Interstellar

It’s out there.

Interstellar has high ambitions and delivers on many of them. Director Christopher Nolan (Memento, Batman Begins) combines intimate family drama with epic space cinema and delivers one of the most thoughtful science fiction films to date.

By thoughtful, I mean that you’ll disappear into the theater with thoughts in your mind that don’t include where you’re having coffee after. By thoughtful, I also mean that the next day you’ll find a dozen plot holes that are about as big as those space wormholes.

But this is not a documentary; it’s a space story — and an absorbing one. There are some forced plot devices and a bunch of scripted audience explanation that astronauts probably don’t say to each other, but I did like one highly criticized movie-friendly moment: unlike Nolan’s similarly mind-bending Inception, he gives audience an ending that is more definitive than say, a top spinning. It’s a hokey one, but geez I needed a solid ending after three hours in space.

More “awe-inspiring” than awesome, Interstellar is worth the ride. 

Simply put:  Field of Dreams’ magic + Inception’s mind bending + Gravity’s convenient storytelling

Award potential: For the Oscars in February, I don’t think this film is going to go far beyond the nominations in the top categories, but it is likely on the list for Best Picture, Director, Cinematography and numerous technical awards. Last year’s Best Actor winner McConaughey is stellar in this, and so is Anne Hate-away, but alright,alright enough with them at the podium already.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.