Interstellar Movie Review

     I can't explain to you how amazing Interstellar was. It was more than I ever could have imagined, or expected. It was pure genius. I cried many times, I had to bite down on my knuckle when it got so intense I could hardly stand it, my heart beat a mile a minute at parts, I felt like screaming at the characters to go faster or don't die or turn around. I jumped out of my skin at least twice. The science behind the plot was mind-boggling and half of it went over my head, but that didn't really matter. Because, as cheesy as it sounds, the movie wasn't really about space travel and quantum physics as much as it was about the power of love. And I know, I know, that sounds like it would make the hokey-est movie ever, but it didn't. It made it so much more meaningful. 

     I never could have fathomed how the movie ended. It was just so perfect, I can't explain. The whole movie was absolutely brilliant. The acting was basically the best I've ever seen, the music was unprecedently perfect,  the silence so wonderfully timed, and everything was visually stunning. You know those movies where everything around you just kind of fades away and it's like either you don't exist anymore, or you just exist inside the movie? It was like that. 

     The girl who plays Murph is hands-down the best kid actress I've ever seen, and Jessica Chastain, who plays the grown-up version of her looks extremely similar and also had a spectacular performance. Anne Hathaway was amazing as always, and Matthew McConaughey exceeded my expectations by 110%. There was this one scene where he's watching a video on the starship of his son back on Earth and he starts smiling and the sheer torture in that smile cut me to pieces. At that moment, I was like, "He needs to win an Oscar."  Honestly, I'm expecting quite a few Oscars from Interstellar. 

     I walked out of the theater and said to TJ, "That was honestly one of the best movies I've ever seen" to which he responded something along the lines of "The ending was ridiculous."  But I don't care. I needed a happy ending. 

     You know how sometimes you finish watching a movie and you feel different? Like, your world isn't how you'd always seen it? That's how I felt. There was this moment about half way through the movie where I was like "It's all an illusion...time...space...existence...it's all an illusion..." and it was kind of scary, to be honest. Because for a moment I was like, "We're capable of so much more than we think we are. We think we decide what's possible, but that's not true. So much more is possible than we think."

     I've never felt such empathy for a character in a movie before. I was tortured by the cruelty of time, how it kept Coop the same age while his children's lives flew by on Earth. I was tortured by how much he wanted to see his kids again and how much he wanted to save their lives, and how he couldn't have both.

     I can't explain this movie's brilliance. All I can say is, if you have $7.50 and three hours to spare, do yourself a favor and go see Interstellar. 

Day 370 Song Recommendation: "We Are Afraid" by From Indian Lakes. To listen to part of the song and some footage of my snowy yard from yesterday, click here. 

-SE Wagner