 99% sure I sat next to Wil Wheaton.

Welp, now we have the basis for BOF Civil War, seeing Tele and Baumer were notably indifferent and #ED and CJohn absolutely loved it

 

Team #EDxCJohn for me

[AndyLL]

I dunno, given the predicament they were just in, I find it understandable for her to give in to a sense of desperation (and I especially loved how she threw the emotion v practicality conflict back in Cooper's face in the following scene)

 

 

I can sorta buy her being so impassioned she felt she had to make the speech. What I can't buy is any of them taking her seriously.

 

Yes... it wasn't an isolated scene.

 

If I recall correctly Cooper used 'the power of love' to find the right moment in time to communicate with Murphy.

 

So to Nolan... Brand's belief that love was a force as powerful as Gravity was not just the statement of a desperate lover but a central tenet to the film.

Edited November 9, 2014 by AndyLL

[Dementeleus]

Welp, now we have the basis for BOF Civil War, seeing Tele and Baumer were notably indifferent and #ED and CJohn absolutely loved it

 

Team #EDxCJohn for me

 

Baumer and me will win.

[RobinHood26]

For now...

 

B.

 

Take my Nolanite card away. But don't ever say I can't be objective. And that's not to say this opinion can wildly change either way with multiple viewings.

 

My whole life's been a life. 

 

Im going to ask my mom if I was adopted... Am I gay? 

[Ozymandias]

I saw it again tonight with some new people and I liked it just as much as the first time, its not quite perfect, there are some "oh whatever" scenes but I really dug it overall.  Also, both times I had to explain parts of the movie to at least 1 person, I don't know whether that makes me or depressed.  Either way, its probably gonna hurt its legs, but then again, the notion that $$ = quality is

 

A/A-

Edited November 9, 2014 by Ozymandias

[Dementeleus]

If I recall correctly Cooper used 'the power of love' to find the right moment in time to communicate with Murphy.

 

It wasn't even particularly the right moment. He had access to her entire physical and temporal existence (in fact, he had access to the physical and temporal existence of the human race). He just decided to bang away (literally!) on what was essentially two points in her life. (I know "the ghost" visited her at earlier points, but essentially the movie treated that as pointless.)

[Dementeleus]

I said this in another thread, but I'm hedging toward thinking that this is Nolan's worst movie.

 

We'll see how that opinion settles (or doesn't). I'm seeing it again tomorrow morning with a friend.

[CloneWars]

It wasn't even particularly the right moment. He had access to her entire physical and temporal existence (in fact, he had access to the physical and temporal existence of the human race). He just decided to bang away (literally!) on what was essentially two points in her life. (I know "the ghost" visited her at earlier points, but essentially the movie treated that as pointless.)

I don't think that is 100% true. I think the 5-D beings chose her bedroom to limit Coopers choices. 

[CloneWars]

I said this in another thread, but I'm hedging toward thinking that this is Nolan's worst movie.

 

We'll see how that opinion settles (or doesn't). I'm seeing it again tomorrow morning with a friend.

I think TDKR is his worst. Right now, I have this ranked 3. 

[Dementeleus]

I don't think that is 100% true. I think the 5-D beings chose her bedroom to limit Coopers choices. 

 

I don't think there's any specific content that definitely says that -- I'll keep an eye out tomorrow when I see it again. But in the context of the story, why limit him (and her), especially to a point in time that was constraining on her end? It's convenient to the story, but not the reverse.

[Dementeleus]

I don't want to bag endlessly on it. I appreciated the sentiment behind the movie, I thought there were some great parts, I was touched in a few places. And of course it was tremendously impressive visually.

[IndustriousAngel]

I said this in another thread, but I'm hedging toward thinking that this is Nolan's worst movie.

 

We'll see how that opinion settles (or doesn't). I'm seeing it again tomorrow morning with a friend.

Well, I'll have to see it too once more, but "Nolan's worst" isn't exactly helpful since imho all of his movies have very similar qualities (and lacks thereof) and Interstellar falls in pretty the same slot or me. I maintain that there were to terrific films waiting in the wings here which got unhappily married into a bumpy ride, but as a hard-SF aficionado I have to be very thankful that someone took the risk of putting a high-concept space sf story without much action on the big screen.

[Claire of Themyscira]

I don't want to bag endlessly on it. I appreciated the sentiment behind the movie, I thought there were some great parts, I was touched in a few places. And of course it was tremendously impressive visually.