Interstellar

Are you one of those who wished Chris Nolan’s movies were not so (seemingly) free of emotions? Well, you know what they say ... Be careful what you wish for, it could come true. Because more than anything else, Interstellar acts as Nolan's sincere response to the above complaint. It's just an effort that is more wanted and forcibly pushed than naturally arising from the story and the characters. At the same time, for a long time (which, given the footage, really means for a very long time), nicely rational (and it is evident where this systematic analogy to Kubrick's 2001 comes from), but it turns into a variation on the Frequency viewed by Spielberg family perspective. However, if, after all, you really want to look for an analogy, then it clearly call for the Contact that also ruined its rational level at the end, although not as literal as Interstellar (what is strange is that on the one hand it is so cheaply literal and yet you can read between the lines, how and what was achieved for humanity during the ending scene). You either get over it or not. I did mainly thanks to the fact that the very first dialog of the daughter in the whole film will clearly determine where from and what point will follow. However, if nothing else, the once-in-a-lifetime audiovisual impression (especially in IMAX) of a pioneering journey into the unknown, which is breathtaking all the time, if not in terms of emotions than at least in terms of what the movie shows. In addition, it is one of the few orthodox big-budget science fiction, where during most of the footage the science, not the fiction is being emphasized, as we can typically see. And that means a lot, if on top of that it is quite likely that you will enjoy it even in terms of emotions. (11/06/2014)

I strongly believe that when I watch Interstellar a second time, free of any of the hype, I will be able to enjoy this professionally made and above-average sci-fi movie enough to give it four stars… but I’d be lying to myself if I didn’t admit that it was quite a big disappointment. And I’m really sorry about it, because there wasn’t any other film this year that I was more excited about. The biggest problem was the last half-hour, it wanted to be smart and ambitious, but I thought it was actually dull and banal. Really, all that exposition in the middle wasn’t original at all. If only the characters stopped talking so much and let the viewers figure things out for themselves, it would have been very successful and literally, and surprisingly, emotionally cold (the emotional peak comes undoubtedly somewhere around the middle, when they watch the messages). On top of that, there are some weird decisions and logically contradictory moments, which really harms such an ambitious film like this (after realising that time passes more slowly in the first planet due to its proximity to a black hole, these leading scientist really didn’t think of the consequences that it could have on what Dr Miller was supposed to do, etc.?). But Interstellar has many things that I liked. There are scenes that made me hold my breath or that captivated me. Excellent music, great Matthew. But from the whole, I’m still undecided, sigh! (11/10/2014)

The secret of Nolan’s success lies in his ability to disguise his inability to maintain the logical and emotional continuity of the narrative in parallel storylines in a disarming and, at the same time, overly dramatic manner. This weakness drags down the entire second half of Interstellar, which will drill such a hole in your head that you are forced to switch to the passive mode of “a great blockbuster experience” – without being bothered by the fact that the editor doesn't know what he’s doing. The movie is full of self-serving dramatic scenes that are of little relevance to the story as a whole, by which I mean the epic docking with the damaged rotating station and the burning cornfield with an angry Casey Affleck (WTF?) on the opposite side of the galaxy. And by dysfunctional logical and emotional continuity, I mean cutting from space to Earth (where we don’t know what’s going on and to which everyone is running), which unnecessarily draws attention away from the key twists of the cosmic plot. It looks so terribly EPIC and uses such magnificent music that Nolan surely knows what he’s doing here...right? No, in my opinion, he does not. ___ But let’s talk about the first half of Interstellar, which seems to be a different film entirely – it is smooth, deliberate and sensitively edited, outlining beautiful thoughts about TIME (which, along with health, is the most valuable thing we have). Because of that, this half of the film is the most elaborate and magical sci-fi revelation in many years. I fell in love with Interstellar in the scene involving greetings after returning from the watery planet, which is something I don’t think I have ever written about any film before. And there it should have ended, and Nolan and his people should have made a completely rewritten sequel a decade later, after they’ve grown up and learned to perceive things in context, together with proper editing. Then, ideally by dividing it into two sensitively linked films, one of which would take place in space and the other on Earth, they could have made Interstellar into a milestone in the history of the science fiction genre, a dignified successor to Kubrick. (11/05/2014)

As if Christopher Nolan was filming more from himself than ever before. He was already indulging in the smartest twists and tricks in the plot and narrative with The Prestige or Inception, but here he genuinely experiences his omnipresent fear for his family every minute, engraving it into every passionate monologue by Matthew McConaughey and building all the twists around it. It is not easy to accept that this time, too, the driving force behind the universe (occasionally even literally) are his own desires and regrets. But thanks to that, Interstellar soars through drama, ecology, wormholes, water, and ice with Hans Zimmer's organs on its back, aiming for a subjectively absolute rating that has no equal. Because I now have greater respect for distant stars than ever before and at the same time, I would give anything to be even a step closer to them. (11/06/2014)

I'm pretty confused about this one. He could easily have made a great movie, but they'd have to cut the minutes a bit and somehow get more suspense in there. The emotions aren't evenly distributed here at all. One minute you're bored and the next you can't wipe away the tears. On top of that, the feelings are fleeting and don't stick around long. If they had concentrated more on the film itself and not built it on dialogue that forces the viewer a bit too much into how to perceive the whole thing, it would definitely have added to the value of this piece. A weaker 4 stars. (11/02/2015)