Interstellar (2014)

Starring: Matthew McConnerhay, Anne Hatherhay, Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain

Directed by: Christopher Nolan (Doodlebug; Following; Insomnia)

Synopsis:  Earth is short on food and long on dust, so a farmer is blasted into space to find a new planet for everyone. How everyone will get there before running out of food… well…

*spoilers below!*

What Works:

• Christopher Nolan is without question a master filmmaker. Nearly every single shot and effect (most of them practical, bless his soul) are on point. He’s the undisputed king of the dramatic blockbuster genre.
• Matthew McConaughey has grown into one of those actors you’re glad to see in any movie and always brings his A game. He’s the Tom Hanks of the 2010s.
• I do really appreciate that this movie is based on some actual science, unlike WALL-E, which got nothing right!

What Doesn’t Work:  

• This movie is longer than Milton Berle’s pocket rocket and could have been trimmed by an hour or two or 2 1/2. Nolan and his brother seem to have settled into this claptrap vortex that they need to jump out of. Just because something is extremely long doesn’t mean it’s deep and smart.
• Jessica Chastain… I just don’t get it. She’s a mediocre to borderline bad actress in everything I’ve seen her in, but hailed by some as the second-coming of Meryl Streep.
• The ending reveal with the bookcase is… I just… well… god damn it… so… but… it’s… no… uh… flarp…

Overall: Christopher Nolan was so great for the first six or seven films of his career, but his last two have been an absolute goddamn mess. I don’t know if it’s Johnathan Nolan dragging his brother down with some horrible scriptwriting or what, but Chris should probably hire someone else for his next picture. While Interstellar isn’t nearly as bad as The Dark Knight Rises, it still misses the mark by a planetary-wide margin. I actually turned it off about 40 minutes in because I was hating it so much. I eventually turned it back on (mostly because I was in the middle of reading “The Martian,” which I love, and wanted to see a space movie) and ended up not completely hating it, until the climax (and then the weird scene where Cooper doesn’t seem to give two shits about his grandchildren). But it’s really not worth slogging through. You’re better off watching The Right Stuff, or Gravity and Moon back to back. Hopefully The Martian will turn out well. Oh, starring Jessica Chastain? Oof…

Score: 5.5 Earth years to watch this movie (out of 10)