Interstellar: Review

"We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt." - Cooper

There are two kinds of movies in the world, normal movies and Christopher Nolan movies. The normal movies would sometimes be good and sometimes they’d be horrible. Christopher Nolan movies will always be good if not great and will never let you down. In this day and age where the directors are the stars of the movie, Christopher Nolan has definitely made a name for himself. After seeing Interstellar, it’s safe to say that the mind screwing director is back in action with another hell of a film.

Interstellar takes place a few decades or maybe a century in to the future. In this future, our resources are scarce. Mankind has been forced to go back to the olden times and become farmers and grow the only sustainable crop left; corn. There are frequent dust storms that will ultimately be the end of us because that is essentially what is killing us. Cooper, our protagonist, is an engineer and ex-pilot for NASA who is now a farmer as well. He is sent out on a mission to go through a wormhole and find a habitable planet in another galaxy that may be the salvation of the human race.

I cannot put into words how immaculate the cinematography for this movie is. Once the countdown began and we were off to space, jaws were dropped. If you thought Gravity was a visual spectacle, then you’re in a for a treat with this one. Christopher Nolan was able to capture the vast emptiness of space and darkness that comes with it. How everything that is visible in space is actually light-years away, Nolan made sure that the audience knew they were light-years away. It was truly awe-inspiring.

Something else that Christopher Nolan was able to do brilliantly was to capture the elements of time. Once you’re travelling at the speed of light and have gone into hyper sleep, time will move very different for you as oppose to the people on earth and Christopher Nolan did a fantastic job to illustrate that as we had seen him do it before in Inception. Time and space were the two key elements that Christopher Nolan explored in this film, and they were extravagantly clear. Also, the emotional pull of the movie was very well executed, all though sometimes shaky. The father daughter bond between Cooper and Murph was very human and touchy. 

The performances were expectedly amazing. Matthew McConaughey, the winner of the Best Actor at the Academy's last year brought his A game in this movie again. Anne Hathaway brought the brains and the soul to the film and Micheal Caine… well he’s Micheal Caine, he’s going to be amazing. The surprise performance for me was from Jessica Chastain who really stood out and shined. Hans Zimmer’s musical score was so hauntingly beautiful, it made you feel like you were in space. When the situation was tense, you could hear the tension flowing through the Organ music that filled the speakers in the theatre. It made the experience that much better.

Now this movie is definitely praise worthy, but not a masterpiece. There were a few things that didn’t fully connect with me. For starters, this film is complicated. This movie presents really bold ideas and grand theories, but its very hard to follow along with them. There was a lot of talk about physics and astrophysics, and if one has no knowledge about either, they can get lost. Although the film does explain itself fairly well, it’s a lot of information to grasp. Also, there is something that happens around the 2/3 mark of the movie that might pull away some of it’s viewers. If that thing doesn’t click with you, you might just come out of the movie not liking it. It clicked for me and I came out a happy camper.

For a movie that spans three hours, I felt nothing. The pacing was perfect, the effects were mind blowing and the story, although a little shaky at times, was very well thought out and almost perfectly executed. Irrespective of if you like the movie or not, you have to appreciate it’s ambition and the heights it tried to achieve. The only way to grasp everything this movie has to offer is to watch it on the biggest screen possible. This movie demands multiple viewing of itself to fully comprehend all it’s themes and ideas, an exercise I will do without any hesitation. One thing is for sure, Christopher Nolan cannot make a bad movie.

8.5/10

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Fantastic Fincher with Gratifying Gone Girl

“The book is a film that takes place in the mind of the reader. That's why we go to movies and say, "Oh, the book is better.”  - Paul Coehlo

As I sat munching on popcorn and taking an occasional sip from my coke glass, I had a flashback. A flashback of all the Fincher movies that have wowed me over the years. With the amazing end to Seven to Fight Club’s even more ultra-dramatic finish, Fincher has made my jaw drop on a number of occasions. So to say Gone Girl had high expectations would be an understatement. My thoughts were taking their toll when the screen in front of me displayed the initial trailers and the Fincher sensation had begun.

And to no one’s surprise, Gone Girl delivered. If you’re familiar with any of David Fincher’s films, you’ll know his movies are meticulously crafted and brilliant looking movies. So when the opening credits started to show, I already felt the dark and shadowy tone of the movie that told me something wasn’t right. As the movie played on, my jaw dropped on numerous occasions as the film twisted and turned and moved forward with great pace. And by the time the end credits were rolling, I was just awestruck staring at Fincher’s name as he yet again pulled a spectacular one on us.

This movie has so many ups. Starting from the acting, Affleck was on top of his game from the get go. He seemed mysterious and guarded and something just didn’t seem right with this fellow. On numerous occasions, Affleck stole the scenes and his emotions were so on point that I actually started hating this guy.

But the real surprise came from Rosamund Pike. Where was she all these years?! The only thing I knew prior to this movie about Pikes was that once upon a time she was a Bond girl, and that’s all the info I knew. But man does she pack a punch in this one. My predictions, Pikes will definitely be nominated if not win Best Actress this year at the Academy’s. If she’s not nominated, my little attachment with The Oscars will be diminished forever until they hand Leo his rightful Oscar.

The supporting actors were great as well. Neil Patrick Harris was creepy and that’s a good thing because that means he did a good job. The movie is two and a half hours long but you know a movie is amazing if you don’t feel a thing. I heard that the end was quite different from the book. Because I haven’t read it, I can’t really comment on that but the end to this movie was perfect for me and it gelled perfectly with the rest of the film.

Although the musical score to this movie was amazing, at points the audio was hard to hear, specifically the first few minutes. It got better as the movie progressed though. But at this point, I’m just nitpicking and trying to found faults to a nearly flawless film.

As the end credits started rolling, I looked at my friend who was watching his debut Fincher flick and he looked at me dumbfounded as I looked at him the same way. We walked out of the theatre without saying a word to each other and it was minutes before we spoke. The first words were indeed, “What just happened.” I said to him, “That’s Fincher for you.”

8.5/10

Peace!

Twitter: @itsNazar

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