[Durbs]

Watched Philomena recently - surprisingly good film. Coogan not at all Patridge-y, Dench was VERY good. Poignant/shocking but also very funny. Good stuff.

In a fit of amnesia, decided to re-watch Prometheus. Utter shite.

[TobyD]

Watched the imitation Game this weekend; really enjoyed it. I thought that it managed to be poignant and human, without descending to the level of saccharine trivia, or being unremittingly dark. Definitely worth a watch.

[Snoops]

Probably a bit OTT but this review has made me want to see Interstellar (and avoid reading more reviews/spoilers) even more...
http://qr.ae/mI6C3

That review sets alarms off from the outset. Be wary of anyone using the word 'important' straight after they've had their socks blown off by a very loud continuous drone.

"It's important for the human race"

Nasa need a big movie to accidentally kick start their funding. Obama has a private view right? Lets hope his plans aren't blocked in the senate, or he isn't sitting too far to the side because he'll miss all the dialogue*.

*I got a refund. If you go to see interstellar, don't sit anything other than dead centre.

Saw Interstellar last week, I'm a big Nolan fan, but this was very underwhelming. I would save your cash for the re-release of 2001 at the end of the month.

[rich d]

[/quote]

Saw Interstellar last week, I'm a big Nolan fan, but this was very underwhelming. I would save your cash for the re-release of 2001 at the end of the month.
[/quote]

never really rated their stuff to be honest, each to their own though.

[LB]

Thanks for the comprohensive review Duncan, interesting stuff. I'd love to know how they animate the pictures like that. . . .  probably seven shades of ball-ache but makes life out of a narration-over-picture scenario.

Late reply but, I think I saw the same technique used in "American: The Bill Hicks" story, a documentary from about 4 years ago.

It was really good actually. Worth searching out.

[Falling Down]

Probably a bit OTT but this review has made me want to see Interstellar (and avoid reading more reviews/spoilers) even more...
http://qr.ae/mI6C3

That review sets alarms off from the outset. Be wary of anyone using the word 'important' straight after they've had their socks blown off by a very loud continuous drone.

"It's important for the human race"

Nasa need a big movie to accidentally kick start their funding. Obama has a private view right? Lets hope his plans aren't blocked in the senate, or he isn't sitting too far to the side because he'll miss all the dialogue*.

*I got a refund. If you go to see interstellar, don't sit anything other than dead centre.

Saw Interstellar last week, I'm a big Nolan fan, but this was very underwhelming. I would save your cash for the re-release of 2001 at the end of the month.

I enjoyed it.  Saw it at the big IMAX which might've helped.  Thought it was a great homage to the big sci-fi movies of the seventies 2001, Silent Running, Polaris etc.  Some big ideas brought to life and not overly long.  Four out of five.

[mrconners]

Funny,  a bit cheesy but a heartwarming story.
Its very good

[Fiend]

Interstellar.

Just wonderful, the whole thing was a real experience (even in a small theatre without Imax). The combination of a very human story and a sci-fi epic was as good as it gets. One of the best films ever and I'm shocked how low it's been rated.

[Paul B]

The Imitation Game

Thoroughly enjoyed this due to the excellent acting by Benedict C(an't spell his surname). Alan Turing obviously had a tough time post-war. I have to say I was unaware of the way homosexual people were treated in this era (chemically it would seem!!!).

(as an aside, Keira Knightley looks good, even in a cardigan).

[r-man]

Interstellar.

Just wonderful, the whole thing was a real experience (even in a small theatre without Imax). The combination of a very human story and a sci-fi epic was as good as it gets. One of the best films ever and I'm shocked how low it's been rated.

I enjoyed it too. Visually impressive, well acted, some nice ideas. Thought the ending was a stretch too far into the fantastical, which was a shame given how much care was taken to set up a believable future world. A bit predictable too. Overall, I really liked it, but for me it fell short of being as good as it could have been.

Not sure what you mean about about low ratings - gets 9.0 on IMDB, which is about as high as they get.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/

This is interesting - Kermode's comparison of Interstellar and Contact
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/markkermode/posts/Interstellar-Contact

 -- SPOILER  --
Also, you just can't mess around with time travel story devices unless they are very carefully employed. They rarely hold up once you start thinking about them. ...And there were loads of other plot holes in the last 15min, which was a shame.
-- /SPOILER --

[Fiend]

73% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Obviously there are some possible nitpicks and the usual science objections (which generally means the objector shouldn't have been allowed to watch a sci-fi film in the first place), which means I'd rate it 95% rather than 100%, but those nitpicks whilst they might spoil a lesser film are vastly overwhelmed by everything Interstellar does right.

I thought the near-ending was quite inspired by Flatland.

[dr_botnik]

Gotta give my vote to Gone Girl, Trent Reznor on the score was a good pick, really built the tension. Combined with David Fincher directing this was awesome. A bit like "Seven" but in a domestic situation. Obsessive relationships, domestic abuse, kept me interested throughout. Had that Ben Affleck in it that i normally hate with a passion, but he really pulled it off. Probably because his character is meant to be one of those nice guys that you actually really hate. Genius casting in this respect, like when they put Mark Wahlberg in The Departed.

Worth going to see on the big screen i reckon. one of the few films this year ive been to and really felt it was worth the treck in t town for.

[tomtom]

Just back from interstellar ... Thought it was great - as did MrsTT

[tim palmer]

Just back from interstellar ... Thought it was great - as did MrsTT

really?

I thought it was Nolan ' s worst film by a distance, and poor in comparison with Nightcrawler.   looked great on imax though.

[Stubbs]

73% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Obviously there are some possible nitpicks and the usual science objections (which generally means the objector shouldn't have been allowed to watch a sci-fi film in the first place)

I just got back from Interstellar too and while I enjoyed it I have to take issue with your above statement.

SPOILER Sci fi films are best IMO when the physics is believable, it seems odd that they would make such a big thing about relativity and portray some of the effects, but then leave out that getting anywhere near a black hole would mean you were crushed to fuck. It was a very enjoyable film if I don't think about it too much, which for me is what stops it being a great film /SPOILER

[tomtom]

SPOILER ALTER (whole post really)

Just back from interstellar ... Thought it was great - as did MrsTT

really?

I thought it was Nolan ' s worst film by a distance, and poor in comparison with Nightcrawler.   looked great on imax though.

Yup - I quite deliberately avoided this thread - all reviews and trailers for the film. So I just sat back and lapped it up....

Re science and Hollywood.. I thought the film doffed it's cap to the science a few times.. But it's Hollywood - and 95%?of an audience won't know any different if it's right or wrong as long as it's plausible sounding.. People don't make a blockbuster for the 5% sadly..

I liked the idea of whether or not there was some higher being organising stuff for us - or if it was just us in the future - or both. I felt that was left quite nicely vague and dangling. Don't forget the first time you see 2001 there are quite a few 'huh?' Moments - that take a few viewings to pop into some sort of sense.. Holly woods probably a more conservative place nowadays...

I also liked the semi anti science dystopian future where scientists engineers etc.. Are looked down on. All on a world slowly killing itself. Sadly believable (that's the point I guess)..

Final science rambling... It's really easy to think that our PRESENT understanding of the universe is FACT. But mostly it's not... The science is the most likely / tested / believed outcome.. Holes (not black! ) are being driven through the Big Bang Theory at the moment (according to the last bunch of physicists I had a few beers with) - so let's not get too upset with a film (a story) that misrepresents the science (another story in many ways)...

[tim palmer]

my major problem was not the incoherence of the plot (and boy is it incoherent) ,  what bothered me most was the lack of character development,  it was all so cursory the only characters I cared about were the two robot things.

[tomtom]

Ha! The robots were strangely compelling characters for angular slabs I thought they developed Coopers character well enough - but yes I can see that for most of the others...

[Stubbs]

SPOILER ALTER (whole post really)



Final science rambling... It's really easy to think that our PRESENT understanding of the universe is FACT. But mostly it's not... The science is the most likely / tested / believed outcome.. Holes (not black! ) are being driven through the Big Bang Theory at the moment (according to the last bunch of physicists I had a few beers with) - so let's not get too upset with a film (a story) that misrepresents the science (another story in many ways)...

MOAR SPOILER DON'T READ IT!

I don't think it quite works where you have a film digging quite deep (for Hollywood) into physics but then you just ignore large parts of the same theory that you are basing your storyline on.

Unless theory about black holes is incorrect (they come from the same theory as relativity, obviously a mainstay of the film) a planet which was close enough to experience the associated distortion of spacetime would be on a decaying orbit towards the black hole and therefore not be a great place to look at setting up earth 2.0!

And the idea that aliens/god/future society hide a specially created 3d construction of 5d space inside the singularity within a black hole which is the only way to communicate with the past inside a bookshelf is all a bit M Night Shylaman!

Perfectly happy to turn my brain off and enjoy films, this one sort of asks you to think and not think at the same time.

[Falling Down]

 

Ha! The robots were strangely compelling characters for angular slabs

Very Silent Running I thought...

[tomtom]

Actually some of the best robots in a scifi for ages imho... Was expecting them to 'do a Hal' at some point - I guess the producers kept them suitably workmanlike rather than making them cute and merchandisable!

[tomtom]

Ha! The robots were strangely compelling characters for angular slabs

Very Silent Running I thought...

I am a film (amongst other things) Luddite.. I suspect there were many parts borrowed from other films (as for many Sci fi's I guess)...

[Falling Down]

I thought the whole film was an elegy to film (not digital) - very meta. 

[Fiend]

What Tomtom said and thank fuck he did because I really don't want to get into a massive back and forth about this. TP must have been watching a completely different film. I thought the human side was so well done, I actually had a lump in my throat at a few points. That's only ever happened in two films in the last.....15 years or so?? The wife leaving and the ending of The Road, and the train journey across the water in Spirited Away.


The only thing I will reiterate is that the pre-ending is taken from Flatland - higher dimensional / future beings may be able to interact with us "breaking" some aspects of our spacetime, but only in limited ways due to the constraints of our spacetime and how we can perceive it. In this case it seems to be gravity that can be broken in spacetime, thus the HD/FBs can use that manipulation within a black hole (where IIRC gravity is usually a problem), but Cooper can't perceive what they are doing - exactly the same with how Murp perceived what Cooper was doing (limited communication from higher dimensions to lower). Also the HD/FBs already showed they acted outside spacetime with the wormhole.

The robots were cool. Did I mention that was well as the characters, the story, the blend of down-to-earth life and sci-fi epic, the relationships, the progression, the set-up, etc etc, I thought the little snippets of humour were spot-on and very natural??

[Stubbs]

I guess good films often divide opinion! Having now watched it I was safe to read Kermode's review and, as usual, he hit the nail on the head.