A beautiful, ambitious, fascinating odyssey.

Rating: 9/10 (9 November 2014)

I saw Interstellar this weekend, as did many people. I have a lot to talk about in regards to this film, so let me begin.
I have to start off by saying.... wow. Just, wow. What an absolutely mesmerizing film. I know it's cliché to say, but I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. In recent decades, anyway. The visual effects and cinematography are nothing less than utterly fantastic, I could've sworn that they actually filmed the space scenes out in space. They're that good. As others have said, there's an emotional core to the plot that makes the three hour ride so worthwhile, and it's what makes the film so different from what Nolan usually tackles. The cast gives uniformly great performances, but one I have to particularly point out because hot damn did he do one heck of a job in it was Matthew McConaughey. If he doesn't get at least a Best Actor nomination at the Oscars next year, heads will roll. The writing in the film is also overall a wonder, perfectly mixing emotion, drama, and even some funny bits here in there. The score by Hans Zimmer is actually a step up from his recent works, and accompanies the film greatly with the use of quiet, eerie melodies and loud, satisfying crescendos. (I even think I noticed a few 2001 references in there, but it's probably just me!)
Interstellar is Christopher Nolan's most personal work. This is where at he's his most human, and his most beautiful. This is a work of art, a piece of cerebral science fiction and a heart-pounding drama that is truly special in its own way. It's refreshingly unusual, to the point where it asks us, the audience to be willing to understand it: a story of family, finding new frontiers, loss, the longing to see a loved one's face again. The film in general in some ways actually hankered me back to an ever so popular comparison, 2001: A Space Odyssey and even last year's sci-fi drama, Gravity, due to the huge technical milestones both had pioneered. Steven Soderbergh's little-seen and not that well-regarded remake of Solaris from 2002 is also eerily similar to this in many regards, but this is the film Solaris should have been. But whatever, time for me to stop rambling and get back onto my thoughts with this film.
Many aren't going like Interstellar, and write it off as a pretentious, overlong hodgepodge with no real worth. Or, they'll see it for the fascinating, complex film it actually is. It's bound to be one of the most controversial films of this decade, this century if my sights aren't too ludicrous. There's a reason why this movie is getting such a highly divided reception among critics. It's thrown them off, they weren't expecting such a film on a almost mindbogglingly huge scale with so many underlying messages to it. I've seen quite a lot of people slam the almost three hour long running time, but me? I couldn't take my eyes of the screen for a second, I was completely riveted.
Interstellar is a simply stunning work, and one of (if not the best) films of 2014. It's a lot of things: emotional, moving, visceral, powerful and most of all staggeringly ambitious. It's one heck of an experience, whether you end up loving or hating it, that will stay in your mind one way or another. To say that this film may be Nolan's masterpiece isn't that far of a stretch, despite all the excellent films on his repertoire. If your theater has IMAX, PLEASE watch it in that format. It's the definitive way to see the film.
My point is, go see it. Now. Films like these are a rarity nowadays.
Bravo, Nolan. Film was invented for creations like this.