Interstellar

Interstellar
Movie Blurb by Shale
November 8, 2014

I've been watching the trailers to this movie for a while and it was my must see movie this weekend. I can give you an idea of what it is about but not much more than you may have seen in the trailers because you should watch this one unfold.

Unless you have one state of the art Dolby Surround Sound system in your cheap ass apartment you are not seeing near the same movie I saw today.

It is a total experience when a huge rocket is boosting astronauts into space with roaring thrusters and you feel it in your chest and your seat more than you hear it. There is an excitement here in theater that I will miss when I later get the real DVD of this movie.

The setting is in the near future when most of civilization has starved and what is left is reduced to survival in a world where crops are continuously failing and huge dust storms are common. The Earth is becoming uninhabitable and all focus is on growing what food sources remain, which is pretty much corn. Wheat and other grains are history, killed by a blight that the changing atmosphere lets thrive.

Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) is a farmer now but once was a NASA pilot before the collapse of the planet's higher scientific endeavors. He lives with his father-in-law Donald (John Lithgow) and his two kids, daughter Murphy (Mackenzie Foy) and son Tom (Timothée Chalamet). His wife had died of a tumor for lack of an MRI or other modern medical attention.

Cooper, being a leftover from the Science Age of NASA discovers an underground remnant of NASA and is pressed into being a pilot for an interstellar expedition to find a new planet suitable for humans to inhabit. He knows a former NASA colleague there, Professor Brand (Michael Caine) who convinces him to take on the job. Seems there has been communication from an alien source and a wormhole that was placed just outside of Saturn that would take a craft to another galaxy.

Cooper the Pilot


That is the setup and you know they start on their exploration of these other planets, with Cooper as pilot and astronauts Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway), Romilly (David Gyasi) and Doyle (Wes Bentley). Oh and an AI robot named TARS (voice of Josh Stewart).

Exploring New Worlds

This movie seemed to me like another version (or vision) of Stanley Kubrick's 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. However, there is an emotional, human element to this movie that was lacking in that one, as Cooper's daughter Murph is really distressed that her dad to whom she was quite close is leaving her.

Daddy Don't Go


She carries this anger into adulthood (played by Jessica Chastain). Yep, we will follow this story for many years as kids on earth grow up and colleagues get old and die. It has to do with relativity, where time slows down for a body in space traveling at light speed but on earth with gravity, it continues as usual. Well, that's all I know about it but it plays a big part in this movie. But, you don't need to be a science nerd to enjoy the ride of this sci-fi adventure.

It wasn't just my observation that this movie reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Director Christopher Nolan was really impressed by that movie from his childhood and consulted actual scientists in making this movie. So, it is science fiction that uses the current knowledge we have of the universe. Also, the AI robot TARS might give you misgivings because of AI HAL in that earlier movie. Another similarity with Kubrick's long movie, which was 2 hours and 28 minutes running time - this one is 2 hours and 49 minutes.

It is a really good movie, well made and adheres to science fact (no sounds in space ya know). I recommend it but that is irrelevant because those who want to see it probably already have.

Click here to view the article