'Interstellar' Nolan Fans Member Reviews

Christopher Nolan's 2014 grand scale science-fiction story about time and space, and the things that transcend them.
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I feel some people are bashing because they didn't like/agree with some parts. They fail to see the movie as a whole, if you know what I mean.

The movie is ambitious, epic, intense, touching, and complex. Some ideas may be humorous to some, some may not agree with the ideas used. But you can't let that affect your judgement of the MOVIE in and of itself. Nolan doesn't give a shit if you agree with his script ideas or not. It's his daughter "Flora's Letter". It's not just a film based on science, or apocalyptic futures, it's a story of love. And once you're able to see this, and understand this, you'll be able to see how incredible Interstellar really is. Over-exposition? I call bullocks. Without some use of exposition there would be even more complaints along the lines of "not understand 0mg plz halp". Also the score, my goodness, the score. Some parts left me on the edge of my seat like no other film. It was just that crazy. And the acting was superb.

10/10. This is Nolan's best film in my opinion, and it will go down as a masterpiece in years to come. I don't remember seeing any movie that's affected me this much. It tells not just a story of family, love, companionship, adventure, betrayal, but also a story of what steps our human race may just take in the future, in our own little reality.

Conclusion: Whether or not you agree/like some of the ideas within the movie or whether or not you like the movie at all, there's no doubt that you'll leave the theater pondering it's philosophy.

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Seeing it a second time helped to clarify my thoughts on the movie... If only slightly.

“Interstellar” is a hard movie to write about. The main reason being that most people who might read my reviews want a clear-cut black-&-white answer to “is it good, or is it bad”? But, the answer is much more complicated.

The movies that we consider masterpieces now are movies that have one thing in common… They are divisive. There’s a sharp line between the people who love them and the people who hate them. “2001: A Space Odyssey” is a prime example of this happening. Over time, that particular film has remained as part of a larger conversation. The sharp dividing line is still there, but that is exactly what makes that movie a masterpiece…

The same could be said for what is happening right now with the critical reception for “Interstellar”. And, honestly I see both sides of the argument for and against this movie. A lot of this movie is a huge gamble. What I think it’s betting its entire success on is this:

So, the film at its core is about a father, his daughter, and their relationship as they’re forced to spend an excessive amount of time apart.

The movie places its bet on you, the audience, emotionally buying into this storyline. If you don’t, the movie will fall apart… completely. If you do, then you’ll be taken on an emotional roller coaster through space, time, and something even more beyond our comprehension.

This is a small intimate story placed across a grand & big canvas. They simply don’t make movies like this anymore. There’s a kind of go-for-broke ambition that is so missing from so many movies. While other films tend to try to elicit the “wow” factor, this one goes for something for more complex… It goes for “awe”.

That doesn’t mean the film isn’t flawed. Oh boy, is it flawed. However, a lot of these flaws are things I cannot talk about without spoiler the ever-loving sh*t out of the movie. I’ll say, the last 5-10 minutes almost breaks the entire film. Thankfully, the emotional hook lands, and keeps the movie from falling apart.

And, it does take a little while to get going.

The stuff involving our protagonist’s family is undeniably moving. Once the film transitions to space for the first time, it tends to… um… get a bit slow in a way that I’m not sure the filmmakers intended. Thing do pick up a lot once our intrepid space explorers enter a wormhole. At this point, the film becomes a breathtaking juggling act between events in space, and events back on Earth. However, the way these events are framed is fascinating. There’s a good chunk of the film at this part that just grabbed me, shook me, and had me under its spell. At this point, there are revelations that raise the stakes quite a bit, and makes the movie tense and exciting.

But, again… it’s the emotional hook that makes it tense and exciting. The visuals, as expected from Nolan, are top notch. The world the movie takes place in feels real and lived in. It doesn’t ring as false. Ever.

But, we get to that 3rd act… This will REALLY divide audiences. The first time I saw it, I was more fascinated & confused than I was on board with it. It just felt like the movie asking us, the audience, to take its word without enough of an explanation to believe it. I walked out feeling confused and frustrated.

Seeing it a second time, I ended up enjoying where the film took me more than I did the first time (until the “epilogue”). The reason for this might have to do with the film's emotional payoff feeling a lot more potent than it did the first time around. Because, like a lot of Nolan’s other films, it’s focused on the big picture, the grand emotional payoff rather than the nuts & bolts feeling consistent.

For this reason, the movie depends entirely on what you, the audience, brings into it. As for me, look… I love science fiction, and this film had me in its grasp and under its spell until it didn’t. But, I still very much enjoyed the ride I took, and would love to see it again to peel back the layers, and figure this tricky thing out.

So, long story short: do I recommend seeing on the big screen? Well, f*ck yes. If you see it, go see it on the biggest loudest screen possible, because it's a gorgeous film. And yes, it has substantial flaws. But, the "masterpieces" we love are not known for being flawless. They're known for staying relevant. And, Interstellar could be next in line.

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10/10. The film was visually and sonically beautiful with an emotional story backed with powerful performances.

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Just a few words,
I have never seen a movie like this,the feelings it generates can not be explained.
It is flawed ,like the real life is ,it is cold ,stressfull,it will betray you,amaze you,you will love it ,you will hate it but it will put a big mark on you for whatever reason.
But if you try to describe interstellar in one word it would be not love ,but TRUTH.
It is cold ,cruel but its only fair.
No movie i watched was near this level of mess..It is so MUCH,maybe even too MUCH right now for me to handle.
It is the worst and the best movie i have ever seen,it destroyed me after 3 hours..Completely..
It cannot be described ,it just cant ..You have to see it.

I would like to give this fucking movie 1/10 i really would because i am mad at this torture i have been through but in the end i guess it will have to be 9/10 just because of the small nitpicks towards the end,but hell even though i have some problems with it i undestand it sort of... (maybe a bit better execution).
This isnt Spielberg or Kubrick not even Nolan..I dont know what the fu*k is this...
9/10
I despise this movie for making me feel the way i feel right now..

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My review, but first thing...I should've stayed away from this forum and stayed away from anything Interstellar related.

I had already booked, going 18 of us total for this Friday, but I just couldn't wait. Too much anticipation, too much thinking about it. I called my girlfriend, asked if she wanted to go, and we went yesterday. I almost couldn't breathe in anticipation. I blame myself for coming to this forum and reading and talking about it so much. It was ridiculous. This took away from my movie experience. This movie should definitely be experienced from a completely blank mindstate...no trailers, nothing. My hope would be to have my memory totally erased and then somebody taking me to the theater and showing me this, without knowing what to expect or what it's about.

As i'm watching the movie, i'm overanalyzing the way the actors are talking, how their performances are going, how the cinematography is going...etc. In other words, I wasn't experiencing the movie the way it should be experienced. For example, every time the actors would have a scientific discussion, or certain things would happen in the movie, I would think, "this is what the critics are talking about". Too much anyalzying because i've been overanticipating and reading too many quick Rotten Tomatoes 1 liners on whether critics liked it or not.

At the end of the movie, my reaction was "what the heck/i don't get it/okay, that's it?". I felt betrayed, thinking there should have been more (more planet hopping, more adventures, etc.) I looked over to my girlfriend and she was tense, apparently in awe. She said that it was a rollercoaster and very moving. It's crazy, she couldn't stop talking about it. Mind you, folks, she doesn't even like Sci-fi. I'm like, WTF, i'm the one that should be like that. We started discussing the movie and I realized it did have some tense moments which sucked me in, and then some moments where I became overanalytic. I just didn't feel the buzz that she was feeling.

The next day, today, I felt calm. Finally getting the year-long anticipated monkey off my back by having watched the movie yesterday. I started thinking about it and one thing my girlfriend said about the message of the movie.."Love can be so powerful it can overcome whatever barriers". As i'm walking home after having dinner at mom's house, IT HIT ME. My eyes got watery and some tears dropped.

In our reality, all our technology, all the advancements we've made...and Interstellar travel might still be impossible. There are certain things in this universe which we might never overcome, and Interstellar travel might be one of them. In the movie, the impossible was saving humanity. There was no hope....but the man's love for his daughter was so strong....so strong that it overcame the impossible, it transcended the impossible. What happened doesn't make sense. But in the movie, LOVE overcame whatever physically impossible limitations were held in the universe. That is such a beautiful statement.

Then it all hit me.

The entire movie was like a poem.

Think about everything that's impossible right now in our universe. We can't Interstellar travel. We haven't cured AIDS or cancer, or the ebola. There are many things that we currently haven't done, and some things that really seem impossible.

We'll find a way, we always have.

Very optimistic, very beautifully shot. Love surpassed the impossible. Wow, I am now just realizing I watched a poem acted out.

I will definitely enjoy it more my second time around tomorrow. My appreciation just got higher.

Current rating as of right now: 8.5/10 (i'll let you know if my second viewing enhances it/confirms it)
I think this will hit harder the people that still believe in love, as opposed to the people that are jaded for whatever reason.

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It seems to me a lot has been said about Interstellar's "flaws" ignoring the many virtues it has, in some way, is astonishing to me how reviewers can give this movie a bad rating, calling it pretentious or overly preachy, filled with exposition and so on, so forth and give good ratings to films that follow obvious formulas and never try anything new but I could practically tell how Interstellar was going to be received by critics because I knew how ambitious the film was and I know that if there is anything more predictable than 95% Hollywood movies these days is film criticism beyond that 95%, which by the way, now more than ever is extremely limited and sadly in the hands of people who care more about the impression from their words than giving a journalistic approach to film reviewing.

Well, I'm no critic, just a guy who likes movies and I can tell you this: Interstellar is an astonishing achievement in filmmaking. Chris Nolan is a man who truly loves film and cares about his audience, a filmmaker who actually cares about giving people an experience they've never seen before, unfortunately he's a director who also likes to trust the audience and for some goddamn reason that's somehow wrong for some people who apparently just got used to be spoon fed a stupid plot that can be forgotten in a matter of hours, sad but true and that's the very definition of a "good" movie for many people. Well Interstellar is a movie that takes the audience to a journey with complete trust on them, and is not about asking a leap of faith into a somewhat strange or weak story, but rather inviting them to see how a simple story can be told in powerful and creative ways.

It is a film that has very clear themes and uses very impressive resources to explore them deeply, from Zimmer's amazing and heart-pounding score to the extraordinary cinematography and visual effects, to the excellent assemble of actors, I found it is actually a very balanced film with exceptional qualities. Yes, it is that kind of movie that might have you at the edge of your sit because of how fascinating and powerful some moments are and I'm not just talking about space imagery but also intimate, small scenes, few movies have had that effect on me multiple times in a single viewing and as many have pointed out, it should be watched on IMAX . It is a film that actually takes risks in the editing department, Nolan is fond of using narrative ellipsis in some interesting ways that some may not appreciate, perhaps calling this "pacing issues" but I thought it served along with many other elements to give a certain identity to the movie, I reckon many of the things people say might've "fixed" the movie would, in my opinion, end up making it loose that identity, that uniqueness.

This is the part where I'm supposed to say: oh it's not a perfect film, it has flaws, fuck, sure there is a couple of things that I might've done differently, the sound at some moment, the way a character interacted with another at some point but I'm not the director of this movie and ultimately what I think is important about movies is the effect they have on you, I can not tell you how much I ended up caring about the characters if this film, how impressive was the audiovisual experience in that theatre and how resonant where the themes presented to me, it is a movie that accomplishes the things films are made for, as entertaining pieces, as means of telling stories, as ways of connecting individuals into some universal experience, and as many other Christopher Nolan movies before it, "Interstellar" is an event that should be seen by everyone.

10/10

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This film was absolutely glorious. To see something so big, so scientific, so ambitious and so grand, while at the same time being so emotional and wearing its humanity on its sleeve. As someone who makes short films and dreams of one day being a filmmaker that people talk about, I wear my dream and my passion like a sign. It's what I live for and what I strive for. To see a world so desperate and so much in suffering that they felt they needed to ignore the beautiful and amazing accomplishments of the past astonished me. Basically wither away and die with no hope, no light and no future would be a truly depressing feeling in most movies. But what I love so much about this movie is the fight and the importance of reaching out farther than you think you possibly can in order to survive. Whether it's going to space and going through interstellar travel in this film or going out and trying to make real whatever it is that you want to be real in your real life. In a way some of the reviews saying that the film is too ambitious reminds me of the people in the film who turn their back from science, from the big possibilities and the desire to boldly go. The fact that this movie can go to so many visionary and out there places, and yet still remember that this is a story about the love a father has for his children and the sacrifice that he will make to ensure their survival. The fact that even with the worst of human nature staring him straight in the face, he will not give up. He will not stop trying to accomplish the impossible because what is life without striving for that which you supposedly can't have, and more importantly what is life without the love that we all want. I walked out of the theater feeling like I saw something truly transcendent, something I really couldn't 100% comprehend and as a filmmaker that is inspiring. To walk out of a theater and know that someone out there is still pushing the envelope and still pushing everyone and everything to tell this type of massive yet emotional story. The acting is fantastic, especially from Matthew, who has probably my second favorite performance in a Nolan film only after Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight. I personally thought Lee Smith and Hans Zimmer really stepped up and pushed themselves to heights I've never seen from them, and they were already masters at their crafts before this. I've seen 2001, I've seen all the films and all the stories that inspired Interstellar, and yet I still feel like I have not seen anything quite like Interstellar. It dares to soar higher than what you possibly could fathom it could soar, and it does so with the ability to have your heart in the palm of its hand, guiding you every step of the way. I feel like as a filmmaker I have a long way to go, but Nolan just makes you want to push yourself that much more. 10/10

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Interstellar is crazy ambitious and does things no other film would dare try. It is an amazing film and just as much of an experience. Easily Nolan's most emotional and character driven story which helps anchor the sci-fi elements. Thrilling, sad, funny and so much more.

There is so, so much more to elaborate on here and I'm not even going to add it to my list of 2014 films just yet, because it requires some space, a second viewing and the ability to think about it on a whole other level. I am so glad a film like this exists, and I can't wait to head back for seconds.

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RottenTomatoes can go jump off a cliff /10

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Just got back:

Nolans films are often cites as art-house films masquerading as big summer block busters. I feel this applies to Intersteller more then any of his previous films. For me, it's Nolan's most challenging film and as much as I was perplexed by some of it plot wise, I appreciated the abstracted-ness of it. For real, the final act got VERY unconventional and strange and I was loving it. I'm still unready to form an opinion, but ultimately I enjoyed it very much.

I'm working on a full review that's supposed to be ready by Sunday, but I might need some more time with this one.

Some questions hopefully someone can clear up for me(SPOILERS):
Was Matt Damon's character the love interest Anne Hathaway was talking about?

I didn't quite catch why Damon decided to be so self-serving. Did he simply just want to live and didn't care about humanity? If so, what a prick.

Where exactly were they at the end? First he was a NASA's "station", but then he was back on Earth. And Earth looked pretty different.


Other then those 3 things that had me a little confused (I might have missed out on some dialogue due to Hans Zimmers score), I really dug it.

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