SPOILERS ABOUND IN THIS POST
holy fuuuuuuuuuuuck this was really good. like way better than I thought it was gonna be. for the first couple of hours or so I thought that it and 2001: A Space Odyssey were technically polar opposites (aside from the cinematography and look of the whole thing) -- while 2001 thrived on being cold, clinical and incredibly oppressive and didn't let you get close to the characters at all, Interstellar is half science-fiction epic, half melodrama. there is so much emotion and sentiment packed into this thing. when McConaughey was looking back on all the messages from his family that had amassed over the past 23 years or whatever, I cried like a ****ing baby.
I saw the main twist coming roughly 6 miles away, though. like, of course it was gonna be him communicating with her from another dimension. who else?
also, after Matt Damon died it went from complete opposite of 2001 to a total homage to 2001. the scene where he goes through the black hole is like a carbon copy of the Stargate sequence from 2001 -- from the way it's shot, to how the camera pans back to the astronaut's terrified face during the whole process, to how he wakes up on some foreign planet at the end without really knowing where he is. however, this movie's obviously waaay more plot-based than 2001 was and obviously more modernized and warmer tonally.
most criticisms of the film I've read is that it tries far too hard to be intellectual. this is absolutely true. it definitely loses me at the end as far as its concepts and themes go: not because they're confusing, simply because you have no freakin clue how the hell the characters reached these conclusions (or didn't reach a certain conclusion, or something). it's trying to be a huge important Statement while totally abandoning any aspiration of simply being a watchable, entertaining film -- which is perfectly fine in my book; I just think that this could have been exponentially better if they ditched all the silly pretensions that marred the film's last 40 minutes or so. and that's not to say that last 40 minutes wasn't exhilarating filmmaking at its finest or that I wasn't on the edge of my seat and about to start Weeping from it. (also the lady next to me in the theater totally lost it while he was pushing the books trying to get his daughter's attention at the end -- meanwhile I was just sitting there with my jaw on the ****ing floor wondering what the hell was going on, but in a good way.)
as far as its length goes, it always felt like it was coming to a conclusion towards the end but always ended up just continuing along (which was ultimately a good thing).
Matthew McConaughey was very, very good. like I said earlier, that scene where he's watching the old messages were completely affecting and me and my male friend were just sitting there borderline sobbing at that point jesus christ. Matt Damon was Matt Damon, which is to say I'm not offended by his performance but I wasn't exactly frothing at the mouth. Jessica Chastain was great. Anne Hathaway was pretty good.
overall 8/10 second best movie of the year so far to Gone Girl and I would absolutely watch it again. I rambled a lot, but feel free to pick apart my post and respond at me as I'd love to talk about it.
OH how did I forget -- this could be the most beautiful movie I've ever seen. there were so many scenes that just took my breath away -- the way the barren, icy planet looked, the huge tidal wave, the sepia-toned shots of the huge empty plantations in the beginning, the cornfields, the fires, the shots of the craft approaching the wormhole, the shots of the craft just floating through space in general. ugghghghghghguhguhguhguhguhg. also I wished I'd gone with a girl so I could weep hard with her; it'd be kinda weird to start crying on my friend in the middle (even though I more or less did it anyway).
also (this is the last thing hopefully) the score was so so so so so so so great.
