Interstellar

[Rikurzhen]

Just saw it. Funny, when I posted those illustrations of space colonies I had no idea that they actually appeared in the movie.

I was disappointed with this movie. Why can't anyone make an intelligent movie anymore? Why does drama have to be born from smart people doing stupid things? Arghhh.

 

[JakeStarkey]

We are going to see it tomorrow, so I will see if I see it your way, Rik.

 

[Rikurzhen]

In addition to what I wrote above, try to recall the movie "The Right Stuff" and all of the training that took place in that movie.

 

[NoNukes]

Alrighty then....



Interstellar

This was a good movie, but not quite what I was expecting. It has some elements that really, really work, and a few that kind of... Well, don't.

It seemed to be aiming for something of a "2001: A Space Odyssey" vibe, but from a slightly (and I do mean 'slightly') more "Hard Sci-Fi" perspective, mixed with a healthy dose of Nolan's trademark philosophizing and sentimentality.

Frankly, I think that might have been its biggest failing. It wasn't "Hard Sci-Fi" enough, and so certain elements came off as being a bit goofy and cliche.




- :::SPOILERS::: -



For example, an early plot element involves mysterious aliens only referred to as "they," who interact with the human race through gravitational anomalies. They create a wormhole for humanity to use so they can escape the solar system, and they even lead the hero (a former test pilot) to NASA by messing around with things in his daughter's bedroom in order to send him a message.

While, granted, this is explained and brought full circle in the end (and satisfyingly so at that), it's a bit of an odd choice stylistically. It also makes the first half of the film seem a bit silly and contrived.

Why not keep things relatively simple and just have NASA use an Alcubierre drive instead? They're apparently tinkering with the idea even as we speak.

NASA discusses its warp drive research, prepares to create a warp bubble in the lab

For that matter, why not simply have NASA recruit him the old fashioned way? He apparently worked for them in the past.

I'm also pretty damn sure that black holes DO NOT WORK THAT WAY. However, that's a different can of worms entirely, so I'll avoid details.

- :::SPOILERS::: -




Though... Ultimately, it should be noted that these are only minor complaints. Either way, I guess it is more than worth any silliness involved simply to see a serious, thought provoking science fiction film on the big screen again.

If this film could be shown to have the same impact on the "Hard Sci-Fi" genre that Blade Runner had on film noir, or Gladiator had on historical epics, I'd pretty much "jump for joy." lol

Overall: 7.5 out of 10.

I found it too long and pretty boring.

 

[American Horse]

Sgt_Gath said:
" - They treated the whole thing a lot more casually than I would have preferred.
They literally "skim the surface" of the black hole's horizon at one point, and suffer no ill impacts for it whatsoever besides time dilation. I'm sorry, but I'm fairly positive that this is simply not how a "black hole" actually works.
They honestly shouldn't have even been able to get anywhere near the thing without getting at least trapped, and probably sucked in. The gravity would simply be too strong for their engines to counter act.
If they somehow had managed to make it that close, they probably would have been torn apart anyway. - "

Actually it's possible to orbit a black hole without being disrupted just as its possible to orbit a super massive star without being disrupted. Only an increase in velocity is needed to prevent falling in. A black hole is only a defunct super massive star.

But contemplating exploring for settlement a planet spiraling into a black hole makes no long term sense.

A saving grace of a man surviving a fall into a black hole is Steven Hawking's belief as presented in a scientific confab that "information" is preserved and retrievable from material having fallen into a black hole.

That is important if we and matter are information, for what else could he have meant?

Anyway, as to the movie itself, as I said to my son as we entered "I don't hold out much hope in seeing a really good science fiction flick here, since the best I ever saw was sixty years ago, and I don't classify "2001" as a really good Sci-Fi flick."

That movie I saw sixty years back was "Forbidden Planet," a movie that was a precursor and set the meme for decades to come including tthat was Star Trek.

 

[Sgt_Gath]

Sgt_Gath said:
" - They treated the whole thing a lot more casually than I would have preferred.
They literally "skim the surface" of the black hole's horizon at one point, and suffer no ill impacts for it whatsoever besides time dilation. I'm sorry, but I'm fairly positive that this is simply not how a "black hole" actually works.
They honestly shouldn't have even been able to get anywhere near the thing without getting at least trapped, and probably sucked in. The gravity would simply be too strong for their engines to counter act.
If they somehow had managed to make it that close, they probably would have been torn apart anyway. - "

Actually it's possible to orbit a black hole without being disrupted just as its possible to orbit a super massive star without being disrupted. Only an increase in velocity is needed to prevent falling in. A black hole is only a defunct super massive star.

But contemplating exploring for settlement a planet spiraling into a black hole makes no long term sense.

A saving grace of a man surviving a fall into a black hole is Steven Hawking's belief as presented in a scientific confab that "information" is preserved and retrievable from material having fallen into a black hole.

That is important if we and matter are information, for what else could he have meant?

Anyway, as to the movie itself, as I said to my son as we entered "I don't hold out much hope in seeing a really good science fiction flick here, since the best I ever saw was sixty years ago, and I don't classify "2001" as a really good Sci-Fi flick."

That movie I saw sixty years back was "Forbidden Planet," a movie that was a precursor and set the meme for decades to come including tthat was Star Trek.

True. However, I remain fairly skeptical that you could do so at so close a distance as was portrayed in the movie, or that they would have thrust anywhere near powerful enough to pull such a thing off.

I could buy the U.S.S. Enterprise doing something like that, maybe.

That thing, however, was basically just the ISS with a couple of rocket engines strapped to it. lol

 

[Rikurzhen]

Sgt_Gath said:
" - They treated the whole thing a lot more casually than I would have preferred.
They literally "skim the surface" of the black hole's horizon at one point, and suffer no ill impacts for it whatsoever besides time dilation. I'm sorry, but I'm fairly positive that this is simply not how a "black hole" actually works.
They honestly shouldn't have even been able to get anywhere near the thing without getting at least trapped, and probably sucked in. The gravity would simply be too strong for their engines to counter act.
If they somehow had managed to make it that close, they probably would have been torn apart anyway. - "

Actually it's possible to orbit a black hole without being disrupted just as its possible to orbit a super massive star without being disrupted. Only an increase in velocity is needed to prevent falling in. A black hole is only a defunct super massive star.

But contemplating exploring for settlement a planet spiraling into a black hole makes no long term sense.

A saving grace of a man surviving a fall into a black hole is Steven Hawking's belief as presented in a scientific confab that "information" is preserved and retrievable from material having fallen into a black hole.

That is important if we and matter are information, for what else could he have meant?

Anyway, as to the movie itself, as I said to my son as we entered "I don't hold out much hope in seeing a really good science fiction flick here, since the best I ever saw was sixty years ago, and I don't classify "2001" as a really good Sci-Fi flick."

That movie I saw sixty years back was "Forbidden Planet," a movie that was a precursor and set the meme for decades to come including tthat was Star Trek.

True. However, I remain fairly skeptical that you could do so at so close a distance as was portrayed in the movie, or that they would have thrust anywhere near powerful enough to pull such a thing off.

I could buy the U.S.S. Enterprise doing something like that, maybe.

That thing, however, was basically just the ISS with a couple of rocket engines strapped to it. lol

OK, if we're going to have a nerd fight about imaginary spaceships, no the USS Enterprise is a shoddy design. Those nacelles up on the spars are madness from a structural engineering perspective, especially when facing large tidal forces from a black hole. The Borg Cube (stupid because you never see square pressure vessels) would likely be better because they don't have a significant point of failure. Oh yeah, and the whole saucer section cantilevered out like it is on the Enterprise is going to cause problems when encountered strong tidal forces.

The best design would be one of those old spaceships from the 50s films, a long cylinder. The very best would be a sphere.

 

[Sgt_Gath]

Sgt_Gath said:
" - They treated the whole thing a lot more casually than I would have preferred.
They literally "skim the surface" of the black hole's horizon at one point, and suffer no ill impacts for it whatsoever besides time dilation. I'm sorry, but I'm fairly positive that this is simply not how a "black hole" actually works.
They honestly shouldn't have even been able to get anywhere near the thing without getting at least trapped, and probably sucked in. The gravity would simply be too strong for their engines to counter act.
If they somehow had managed to make it that close, they probably would have been torn apart anyway. - "

Actually it's possible to orbit a black hole without being disrupted just as its possible to orbit a super massive star without being disrupted. Only an increase in velocity is needed to prevent falling in. A black hole is only a defunct super massive star.

But contemplating exploring for settlement a planet spiraling into a black hole makes no long term sense.

A saving grace of a man surviving a fall into a black hole is Steven Hawking's belief as presented in a scientific confab that "information" is preserved and retrievable from material having fallen into a black hole.

That is important if we and matter are information, for what else could he have meant?

Anyway, as to the movie itself, as I said to my son as we entered "I don't hold out much hope in seeing a really good science fiction flick here, since the best I ever saw was sixty years ago, and I don't classify "2001" as a really good Sci-Fi flick."

That movie I saw sixty years back was "Forbidden Planet," a movie that was a precursor and set the meme for decades to come including tthat was Star Trek.

True. However, I remain fairly skeptical that you could do so at so close a distance as was portrayed in the movie, or that they would have thrust anywhere near powerful enough to pull such a thing off.

I could buy the U.S.S. Enterprise doing something like that, maybe.

That thing, however, was basically just the ISS with a couple of rocket engines strapped to it. lol

OK, if we're going to have a nerd fight about imaginary spaceships, no the USS Enterprise is a shoddy design. Those nacelles up on the spars are madness from a structural engineering perspective, especially when facing large tidal forces from a black hole. The Borg Cube (stupid because you never see square pressure vessels) would likely be better because they don't have a significant point of failure. Oh yeah, and the whole saucer section cantilevered out like it is on the Enterprise is going to cause problems when encountered strong tidal forces.

The best design would be one of those old spaceships from the 50s films, a long cylinder. The very best would be a sphere.

To be fair, I wasn't talking about design, but durability and raw power.

I'm just kind of skeptical that the puny little engines on that ship could have overpowered a black hole. lol

 

[Rikurzhen]

Sgt_Gath said:
" - They treated the whole thing a lot more casually than I would have preferred.
They literally "skim the surface" of the black hole's horizon at one point, and suffer no ill impacts for it whatsoever besides time dilation. I'm sorry, but I'm fairly positive that this is simply not how a "black hole" actually works.
They honestly shouldn't have even been able to get anywhere near the thing without getting at least trapped, and probably sucked in. The gravity would simply be too strong for their engines to counter act.
If they somehow had managed to make it that close, they probably would have been torn apart anyway. - "

Actually it's possible to orbit a black hole without being disrupted just as its possible to orbit a super massive star without being disrupted. Only an increase in velocity is needed to prevent falling in. A black hole is only a defunct super massive star.

But contemplating exploring for settlement a planet spiraling into a black hole makes no long term sense.

A saving grace of a man surviving a fall into a black hole is Steven Hawking's belief as presented in a scientific confab that "information" is preserved and retrievable from material having fallen into a black hole.

That is important if we and matter are information, for what else could he have meant?

Anyway, as to the movie itself, as I said to my son as we entered "I don't hold out much hope in seeing a really good science fiction flick here, since the best I ever saw was sixty years ago, and I don't classify "2001" as a really good Sci-Fi flick."

That movie I saw sixty years back was "Forbidden Planet," a movie that was a precursor and set the meme for decades to come including tthat was Star Trek.

True. However, I remain fairly skeptical that you could do so at so close a distance as was portrayed in the movie, or that they would have thrust anywhere near powerful enough to pull such a thing off.

I could buy the U.S.S. Enterprise doing something like that, maybe.

That thing, however, was basically just the ISS with a couple of rocket engines strapped to it. lol

OK, if we're going to have a nerd fight about imaginary spaceships, no the USS Enterprise is a shoddy design. Those nacelles up on the spars are madness from a structural engineering perspective, especially when facing large tidal forces from a black hole. The Borg Cube (stupid because you never see square pressure vessels) would likely be better because they don't have a significant point of failure. Oh yeah, and the whole saucer section cantilevered out like it is on the Enterprise is going to cause problems when encountered strong tidal forces.

The best design would be one of those old spaceships from the 50s films, a long cylinder. The very best would be a sphere.

To be fair, I wasn't talking about design, but durability and raw power.

I'm just kind of skeptical that the puny little engines on that ship could have overpowered a black hole. lol

Oh, in that case, yeah, dilithium crystals are the shit.

 

[American Horse]

Sgt_Gath said:
" - They treated the whole thing a lot more casually than I would have preferred.
They literally "skim the surface" of the black hole's horizon at one point, and suffer no ill impacts for it whatsoever besides time dilation. I'm sorry, but I'm fairly positive that this is simply not how a "black hole" actually works.
They honestly shouldn't have even been able to get anywhere near the thing without getting at least trapped, and probably sucked in. The gravity would simply be too strong for their engines to counter act.
If they somehow had managed to make it that close, they probably would have been torn apart anyway. - "

Actually it's possible to orbit a black hole without being disrupted just as its possible to orbit a super massive star without being disrupted. Only an increase in velocity is needed to prevent falling in. A black hole is only a defunct super massive star.

But contemplating exploring for settlement a planet spiraling into a black hole makes no long term sense.

A saving grace of a man surviving a fall into a black hole is Steven Hawking's belief as presented in a scientific confab that "information" is preserved and retrievable from material having fallen into a black hole.

That is important if we and matter are information, for what else could he have meant?

Anyway, as to the movie itself, as I said to my son as we entered "I don't hold out much hope in seeing a really good science fiction flick here, since the best I ever saw was sixty years ago, and I don't classify "2001" as a really good Sci-Fi flick."

That movie I saw sixty years back was "Forbidden Planet," a movie that was a precursor and set the meme for decades to come including tthat was Star Trek.

True. However, I remain fairly skeptical that you could do so at so close a distance as was portrayed in the movie, or that they would have thrust anywhere near powerful enough to pull such a thing off.

I could buy the U.S.S. Enterprise doing something like that, maybe.

That thing, however, was basically just the ISS with a couple of rocket engines strapped to it. lol

OK, if we're going to have a nerd fight about imaginary spaceships, no the USS Enterprise is a shoddy design. Those nacelles up on the spars are madness from a structural engineering perspective, especially when facing large tidal forces from a black hole. The Borg Cube (stupid because you never see square pressure vessels) would likely be better because they don't have a significant point of failure. Oh yeah, and the whole saucer section cantilevered out like it is on the Enterprise is going to cause problems when encountered strong tidal forces.

The best design would be one of those old spaceships from the 50s films, a long cylinder. The very best would be a sphere.

To be fair, I wasn't talking about design, but durability and raw power.

I'm just kind of skeptical that the puny little engines on that ship could have overpowered a black hole. lol

You are correct; the ship in the movie was notably without fuel tanks so where was the power for the thrusters to come from? That would've ostensibly been, due to that fact that it was only equipped to do attitude changes and certainly not maneuver against a high grav object.

Perhaps it was equipped with some kind of grav or anti grav engine and for the sake of brevity that detail was omitted?

 

[Mr. H.]

I'll definitely rent this as soon as it hits the video stores.
If this movie isn't nominated for some awards, I'll be pissed.
That piece of shit "Gravity" actually won awards.

 

[Mr. H.]

Probably my favorite scene... illegally filmed in the theater LOL. And in a foreign language.

 

[American Horse]

I'll definitely rent this as soon as it hits the video stores.
If this movie isn't nominated for some awards, I'll be pissed.
That piece of shit "Gravity" actually won awards.

Even though I just saw it on the big screen I will rent the DVD; if only to get the other 80% of audio dialogue that was lost to me in the theater; I.E. I'll engage the closed caption feature for subscripts.

 

[ChrisL]

I'll definitely rent this as soon as it hits the video stores.
If this movie isn't nominated for some awards, I'll be pissed.
That piece of shit "Gravity" actually won awards.

I thought it looked pretty good in the trailer, but for the little girl who incessantly cries. That seems like it could get annoying. Just during the trailer, I was like "okay, stifle it now! Enough with the crying!" Lol!

 

[Mr. H.]

I'll definitely rent this as soon as it hits the video stores.
If this movie isn't nominated for some awards, I'll be pissed.
That piece of shit "Gravity" actually won awards.

Even though I just saw it on the big screen I will rent the DVD; if only to get the other 80% of audio dialogue that was lost to me in the theater; I.E. I'll engage the closed caption feature for subscripts.

Yeah, that was a bit of an issue for me too. That's why I brought the wife along.

 

[American Horse]

I was bothered by the speed with which "endurance" rotated to yield 1-gravity out at the rim. It seemed entirely too fast for a wheel, say 480' in circumference (allowing for each segment to be 30' in width with 30' between them gets my estimate for size). It seems it was revolving much faster than a rev per second amounting to something like 325-mph for a minimum out at the rim if only one rev per second.

I'm sure there is a formula for figuring that.

Does anyone know what that would amount to?

I'm not trying to nit pick here but it seems to be a blatant irregularity to me...

I'm certain all the theoretical stuff has been well developed for accuracy but some of the more mundane practical stuff was found wanting. How about how people had to turn their saucers cups and plates upside down to keep dust from settling in them and there was clearly a huge amount of dust on the table where they sat but all the shelves holding the books in the hallway were conspicuously clean as were the books resting there.

Small item, true, but not very realistic. When Cooper knocked the books off the shelf from his place in the black hole there should've been tracks in the piles of dust gathered around them and all of it was immaculate while it was presented as being unendurably dusty because of the dust supposedly penetrating every crack and cranny.

 

[Mr. H.]

I was bothered by the speed with which "endurance" rotated to yield 1-gravity out at the rim. It seemed entirely too fast for a wheel, say 480' in circumference (allowing for each segment to be 30' in width with 30' between them gets my estimate for size). It seems it was revolving much faster than a rev per second amounting to something like 325-mph for a minimum out at the rim if only one per second.

I'm sure there is a formula for figuring that.

Does anyone know what that would amount to?

I'm not trying to nit pick here but it seems to be a blatently irregular to me...

I'm certain all the theoretical stuff has been well developed for accuracy but some of the more mundane practical stuff was found wanting. How about how people had to turn their saucers cups and plates upside down to keep dust from settling in them and there was clearly a huge amount of dust on the table where they sat but all the shelves holding the books in the hallway were conspicuously clean as were the books resting there.

Small item, true, but not very realistic. When Cooper knocked the books off the shelf from his place in the black hole there should've been tracks in the piles of dust gathered around them and all of it was immaculate while it was presented as being unendurably dusty from dust penetrating every crack and cranny.

I like to sit back and let the script, cast, score, and visuals wow me. And I was wowed.
This is why I'm a huge fan of Dune 1984 - IMDb while others scoff at it and pan it. I've watched Dune probably 30 times and it still blows me away.

This was a very consistent film in terms of staying in character throughout. I was surprised at the length and kept wondering "ok- when are they going to drop the goofy-shoe"? I never saw it happen.

Again, if a piece of nonsensical slap-stick Sci-Fi like "Gravity" can win awards... this film is a shoe-in.

 

[Mr. H.]

SPOILER... (don't look down!)






Matt Damon showed up fairly late in this film. And, like George Clooney, he died.

Unlike George Clooney, Matt Damon didn't come off as some mis-placed goof-ball schlep.

Interstellar is some sobering Sci-Fi.

I go to a movie, I eat popcorn. I don't annotate every scene.

 

[Mr. H.]

But to be fair, I'm not without criticism of this flick. More spoilers...




The transition from when Matty Mac stumbled upon NASA to the moment he blasted off was hurried and assumed.

The robot thing was a bit lame at times. .

That is all.

 

[Judicial review]

Id rather watch playboy tv. Wouldnt you?

 

[Mr. H.]

Id rather watch playboy tv. Wouldnt you?

Get yourself some bitch-slap, s0n.