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 Trip To Italy - review

Normally when television shows make the decision to transfer to the big screen, the result is something that ends up unfavourably compared to (or even missing the entire point of) the original like Charlie's Angels, Bewitched, The Dukes of Hazzard for example.

There can be the odd exception to the rule (21 Jump Street and Serenity) but The Trip To Italy is a rather unique case.

Like the The Trip, which saw slightly fictionalised versions of Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon go on a tour of restaurants in the north of England to write a column for the Observer, it was released as a six part series in the UK but edited down to a feature-length film for all other territories including America.

The resulting film, viewed in the UK after watching the entire series, is somewhat of an oddity.

The running time of 100 minutes rather than 180 minutes means that a lot of material is cut out but there is still a clear narrative going through the story which this time follows Rob's character as his strained family relationship and burgeoning career become at odds with each other.

It might not feel complete as a story or character arc but still features lots of room for what you come to expect and enjoy from Steve and Rob's culinary adventures. Stunning cinematography of the beautiful countryside, Lots of "food porn" shots of mouth-watering Michelin starred dishes and the slightest, most tenuous links bringing forth the opportunity for the two to unleash their arsenal of impressions including Michael Caine, Parkinson, DeNiro, etc.

It only takes 5 minutes of them being in Italy driving around in a Mini to unleash "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" but while there is a risk that the jokes could become repetitive and stale, the jokes the impressions are built around (Christian Bale and Tom Hardy being unable to understand each other on the set of Batman, Brydon criticising Coogan's career as Parkinson and Coogan lamenting Brydon for being unable to audition for a Michael Mann film without doing a Pacino impression) generate enough laughs to keep the momentum going and advance the story and their relationship.

It would be nice to see the two take another trip together in a few years to see where the characters are then, rounding off their journey in a Before Midnight-style trilogy.

If I was to describe the film in terms of a restaurant review, it would be beautifully presented, a subtle blend of sweet and sharp with an underlying acidity that complements the occasionally light and frothy exterior and leaves you wishing there were a few more courses.

4 stars