Interstellar - review

With 2010's Inception Christopher Nolan explored the inner mind. With Interstellar, Nolan has decided to "dream a little bigger darling" and has set his sights on outer space to deliver a grand, awe-inspiring, wondrous 2014 A Space Odyssey.

The McConaissance goes out of this world as Cooper, a former pilot/engineer who now makes his living as a farmer on an Earth that is dying. He is given the chance to lead a mission to search for inhabitable planets beyond our solar system using Interstellar travel.

This leads to the central crux of Interstellar. Humanity versus the human race.

Several times Cooper is reminded of the sacrifices he must make to complete the mission:

"I've got kids, professor.
Then get out there and save them. We must reach far beyond our own lifespans. We must think not as individuals but as a species."

"You might have to decide between seeing your children again and the future of the human race."

On the one hand you have a mission to save the human race, on the other it is boiled down to our humanity and own individual survival instinct and Cooper's will to keep his promise to see his children again.

The awful truth of what this will take is demonstrated following a message from home after a visit to one of the new planet's surface.

To go into the plot and science in any more detail would do the movie a disservice and also possibly require a PHD as there is so much more to this film than the trailers have given away.

This is the type of film where plot and dialogue can take a back seat in the space shuttle as you strap in for the audio visual experience that Nolan, Zimmer and cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema have dreamed up (sometimes literally as there are times when Hans Zimmer's booming score overpowers the dialogue).

It also wears its influences on its sleeves like a host of NASA mission patches, with the biggest patch belonging to Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Not only are there certain themes and plot similarities between them but also the A.I. robot companions resemble the black monoliths plus both films reliance on practical effects in filming that ground them in reality whilst simultaneously taking us to galaxies and universes we could only dream of.

It is said that Man's reach exceeds his grasp but when that man is Christopher Nolan and he is reaching for the stars, the result is still an extremely powerful, moving, exhilarating cinematic experience.

4 stars

The Help - review

I'm sure I have heard and read about several actresses complaining that there are "no good roles for actresses these days", that is either the romantic lead or the frumpy best friend, and sometimes the two are not mutually exclusive.

But after seeing The Help, I can conclude that these actresses must not have read the script for it, auditioned for it, or seen the finished product, as there at least 8 well written and strong female characters in it.
It is the estrogenic counterpoint to Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, which was criticised in some quarters for not having many female characters in it (the same now goes for Tintin too), as The Help features only a handful of male roles in it.  Somewhat ironically then, you could argue that the biggest role, a love interest for Emma Stone's character, feels tacked on and unnecessary and if cut out, could have improved the film if not just the overlong running time.
Some people out there will be quick to label this tale of a young white woman interviewing black maids in the Deep South of the USA for a tell-all expose during the early sixties as "an issue movie" and move on.  Yes, it deals with the touchy subject of Civil Rights, but this is certainly not Crash.  That Oscar winning yet incredibly overrated film repeatedly used a sledgehammer to reinforce its point that "Everybody is a little bit racist" over the course of two hours when Avenue Q did it in less than four minutes.
The Help was not actually based on a true story, as I initially though, but it does have an authenticity to it and yet it is hard to believe the attitudes and behaviour of some people back then.  The ignorant racism that was rampant back then is still shocking (although due to the 12A rating it shies away from the more physical brutality that many face) and is given a face in the form of Hilly Holbrook (played with relish by Bryce Dallas Howard).  She is like a Stepford Wife programmed by the KKK.
The film is smart enough not to become too preachy and presents a balanced side to the argument, so we get supportive white characters like Skeeter Phelan, played by Emma Stone (my infatuation with Miss Stone continues to grow, almost to the point where I might make a YouTube video confessing my love for her) and white trash Celia Foote (the omnipotent Jessica Chest-ain, who has some excellent underwire work in this movie), and during the maids' testemonials they tell nice stories as well as bad.
Like TTSS, The Help features one of the best ensemble casts this year, full of excellent performances from the likes of Stone, Howard, Chastain, Allison Janney and Octavia Spencer but if you want to place a bet come Oscar season, I would say the smart money will be on Viola Davis to feature highly on many people's voting slips.  Her Oscar clip will undoubtably be the scene where she recounts the day her son died.  Very moving and is a pivotal moment in the story.
The tagline for the film is "Change begins with a whisper", but I'm shouting it loud so all can hear... get yourself some Help and get down to the cinema to see one of the best films of the year!

4 stars