Oblivion (2013) - Kosinski's rock bottom sci-fi best left to oblivion

[ZERO]

 

+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year

 

Star Tom Cruise walks away from a bridge that has seen better days on this poster for Joseph Kosinski's Oblivion

Repairman Jack Harper learns new things on the devastated Earth in the future.

 

Oblivion is written by Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3 (2010)) and Karl Gajdusek (Trespass (2011)), based on an unfinished graphic novel by Iowan master filmmaker, co-producer/director Joseph Kosinski (TRON: Legacy (2010)), whose 2nd feature it is.

The arguably worst Tom Cruise (Valkyrie (2008)) movie to date, Oblivion is a horrible, empty shell of non-characters, who move around in 'beautiful', expensive-looking shots without chemistry or anything meaningful to relay to us for a couple of hours. What the film really is about is just about impossible to decipher. What is discernible is that Oblivion made me feel like my brain was actively shrinking, while I saw it.

Morgan Freeman (Kiss the Girls (1997)) appears with gigantic, black goggles on, ensuring that the film gets the minimal amount of performance from the beloved actor. Oblivion is a sexualized, self-enamored ego-trip, that comes off as unsexy and irrelevant nonsense. Watch it and feel the sensation of growing into a black hole of annoyed indifference.

 

Related posts:

 

Joseph Kosinski: Top Gun: Maverick (2022) - Magnificent; a soaring vehicle 

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2010 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 

Tron: Legacy (2010) - Feast your eyes on Garrett Hedlund in dazzling sci-fi sequel

 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 120 mil. $

Box office: 286.1 mil. $

= Minor flop (returned 2.38 times its cost)

[Oblivion premiered 26 March (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and runs 124 minutes. Jessica Chastain was cast in the female lead but was released from her contract in order to do Zero Dark Thirty. Shooting took place from March - July 2012 in Iceland, California, New York, Hawaii and in Louisiana, including in  New Orleans. The film opened #1 to a 37 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#4), grossing 89.1 mil. $ (31.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were China with 23.8 mil. $ (8.3 %) and Russia with 19.1 mil. $ (6.7 %). Kosinski returned with The Dig (2017, short) and theatrically with Only the Brave (2017). Cruise returned in Edge of Tomorrow (2014). Oblivion is rotten at 54 % with a 5.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Oblivion?

It Comes at Night (2017) - Shults' sparse horror leaves too much unanswered

♥♥

+ Worst Movie of the Year

One of the sparse, ominous and very black posters for Trey Edward Shults' It Comes at Night

It Comes at Night is the second feature for writer-director Trey Edward Shults (Krisha (2015)).

A family of three live in a cabin in the woods in a future where a mysterious illness has thrown the world into chaos. As an outsider and his small family come into their lives, they keep self-preservation as their prime objective.

This is a film that has impressed critics, - who are prone to throw superlatives at low-budget indies like this, which wears its refusal to throw light on just about anything in it as an honorary crown, - and antagonized many audiences, who feel let down by a horror that doesn't have as many frightening moments or genre game as they'd thought.
The film features sound performances from Joel Edgerton (The Gift (2015)) and Christopher Abbott (James White (2015)) and a subtle, tense score by Brian McOmber (Krisha). It builds an unpleasant, paranoia-rife atmosphere but it undercuts its prospects by insisting on leaving us in the blank on too many fronts:
SPOILER Who is our protagonist? (I guess the teenage son, who seems the most innocent and sympathetic, but he never does much actively.) What is happening? (The disease is never explained or shown much.) Where do our family come from? (We are almost led to believe that they have always lived in this isolated house in the woods.) Several things concerning the developments in the third act also raise questions, and the film ends leaving us confused; one would be overly forgiving in just labeling it ambiguous.
What the point of the exercise is remains a mystery: Either the film seems to want us to ponder at why we need the spook tales that horror films are in the first place, instead of really committing to being an instance of said tradition itself; or it may also be taken to propose a rather depressing metaphor for an argument that letting anyone into one's life inevitably makes it unravel in tragedy, pain and death. With so many questions unanswered, the bleak ending of the film seems mostly just unpleasant. 
For some reason the family has a famous Pieter Brueghel the Elder painting (The Triumph of Death) hanging on one of their walls, and in the beginning we inspect this with the camera as if it contained an insight into the film itself. It Comes at Night does not live up to its hype, as it is too complacent and deprived of drive and frights, with way too much in it simply blowing in the wind.

2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2017 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 5 mil. $
Box office: 12 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[It Comes at Night premiered 29 April (Overlook Film Festival, Oregon) and runs 91 minutes. Shooting took place in August 2016 in New York. It opened #6 to a 5.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America. It Comes at Night is certified fresh at 86 % with a 7.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of It Comes at Night?

Escape from L.A./John Carpenter's Escape from L.A./Escape from Los Angeles (1996) or, Snake Plissken in Crazy-World!

♥♥♥

+ Costliest Flop of the Year: 31.12 mil. $ range

Kurt Russell looks cool in the intense colors on this poster for John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.

Snake Plissken is back, this time in the year 2013, in which he avoids deportation by getting imposed an assignment by the mad president of the United States to capture his daughter and a weapon on the prison island that is Los Angeles.

Escape from L.A. is a colorful an very wacky sequel to New Yorker master co-writer-director John Carpenter's (Halloween (1978)) own great Escape from New York (1981). It features some early CGI, which looks curious today, and an exaggerated plot that doesn't reach the heights of the first film or another comparable 1990s sci-fi-action great like Paul Verhoeven's Total Recall (1990).
But Escape from L.A. does have its own kind of charm and a cast that contains several smaller scoops, including a scene where Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice (2007-13)) plays a crazy plastic surgeon, which is a favorite, and Pam Grier (Linc's (1998-2000)) playing a male-to-female transgender, (hadn't seen that coming.)
Escape from L.A. is co-written with Debra Hill (The Fog (1980)) and returning star Kurt Russell (Dark Blue (2002), actor). It is a noisy and nonsensical piece of super-kitsch. SPOILER Especially the film's ending is odd, as Plissken "bombs the world 500 years back" by turning off the power with a satellite.

Related posts:

John Carpenter: Cigarette Burns (2005, TV movie) - Carpenter burns out in weird, tiresome TV movie 

1996 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Christine (1983) or, Bad Plymouth!
Escape from New York (1981) - Carpenter introduces Kurt Russell as action star in dystopic dream
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - Solid action guerilla film-making

Watch an ad for the film from a VHS tape here - featuring creative marketing that changes the film's huge flop status by referring to it as a "25 mil. $ box office smash", - some 20 years after movies broke the 100 mil. $ mark at the domestic box office ...

Cost: 50 mil. $
Box office: 47.2 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Escape from L.A. was released 9 August (North America) and runs 101 minutes.  The film was in development for almost a decade but was sped up by the 1992 LA riots, the 1994 LA earthquake as well as Russell's wish to play Plissken again. The budget was more than 8 times that of the original film. Shooting took place in California, including at Universal Studios, Texas and Miami, Florida from December 1995 - March 1996. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Jack and hold-over hit A Time to Kill, to an 8.9 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it fell out of the top 5 in its second week, only played 4 weeks and grossed just 25.4 mil. $ (53.8 mil. % of the total gross.) Roger Ebert gave the film 3½/4 stars, equal to two notches better than this review. Escape from L.A. is rotten at 53 % with a 5.6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Escape from L.A.?

Escape from New York (1981) - Carpenter introduces Kurt Russell as action star in dystopic dream

♥♥♥♥♥

 

This terrific poster for John Carpenter's Escape from New York recalls the iconic images and posters for sci-fi classic Planet of the Apes (1968) of the beach-inundated Statue of Liberty

Snake Plissken is a prisoner for life in the near future of 1997, but he also possesses fantastic abilities that get him hired, when metropolis-turned-walled-in-prison Manhattan gets a new inhabitant, who wasn't supposed to crash-land there: The US President!

A seductive kind of dystopic air hangs over every part of the marvelous, character-driven Escape from New York, the 5th feature from New-Yorker master co-writer-director John Carpenter (The Thing (1982)), co-written with Nick Castle (Tap (1989), writer-director). It establishes its strong action-thriller concept well and remains compelling entertainment throughout.
Kurt Russell (Tango & Cash (1989)) is the very cool, chivalrous Plissken and is joined by a great cast that includes Lee Van Cleef (Lawman (1958-60)), Ernest Borgnine (Oliviero Rising (2007)), Isaac Hayes (Ninth Street (1999)), Harry Dean Stanton (Stars and Bars (1988)), Donald Pleasence (Eye of the Devil (1967)) and Adrienne Barbeau (The Fog (1980)). It is a film with lots of thrills and a dark beauty to it. It also has a great, electro-synth score, composed by Carpenter and Alan Howard (Boo (2005)), terrific costumes, visual effects and production design.

Related reviews:

John Carpenter: Cigarette Burns (2005, TV movie) - Carpenter burns out in weird, tiresome TV movie
Christine (1983) or, Bad Plymouth!
Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976) - Solid action guerilla film-making

 

Watch the animated opening credits for the film here

 

Cost: 6 mil. $

Box office: 25.2 mil. $ (North America only)

= Huge hit

[Escape from New York was released 10 July and runs 99 minutes. Carpenter conceptualized the film based on Death Wish (1974), specifically its portrayal of New York City as a jungle-like crime center, and on the cynicism that resulted from the 1972-74 Watergate scandal that led to President Nixon's resignation. Big studios were not interested; Carpenter has said that they thought the script was too scary, weird and violent. A worn-down stand-in for a future New York was found in East St. Louis, Illinois, which was mainly rubble after a destructive 1976 fire, and St. Louis, Missouri, with additional shooting in California, Arizona and New York, where the mostly nightly shoot took place from August - November 1980. It involved the production buying a bridge for a dollar from the local government (for liability issues) and selling it back to them for a dollar again after shooting; shutting off electricity of up to ten blocks at night at a time, and the first night shoot on Liberty Island ever permitted. James Cameron (Titanic (1997)) worked as a photographer on the film and helped with the simulated computer-graphics rendition of NYC, which was accomplished with a miniature lined with reflective tape. The film became a summer hit in the US, where it was the year's 32nd highest-grossing film, and was also successful abroad, particularly in West Germany, where it reportedly grossed more than 10 mil. $ alone. The film led to a novelization, a video game, comic books and a less interesting sequel by Carpenter with Russell, Escape from LA (1996). A remake with Gerard Butler was proposed but didn't happen; it now seems a remake and possibly more than one film might be in the works at Fox. Escape from New York is certified fresh at 85 % with a 6.9 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Escape from New York?

The Hunger Games (2012) - A global, teen-centered sci-fi smash

♥♥♥♥

Jennifer Lawrence dyed her hair dark brown to portray Katniss Everdeen in Gary Ross' The Hunger Games

QUICK REVIEW:

In the future, the US population is held in an iron grip under a rich ruling class with a broadcasted, deadly game between 24 children and young people as the annual highpoint. But this year cool Katniss Everdeen volunteers to spare her little sister, who was drawn out for the competition!

Hunger Games is an adaptation of Suzanne Collins' (Mockinjay (2010)) same-titled 2008 novel, the first in her Hunger Games trilogy. It is adapted by Collins, Billy Ray (Captain Phillips (2013)) and great co-writer/director Gary Ross (Pleasantville (1998)).
The Hunger Games universe lures and amuses with its many goofy elements and stylings of its characters; here's a giant science fiction phenomenon that simply doesn't look very cool!
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle (2013)), the Cinderella-like darling of the movie business these years, is perfect in the lead, and she possesses a warmth and a strength that is remarkable. Donald Sutherland (Horrible Bosses (2011)) is exciting to watch as President Snow. In other supporting parts, Lenny Kravitz (Precious (2009)), Woody Harrelson (Semi-Pro (2008)), Elizabeth Banks (Magic Mike XXL (2015)), Toby Jones (Berberian Sound Studio (2012)) and Stanley Tucci (The Devil Wears Prada (2006)) are good, at times funny, whereas Liam Hemsworth's (Empire State (2013)) contribution is minimal. I also SPOILER wondered why Katniss falls for Josh Hutcherson's (Journey 2: The Mysterious Island (2012)) character, who can't do much and even betrays her.
The violent scenes are shot so that it's hard to see what is happening, which is annoying.
The Hunger Games is a piece of sci-fi that isn't so bizarre that one can't see reflections of our own reality in the exciting world conjured up here. A promising start to the franchise.

Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 78 mil. $
Box office: 694.3 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The Hunger Games was one of Lionsgate's biggest projects at the time, and lots of happening actresses tried out the part that went to Lawrence. It was shot on film, (which was deemed most cost-friendly...) in May - September 2011 in North Carolina. Tax breaks helped the costs down by around 8 mil. $. A majorly anticipated youth property, the film arrived with positive reviews to a great response: It took the #1 spot with a 152.5 mil. $ opening weekend in North America and broke the March release record. It held onto the #1 spot for 4 consecutive weekends, the first film to achieve this since Avatar (2009). It grossed 408 mil. $ (58.8 % of the total gross) in North America. The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets for the film were the UK (37.3 mil. $/5.4 %) and Australia (31 mil. $/4.5 %). Hunger Games was banned in Vietnam. With 10.3 mil. DVD and Blurays sold, it was the #1 video release of 2012, and the soundtrack album debuted at Billboard's #1 spot as the first soundtrack to do this since This Is It (2009). The Hunger Games is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7.2 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Hunger Games?

Death Race 2000 (1975) - AIP's dystopic car smash

♥♥♥♥

The totally awesome poster for Paul Bartel's Death Race 2000

QUICK REVIEW:

In the year 2000, the US has become a semi-Nazi police state, where the greatest sports heroes are called Frankenstein and Machine Gun Joe, who compete at who can kill the most people in the Death Race.

Death Race 2000 is written by Robert Thoms (Crazy Mama (1975)) and Charles B. Griffiths (The Wild Angels (1966)), who wrote the finished shooting script. It is based on the short story The Racer by the recently passed Ib Melchior (The Angry Red Planet (1959)). It boasts an original idea for a car sci-fi action movie, which is well-executed here by director Paul Bartel (Carquake (1976)).
Producer Roger Corman (The Terror Within (1989)) is in his element behind this kind of film, and David Carradine (Kung Fu (1972)) is perfect in the role as the killing machine Frankenstein, while his soon-to-be superstar co-actor Sylvester Stallone (Stop! Or Mom Will Shoot (1992)) mostly just yells ugly things.
The effects are fun, and the film is morally indefensible as entertainment for its core audience, young people, which is the case for most of the edgy 70s exploitation flicks. Death Race 2000 rocks!

Cost: 0.3-0.53 mil. $
Box office: 5-8 mil. $
= Huge hit
[The shoot had been plagued by script problems, bad weather, a stressed-out star (Carradine) and big time restraints due to the low budget. Death Race 2000 became one of Corman's American International Pictures' biggest successes.  They made a comic book series based on it in the 90s, and it was remade in 2008, (a much inferior film.) Carradine was paid 10 % of the gross, which AIP only did with him and Ron Howard. Roger Ebert changed his opinion about the film, from his original zero-star review, to later calling it part of "a great tradition of summer drive-in movies". The film is fresh at 85 % on Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Death Race 2000?

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) or, Furiosa: Desert Warrior

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Australian Movie of the Year
+ Best Comeback of the Year: George Miller

Charlize Theron loudly set on prevailing on this poster for George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road

Australian filmmaker George Miller's debut feature Mad Max (1979), which he followed with sequels in 1981 and 1985, now gets a reboot, by Miller himself, now a 70 year-old man.

In a desolate future, two fierce outcasts join forces to reach a green nirvana with the five wives of the tyrant Immortan Joe, whose small army are on their trail.

Miller has tried to get Fury Road off the ground since he got the idea for it in 1998! The film has been scrapped and pushed back due to several factors: 9/11, the second American Iraq war, Mel Gibson's personal travails, Heath Ledger's 2008 death etc. etc.
Now that it's here, it's a glorious, gasoline-pumped beast of a movie; a car chase-action-adventure with some of the most hair-raising action scenes of later years. The film, which was shot on location in the desert of Namibia, Africa, is almost 'just' one long chase, so the action had better work, and it sure does. From the outset, when Max SPOILER eats a two-headed lizard, to the end a couple of hours later, we're strapped onto a hell of a roller coaster ride here.
The film is shot by John Seale (The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)) in ways that make you grab the handles of your seat time and time again, and scored by Junkie XL (300: Rise of an Empire (2014)) to enhance the experience. The stunt work is eye-popping, and the dystopia so grim that it's hard to watch the film and not think about its implicit portrayal of human nature as destructive, exploitative and brutal.
- The punchline to all of this is, of course, that Miller is also the man behind such rosy family movies as Babe: Pig in the City (1998) and Happy Feet (2006) and Happy Feet 2 (2011).

Many have called Fury Road feminist, which is a strange thing to call it, I think, just because it has a strong female and several good female performances in it.
One of the film's many delights is towards its end SPOILER to follow our heroes, who have now banded up with a few old ladies, attack and make their way despite being warred against by a legion of strong males. This may strike some as feminist; I relished it more because it was something I hadn't seen before, and the many people behind the scenario made it seem believable.
Tom Hardy (Bronson (2008)) plays Max, and Charlize Theron (Monster (2003)) is Furiosa, who is actually a much more particular and engaging character. This is a problem for a film that is still called Mad Max: Fury Road. Hardy doesn't have Gibson's natural likability and charm (of the previous three movies), and Max's back-story here only gets presented in some frightening but not very informative flash-backs. Miller has chosen in his script, which he has co-written with Brendan McCarthy (ReBoot (1995-96)) and Nick Lathouris, that Max shouldn't say almost anything, and so Hardy has his work cut out for him trying to form a strong hero here. The film's ending is also a little rushed, but all of Fury Road is actually somewhat rushed, so this may be appropriate.
These things aside, Theron and British Nicholas Hoult (A Single Man (2009)), who plays a drug-crazed but basically good kid, are great in Fury Road, and Hugh Keays-Burne (Kangaroo (1987)) is incredible as the despicable villain, sure to become iconic, because he is so hard to forget. - Great designs also adorn this surprising summer smash.

Related posts:

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Hugh Keays-Burne as Immortan Joe (the villain if you were wondering ...) in George Miller's Mad Max: Fury Road

Watch the trailer for the film here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 109.4 mil. $ and counting
= Still unsure
[But as Fury Road has only been out for three days, it seems certain that it is set to become a big hit: Although it only opened #2 in the US, behind Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), it still made 44.4 mil. $ in its opening weekend there and opened #1 in 40 other countries with critics and audiences welcoming it with the highest level of enthusiasm.]

What do you think of Mad Max: Fury Road?
And Miller's other films?
Do you think he is the mastermind that the trailers crown him?

Children of Men (2006) - Cuarón's multi-faceted, great sci-fi offering

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Sci-fi Movie of the Year

One hooking poster for Alfonso Cuarón's Children of Men

QUICK REVIEW:

2027: The world development has stagnated. No new babies have been born for 18 years, when a refugee in England turns up pregnant. Surrounded by desperate fanaticism, the job of protecting her is both difficult and potentially lethal.

I was hesitant of this existential sci-fi drama thriller for a while due to the polemical core of the dystopia it presents. But once the story really kicks in, I got very invested in the film, which is compelling and has the feeling of importance. It is an adaptation of a 1992 novel of the same name by English female writer P.D. James (A Taste for Death (1986)) by great Mexican co-writer/director Alfonso Cuarón (Y Tu Mamá También (2001)), Timothy J. Sexton (Cesar Chavez (2014)), David Arata (Spy Game (2001)) and Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby (Iron Man (2008)), who were Oscar-nominated for their script.
Cuarón and his Oscar-nominated, great, regular cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki's (Y Tu Mamá También) photographic concept of many long, vivacious single shots is dynamic and very impressive. It also fuels the film with a highly convincing realism.
Children of Men is a thought-provoking and remarkable movie with lots of strong images. Hard-to-forget and in sci-fi terms a big step better than Cuarón's later, much more acclaimed and commercially successful space opera Gravity (2013).

Related reviews:

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Alfonso Cuarón: 2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

Gravity (2013) or, Survival in Space: The Ride

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

 

Watch the original trailer here

Cost: 76 mil. $
Box office: 69.9 mil. $
= Big flop
[While the dark yet hope-infused UK/US co-production failed to set the ticket booths on fire, it was recognized by critics and sci-fi fans as an extraordinary film and even one of the decade's best: According to Metacritic's survey, the film is placed as the 11th best of the 2000's as ranked on critics' lists. It was also Oscar-nominated for its editing (3 nominations in all), and won a bunch of other awards. It made 35.5 mil. $ (50 % of the total gross) in the States.]

What do you think of Children of Men?
How would you like to see Cuarón tackle another big, smart, edgy sci-fi movie?

Interstellar (2014) - Nolan heads to space in opulent, exciting epic

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Science Fiction Movie of the Year

A hyper-charged, dizzying poster for Christopher Nolan's Interstellar

Interstellar is the big space opera of 2014, and we may note that this and last year have been good years in this respect: Gravity (2013) captivated the world last year and was a tremendous survival space thriller ride, while Interstellar this year is a grander envisioned, thrilling epic. I didn't, unfortunately, experience it in IMAX, which it is made for (co-writer/director Christopher Nolan (Inception (2010)) is an avid fan of the format), but I highly recommend you to catch it in IMAX if in any way possible,  because the scope of the exploration in the film indeed begs for this huge format.

In a dystopic future, mankind is threatened by dust storms and hunger as crops mysteriously die out, and a former NASA astronaut is put back into service after receiving a mysterious clue from the beyond. Together with a small crew, he must go through a wormhole to search out new planets for the future of the human race.

Nolan cements his position as one of the world's most exciting, ambitious filmmakers here: Co-writing with his brother Jonathan Nolan (The Dark Knight (2008)), the two have here created a journey into space that transports its audience with a measure of awe, because they seem to spin their narrative with a physicist's integrity. Indeed the events of Interstellar are well-researched and generally realistic, and the seriousness and lack of condescension of the film is liberating and noteworthy. The adventure suffers from some overlength, though, and the plot becomes increasingly hard to understand, not unlike other Nolan titles like Memento (2000) and his best to date, Inception (2010). The ending is the weakest part of the film, as Interstellar seems to want us to bawl out in praise, because it decides to tie its beginning to its end:
SPOILER Never one to include religion or God in his pictures or world-view, Nolan nonetheless here gets metaphysical, as lead Matthew McConaughey (Mud (2012)) acts as a sort of time-space-crossing ghost in a black hole-induced space of alternate universes ad infinitum, which I found highly unpleasant and downright nightmarish. McConaughey comes out as a near Superman, as he survives this, and made me remember my similar, unsatisfied sentiment about Nolan's closing of  of The Dark Knight Rises (2012), in which Batman, incredibly, seems to die, - but then didn't anyway ... Interstellar is still very exciting, like a modern, unique meeting of Giant (1956) and Hud (1963) with Donnie Darko (2001) and Armageddon (1998), which stays riveting throughout in significant part due to Hans Zimmer's (Inception) terrific score. There's also a cool robot (called TARS) and stunning, believable visuals. - Especially the scenes of space flight strike one with the wonder and mind-numbing realities of space, which also links the film directly to Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968).
A high-point of Interstellar concerns our space mission's visit on the icy planet that a Dr. Mann (Matt Damon (Elysium (2013)) has lived on by himself for years. Casting Damon against McConaughey in this part of the film, whose face has puffed up a bit with age, while McConaughey's has become more taut and emaciated (perhaps because of work and straining roles the last few years), is a masterstroke. This whole chapter of Interstellar was incredible. McConaughey is generally a great lead for the film, although his always cool cleverness can be a bit thick to some at times.
The film has an impressive cast, although I think Michael Caine (Children of Men (2006)) seems more like a benign superintendent than an ingenious professor, and Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty (2012)) seemed to struggle a bit with the abstractness of her character's reality, (which is understandable.)
Interstellar makes people gasp out, sniffle, laugh, scream, urge to the people on the screen and ask questions. It is a voyage that will no doubt thrill little boys and girls the world over to pursue the sciences. - Don't miss it!

Related posts:

Christopher Nolan: 2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V] 

2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 
2014 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]  
The Dark Knight Rises (2012) or, Batman and the Storm, Darkness, Anarchy, Evil, Depression
Batman Begins (2005) or, Modern, Dark, Smooth Batman

 Watch the awesome trailer for the film here

Cost: 165 mil. $
Box office: 204.1 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say
[Interstellar had a good American debut (#2 with 47.5 mil. $ behind Disney's Big Hero 6 with 56.2 mil. $). It has reached 200 mil. $ worldwide in just 6 days, and will rely on a longer, strong run (similar to Gravity's last year) to turn a profit due to its high budget.]

What do you think of Interstellar?