Interstellar

One morning back in 2013, I was working the opening shift at a movie theater. I noticed a group of 20 people coming out of the IMAX Theater before we officially opened and one female member of the group came up to me with a manager to buy some popcorn. I assumed they were part of a corporate booking but then I saw a gentlemen come out of the washroom. After he left, I confirmed with the aforementioned manager about whether I had just seen Christopher Nolan. I knew that he was in Alberta filming a movie and sure enough, it was him that I saw. I was also amazed to find out that I had just served popcorn to Oscar-nominated producer Emma Thomas, who is married to Nolan. That was a thrill. When "Interstellar" was released, I saw it in that same IMAX Theater that Nolan used to view his dailies. I am sorry to say however that this is the first Christopher Nolan film that I have seen where I don't feel the need to buy it when it is released on Blu-ray. That doesn't mean people shouldn't see it but I just didn't enjoy it as much as the previous films from Nolan

My favorite parts of this movie were two scenes on earth at the start and midway point of the show. Both scenes take place on the same small town street with the old fashioned theater. That is the historic main street of my hometown: Fort Macleod, Alberta. Not only was I elated at the sight of the Empress Theater but also the Silver Grill, the Macleod Gazette and Larson's Tire (my parents who own a ranch still buy from there). As a result, the earth scenes for me will always take place in my hometown. You can't just film my hometown main street and expect me to imagine the movie occurring in the US. Speaking of location, you don't see the condition of the earth accept in the area that Cooper farms. Most of the info we receive about the catastrophe worldwide is through hearsay. Usually in a movie when there is a world crisis or an apocalyptic future, there is an opening sequence providing exposition. That is somewhat lacking in "Interstellar". Also, you don't see much of the blast off of the Endurance unlike other science fiction films. During the earth scenes, you feel like you are in a bubble much like the spaceship once it's in space. During the whole movie, there is a sense of claustrophobia albeit a small sense. Maybe that is on purpose but so many of Nolan's past films had establishing shots that made the world of the movie a lot bigger. I agree with other critics that the film is long and is short on humor. The public and those in the media immediately made comparisons with other films and I will follow suit. I can think of two movies that are similar to "Interstellar". The story "2001: A Space Odyssey" served as inspiration for Nolan and I saw that right away. The organ musical cues in "Interstellar" resemble part of "Also Sprach Zarathustra". Robert Zemeckis' "Contact" is also comparable to "Interstellar". I sensed this even before I found out that Lynda Obst produced both movies. Then it hit me that Matthew McConaughey appears in both shows except he is the one of that goes into space in "Interstellar". Some compare this movie to "Gravity" but I think that is impossible because both films were being made around the same time and "Gravity" is much more realistic. The story has complexity like "The Prestige" and "Inception" and as with those movies, you can still manage to keep up with the plot because of how it is written. The difference is that when "The Prestige" and "Inception" were over, you couldn't wait to see them again in order to understand the plot better. With "Interstellar", that drive is absent. I was impressed though with how unique the design of the robots was. To see them accomplished practically was impressive. Funny enough, green screens apparently were not used. The special effects were created first and projected digitally behind the actors.

One should keep in mind that Matthew McConaughey was cast in this film before he won his Oscar and the wave he will ride after performing in "Dallas Buyers Club" and "Interstellar" will probably be a lucrative one. Nolan was looking for an everyman-type character to play Cooper but to me, McConaughey is hard to view as an everyman. Nolan loves to reuse actors and thus we have another Oscar-winner in the co-pilot seat for this movie: Anne Hathaway. As expected, Michael Caine has a role in a Nolan film for the sixth time in a row. I am glad that I try to avoid reading up on movies before I see them because then I get some surprises. It was fun to see Casey Affleck, John Lithgow and Topher Grace but I did not foresee another actor immerging as Dr. Mann. That was cool. Steven Spielberg was the original director for this film and I sort of wish that he had stayed on. One fun fact is that "WALL-E" and "Avatar" helped to inspire Jonathon Nolan in the first years of the writing phase. "Star Wars" also inspired Christopher Nolan as well as other films released in the late 70's and early 80's which portrayed, what George Lucas called, a "used future". The use of sound in "Interstellar" should be mentioned. When the "camera" is in outer space, there is no sound as would be the norm for that environment. I want to point out however what others have noticed concerning the sound editing. The sound effects are so loud that you can't hear half of the film's dialogue. There is the argument that Bane was also hard to understand but he had a facemask. Editor Lee Smith has cut every Nolan film since "Batman Begins" and is once again by Nolan's side for this trip. The goal of Nolan and composer Hans Zimmer was to create a score that was different from what they had done before together. They succeeded because the music got an Oscar nomination as did the visual effects and production design. The sound received two more nominations for the film.

I knew that "Interstellar" would win Best Visual Effects because of their realism and practicality. IMAX was the way to see this show because that was Christopher Nolan's vision. I respect that and the end result was visually cool. The story though was hard to get emotionally invested in. Most movies from Nolan are fun because they are well written. For some reason, "Interstellar" is well written but lacks the fun I was hoping for.

3.5 Stars