Why So Blu?

Interstellar: Having Thrice-Taken The Rocket Ride (Movie Review)

In my belief, most salesmen, prophets, religious establishments and even motivational speakers will tell you life is full of second chances.  And like the fictional character of Jordan Chase in Season 5 of Showtime’s Dexter, if you want something badly enough in life, you just have to “Take It.”  Quite honestly, I have always lived my life by a single golden rule, learn from your mistakes.  Grow from them.  And of course, hopefully never make the same mistake(s) twice.  That’s why after talking to a fellow reviewer yesterday about a mistake I recently made in life, I’m ready to come clean and admit I was wrong.  I was wrong to initially award Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar a film score of 3.5 out of 5.  If George Lucas can tinker with the Star Wars saga as much as his 70-year-old heart desires, I think that warrants me the chance at redemption here.

I’m choosing to revisit my original Interstellar movie review (still published here in all its embarrassing, untouched glory) for a number of reasons, but mostly for personal ones.  Of course the conversation I had yesterday with my fellow reviewer didn’t hurt the chances of this happening, but rather it motivated me to take the appropriate actions, acknowledge and correct my mistakes.  After my third viewing of Interstellar yesterday I had a hard time looking at myself in the mirror.  I felt embarrassed.  How could I love something so much now, but when I first saw it I thought so very little about it?  I did not hate Interstellar after my first viewing, but I was not infatuated with it like I am now.

So getting back to my story about my conversation with my reviewer friend yesterday he said something that resonated around my skull for approximately 24-hours before I decided to do something about it.  I’m ad-libbing here, but he said something to the effect that this kind of thing happens, but what pisses him off is when he notices reviewers tweet that they loved the film even more the second time around, but never take the time to correct the initial review that they bashed the film in.  That’s why this “redo” of review here is so important to me.  It’s my chance to correct my mistakes/initial way of thinking and if nothing else get back in good graces with Christopher Nolan because I still worship the ground he walks on and every coveted step he takes.

I kind of feel the same way about my initial reviews of Guardians of the Galaxy and even Under the Skin.  After subsequent viewings I have a deeper appreciation for the films and if I could go back in time to fix them without anyone knowing or even find a tesseract environment of my very own, I would definitely change things here.  You see, I never said I was a great reviewer.  I tend to get too personal with my reviews instead of looking at them subjectively and critiquing them for what they are like the movie review messiah Aaron Neuwirth does.  However, like I said up above, I stand firmly by my beliefs.  I learn from my mistakes.  Every day I’m growing and becoming a better writer and hopefully a better person in life.  What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger and if The Secret taught me anything, it’s that a positive outlook in life even under the most undesired of times can go a long way to fulfilling your endgame.  So if you care about what I think after three viewings now, sit back, relax and partake in a read.  I hope you find my “redo” review of Interstellar thought provoking, sincere and most of all, engaging.  Thanks in advance for your support!

A few weeks ago I went on record by saying there was never a question as to whether or not I was going to see Interstellar theatrically.  On that same thought, there was also never even a question as to whether my first time checking it out would be in IMAX either.  The only question I had unanswered throughout this whole year up until several weeks ago was how early I would be able to partake in a screening of it before the general public.  You see, when it comes to the 44-year old director Christopher Nolan, in my opinion he’s earned the right to make a mistake or two and I’ll stand by the man, support him and walk in blindly to whatever his name is attached to no matter what, just like I did for Man of Steel last year.

In my opinion, ever since 2000’s Memento the guy has been on a non-stop roll in the “success” category within the world of motion pictures.  Simply put, he makes the movies that I generally want to see.  I also love the fact that he’s anti-technology when it comes to email and smart phones and is just all business.  I applaud that.  I wish I could adopt his philosophies and stances in my life, but I digress because they’re required for all my jobs.  So I guess you can say Interstellar really had me at hello all this time before I even stepped one foot into the Austin, TX science center IMAX theater weeks ago.  All it had to have was Christopher Nolan’s name on the bill and in any universe that’s good enough for me.

Other than the ambitious science fiction interests here, the main draw of Interstellar has to be the cast to many.  Let’s face it, like Nolan’s career, the upward trajectory of Matthew McConaughey’s is a force not to be reckoned with.  You couple that casting choice with the likes of Anne Hathaway, the fiery (no pun intended) Jessica Chastain and everyone’s trustworthy butler, Michael Caine, and you literally have a cast that’s simply put,“out of this world.”  And those names are just the icing on the cake.  There are plenty of other stars at play here once you strip the layers away.  However, my lips are sealed.  In case there’s anybody reading this that hasn’t seen this one yet, I’m not spoiling anything for you in that regards (although I badly want to because the one big one feels like I’ve seen the same character played by them before).

If you know anything about this film, then you probably already know at least something about its lengthy production history and how it’s been in development for quite some time, even in the very capable hands of Spielberg, and also formerly written by Jonathan Nolan (at least three drafts of it if memory serves me correct), but I digress.  In addition to any production woes and distribution rights/agreements worked out amongst the studios, there’s also the scientific aspect of it all too.  What’s plausible within this feature?  Is any of this even remotely possible or comprehensible?  That’s a whole other can of worms to open here in my opinion, but it’s also quite fascinating and thought provoking to me so we’ll get to all that in a moment here.  However, I’m bored of all the Kubrick comparisons (2001: A Space Odyssey).  Can we please focus on the motion picture at hand here?  Let’s talk briefly about the plot, or how things go down, and of course what works and also what may not.

Rest assured this isn’t going to be easy for me, but I’m going to try to be as brutally honest and as objective as I can throughout here.  Interstellar isn’t Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight.  The Dark Knight Rises, admittedly had some serious flaws, but I loved it so because after all it was still Batman in the “semi-real” world.  I was even able to overlook the lunacy and limiting factors in Inception.  And truth be told, I thought I was going to have my cake and eat it too with Interstellar because it’s the best of both worlds in my opinion, science fiction and Christopher Nolan, but there are some issues and shortcomings to grapple with here too.  Do I bat a blind eye and turn my cheek like I did with the prior two Nolan films I just mentioned?  Nah!  I don’t think so!  I took the time to painstakingly address my own demons up above so I feel it’s only right to do the same with  any flaws found in Interstellar too.  I hope you’ll somewhat agree with my way of thinking.  That’s all I can really ask for here is for you to have an open-mind, not closed like mine was the first time I saw Interstellar.

The story of Interstellar has to do with the same old subject worn over and over in the world of science fiction, the doom and gloom of our planet.  Our planet is having problems and unless mankind does something about it people are going to starve and as they say eventually suffocate from all the dust (shown by the blight conditions in the film).  Whether that’s reality or not remains to be seen, but let’s face the scientific facts of it all.  The Earth as we know it does have a finite life.  It may be a billion years away from now, but make no doubt about it, the sun will eventually wreak havoc on our favorite planet and life as we know it, well…may come to a crispy end.

So I guess you can say the prologue of the story here lasts about 45 minutes before we even blast off into space with Matt’s character, Cooper, who has been chosen to lead a mission to “save” the world.  How and why was he chosen?  That’s a great question to ask, but that also means there are such things as a dumb question.  They do exist, but whatever.  In my opinion, a some additional work could have been done with these 45 minutes to make the terrestrial part of this tale more enticing, but ultimately even after a third viewing I just can’t wait to blast off into space.  Yes, it would have been nice to have just a little more backstory to Cooper before leaving this world or even see his character initially resist the offer to commander the mission, but in the end, it is what it is and I’m happy with what I have because it’s the emotions that transcend this piece.

While Interstellar is definitely a human experience and quite an emotional tale at times, I agree with some that say it stumbles occasionally to counterbalance those sentiments with the whole wannabe “real” science aspect of it all coupled with four and five dimensional what-ifs.  Things do get bloated and can be quite heavy here for one’s personal tastes.  Honestly, I think that’s why it took a couple more viewings for me to truly bask in the awesomeness that Interstellar can be if you let it in and not dismiss it simply because you didn’t understand it the first time.   It does carry a bit of M. Night Shyamalan story-like qualities to it rather than a straightforward Nolan one, and those sentiments alone most likely represent why it was probably for the best that things did not work out well with Spielberg’s initial attachment here.  This doesn’t feel like a Spielberg movie.  I don’t think Spielberg would ever let the science overshadow the story and most importantly, the characters, but I’ll exercise my right to digress again because I actually do want to get to all the geeky scientific stuff in this review too.

Having written screenplays before, and being a disciple of the art, I understand the need for conflict within.  With that being said, conflict should feel organic and never forced.  I do still feel some of the conflict is shoehorned in here at times, but like you I’m just along for this awesome ride.  However, I do agree also with the many conversations I have been having the past two weeks with my Hollywood producer over what makes a good story and how he feels the science we are assumed to know here sometimes squashes the art of telling an effective story the audience will love.  It seems that just when you start to fall for the emotional ploys in the film you get hit so hard over the head with the science of the film that it leaves you feeling a tad empty, not because it’s boring, but because you really need to understand those scientific “facts” if you’re going to fully enjoy this one as much as humanly possible.  There are a few moments where Nolan quickly discusses the “facts” behind the theories, but most of them are just shoved in our faces and if it interests you, it’s up to you to do your homework later and look up all the relativity theories here.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m fascinated beyond my wildest imagination about some of the topics and theories covered in this presentation, but I do strongly feel the lay people seeing this for the spectacle alone may get bogged down in it and adversely not care for it as much as they probably would have if they completely understood it all.  This problem is probably why Gravity was so appealing to the masses.  Yes, it was a big, giant spectacle, but you went along for the ride and it was a story of survival not weighted down by trying to be scientifically accurate and shoving theories in your face that are assumed you already know just like Anne’s character laughingly does to Matt’s when he clearly shows concern over the time slippages as they relate to him and how fast it’s moving for his family back on Earth.  However, I applaud Nolan here because he sought out to make something big, bold and ambitious and by golly he succeeded, but there is one man’s name shrouded in the shadows here that needs to be thrusted into the spotlight and rightfully recognized for the credit he deserves.

The man I’m referring to is a theoretical physicist by the name of Kip Thorne.  If you’re a fan of Interstellar and you haven’t done so already, you owe it to yourself to check out his book The Science of Interstellar.  For your convenience I put a link to it here.  In the book he talks up the universe of Interstellar, the wormhole,  the black holes, the fifth dimension and so much more that will blow your mind.  It’s like the physics class I never had in high school.  But what’s even more interesting to me than that, if you’re a fan of filmmaking and of course the movie Interstellar, you’ll get exclusive insight into the making of the movie, the effects, how it all came about and of course one-hundred and one reasons why Kip Thorne is the man of the hour here (or should I say three hours).  It was after my second viewing of Interstellar with my girlfriend, when my curiosity started to reach its all-time peak as I questioned all the onscreen events, that I picked up a copy of this book and I couldn’t put it down.  Sure the science and the fact that this film is all grounded in it is simply amazing, but it’s the filmmaker in me just geeking out over how Kip not only interacted with the Nolan brothers throughout the whole process, but also with the cast and crew too.  Now I worship the ground he walks on too!

So let’s talk about the performances here for a bit.  The performances here in my opinion are what keep this movie grounded, and since I know it’s ironic because we are talking about a space movie I just want to clarify it that I mean it in a good way.  The brilliant acting and emotional arcs are what keep me invested in this tale and like a hungry hippo I nutritiously feed off the tears the actors shed onscreen.  Make no mistake, Matthew McConaughey (all is forgiven for that Lincoln commercial) is at the top of his game here.  If he was the only actor in this film for 2+ hours I would sit idly by and bask in his radiant brilliance.  Equally impressive was Anne Hathaway (with the exception of some bad dialogue given here or there) and even Michael Caine when he’s allowed to shine and steal the spotlight.  While nothing can be said negative about the top billing of Jessica Chastain, she just wasn’t given enough to work with here in my opinion.  And when doesn’t John Lithgow excel in anything he’s in as of late?  I really wish I could go into so much more detail and discuss all the other names hidden from the movie poster here, but alas I cannot.  To do so would be to spoil it for you and that’s not my intention at all.  I really do want you to see Interstellar, preferably on the biggest screen possible, and that leads me to my next point here…the IMAX presentation.

While even though I’m not a huge, huge fan of Interstellar and what I’m about to drop on you in this paragraph may not be the most effective sales pitch, I’d still recommend your first viewing of this flick on the largest format possible.  That being said, go see this puppy in IMAX!  The very first shots in outer space on the large IMAX screen had me feeling a little uneasy in the belly area, but I got used to it very quickly.  There’s definitely a lot of beauty and awe in this one, but sadly something is missing. Despite the large screen format while we’re venturing in outer space, it did not feel that iconic or breathtaking like in comparison to how Gravity looked in IMAX or even when things opened up in The Dark Knight films for that matter.  However, the shots on the foreign worlds looked completely “stellar.”  And I just want to throw the next one out there simply as a precaution.  The one thing that may bother the average Joe Moviegoer is the forever changing aspect ratios throughout, but if you’ve seen the Dark Knight films, then you should be used to this.  I also do feel like I should also warn you about this one more thing in advance.  I thought it was only at my initial screening or maybe I was hearing things, but if you do a Google search there are some reports of others experiencing and making reference to the same areas of the movie where I had trouble hearing.  However, the saving grace in all of this is that the score is done by the masterful Hans Zimmer.  So even though you may have trouble hearing a dialogue line or two, you can still get your groove on with Hans’ infectious score although it seemed to dominate more than necessary during times of important dialogue.

Special thanks to my Hollywood Producer for hooking me up with the following:

Hollywood Reporter: The Cinemark Tinseltown USA and Imax in Rochester, N.Y., has a message for customers having trouble understanding the dialogue in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar: Take it up with the director.  

After receiving numerous complaints, the multiplex put up signs informing Interstellar ticket buyers of the following: “Please note that all of our sound equipment is functioning properly.  Christopher Nolan mixed the soundtrack with an emphasis on the music.  This is how it is intended to sound.”

So last but not least I want to talk about the ending of Interstellar, spoiler-free of course.  If you’ve seen it already, what did you think of it?  Did the scientific twists mess things up for you?  Did you find the ending way too convenient like it was in Mud for me (let it be known that I do like Mud)?  Did the ending really happen as shown onscreen?  Ah, there’s one for you to think about and chew on, huh?

I guess what I wanted to know was while we were gone in space, did things just stay status quo on Earth?  They seemed pretty dire at first like if we don’t do something soon, this new generation will be the last.  However, without going into spoilers again, a lot of time was spent in outer space as it relates to the number of Earth years that pass by.  They come back to Earth throughout the film, but I never really feel the “gravity” of the situation besides a few dust storms here and there and of course some coughs.  So even with all my nitpicking here and above  I DO want you to go see this as soon as you can and I look forward very much to owning this one on Blu-ray to enjoy over and over in the sanctuary of my living quarters.  Thank you for your hospitality and understanding in allowing me to correct my initial theatrical review here.  I wanted to do this not only to make things right and admit where I was wrong, but also to share with you the fact that Interstellar will definitely be on my Top 10 list of films this year, just how high up, I don’t know yet. I hope you enjoy this one because after three viewings I certainly still am.  Three hours goes by so fast here for me.  So what do you say?  Why not take the rocket ride?  Blast off!