Movie Review - Interstellar

Interstellar

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Mackenzie Foy, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, John Lithgow, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, Timothée Chalamet, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi, Matt Damon, and more.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan Written by: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan Cinematography by: Hoyte Van Hoytema Music by: Hans Zimmer

Premise: Earth has been devastated by a blight that is slowly destroying different types of crops. It's turned much of the world into a dust bowl. With his dreams of space flight reduced to the high tech farming of corn, Cooper gets an unexpected opportunity when chasing down a weird anomaly in his daughter's bedroom. The coordinates from the anomaly lead him to a secret base, one where NASA is being pursuing two different plans to try to save the human race from extinction. And an old colleague has need of Cooper's unusual skill set, but it will mean leaving his family and no guarantee that he will ever see them again in his lifetime. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Matthew McConaughey knocks it out of the park with his portrayal of Cooper, an ex astronaut turned farmer. His deep emotions when watching the videos from his kids are heartwrenching. Mackenzie Foy as young Murph makes the audience connect with her and Cooper, captivating our hearts for the ride ahead. Jessica Chastain as an older Murph ties it all together. Anne Hathaway did a great job as Brand and an even better ying and yang to Brand's father, played by Michael Caine. John Lithgow was endearing and quite amusing as Cooper's father-in-law, Donald.

2) Special Effects - Total Thumbs Up: Most of the effects are quite subtle in nature, with very little flare except in a few spots. But it doesn't make the efforts any less grand. They even use actual real footage of space and weave it in with created content. The look and feel of the spaceships make the film feel like something that could happen tomorrow. The dust storm effects were very well done. And worked excellently with how the dust was used in Murph's room.

The worlds we see are cool in their contrast, even as they end up very much on the same par. The use of the blockish (and quite versatile!) artificial intelligences gave the film a very future feel, even as the AI's themselves grew more human by the moment.

There are several scenes that spin about for realism, but luckily they don't last too long and do give the film a fun and more realistic feel as they largely fit our current modes of space travel.

The wormhole and blackhole were nicely done - some lovely light refractions - but again are done in an understated way. They permeate everything yet aren't blaring. Everything felt very real. And wait until you see the special tunnel towards the end... Nicely done!

3) Plot/Story - Total Thumbs Up: Science Fiction is about social matters, emotion, and human change as well as science. "Interstellar" definitely fits the definition and even brings the heavy science into play without losing the audience. They bring in things like time dilation, the laws of relativity, and more. The film also explores family, the ties of love, loneliness, keeping or discarding our humanity, and plain human stubbornness - at times one of our best and worst traits.

There's not a lot of information on the Blight aside from quick bits fed to the audience throughout the film. Using interviews from those who lived through the real Dust Bowl was a nice touch and gave a bit of homage to those who experienced those hard times. Gave the whole film a higher level of authenticity.

Most, if not all, of the science was solid and explored a lot of fun bits having to do with quantum physics, gravity, and time. Several big unexpected surprises and lots of hard, emotional moments. If you've ever have gotten tearyeyed at a film, I strongly suggest bringing some tissues.

4) Stunts - Total Thumbs Up: Mad driving through cornfields, being battered around in space ships, some hand-to-hand fighting, the stunt department was not left without fun things to do.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: In this too there was a lot of subtlety, but still made from some grandiose or beautifully spanning fields of view. The chase of the glider through the cornfields and the view bringing us close and also fanned out visually increased the excitement of the sequence.

Great open shots on each of the planets, making the small areas filmed look like huge open spaces that might never end. The views of the black hole as they neared the system proved again and again the epic scope of their mission. At other times the shots would focus on small details, like the clamps opening and closing as they're unable to lock in place, visual portents of what is soon to come.

Amazing job in setting the different moods as well. Hear, hear!

Conclusion: "Interstellar" has strong science elements going hand in hand with the emotions that drive us, Good and subtle effects make everything seem all the more viable. If you ever get teary eyed at movies, bring tissues! You'll need them! The film is 3 hours or so long, so no giant drinks. :)

Rating: 4.25 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Would Pay Full Price To See Again)

Movie Review - Dark Knight Rises

Dark Knight Rises

Starring: Christian Bale, Anne Hathaway, Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Marion Cotillard, Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine, Matthew Modine, Ben Mendelsohn, Burn Goreman, and more.

Directed by: Christopher Nolan Screenplay by: Jonathan Nolan and Christopher Nolan Story by: Christopher Nolan and David S Goyer Based on the characters created by: Bob Kane Cinematography by: Wally Pfister Original Music by: Hans Zimmer


Premise: After an eight year retirement due to injuries received both physically and spiritually at the end of "The Dark Knight", Bruce Wayne finds himself paying attention to the outside world after Selina Kyle sneaks into the mansion during a benefit, and steals more than just his mother's pearl necklace. This incident is but one in a chain of events, prompted by the new villain Bane, that will bring Gotham down a road that might end in its utter destruction. (Rated PG-13)

Review:

1) Acting - Total Thumbs Up: Great work from all the actors involved. Christian Bale showed many sides of Bruce Wayne and Batman that we don't normally see as he is tested unlike ever before. Michael Caine rose to his usual standards and even got more play than usual as Alfred tries to deal with Bruce getting back into the game and other problems. Anne Hathaway was a super fun Selina Kyle. She had several great one liners, which were delivered perfectly.

2) Special Effects - Thumbs Up: Some old and new vehicles make an appearance - The Bat was funky looking, but served very well. Several new gadgets also showed up used to good effect. The roaming EMP field made for a very cool scene in the car tunnel.

The Bane here is not the Bane from the DC Comic's story line when he was introduced into the DC universe about ten years ago, so no real special effects were used on him. However, the beginning action sequence and the major one when Bane announces his presence officially in Gotham were visually awesome.

3) Plot/Story - Thumbs Up: I was very heavy into comic books many years ago and was there when the Bane was first introduced into Batman's world. If you were as well, just forget everything you know before you go see this film. While some major bits were kept, much was either placed in a different position or changed heavily. Venom, for example, which was the main reason for Bane's odd getup and strength/speed, is not used at all - rather Bane is as bad as he is because he had similar training to Batman's.

One nice bit was how this film tied back to matters which occurred in the first and second films creating continuity. That being said, again if you've read the comics from way back, you'll need to forget what you know about people I won't mention so as not to give things away.

I did enjoy the handling of Selina Kyle and it stayed true in most respects. Though I found it funny that not once was she ever called Cat Woman. And while the lower part of her suit was very reminiscent of several incarnations of the character, they did a real cute thing for her head. She had a mask, but also had working glasses with special lenses. When she was working they'd be down. If not, they'd be up, and sitting on her head they looked like cat ears. So Cat Woman is implied if not actually said.

There were also several story lines running at once. The overall story of Bane and Gotham City, then smaller ones for Bruce, Selina, Commissioner Gordon, Alfred, Blake, and even Foley. It somewhat opened the scope of what was going on to include more than just the caped crusader and his trials. This also helped explain the reason the film is 164 minutes long. There is much to tell. Unfortunately, this may have made it drag a little in places, but not overtly so, so worth it. Lots of figurative 'guns' and 'hints' to keep track of too, if you want to figure somethings out before they're revealed. What may appear as inconsistencies in several places actually aren't, they played the 'red herring' card very well.

At the end, some short cuts were taken with regards to nuclear fallout. But then waves of nuclear radiation would have kind of soured things.

But the three concurrent bits at the end really made things pop, making up for it, and gave great closure to the film. (And no, no extra scenes once the credits roll.)

4) Stunts - Thumbs Up: Very nice work with the physical stunts. There are plenty of them and some involved a ton of people. Plenty of car/motorcycle/airplane chases, explosions, collapsing walls, guns, canons, and hand to hand combat to watch. Nothing matched the awesome precision and caliber of the first scene though. Made most of the rest look pale in comparison.

5) Locations/Cinematography - Total Thumbs Up: The cinematography folks took some great shots which when put together with some of the special effects made for a real treat. The stadium scene and pull back to the full city scene were very well done. It was very eerie seeing those bridges blow.

The angles for the pit worked very well and I loved the city in the background outside it. The fact they threw in bats for two different scenes to act as subtext were nicely done as well.

Conclusion: As long as you forget everything you know from the comics, it's a good third installment in this latest of the DC Batman franchises. Some good Gotham caped crusader fun! (Seeing it in IMAX or XD won't add much to the experience - so if you need to save your pennies, do.)

Rating: 4 out of 5 (Hubby's Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission.)