Interstellar: A Modern-Day 2001

Yes, I Know Everyone Has Made That Comparison, But - 

Awwww, it was like "2001: A Space Odyssey"! Now remind me, was it the Greeks that came up with that dad-blasted word? I can't spell it, and have to look it up every single time I mention the movie. Hmph. 

I'm going to start this review out with a little intro story. 

I was blue. I needed to get out of the house, and I knew "Interstellar" had just come out. 

When I asked my husband if he'd like to go see it, he poo-pooed the idea of going out in the chilly weather. No, he didn't even want to bother driving 4.5 miles to the movie theater. Not that I blame him, his "arthur-itis" as I call it - fires up full force when it's cold and rainy out. 

I informed him that I'd ride my bike there (at 8:30pm). He merely waved and said, "Go for it, just be careful."

I like bike riding. What I don't like is crappy weather while I'm riding. But I wanted to see "Interstellar" pretty badly, so high winds and sleet weren't going to stop me. 

As it turns out it started snowing as I rode to the theater, and just seeing three feet ahead of me was rough-going.  I huffed, I puffed, and I swore, but I got to that movie house in a half hour, just in time to buy popcorn and see the trailers before the movie. That was perfect timing in my book. 

After a ride like that I really hoped that the movie was worth it. It had better be, I thought...

I was right. Here's why:

Photo by Rep at Comic-Con

1. Matthew McConaughey. academy award winner, great actor, and cute guy, especially when he trims his eyebrows. He's entirely believable as a father, an engineer, and a crack space pilot.

The Black Hole.

  

2. It's a "Space" movie. There are glorious shots of Jupiter, Saturn, and a black hole that boggles the mind. There are planets out of someone else's mind (Nolan) that are imaginative and frightening. 

TARS, photoshopped by Rames Harikrishnasamy.

3. There are new robots in it! R-O-B-O-T-S!!! how long has it been since we had a new robot? A really good robot? maybe - "Iron Giant"? (Since then "Big Hero 6" has filled the gap nicely.) These robots are COOL. You can tell I'm excited when I start talking in caps, which I never do. To be a good robot, it needs to be architectural, sleek, smarmy, and really, really useful. It also helps if you can think of them as thinking machines with personalities, and these robots have minds that can calculate and tell jokes. Wait - they have a humor factor? They also have a truthfulness factor! No more crudely logical, boring machines. 

4. The characters make mistakes. They almost seem human! I've read all the criticism of the "Hallmark Card" ethics that the youthful female astronaut "Brand" (plated well by Anne Hathaway) spouts like rainbow-colored flying ponies, but the gooey spurting about love was right for her. She's a young gal, she knows nothing about life, love, or heartache. if she yawps about her hormones, isn't that realistic? It seems like it to me. 

5. The bad guy is the most feared bad guy in all of history. Who is it? No, not Matt Damon! it's TIME. Yes, time. The theory of relativity doesn't help at all in this one. People trying to save time in order to save the human race, keep alive to see their loved ones, even beat old age - time is everywhere in this movie. Time is such a big, big baddie that I find myself wishing to be a Timelord every time i think about it. 

6. Curious casting. I won't give away all the roles, but Michael Caine and John Lithgow were very interesting choices. In some ways I think both were miscast, but they added significantly to a rather youthful group pf actors that needed someone to bounce off of. 

7. Great effects, especially the ones that were physical instead of computer-generated. We haven't seen work like this since "Alien". it seems so real - because it's gritty. Something about computer effects makes things look too good. When you've got a banged-up model that you've lit on fire several times, it makes it seem much, much more real. 

8. Astronaut Pilot Chops. Oh, boy. I won't spoil it for you, but I can safely say that I was hopping in my seat, gripping the armchair, stomping on the ground in frustration, angst, and utter joy. 

9. The Science. Nolan employed a couple of scientists for this movie, rightly so. You can't make a space movie and expect to explain black hole theory to an audience who's used to "Stargate SG1".

The fundamentals of  wormhole tech, relativity, and time are carefully unfolded step by step. Even so, some people walked out of the movie theater exclaiming "What the heck was that about?"

I have just one question for you: Why the **** haven't you seen this yet? If you're reading this and you haven't seen it, you have to ask yourself that and then find it. Yes, it's out there on the Interwebs. 

Go see it. Then come back and let's talk. 

Now I've got to get back to my original copy of "2001", so that I can be sure of my facts. :)