Topic: A Christopher Nolan Thread

[Kashinoda]

I'd give it a 7.. maybe an 8.

A couple of years ago I would have been more brutal but I've realised I spend too much time picking films apart to the point I find it hard to sit back and enjoy.

Unless a film is severely insulting my intelligence, or vanishing up its own arse (Prometheus on both counts here). Then I can forgive a lot, especially in things such as Sci Fi.

Enjoyable ride, not a classic but refreshing.

[vagabond]

6/10 from me too.

[Redcap]

I'd give it a 7.. maybe an 8.

A couple of years ago I would have been more brutal but I've realised I spend too much time picking films apart to the point I find it hard to sit back and enjoy.

Unless a film is severely insulting my intelligence, of vanishing up its own arse (Prometheus on both counts here). Then I can forgive a lot, especially in things such as Sci Fi.

Enjoyable ride, not a classic but refreshing.

I think 8 is probably the most frequent rating I give to movies because I make a habit of sticking to movies I'm relatively confident about. Interstellar is probably in the bottom 5 movies I've seen this year. It's not a terrible movie, but it's worse than most things I've seen this year. It's been a pretty solidly 7.5-8/10 year for movies.

[Haemoglobin]

I'd give it a 7.. maybe an 8.

A couple of years ago I would have been more brutal but I've realised I spend too much time picking films apart to the point I find it hard to sit back and enjoy.

Unless a film is severely insulting my intelligence, of vanishing up its own arse (Prometheus on both counts here). Then I can forgive a lot, especially in things such as Sci Fi.

Enjoyable ride, not a classic but refreshing.

This is the most fair and reasonable view I reckon. A 'backlash' against a certain artist should have absolutely fuck all to do with how you judge a work. There's no reason to be harsh for the sake of it, and I'd say 6 out of 10 is a little on the low side for a story told in such an enjoyably cinematic way.

I really dug it while it was happening in front of me on the big screen, but then I'm the type that voluntarily switches off my scoffometer when something has earned enough brownie points with its storytelling techniques. 7.5 is not too bad a call if you must quantify it numerically (arbitrarily), just under 7 maybe if you're being a miserable bastard, bobbing up into the 8s if you're in a good mood and watching films is a pastime to enhance your appreciation of life rather than an opportunity to appear cold-eyed and discerning.

[Skidder.]

I don't know what to say.

I'm going to go and watch it again.

First impressions.

Spoiler

It is a throwaway statement to make and by no means a light one, but it's an effective film, there's no doubt about that. It is entertaining and aside of a few moments of pure 100% sentimentality and high drama where you remember that what you're watching is bottled bollocks, I thoroughly gorged on the films escapism.

I'm gutted I didn't go to see this in the cinema, but I really think it would have been overwhelming. It is beautifully put together but the narrative in a couple of instances gets under its own feet. Whether this is due to the editing or the story, I don't know; but somewhere in the second act it begins to hammer home the film-logic with almighty force. You almost choke on the insincerity of it, "Okay, I get it, I get it! - Now get on with the story!!!". It really does get all epic on you and almost... Musical/opera-like? - Does that make sense? 

Anyhow, I'm going to go and give it another go.

[close]

[livesound]

I don't know what to say.

I'm going to go and watch it again.

First impressions.

Spoiler

It is a throwaway statement to make and by no means a light one, but it's an effective film, there's no doubt about that. It is entertaining and aside of a few moments of pure 100% sentimentality and high drama where you remember that what you're watching is bottled bollocks, I thoroughly gorged on the films escapism.

I'm gutted I didn't go to see this in the cinema, but I really think it would have been overwhelming. It is beautifully put together but the narrative in a couple of instances gets under its own feet. Whether this is due to the editing or the story, I don't know; but somewhere in the second act it begins to hammer home the film-logic with almighty force. You almost choke on the insincerity of it, "Okay, I get it, I get it! - Now get on with the story!!!". It really does get all epic on you and almost... Musical/opera-like? - Does that make sense? 

Anyhow, I'm going to go and give it another go.

[close]

Seeing it at the cinema was probably the best experience there in a long time for me. Was overwhelmed by the sound/picture of the film.

[Sir Psycho Sexy]

Spoiler

I like when Anne Hathaway walked all the way over to that piece of debris to try and bring it back and when she couldn't, the walking fridge just sprinted the whole way there and back again in a tenth of the time

[close]

[Skidder.]

Spoiler

I like when Anne Hathaway walked all the way over to that piece of debristo try and bring it back and when she couldn't, the walking fridge just sprinted the whole way there and back again in a tenth of the time

[close]

Spoiler

Yeah, there are a few illogical moments here and there aren't there? - But I guess NASA's finest even have brainfarts on occasion.

[close]

 

[Skidder.]

Hmmm, watching this, I couldn't help but notice some striking similarities between this and Contact (1997).

Also, did anyone else think that the Ranger space ship, looked slightly, like the Delorian from Back to the Future? (Especially from behind)

[Alan_X]

Finally watched it tonight and fuck me, what a tedious pile of love conquers all hokum.

The science was shit. There was a load of interesting potential but I could barely hear my self think in some places as deafening organ music blared out for no obvious reason.

The whole Matt Damon sequence was there to remind us that scientists are bad unless guided by their hearts - and to clear away the last of the extraneous characters.

Three hours I'll never get back.

[meady1981]

Finally watched it tonight and fuck me, what a tedious pile of love conquers all hokum.

The science was shit. There was a load of interesting potential but I could barely hear my self think in some places as deafening organ music blared out for no obvious reason.

The whole Matt Damon sequence was there to remind us that scientists are bad unless guided by their hearts - and to clear away the last of the extraneous characters.

Three hours I'll never get back.

Bloody hell Al, I'm just waiting for the wife to get off the phone to settle down and watch this. You've put me right off!

[TepidT2O]

It's a film you had to see at the cinema IMO....

[AndyMuller]

It's a film you had to see at the cinema IMO....

Really? I was looking forward to buying the blu-ray.

[killer-heels]

Bloody hell Al, I'm just waiting for the wife to get off the phone to settle down and watch this. You've put me right off!

Dont bother, its terrible.

[TepidT2O]

I thought it was brilliant.... But only if you engage with the emotional aspect of the story (who knows?)

It's not really a sci fi film in some ways

[Redman0151]

Treat it like a summer blockbuster rather than a Physics documentary and it's fine, some people don't enjoy it but because it's Nolan the hate goes nuclear instantly

[Bunter]

Dont bother, its terrible.

Out of interest is there any films you actually do like? You seem to hate everything.

Anyway, as they said it's not really a film about space per se, so don't get too worked up if all your equations aren't adding up. Though alot of the Physics concepts are just theoretical ideas so complaining about things you couldnt possible know anyway seems daft.

[johnsmithlfc]

Finally watched it tonight and fuck me, what a tedious pile of love conquers all hokum.

The science was shit. There was a load of interesting potential but I could barely hear my self think in some places as deafening organ music blared out for no obvious reason.

The whole Matt Damon sequence was there to remind us that scientists are bad unless guided by their hearts - and to clear away the last of the extraneous characters.

Three hours I'll never get back.

Saw it at the cinema and felt the same....overrated and ridiculous.
Going to watch again though now I DL'd a copy and I'll see if I find it as medocore this time

[rob1408]

It's overblown, melodramatic and too long, but there's still a fair bit to enjoy.  It looks great and while it's manipulative, it's difficult not to get caught up in it.

I'm glad I watched it, but I doubt I'll sit through it again.  I certainly wouldn't call it 'terrible' nor do I think it's a great film.

[jooneyisdagod]

This is one film that thinking about it has made it age pretty poorly to be honest. Perhaps I got carried away with the sheer excitement of it all when it first came out with it's stunning visuals and my general love for space travel and everything it entails and my absolute undying love for 2001 which is up there with my favourite films of all time. But I just thought about the film when the topic was bumped up and I think while entertaining, it was extraordinarily melodramatic and the whole 'love' angle was Deepak Chopra level of shite. I think I gave it a 6.5 or a 7 when it first came out but I'll give it maybe a 4 now. And that's only the entertainment value of it with the actual visuals that drag it up. The sound was shite IMO. Still not Avatar levels of turd though which I was instantly put off by. About 15-20 minutes into that one, I thought it was utter fucking garbage.

[Latenight Surfer]

10 down the line people will be laughing at this film quite opposite to what happened with 2001 which got more and more recognition as time went on.

[Alan_X]

I thought it was brilliant.... But only if you engage with the emotional aspect of the story (who knows?)

It's not really a sci fi film in some ways

I agree with the last line. It's a metaphysical fairy story. The science made little sense and it was all about the power of lurve. There was also the nonsense that somehow 'they' were 'us'. A species that lives in five dimensions, can create tesseracts and place wormholes near Saturn would have as much to do with us as we do with microbes.

It was all just too long for what it was.

There were some strong moments to do with the pain of ageing at different rates but even that was smoothed over with the Earth-mother moment at the end.   

And if it's so easy for Cooper to jump into a tiny ship and travel to catch up with Brand on her Earth-type planet. Why aren't more going?

And if you have a load of binary information stored in a robot brain that you want to get across to a  scientist.  What method do you use?...  Binary?... Of course not. Morse fucking code?...

It's quite a stupid film which is disappointing from Nolan. The key messages being to trust in love not science.

[Alan_X]

Bloody hell Al, I'm just waiting for the wife to get off the phone to settle down and watch this. You've put me right off!

Watch it as a very loud love story.

[TepidT2O]

I agree with the last line. It's a metaphysical fairy story. The science made little sense and it was all about the power of lurve. There was also the nonsense that somehow 'they' were 'us'. A species that lives in five dimensions, can create tesseracts and place wormholes near Saturn would have as much to do with us as we do with microbes.

It was all just too long for what it was.

There were some strong moments to do with the pain of ageing at different rates but even that was smoothed over with the Earth-mother moment at the end.   

And if it's so easy for Cooper to jump into a tiny ship and travel to catch up with Brand on her Earth-type planet. Why aren't more going?

And if you have a load of binary information stored in a robot brain that you want to get across to a  scientist.  What method do you use?...  Binary?... Of course not. Morse fucking code?...

It's quite a stupid film which is disappointing from Nolan. The key messages being to trust in love not science.

Yeah, the science makes little sense.....


Buts it's about loss, relationships and ageing for me....

[johnsmithlfc]

It's overblown, melodramatic and too long, but there's still a fair bit to enjoy.  It looks great and while it's manipulative, it's difficult not to get caught up in it.

I'm glad I watched it, but I doubt I'll sit through it again.  I certainly wouldn't call it 'terrible' nor do I think it's a great film.

See that was my main issue - there's actually a lot to like, it has all the ingredients for a great film.
They just didn't explore any of the interesting ideas and elements in the film and decided to make it all about schlocky melodrama.

Frankly a waste of a great premise,a huge budget and a talented cast.

I was definitely entertained when I saw it and there are some excellent scenes but for every good and interesting thing in the movie, they then shit all over it by cheesing it up.

[Red Beret]

That's a relief.  With this topic suddenly bumped my first instinct was a sequel had been announced. 

[Alan_X]

There's also a fundamental problem with any sense of jeopardy - if the wormhole is created by future 'humans' then it's a given that humanity survives. 

[Redman0151]

There's also a fundamental problem with any sense of jeopardy - if the wormhole is created by future 'humans' then it's a given that humanity survives. 

I haven't watched it in a while, but don't we only find out that the future humans made it at the end of the film? So it's not like we're told 5 minutes in "humans survive"

[jooneyisdagod]

I haven't watched it in a while, but don't we only find out that the future humans made it at the end of the film? So it's not like we're told 5 minutes in "humans survive"

The point is that the reveal makes the rest of the film redundant. In other words, if the super-humans of the future built the wormhole and tried to get in touch with the lead characters to get them to then fly through it and save the rest of humanity, it means that even without their intervention, there was no risk of total destruction because the humans would go on to work out the equations anyway and proceed to become super-humans anyway.

[Alan_X]

I haven't watched it in a while, but don't we only find out that the future humans made it at the end of the film? So it's not like we're told 5 minutes in "humans survive"

It seemed fairly obvious but even if you don't know until he's in the Tesseract then the whole ending from there on has no real tension.

[Solomon Grundy]

I give this a 5/10. Average film imo.

[Redman0151]

The point is that the reveal makes the rest of the film redundant. In other words, if the super-humans of the future built the wormhole and tried to get in touch with the lead characters to get them to then fly through it and save the rest of humanity, it means that even without their intervention, there was no risk of total destruction because the humans would go on to work out the equations anyway and proceed to become super-humans anyway.

It's a pretty common sci fi trope, there's a proper name for the paradox but I can't remember it. Time is circular, and the human's always sent back the wormhole as events don't occur in a linear fashion. Without the wormhole they wouldn't figure it out.

Essentially what I mean is an event in 1904 doesn't take place before one in 2015, there's not a "first linear time", it always happens.


This Dr Who scene sort of describes is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2nNzNo_Xps

[Redman0151]

It seemed fairly obvious but even if you don't know until he's in the Tesseract then the whole ending from there on has no real tension.

The tesseract is the climax though, you can figure out most movies before the ending unless they go full M Night Shamalalamamn

[jooneyisdagod]

It's a pretty common sci fi trope, there's a proper name for the paradox but I can't remember it. Time is circular, and the human's always sent back the wormhole as it doesn't happen in a linear fashion. Without the wormhole they wouldn't figure it out

That only works if you assume that time is circular, which most modern physicists don't actually do as far as I know. So that's a massive cop out.

[Redman0151]

That only works if you assume that time is circular, which most modern physicists don't actually do as far as I know. So that's a massive cop out.

But it's definitely not unique to Interstellar, it's a common trope used across many Sci Fi series and films, you can pick apart most of the entire genre if you go down that road. Simply make the assumption that in this universe time isn't linear.

As I said, treat this as the summer blockbuster, not case study into Physics

[SamAteTheRedAcid]

I really wanted to watch this when it came out but missed it at the pictures and now Ive read so much about it I can't bring myself to watch it, too many preconceptions...I'll get round to it one day...

[jooneyisdagod]

But it's definitely not unique to Interstellar, it's a common trope used across many Sci Fi series and films, you can pick apart most of the entire genre if you go down that road. Simply make the assumption that in this universe time isn't linear.

As I said, treat this as the summer blockbuster, not case study into Physics

It's definitely not unique to Interstellar but this was the one that was marketed as being the intelligent alternative featuring a world renowned theoretical physicist on the script writer's list. 

[LFCDynamic]

The movie was so good. I can't understand the 'hatred' for it :/

[MOZ]

The movie was so good. I can't understand the 'hatred' for it :/

Agree.

Loved it. Of course it's not perfect but with a shortage of great sci-fi's in recent years, this was a breath of fresh air.

People talk about the science making no sense but when you are dealing with singularities, black holes, wormholes, parallel universes, dark matter and multi-dimensions, even the greatest scientific minds cannot agree on what makes sense. Sometimes it is OK to fill in the gaps when dealing with stuff the we don't fully understand. But suddenly everyone is an expert in astrophysics.

Plenty of great science fiction writing uses similar themes and takes similar liberties with the unknown. If you cannot go to the cinema without being able to suspend some kind of disbelief into what makes sense to you, you are always going to be disappointed.

As for exploring the themes of love and connection - it is well known that many astronauts, when cast into the void of space, have great moments of epiphany - sometimes even religious awakenings. It is not unusual that a member of crew should experience some kind of emotional sense of a higher power. It is a natural side effect of deep-space travel.

As someone else said, you just need to sit back and enjoy it for what it is. It is a well-made, intelligent, entertaining and visually stunning sci-fi blockbuster of which there are far too few. Embrace it.

[RideTheWalrus]

The movie was so good. I can't understand the 'hatred' for it :/

Always happens with Nolan movies. Upon release it's the best thing ever, then a few months later everybody hates it.

There's a big 'Nolan is most over-rated director ever' following. Which to me is bizarre, you can't deny some of his movies are fantastic. The Prestige is one of my all time favourites.