FILMS… Interstellar (2014)

#2010s #AllPosts

 

Oh Mann, whatshisname is in space again!

 

A widower astronaut hopes to save the world’s future in McConaughey’s sci-fi with a surprise space cameo.

 

McConaghey and his on screen daughter

McConaughey

“Interstellar” trailer, Official Warner Bros Uk AND PHOTOS © Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros.

 

You know it’s time for a weeper – read tearjerker – when you tell your stepdudes to stop killing creepers in Minecraft because you think creepers are cute. It’s reinforced when you are watching The Simpsons with the family when they find it hysterically funny when you sniffle when Marge and Homer Simpson parody the romantic ending of the 1980s Richard Gere and Debra Winger film An Officer and a Gentleman (1982). Immediately upon hearing Up Where We Belong the love theme of this movie, I suddenly find I have regressed to the incurable romantic I used to be.

I confess I used to sob at films such as Pretty in Pink (1986) and Somewhere in Time (1980), I even sobbed at the original Dallas (1978). In my defence, I was 11 or 12 and had a bit of a crush on Larry Hagman. So I cried when J.R. Ewing got shot, he and his wife, Sue Ellen divorced and when Sue Ellen left him and Dallas for Don Lockwood (Ian McShane). I then actively disliked McShane and in my adolescent protest never watched him in Lovejoy again.

I only forgave him recently for his role in Cuban Fury (2014) as a salsa teacher and master. I so wanted to see him dance in some kind of Dirty Dancing type montage with his padawan played by Nick Frost. But sadly he didn’t. Excuse the Star Wars references but trying to get in the zone before the new Star Wars film.

Luckily for my Darlin Husband, after an overdose of romantic comedies,  I turned into the cynical romantic I am today a reformed romantic who would rather gouge her eyes out with a stick with no anaesthetic than watch a film written by Nicholas Sparks.

This next review encompasses many weeper, hulk and handsqueeze moments rolled into a film directed by Christopher Nolan. It also has a healthy dollop of all-time great and impressionist’s favourite Cockney, Michael Caine. This film description should not be confused with another Christopher Nolan directed film starting with I.

This film also covers weeper, hulk and handsqueeze moments and also stars Michael Caine. However, the latter film has the added bonus of the post-Titanic, beefed up and therefore much more sexier Leonardo DiCaprio. Sorry, but in this review, I will be reviewing Interstellar (2014) not Inception (2010). But tune in soon… as the next film review will be The Great Gatsby (2013).

I was half-watching Interstellar (2014) yesterday as my mother-in-law is visiting and she hadn’t seen it before. Darlin Husband and I had seen it in 3D at the cinema and initially, it struck me how little everything looked on our 48-inch flat-screen. I should have listened to the advice given by Jay and Mike, the Red Letter Media dudes as they advised viewers not to watch blockbusters such as Transformers on a very small screen.

Interstellar – or as its leading man Matthew McConaughey would call it Interstella in his famous Texan drawl – is a science fiction film also starring Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine and John Lithgow. The film tells how a crop blight is threatening humanity and making life impossible for the widowed with two kids, ex-astronaut now farmer Joe Cooper (McConaughey).

Cooper has a son, Tom, and a daughter, Murphy. Murphy is complaining of a poltergeist haunting her room which she claims is trying to talk with her. Cooper realises that the poltergeist is communicating using a dust pattern to communicate coordinates to him. He heads to where the coordinates meet, and after finding his stowaway daughter, the pair find a secret space station.

This space station is run by his old teacher, Dr Brand (Caine). Brand has investigated a wormhole that may lead to other planets which may be safe to live on. He asks Cooper to don his astronaut suit once more to investigate. He also asks him to take his astronaut daughter Amelia (Hathaway) with him. So off Cooper goes, with Ameila and leaving Murphy behind and very angry with her dad. She claims that she and her ghost are asking him to stay.

Cooper and Amelia explore several planets and Cooper becomes increasingly sad and depressed. He feels he will not keep his last promise to Murphy that he will return. Cue lots of hulk, handsqueezes and weeper moments… (btw newcomers see my Rating page for a full description of these categories)

I must apologise profusely to McConaughey for saying he was a himbo and he sounded like Deputy Dawg after I watched Failure to Launch (2006). Since seeing ED tv (1999) and Dallas Buyer’s Club (2013), you have gone up in my estimations so do I forgive you for all those really bad romantic comedies.

Caine as Dr Brand, 30 years later still looked the same as he did at the beginning of the film. He could have sold his eternal youth secrets instead of a career in astrophysics. John Lithgow in a word was underused.

I feel Brand’s daughter, a character Amelia Bland Brand was really, really irritating. Is it just me or is it the combination of the character, Amelia and actress, Anne Hathaway that makes you want to throw a cushion – or something harder – at the screen? She was responsible for many a hulk moment. Admittedly, I have never been a big fan of this actress since Bride Wars (2009).

Bride Wars was the last romantic comedy that I ever saw at the cinema and the first sleeper, as I fell asleep when watching it. I then watched – and stayed awake at – the Batman film, the Dark Knight Rises (2012). This is the one where Chris Nolan’s casting agent got the leading ladies wrong. I felt Marion Cotillard purred her way through the wrong role as Miranda and she should have swapped roles with Hathaway as Selina aka Catwoman.

Hathaway acted as awkward as Leonardo DiCaprio must have felt at the Post Oscars parties. Jessica Chastain plays the older Murphy Cooper. The lesser – but not doomed for Syfy movies (yet) – Casey Affleck plays the role of her brother.

Ironically, Casey Affleck also played the lesser sibling of her character, Cooper’s son, Tom and only appeared a couple of times. Finally, Jessica Chastain as Murphy Cooper is kinda ironic when you spot the cameo, and then recall the plot of his or her more recent sci-fi film where they became left in space.

 

Weeper Rating:  😦 😦 😦 😦 😦 😦  /10

Handsqueeze Rating:  🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 /10

Hulk Rating: ‎ ‎ ‎/10

 

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The Now and Then 2017 (Then and Now Blogathon)

This post was entered into my Now and Then blogathon with Thoughts All Sorts.

Other reviews with this cast include,

• MacKenzie Foy in 5 Child Actors. 
• Michael Caine in Ashanti, Surrender, The Swarm, Michael Caine Mini Retro Reviews and more.
• William Devane in Knots Landing and Family Plot.
• Jessica Chastain in The Martian.
• Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries. 
• Timothée Chalamet in Dune.
• Matthew McConaughey in EDtv.
• John Lithgow in The Crown and Terms of Endearment.
  

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