As an Interstellar superfan, I am begging all my fellow fans to stop getting vocally upset when someone tells you they don\u2019t like the movie.
\n\nFor the sake of our collective reputation, please just be cool about it: the movie takes some pretty big swings; not everyone is gonna connect with it.
\nWhile this defensiveness related to tying identity to films has always existed, it feels like just in my lifetime the internet has made it much worse. A lot more \u201cBro, how can your not like that movie, it\u2019s in the Letterboxd top 250 so you are objectively wrong\u201d attitude.
\nAlso if you are someone who says that people who don\u2019t like it are just not smart enough to \u2018get\u2019 it please stop smelling your own farts before you get gas poisoning.
\nThis, but Furiosa.
\nIt\u2019s just hard to be compared to a masterpiece
\nI\u2019ll never forget seeing this in IMAX in 2014. A+ for me.
\nSo surreal walking out of this at the IMAX at 2pm turning on NPR and Nolan was on the radio talking about it lol. The sound of the spaceship taking off was worth the price of admission alone
\nThere is now a whole legion of you below me in age who can't stop with this deeply sappy and uneven film, to the point where I really think it is some fundamental generational gap. I am basically Sean's age, have a kid \u2013\u00a0will never not roll my eyes when Anne Hathaway starts talking about the power of love.
\n\nInterstellar has a fantastic tone and scale to it, but it is just torpedoed by the plot and the exposition. As much as 2001 is bandied about as an influential watershed \u2013\u00a0nr. 1 on the Sight and Sound director's list no less \u2013\u00a0very few people have looked it square in the eye and said "I can do that", and really gone for a quasi-realistic look at human space exploration, of braving the vast, terrifying indifference of the universe.
\n\nOnly examples I can think of are:
\n\nAnd out of those three Interstellar is dead last for me. Give me a 3rd act slasher over a 3rd act love-ex-machina any day of the week.
\nTarkovsky's Solaris? Never seen the Soderbergh version, but it seems to have gained a lot of fans over the years
\nArrival kinda hits some similar themes, although it\u2019s not about space but rather what comes from space.\u00a0
\nI've always felt like Interstellar and Inception got overhyped because they're well-made movies that are accessible to everyone.
\n\nYou have MCU movies that are entertaining but have little artistic merit. You have Slow Burn, Auteur movies which are less exciting but have more artistic merit.
\n\nA movie like Interstellar bridges the gap between the two.
\nFor all the 2001 love, Nolan seems not to have learned from it for Interstellar, hence the over-written dialogue and exaggerated sappy plot elements. I think he\u2019s at his most interesting with abstract narrative techniques like in Memento and Dunkirk where the order of events create the key emotional state. In both cases it\u2019s a kind of feeling of disorientation. I hope to see him shed the montage-esque editing rhythms (Batman Begins and Oppenheimer come to mind) and their loud, emotionally forced scores (Inception, though his idiosyncrasies are a little more entertaining for me here) and potentially land in a more \u201cmeditative\u201d form.
\nI love Sunshine! Totally agree that it\u2019s better than Interstellar
\nFor me the movie doesn't work (as well as it could, or as well as it does for you) because Nolan isn't a sentimentalist like Spielberg. The whole ending came off false to me, I didn't "feel" it. I also feel like Nolan has the soul of an engineer or puzzle maker, but the movie needed someone with the soul of a poet to work the way he wanted it to. He's too intellectual for it. I'm not sure how to be more concrete than that, and I admit I only saw it once, but that's what I came away feeling.
\n\nI don't remember what Sean's issues with it were, but it's not a great movie in my eyes either.
\nReminds me of this moment in Contact.
\n\n\nAgree completely with this. Also some absolutely shocking expository dialogue that lets the whole film down.
\nThe movie has about the same amount of bad scenes as it does great ones.
\nCan you give me an example? I never thought it was egregious.
\nHathaway's big monologue about love is maybe the most cringy thing I've heard in a major blockbuster
\nlol. Worse than anything from the fast franchise, transformers, mission impossible, marvel? You\u2019re telling me that that dialogue is worse than Dom Terreto? No chance.
\nYes? None of those are supposed to be serious, emotional movies like Interstellar was obviously trying to be.
\nDom holding a beer talking about family every 5 minutes is sure as hell supposed to be serious and emotional. You can dislike interstellar but saying an academy award winning cast and director is somehow worse than summer slop is nuts.
\nWho said anything about being a worse movie? I said I found that monologue cringy. Sorry for having an opinion.
\nYou said it\u2019s the most cringy dialogue ever in a blockbuster. You said it.
\nLoved the first two acts. The time travel/love bookshelf killed the movie for me
\nIt\u2019s interesting to see this sentiment because I feel almost the opposite way, Spielberg-esc sentimentalism comes off feeling pretty forced and corny to me and thus loses basically all emotional weight
\n\nI agree with what you\u2019re saying about Nolan overall but interstellar was definitely an exception for me
\n\nFunny how differently people process these things
\nSpielberg is a goddamn national treasure.
\nHe\u2019s obviously a prolific director, his movies just don\u2019t illicit much of an emotional reaction from me
\n![](\"https://external-preview.redd.it/SSg2CvAVta15PrlfSIh5LXc4V35vkTRFgro782g6MJA.gif?width=256&height=200&s=d6b05363cc638a3bb8671c278bbcab62dea0e9d1\")
![](\"https://external-preview.redd.it/OghXGKZMqnypNs0mRgqKXyCN64MFow11-9f2yPs6KxQ.gif?width=356&height=200&s=ae2ce49778a1b589d1d22b36e38c1116eb8ceedb\")
In the vein of coming back to films as a parent, it wasn\u2019t till I rewatched ET with my daughters that I really appreciated how beautifully the ending works, both an emotionally satisfying conclusion and a wonderfully simple resolution to four character arcs within 5 sparse pieces of dialogue.
\n\nBe good. Yes.
\n\nThank you. You\u2019re welcome.
\n\nCome. Stay.
\n\nOuch. Ouch.
\n\nI\u2019ll be right here. Bye.
\nElicit
\nI\u2019m with you and don\u2019t get the criticism. I\u2019ve seen interstellar like 4 or 5 times now and at multiple points of the film I am filled with emotion every time.
\nLike I said art just affects people differently. It can make it pretty annoying to discuss or analyze w people sometimes but that\u2019s really what makes it great: you have your own special connection to it that isn\u2019t gonna be universal\u00a0
\nYeah I don\u2019t think any other Nolan movie has moved me emotionally so I get that general criticism about his movies. And everyone is entitled to their opinion.
\nThat's a good way of putting it and makes sense with why I (and a lot of Reddit) like it so much
\nMan, I\u2019ve always left feeling like I was seeing a different movie with Interstellar. Your point abt Nolan vs Speilberg is great, I do think (at least for me) it would have benefited from that type of lens as well. Its frustrating cause I see so much praise for this movie, I just can\u2019t ever connect with it
\nI never thought about it this way, but I believe you\u2019re right. I think that\u2019s the why ending catches a lot of first-time watchers off-guard. I think, from someone like Spielberg for example, that ending would have arrived more organically
\nIMAX or no IMAX, my friend group was solidly divided into the single guys who thought it was "okay" and the dads who thought it was incredible.
\nWhat about single uncles?
\nlol when a movie requires you to have a family in order to appreciate it
\nMy dad (literally a father of a daughter) thought it went odd the rails once emotions started coming into it. He\u2019s also a boomer though.
\ncounter: movie's ok
\nCountercounter: movie is amazing
\nAnd power to you and millions of people for that opinion, but it's an opinion, we gotta stop all the posts imploring Sean to change his. It's been 15 years since it came out lmao
\nIs lmao because you\u2019re off by almost five years on the release date? Or just standard issue passive aggressiveness?
\nare you being pedantic because you're an asshole or does me thinking interstellar is a 6/10 bother you that much
\nI\u2019m being pedantic because I can\u2019t stand passive aggressive uses of lol, lmao, etc. If you want tho throw shade, throw shade\u2026.don\u2019t try to soften it with lazy linguistic bullshit. I could not care less what anyone thinks of interstellar.
\nSemi-counter: movie is amazing\u2026\u2026in IMAX 70mm\nAt home with all the imax scenes cropped\u2026\u2026.\ud83d\ude34\ud83d\ude34
\nI agree and probably would say it\u2019s kind of frustrating to me in a way that makes it bad. The movie doesn\u2019t make logical or emotional sense to me. Especially the ending. Love pretty much the rest of Nolan\u2019s oeuvre so think it\u2019s okay to dislike one of his films.
\nI personally don\u2019t understand how some people find Interstellar to be some transcendent 5 star masterpiece. For me it\u2019s not even in Nolan\u2019s top 5. Sure the visuals and score are excellent. There are several sequences that are awesome. But the movie as a whole just doesn\u2019t work. The sentimentality and emotionality feels so hollow and manipulative, almost as if it\u2019s forcefully trying to make you feel something by telling you to. Not a single character in this feels like a real human because they are constantly regurgitating the themes of the movie or exposition. The robot felt the most human of any of them.
\n\nThen the love transcends time and space theme is clunky and heavy handed in a movie so concerned with being logical and scientific. It\u2019s an absurd revelation. I won\u2019t even get into the ridiculous space bookcase ghost ending. Ultimately it\u2019s a flawed, entertaining film but I\u2019m with Sean
\nI think you\u2019re right once I had kids it made the movie even better. I hope one day he revisits it. Oh btw\u2026 If y\u2019all haven\u2019t listen to The 70 mm pod on interstellar.
\nSean once said there\u2019s something indescribably fraudulent about all Christopher Nolan movies, and that\u2019s just simply and inarguably the truth.
\n\nHe has big brained ideas that he\u2019s not capable of executing on all the way through, and his shiny and wondrous visuals don\u2019t fix the foundational problems that all of his movies have. I have always wished I could just take his work for what it is - second rate story telling with absolutely unparalleled visuals - but the spell he\u2019s cast on casual moviegoers to trick them in to thinking his work is high art just pulls the whole thing down a notch. He\u2019s a more self serious Michael Bay (with the same haircut).
\n\nThat said, I wished I lived in a place where Interstellar was playing in 70mm IMAX, would have been a joy.
\nI find Interstellar one of those films that does everything right but has a few fundamental things that keep me from loving it. Sean may come across wanky with that analysis, but fundamentally I agree with him. I wouldn't say the word inarguably lol, but I totally understand is point of view, except about Oppenheimer which I actually think still fits the overall issues I have with Nolan.
\n\nNolan's set ups can be weak and the emotional connection hard to connect with, and a little ham-fisted. I like Interstellar a lot and I've watched it several times. But the world he creates at the start of the movie just doesn't seem to be real in my mind, I can't get past it. I can't see how we could get there. The Murph stuff as a solution is shallow rather than deep, and while the acting is good I do feel like the script lets them down.
\n\nThe reason that Dunkirk is one of my favorite film of his is because it does away with all that shit, it's a very short period of time and just focuses on the event. His insistence on practical effects will always make his movies better.
\n\nMemento also works well because it covers his overall theme and idea with a thriller and mystery. The way the story is told is a massive part of the film as a whole. Whereas the simpler more linear storytelling of Interstellar just lets its weaker points shine a bit brighter.
\n\nI'm not saying it's terrible, it's still a seven and a half out of 10 for me, but I know it's higher than that for others and it's so close to being home that the it can be frustrating.
\nThe so close it\u2019s frustrating part is spot on, and entirely my point. He\u2019s good at the things he\u2019s good at but has no feeling at all for what he isn\u2019t good at.
\nThe quote you put up there, is the whole post a Sean quote or just the first paragraph? Are you saying the rest of the comment is your feelings? I might have missed that.
\nSean said \u201cthere\u2019s something indescribably fraudulent\u201d about Christopher Nolan movies, the rest is just me agreeing with him.
\nOk, so I didn't see that as clear. I was agreeing with the whole thing.
\nReally? 'Inarguable'? Yet Sean really liked Dunkirk, Tenet and Oppenheimer.
\nYep, as did I. Love TDK as well. Doesn\u2019t change what it is though.
\nI think this movie is a 5 star masterpiece, not without flaw though. However, I think less of the film cause this is the classic "favourite movie of all time" for the dude that watches 15 movies a year and wants to seem more interesting than he is. I know this is pretentious, but its just the truth
\nA five star masterpiece that's not without flaws?
\nWhat episode of the pod/where can I find his take on it?
\nCommenting to see the answer to this. We just re watched it and as a new father I loved it even more than I did the first time when I saw it in IMAX. I really wish I had seen it again during the re release.
\n\nMaybe it was when Oppenheimer came out? They probably did a Nolan hall of fame
\nHe's mentioned it a few times but can't recall which episodes. Probably the Inception and Dunkirk Rewatchables, along with any Nolan Big Picture episodes.
\nWas hoping they\u2019d a revisit since Bobby saw it and all the buzz around it but I guess not.
\n\nI also wouldn\u2019t expect Sean\u2019s opinion to change as he didn\u2019t love Aftersun after 2 viewings.
\nI don\u2019t really care whether he likes s movie I like or not but yeah he didn\u2019t like aftersun either. Guess being a parent doesn\u2019t matter though there\u2019s parent critics who shit on kids movies all the time Nayman got it though for after sun I don\u2019t know if he likes interstellar but again I don\u2019t csre
\nWhen I saw it in theaters I really enjoyed it. On the drive home I was reflecting on it and jt hit me that it was just Field of Dreams in space. Haven't watched it again.
\nOriginally saw it before I had a kid, thought it was 70% great and hated the end, now watching again after being a dad and it\u2019s an easy 10/10, even though I\u2019m not sure I\u2019d leave my kid even if the fate of the world was in the balance.
\nThat was the point of my original post. Perspectives change after life experiences. The father-child aspect I think may hit harder for him now as a newish father. I'm only mid 50s, but mortality/loss of friends, family and inevitably, my parents are more in my mind the last 5 years or so. Fortunately i haven't lost anyone super close but it will happen sooner than later. It's probably why I been rewatching movies like Diner, Tree of Life, Interstellar, Terms of Endearment, Broadcast News, In The Mood For Love, My Father's Glory/My Mother's Castle a lot more recently.
\n\nInterstellar was a 3.5* of 4* movie for me before recent rerelease. It's now a 4.5 or now. Still not top 3 Nolan for me, but damn it hit hard during the rerelease.
\nI saw the IMAX re-elease and the dialogue was drowned out in a way I hadn't experienced before on home release. A frustrating watch. Visually stunning but straining to hear people talk? Not ideal.
\nIt is fine not liking something
\nIt reaches some great highs and really low lows. Like the entire son subplot should have been removed. Damon was miscast. Wes Bentley and the other dude were basically two red shirts.
\nPerformatively disliking Nolan is how Sean demonstrates his cool guy film snob bona fides.
\nThe man was openly a big fan of the MCU for quite some time. I think the dude doesn\u2019t really try for \u201ccool guy film snob bona fides.\u201d He loves Hollywood stuff and doesn\u2019t spend much time on obscure foreign films.
\nCounterpoint - his disliking and reasoning through not liking Nolan is valid, you just don\u2019t like being told the things you love are mediocre.
\nShawn might be a snob (more of a nerd really) in some regards but I find him to be very earnest
\nThis movie is cool and I liked it, but I think it only blew the minds of people who don\u2019t go to the cinema very often.
\nNever agreed with Sean's take on Interstellar. Wish he saw it recently during the IMAX rerelease. Also wonder if he may have changed his view now as a father of a daughter.
\n
Never agreed with Sean's take on Interstellar. Wish he saw it recently during the IMAX rerelease. Also wonder if he may have changed his view now as a father of a daughter.
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