Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity - Best Of Awards 2015

Reviewed by Jim Milton

Interstellar - Blu-ray Movie Review

Synopsis

As the Earth slowly dies, a team of scientist must leave behind everything they love in order to find a new home amongst the stars. Full of trepidation, and yet hope, they must travel to Jupiter and enter a wormhole to seek a new planet for mankind to colonize. But who placed the wormhole there? And what awaits on the other side?

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Specifications

  • Paramount
  • 2014, Color, rated: PG, 2 hours 49 Minutes
  • Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
  • 1080p
  • English Dolby Digital Tru-HD 5.1
  • Starring: Matthew McConaughey, John Lithgow, Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine
  • Directed by Christopher Nolan

Rating

  • Entertainment:
  • Video:
  • Audio:
  • Extras:
  • Violence: Not bloody
  • Sex: No
  • Language: Mild

Commentary

In true Nolan fashion, this movie contains many different themes. Love of a father, mankind’s spirit of adventure, sacrifice, perseverance and the depth of the human spirit. With a superb cast, this film starts out small in scope. In fact, it is almost 40 minutes into the film before we go into space. But the story continues to develop and draw us in, with a growing sense of awe and intensity that few other films have achieved. As my friend put it, “That was a lot of movie!”, and meant it in the good sense. The scenes are gorgeously rendered with wonderful images of alien planets and black holes. The science is explained in a simplified sense, so that we the audience can follow along without becoming lost in scientific mumbo-jumbo. The more complex themes are about sacrifice and love. Perhaps love is the emotion that defines our humanity. Would you go on a mission that takes you away from your family forever? Would you risk your life to save mankind, or would your self preservation kick in at the last moment?

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Don’t get me wrong, (spoiler alert!) I still do not understand how “we” put the wormhole out there by Jupiter. “We” are on a dying planet, so the future “we” would never exist long enough to be able to do that. Oh well, the time/space continuum thing can make your head hurt if you think about it too hard. Suffice it to say that this film delivers all of the goods and ends in a way that is both satisfying and complete. It will certainly leave you thinking. I enthusiastically recommend this movie for the thrilling, epic scope it portrays. It’s a long and wonderful flight, so suit up!

Technical

The picture is excellent, though some of the dimly lit farm scenes looked a bit grainy and murky. Also, Cooper looked a bit too orange while sitting on the front porch of his farm house. With only those minor quibbles, the picture as a whole is wonderfully detailed with bold colors and pitch black space scenes. There is very fine film grain throughout which enhances the feeling of the movie. No annoying digitally scrubbed images here. Speaking of which, my BD copy came with an actual 70mm cell from the film as a souvenir.

Hans Zimmer’s score is an important part to this film. His music is simple, yet profound, and the included use of a church organ delivers emotional impact and ratchets up the tension with large, powerful sweeps that threaten to overpower the dialog and thrust you out of your seat. I found the sound on this disc to be better than the IMAX Theater I went to when this movie was first released. Frankly, the theater was too loud. Against that massive soundtrack are scenes of absolute silence…and the contrast is stunning. Your sound system will be tested with this movie, so buyers beware.

Extras

There are a universe of extras! • The Science of Interstellar—Extended cut of the broadcast special. • Plotting an Interstellar Journey—Discusses the film’s origins, influences and narrative designs. • Life on Cooper’s Farm—Bringing Americana and the grounded nature of a farm to a sci-fi space movie. • The Dust—Learn how cast and crew avoided sand blindness, and see how to create, and clean up after, a catastrophic dust storm. • TARS and CASE—Designing and building these unique characters and how they were brought to life on set and in the film. • Cosmic Sounds—The concepts, process, and recording of Hans Zimmer’s unforgettable score. • The Space Suits—A look at the design and build of the suits and helmets, and what it was like to wear them. • The Endurance—Explore this massive set with a guided tour by production designer Nathan Crowley. • Shooting in Iceland: Miller’s Planet/Mann’s Planet—Travel with the cast and crew to Iceland and see the challenges they faced in creating two vastly different worlds in one country. • The Ranger and the Lander—A look at the other two spaceships in the film. • Miniatures in Space—Marvel at the large-scale models used in the explosive docking sequence. • The Simulation of Zero-G—Discover the various methods that the filmmakers used to create a zero gravity environment. • Celestial Landmarks—Explore how the filmmakers used practical special effects informed by real scientific equations to give the illusion of real space travel for both the actors and the audience. • Across All Dimensions and Time—A look at the concept and design of the Tesseract, which incorporated a practical set rather than a green screen. • Final Thoughts—The cast and crew reflect back on their Interstellar experience. • Theatrical Trailers

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