Interstellar (2014)

When Earth's resources start to fail, a group of explorers embark on a voyage to search the solar system for a new inhabitable planet. The fate of humanity on rests on this one mission.

As a space adventure, Interstellar succeeds, like most Nolan films, as an edge of your seat thrill ride. Even at nearly 3 hours, there's never a dull moment. Visually, the cinematography, production design, and visual effects put Interstellar among the most beautiful space films ever made. It's an all encompassing experience that hits its highs as good as any film this year.

Christopher Nolan's latest epic might just be his most emotional film yet. With deep characters and themes dealing with love and family, its his most relatable film. Unlike his previous works, we feel a real connection to the film as these characters carry the story.

At the center is Matthew McConaughey, who again proves he's on his way to becoming one of the best actors of this generation with another stellar performance. Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway also excel in what might be the best ensemble work in a Nolan film yet.

However, Interstellar might be too intellectual for its own good. In this day and age where sequels, remakes, and superhero films are taking over Hollywood, an original epic should be respected. I admire the ambition, but it packs in so many concepts and ideas to the point where it starts to feel bloated.

 There's so much to take in that it might be hard to understand everything on a first viewing. This is especially the case because it relies so much on complicated scientific theories, including worm holes, black holes, and time travel within the space-time continuum.

The script has gotten a lot of criticism because it contains too much exposition. But when dealing with these complicated ideas that the average audience might not understand, exposition is necessary to get the point across.

Personally, I didn't have a problem with it, but I can understand if some might.

Still, this may be Nolan's weakest script to date. There's a few too many plot contrivances and cringe worthy lines of dialogue that prevent this from being among Nolan's best.

Nonetheless, Interstellar is still a fantastic achievement and a worthy addition to Nolan's increasingly impressive filmography.

(9/10)