Interstellar (Christopher Nolan) *SPOILERS FROM POST 458 ONWARDS*

Sad Professor

Hurrache wrote: »

And from what I can remember is that the music from that scene wasn't on the soundtrack when first released, and not the exact track when it appeared on subsequent releases. Rights issues or something.

Yeah though afaik the issue wasn’t rights. Zimmer just didn’t have the final cue since it was largely created in editing without him.

Dempsey

Kirby wrote: »

No. He's alive. It's all real.

I've read that the original script had Cooper die after sending the message back to Murph and the film just end with her eureka moment. Test audiences found it a bit dark so they went and filmed him being found and reuniting with Murph and going to find Brand. But its all real.

Has Nolan stated that?

ILikeBoats

That wave scares the bejaysus out of me

eviltimeban

Which docking scene, when they first dock with the Endurance, or when Matt Damon is trying to dock?

Hurrache

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3lcGnMhvsA

McDermotX

ILikeBoats wrote: »

That wave scares the bejaysus out of me

FWIW......the single greatest 'almost ruined by showing it in a trailer beforehand' moment in recent memory.

Tipsy McSwagger

Sad Professor wrote: »

Yeah though afaik the issue wasn’t rights. Zimmer just didn’t have the final cue since it was largely created in editing without him.

It’s not on the official soundtrack either.

FortuneChip

McDermotX wrote: »

FWIW......the single greatest 'almost ruined by showing it in a trailer beforehand' moment in recent memory.

The Dark Knight Rises showed the football stadium scene. Bizarre inclusion.

At least with Interstellar they kept the full final act out of any trailer.
They also managed Matt Damon's part well, even if he is "visible" in trailers/posters.

SuprSi

Hurrache wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3lcGnMhvsA

That right there is the single best cinematic experience I've ever had.

maryjane1970

So it was cooper that sent him-self the coordinates to the base at the start of the film...

santana75

I saw this when it was released and I have never had a cinematic experience like it before or since. It just moved me to the core of my being and I was telling everyone to go see it, which they did and their responses where very much underwhelming. For whatever reason it seems to be a film that speaks deeply to some but does very little for others(one friend even said he fell asleep after 20 minutes). Its kind of like cloud atlas in that it didnt get a lot of attention at the time but has since started to gain recognition. I mean in years to come nobody will remember Avengers Infinity war or captain marvel, they'll be forgotten and disposed of just like most winners of the x-factor are disposed of and forgotten shortly thereafter. But just like subsequent generations continue to discover the Beetles or led zeppelin, in 10 years time people will still be drawn to Interstellar.

serfboard

Kirby wrote: »

I've read that the original script had Cooper die after sending the message back to Murph and the film just end with her eureka moment.

And that ending would have made far more sense to me.

Kirby wrote: »

Test audiences found it a bit dark so they went and filmed him being found and reuniting with Murph and going to find Brand.

Yeah, the extra dose of unrealistic sugar, because (as I've read before) American audiences like a happy ending.

However, to create that happy ending:

1. The Rangers just happen to pass by Saturn and find Cooper with "just a few minutes of Oxygen left".

2. When Cooper goes to see his daughter, the hospital room is filled with his grandchildren and great grandchildren. However, when he enters the room they all part the way and, instead of saying something like "OMG! Grandad! It's you!" and there being emotional scenes all around, they act as if he is one of the staff come in to see the patient.

To me, both of these have all the appearance of a badly-thought-out tacked-on ending, in what is otherwise a great film.

Sad Professor

The ending wasn't tacked on in post-production. You can read the final draft of the script online and the ending is the same.

However, in Jonathan Nolan's original script which he wrote for Spielberg in 2008 the events leading up to the ending were slightly different. Most of it is pretty similar. There is time travel but no tesseract and no Cooper sending himself a message, though they do discover a weird space station outside of space and time. There's a love story sub-plot with Cooper and Brand and they have zero gravity sex. Murph was a boy not a girl and is not reunited with Cooper, who instead ends up on a space station orbiting Earth 200 years in the future where he meets his grandson. Cooper then steals a ship and leaves to go find Brand just as in film version, though the wormhole is gone so it's not clear how he expects to do that in a tiny ship. It's online if anyone wants to read it.

PhiloCypher

santana75 wrote: »

I saw this when it was released and I have never had a cinematic experience like it before or since. It just moved me to the core of my being and I was telling everyone to go see it, which they did and their responses where very much underwhelming. For whatever reason it seems to be a film that speaks deeply to some but does very little for others(one friend even said he fell asleep after 20 minutes). Its kind of like cloud atlas in that it didnt get a lot of attention at the time but has since started to gain recognition. I mean in years to come nobody will remember Avengers Infinity war or captain marvel, they'll be forgotten and disposed of just like most winners of the x-factor are disposed of and forgotten shortly thereafter. But just like subsequent generations continue to discover the Beetles or led zeppelin, in 10 years time people will still be drawn to Interstellar.

I was one of those underwhelmed by the film. Don't get me wrong it's well made, the acting is top knotch and the soundtrack is amazing, but it just doesn't hold together as well as his other films. Maybe if I had a kid I'd have been more emotionally engaged with the relationship between Coop and Murph, but as is I couldn't transfer my attachment across 3 time periods and 3 actresses in one 2+ hour film.

Ipso

Sad Professor wrote: »

The ending wasn't tacked on in post-production. You can read the final draft of the script online and the ending is the same.

However, in Jonathan Nolan's original script which he wrote for Spielberg in 2008 the events leading up to the ending were slightly different. Most of it is pretty similar. There is time travel but no tesseract and no Cooper sending himself a message, though they do discover a weird space station outside of space and time. There's a love story sub-plot with Cooper and Brand and they have zero gravity sex. Murph was a boy not a girl and is not reunited with Cooper, who instead ends up on a space station orbiting Earth 200 years in the future where he meets his grandson. Cooper then steals a ship and leaves to go find Brand just as in film version, though the wormhole is gone so it's not clear how he expects to do that in a tiny ship. It's online if anyone wants to read it.

Is it time travel or getting to experience time as a fourth dimension that he can move through like other dimensions?

Yermande

Like a lot of thinking man's sci-fi, the film works best when you don't think too much about it at all!

I adore it. I can see its problems but it was one of my all-time great cinema moments. I had just landed in Sydney and I was jet-lagged and wired to the moon. The ideas it touched upon and the possibilities it hinted at were enough for me. I was bleary eyed and dumbfounded and thankfully that feeling has survived repeated viewings.

I don't care that a lot of it falls apart when you pick through the details. As I said, that's par for the course with a lot of my favourite sci-fi.

maryjane1970

Why did mann tell cooper the last thing you see before you die is your children...?

Sad Professor

maryjane1970 wrote: »

Why did mann tell cooper the last thing you see before you die is your children...?

As I recall, he meant it in relation to the human survival instinct. Basically Mann was a selfish coward and he was trying to justify his actions to Cooper by suggesting that if Cooper been in the same situation he would have acted just as selfishly. At that point in the film Cooper is planning to go home and Mann is telling him that it's impossible to care about anyone but yourself and your close friends/family. It plays into the dilemma Cooper faces between seeing his children again and saving the human race. However, unlike Mann and perhaps even because of him, Cooper in the end chooses to sacrifice whatever chance he has of seeing his children again to help Brand complete her mission.

It's typical Nolan optimism about human nature.

maryjane1970

I was thinking that he had died in the end,he got to see his daughter and that’s why the family around morph never even spoke to him....

Hurrache

serfboard wrote: »

2. When Cooper goes to see his daughter, the hospital room is filled with his grandchildren and great grandchildren. However, when he enters the room they all part the way and, instead of saying something like "OMG! Grandad! It's you!" and there being emotional scenes all around, they act as if he is one of the staff come in to see the patient.

I can't remember the exact details but I assumed they would have already seen/met him and were gathered then for the final reunion with Murph. It was a bit saccharine though.

Dempsey

Sad Professor wrote: »

As I recall, he meant it in relation to the human survival instinct. Basically Mann was a selfish coward and he was trying to justify his actions to Cooper by suggesting that if Cooper been in the same situation he would have acted just as selfishly. At that point in the film Cooper is planning to go home and Mann is telling him that it's impossible to care about anyone but yourself and your close friends/family. It plays into the dilemma Cooper faces between seeing his children again and saving the human race. However, unlike Mann and perhaps even because of him, Cooper in the end chooses to sacrifice whatever chance he has of seeing his children again to help Brand complete her mission.

It's typical Nolan optimism about human nature.

Or when Coop goes through the black hole, he's actually dies and what we see after that point is the flash before his eyes/delusion of getting back to Murph

Tesseracts, Talking Bookcases & Watches, solving impossible equations, saving the human race, getting to say goodbye to his daughter and riding off into the sunset to find love. Everything wrapped up in a nice little bow. Given the attention to scientific theory throughout the film, its a delusional ending and it gives credence to the idea that Coop has actually died and Nolan pulled a Bobby Ewing

Sad Professor

It's great content for Youtube essayists, but I don't buy these "it was all dream" theories.

Tbh I'd have preferred the third act if Nolan had been more ambiguous or dreamlike with it, but he wasn't. That's not his style. He likes to explain things, usually repeatedly. He even hired a theoretical physicist to write a whole book about the scientific theory of the film including the ending and exactly how Cooper survived the black hole and ended up next to Saturn.

Dempsey

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's great content for Youtube essayists, but I don't buy these "it was all dream" theories.

Tbh I'd have preferred the third act if Nolan had been more ambiguous or dreamlike with it, but he wasn't. That's not his style. He likes to explain things, usually repeatedly. He even hired a theoretical physicist to write a whole book about the scientific theory of the film including the ending and exactly how Cooper survived the black hole and ended up next to Saturn.

If the ending is as straight as it first looks, i.e. using a scientific theory like tesseract as a Deus Ex Machina to resolve all those issues neatly, then its just a poorly written ending.

maryjane1970

So what is nolans take on the end of the film,after all,he did write it...

Dempsey

maryjane1970 wrote: »

So what is nolans take on the end of the film,after all,he did write it...

He wont say, he wants people to take their own interpretation from it

rossie1977

Bowlardo wrote: »

It is though....it is most certainly near the best sci FI ever made. Name 5 better sci FI movies
Blade runner
Space odyssey
Aliens

Matrix, empire strikes back, they live, wrath of Khan, the thing, Robocop, moon, the fly, edge of tomorrow, back to the future, starship troopers, predator, total recall, invasion of body snatchers (78), ET, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, wall-e off top of my head.

Not a huge fan of blade runner or it's sequel. I much prefer Interstellar and I understand Nolan is beloved by many but interstellar while a good movie with incredible soundtrack is clearly flawed. When the audience leaves a movie asking what the f**k did I just watch during last 30 minutes I hesitate calling it an all time great. For me Momento is still easily Nolan's best work.

Sad Professor

rossie1977 wrote: »

Matrix, empire strikes back, they live, wrath of Khan, the thing, Robocop, moon, the fly, edge of tomorrow, back to the future, starship troopers, predator, total recall, invasion of body snatchers (78), ET, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, wall-e off top of my head.

Not a huge fan of blade runner or it's sequel. I much prefer Interstellar and I understand Nolan is beloved by many but interstellar while a good movie with incredible soundtrack is clearly flawed. When the audience leaves a movie asking what the f**k did I just watch during last 30 minutes I hesitate calling it an all time great. For me Momento is still easily Nolan's best work.

I guess that explains why 2001 isn't on your list. And Interstellar since it's basically a post-Star Wars riff on 2001.

Sad Professor

Sad Professor wrote: »

It's worth noting as well that the music in the docking scene was mostly the creation of Nolan and his editors/mixers who cobbled it together from different cues after Zimmer had finished up. The actual cue Zimmer composed for that scene wasn't nearly as powerful as the one they mashed together.

Not to take anything away from Zimmer but Nolan makes him better.

Nolan directed The Lion King and Gladiator?!

Ah I know what you mean though, that docking scene was a masterclass in editing. A whole different pallet of talents brought together with editing perfection. It's definitely my favourite score of Zimmer's, he and Nolan are such a perfect combo and Nolan definitely inspires and challenges Zimmer to progress like other directors don't.

I'm just happy to see this thread trending again as this is one of my favourite movies. It has its flaws and suffers from Nolan clunkiness in parts with the dialogue, but I can get past these for my own enjoyment.

I wouldn't dare dream of rating it in the sci-fi pantheon though, I haven't seen enough sci-fi movies to judge.

shamrock55

I really just don't get the whole thing about him being behind the bookcase, movie was great up to that point

Dades

rossie1977 wrote: »

Matrix, empire strikes back, they live, wrath of Khan, the thing, Robocop, moon, the fly, edge of tomorrow, back to the future, starship troopers, predator, total recall, invasion of body snatchers (78), ET, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, wall-e off top of my head.

There's sci fi and there's sci fi. Some of those are primarily horror, action, family, fantasy etc.

I think you actually have to make a genuine attempt to introduce some science for a movie to be truly sci fi. Or maybe Interstallar deserves to be compared to those films that at least do that, rather than films that on the surface get labeled sci fi because someone's in space.

Sad Professor wrote: »

I guess that explains why 2001 isn't on your list. And Interstellar since it's basically a post-Star Wars riff on 2001.

I think it's a bit of stretch to call it a rip off. There's a lot of common concepts in sci fi - e.g. unknown signal from space - that doesn't mean every variation is a rip off of the most well known treatment.