Top 250 Position: 31 (29 when watched)
Rating 8.6/10 from 834,843 IMDb users
Correct at 7th February 2016 (source IMDb.com)
Who's in it:
Matthew McConaughey
Anne Hathaway
Michael Cain
Jessica Chastain
Matt Damon
Topher Grace
Directed By: Christopher Nolan
Year: 2014
Duration: 2 Hours 49 Minutes
Accolades: Won one Oscar for Best Achievement in Visual Effects. Nominated for a further 4 Oscars; Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures- Original Score, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing, Best Achievement in Sound Editing and Best Achievement in Production Design.
Plot: Set in the near future, due to drought, famine and crop disease the future of humanity looks bleak. A rip in the space-time continuum is discovered and a group of explorers embark on a mission is find a planet able to sustain human life, but it isn't quite as simple as that. Coop (McConaughey) must make a choice of whether to stay on earth with his family or pilot the mission, save mankind and risk never seeing his children again.
Interesting Facts About the Film:
- Cost an estimated $165,000,000 to make.
- The wormhole explanation using paper and pen is exactly the same as it appears in Event Horizon (1997).
- Features the most footage ever shot using 15/70mm IMAX cameras for a feature film, and, due to the film industry's rapid conversion to digital projection formats, will potentially be the last feature film ever to be projected on 15/70mm IMAX film.
- Theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, whose works inspired this film, was approached to play himself in a cameo role.
- This is the sixth collaboration between Michael Caine and Christopher Nolan. The other five titles are Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008),Inception (2010) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). (All of which are also in the Top 250!)
- A copy of Stephen King's novel "The Stand" is visible among Murph's books. King's book is about the near extinction of humanity and the survivors' struggle to relocate and settle down.
- This is Christopher Nolan's seventh film to be included in the IMDb Top 250.
Review
As a fan of Matthew McConaughey's for many years, though I have to say I had mainly only seen him in Rom-coms and the Dalls Buyers Club, this movie shows just what a 'corker' of a career he has had. Not long after winning his Best Actor Oscar moving on to such a big budget and significant movie. For anyone who hasn't seen the Dallas Buyers Club (which I am slightly surprised does not feature in the top 250) I would recommend it, but be warned to look at the synopsis before watching it.
But on to this movie, it is described on the DVD case a s 'land mark film', I have to say that as a statement that is probably true. Reading into how it was filmed for IMAX and how much per minute it cost to make (it is believed about $976,000 per minute) then it pretty much fits in that category of land mark films.
It does aid to highlight how wasteful mankind is and how we do not use our resources in moderation. As with all the Christopher Nolan films I have seen, it makes you think. It is no surprise really that so many of his movies are in the Top 250. Could we possibly say that he is a movie genius?
This movie is however very long, and unlike the Batman films that seemed to skip along more, I felt that it really was long. There was also an element of getting lost in the plot with a seemingly irrelevant ghost/dust cloud in Murph's room, but believe me all will become clear at the end! So bear with it.
Be warned though that you might need to have Wikipedia open afterwards to make full sense of the movie on a first watching.
The special features are super impressive, it's no surprise that it won an Oscar for them.
There is also a very effective use of silences in the movie, which build up the tension and give you more time, I suppose, to digest the special effects, if anything it makes them more impressive than boggling your mind with music during these moments.
As a science fiction nerd this film appealed to me, and trust me it is worth watching, but be prepared to pay full attention for nearly 3 hours.
Overall very good, very impressive special effects, moving acting and good script (if a bit confusing in parts) just a little long.
For more information about the film visit the imdb.com page: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/
