Christopher Nolan - Interstellar

[Squawk1066]

I saw it last night, I thought it was brilliant, it really captured the feeling of loneliness they myst get in outer space. I liked the robots too.

I will be seeing it again in IMAX.

[Abagnale]

Just back from the flea pit. I thought the dialogue was hard to hear in places & put it down to the cinema's antiquated audio, but seems I'm not alone.

I liked it, but found it over long & a curious mix of amazing effects & pedestrian photography. It struck me that there were moments such as Michael Caine's moment of realisation that would have lent themselves to a zooming camera like for example the famous shot of Roy Scheider in Jaws on the beach. It's a minor quibble but style in film is never wasted is it?

As for the plot, The paradox is a big circle to square & inescapable and another thing, if it was us who placed the wormhole, why put it by Saturn? thus losing two years for the astronauts. Why not stick it by the moon?

[Agoogy]

Abagnale said:

As for the plot, The paradox is a big circle to square & inescapable and another thing, if it was us who placed the wormhole, why put it by Saturn? thus losing two years for the astronauts. Why not stick it by the moon?

because, the moon is a dull little thing in comparison to the majesty of Saturn, plus given that in the future we have control of 4 or 5 dimensions, 2 years is nothing....the tech needed to get to Saturn would be different to that needed to get to the moon, and therefore perhaps necessary to get through the thing..anyway hindsight about the positioning of a wormhole is a wonderful thing....I dare say after the film ended and Coop went off on his adventure with whatsherface, someone will have noted the unnceccesary stress of everything that had occured and now that communication through gravity and love had been proved, they'd repeat the experiment and sort all the paradoxy positioning stuff out.

It is odd, that when one pays to watch something that is so clearly fictional, why one feels the need to focus so much on hole-spotting and not on enjoying the experience. (not specifically directed at you Abagnale)
Continuity of an actor wearing a red top in one camera shot and then wearing a blue top in the same scene from a different shot is different and unforgiveable, but you have to be some kind of affected persond to watch that story, that was well formed and flowing, and come out and get all worked up over things no-one really knows anything about.
Watch a documentary on the subject and critique that with your big error spotting brains. This was fiction.

Having said that the majority of my friends that have seen this have marked it at 5/10 as it was dull and too long, with 'love' conquering all again, which for me are much more defendable, justifiable responses compared to "his space ship would never do that on the Event Horizon, it just couldn't!"
I for one got lost in the experience and the story, and mark it nearer 9.

I saw Nightcrawler the next night, great tension and action and acting, I could watch that every month with ease. I couldn't watch Lawrence of Arabia every month....but when you do watch it, you know it's in a different league....for me Interstellar gets closer to that league than your average popcorn flick.

[Abagnale]

Agoogy said:

for me Interstellar gets closer to that league than your average popcorn flick.

Agree. It is ambitious & the quibbles are quibbles, but on the walk home last night, the talk was about whether we'd sit through it again & the general view was no, not because of the content, but rather the length. Almost three hours is too much, even for a film of that reach.

[KareemK]

Abagnale said:

As for the plot, if it was us who placed the wormhole, why put it by Saturn? thus losing two years for the astronauts. Why not stick it by the moon?

I suspect a wormhole placed near the moon would have devastating consequences for the Earth as, IIRC, even wormholes are theorised to have gravity on a colossal scale.

[Shaoxter]

KareemK said:

I suspect a wormhole placed near the moon would have devastating consequences for the Earth as, IIRC, even wormholes are theorised to have gravity on a colossal scale.

I guess that kinda makes sense, but then sticking a wormhole anywhere in the solar system would affect the planets' orbits.

[scorp]

Shaoxter said:

I guess that kinda makes sense, but then sticking a wormhole anywhere in the solar system would affect the planets' orbits.

Does that explain the massive tidal waves on the first world ?

[Abagnale]

It's a work of fiction, so you can do anything you like with it. I mean you can't accuse Christopher Nolan of lacking ambition in his films, so taking that as a starting point, it's inevitable that the film ends up with tropes or questionable structures. It's still too long though

[Catatafish]

Abagnale said:

It's a work of fiction, so you can do anything you like with it. I mean you can't accuse Christopher Nolan of lacking ambition in his films, so taking that as a starting point, it's inevitable that the film ends up with tropes or questionable structures. It's still too long though

+1 IMO one of the best directors/writers working at the moment although his films are typically more like two films crammed into three hours. Take the last two Batman films and this... definitely need a beer break half way through.

[Shaoxter]

scorp said:

Shaoxter said:

I guess that kinda makes sense, but then sticking a wormhole anywhere in the solar system would affect the planets' orbits.

Does that explain the massive tidal waves on the first world ?

No the first world was through the wormhole, I assumed the tidal waves were because it was next to a giant black hole.

[Abagnale]

Shaoxter said:

No the first world was through the wormhole, I assumed the tidal waves were because it was next to a giant black hole.

And... That would be foreseeable you would think by either working it out or observing the planet prior to landing, added to which you have Brand Jr. winging it with dialogue like 'That'll work' you could easily pick holes in it as a procedural space mission but you know, go with it!

[croyde]

Off to see this in half an hour and then I can join in this afternoon

I have avoided my local cinema since they went to allocated seating but as this is an 11am showing on a weekday, it will hopefully be empty of chavs. Just hope that the screen is in focus and that the sound is alright as they seem to struggle to get it right down there and it seems mainly populated by work experience kids that do not have a clue.

st I am stressed already.

Maybe I'll cancel my ticket and wait for the BluRay. Comfy sofa, decent Plasma and sound plus plenty of cheap booze and snacks.

[Aphex]

croyde said:

Maybe I'll cancel my ticket and wait for the BluRay. Comfy sofa, decent Plasma and sound plus plenty of cheap booze and snacks.

I wish I did this. Went to an imax showing, almost saw a fight in the cinema before the adverts had even started

Picture was out of focus, really soft dull edges. Worst of all though, they had it cranked so loud that the speaker directly to my left died. Everytime it got too loud it would make this horrific ripping sound.

So.. good luck

[AndyWoodall]

I thought it was really something, but to be honest I'm still processing it. Needs another watch although I found it perfectly fine to follow.

The comparisons with 2001 and to some extent Sunshine are fair, I particularly enjoyed the experience.

JustinP1 said:

I've actually fired off a complaint to Telford IMAX.

Massive distortion in that screen, I felt the same too, couldn't hear parts of the dialogue. Screen was good though, my first time in that IMAX.

[Agoogy]

I thought Contact has more relevance in comparison...bit more mainstream... but deals with such ideas with Matt Mcona hey in it too... both exquisite films.

[nick heppinstall]

I thought it was great but I was a little disappointed at the end when he saw his Daughter... I mean a life time for her but hardly anytime for him. He had in effect lost his child at 10 but sees her on her deathbed as an old lady shortly after leaving her as a kid. Considering how much she meant to him I think it was a bit weak.

[Aphex]

nick heppinstall said:

I thought it was great but I was a little disappointed at the end when he saw his Daughter... I mean a life time for her but hardly anytime for him. He had in effect lost his child at 10 but sees her on her deathbed as an old lady shortly after leaving her as a kid. Considering how much she meant to him I think it was a bit weak.

not to mention, does he ever ask about his son or grandson?

[vescaegg]

So....

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/11/08/jonathan-nolan-interstellar-spoilers

Can anyone explain the ending and where Cooper is going if Nolan isnt lying in the above interview by saying that the wormhole was closed when he was on the space station and would have to find Brandt another way? Either Cooper is an idiot and doesnt know he can never make it due to distance, or Nolan is lying.

And why would the space station be at Saturn if there was no wormhole anymore. If there is no wormhole why even bother with the ship? Can the atmosphere on the ship grow stuff not affected by the 'blight'? If so, why not grow it on Earth in big greenhouses!? Why float around in our solar system going nowhere. Dont forger Michael Cane said 'nothing in this solar system can help us'...

And as Cooper took 60 years to get out of the tesseract (or blackhole or whatever) why hadnt Murph figured out the problems, gone through the wormhole in the massive ship and been waiting for Brandt when she arrived on the planet due to her being slowed down relative to Earth due to escaping the black hole?

It doesnt make any sense! Does it?

Edited by vescaegg on Tuesday 11th November 13:36

[illmonkey]

Why did the guy who'd been up there for 20 years have the idential space suit as coop? clearly no development in that area!

[JustinP1]

AndyWoodall said:

JustinP1 said:

I've actually fired off a complaint to Telford IMAX.

Massive distortion in that screen, I felt the same too, couldn't hear parts of the dialogue. Screen was good though, my first time in that IMAX.

I'm glad it wasn't just me!

I'm a sound engineer so I know my ears are tuned to such things, but it really did affect my enjoyment of the louder scenes.

I was very impressed by the Telford setup apart from that though, very glad I don't have to go to Manchester to see IMAX.

I think it's just a schoolboy error on behalf of the cinema. Maybe the message has been sent out to boost volume due to complaints of not hearing the dialogue?

Either way, that's the wrong way to do it. The other thing I noticed was the resonance at 40-60Hz which was very noticeable at the beginning as there was a couple of scenes with pulsating backing which ended up being 3 times as loud as they were probably intended due to the setup of the room.

It's the type of stuff that you overlook at screen 17 with a few dozen seats in in your local multiplex, but at the premier screen that's not been open more then 3 months or so, they really should be spot on!