Interstellar

If you're wondering what all the hype is about, 'Interstellar' is an enormous movie. There's no two ways about it: you HAVE to see this film in the cinema, it's just one of those films. 

We were shown a live interview with director/producer/writer Christopher Nolan before the film and he made two things VERY clear: 1) the less you know about this film, the better and 2) he's aiming for something up there with the all time film greats, we're talking '2001: A Space Odyssey', 'Star Wars', 'Close Encounters Of The Third Kind' ect... science fiction that impacted cinema by showing us worlds that we had never seen before, a visual experience that no other form of media can create and suck us into the experience. While 'Interstellar' is not a perfect film, I believe I've seen an extraordinary film that lives up to the legacy of those classics. 

This movie is gorgeous, every frame will burn itself into your cerebral cortex and stay with you for days afterwards. The alien worlds and various spacecraft are well realised, it also has the most unique design for a robot I've seen in a film. Prepare for some stunningly beautiful (and tense as hell) space sequences, between this and 'Gravity' we've been quite frankly spoiled. Nolan's penchant for having as little greenscreen as possible has clearly paid off, everything looks real because it is real. If you have a theater showing this in Imax, you lucky bastard. Aiding the phenomenal visuals is Hans Zimmers bombastically operatic score, which while effective as f*ck when it comes to ratcheting up the tension seems determined to destroy your eardrums with every instrument in the orchestra, including an organ. Maybe it was the cinema but certain sections (like the rocket take-off scene) were so loud the seats shook. I advise you bring earmuffs with you! 

So pretty...

It's difficult to talk about the story because I'm sworn to secrecy (and the movie hasn't even come out yet), but it's so vast and intricate I doubt I could tell you anyway. This movie crams so much into it's three hour run time I felt mentally and emotionally exhausted coming out from it, everything from father/daughter relationships, various space-time concepts, gravity theories, other dimensions, ghosts, black holes, wormholes, life on other planets, survival, good vs evil, heart vs mind, sustainability of our planet's resources, paradoxes, to human instinct are touched upon.....what doesn't this movie talk about? As I said this is a monumentally massive film in both scope and scale, it's amazing it turned out as good as it did considering it's trying to cram 20 different threads into one movie. The focus of 'Interstellar' is all over the place, threads prominent in the beginning will be dropped halfway through and then become relevant again an hour later. The glue holding this behemoth of tangled concepts together is Matthew Mcconaughey's character Cooper, a space cowboy whose relationship with his daughter Murph back on earth serves as the beating heart and drive for the rest of the story. Mcconaughey gives one heck of a powerhouse performance in this film, which is saying something considering everyone in this cast is giving it their all. Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, *SPOILER* and Mackenzie Foy are all fantastic and brilliant in their own right but this is Mcconaughey's film. His desire to return to his family, much like Leonardo Dicaprio's Cobb in Nolan's previous film 'Inception', grounds the film emotionally as it risks involving only your brain instead of your heart. And no, Nolan can't make a film without having Michael Caine cry at some point, you'll be blabbing as well during that scene.  

Nolan's eagerness to present audiences with challenging material should be lauded but he might have gone a step too far here. In order to keep up with the mad intricacies of the plot you MUST pay attention at all times or else you'll be lost. I did my best but I completely lost the thread by the time the ending rolled around. Without spoiling anything I just don't see how A + B = C. That ending made no sense for me at least, which may or may not be my fault as by that point my brain was dribbling out of my ears thanks to the sheer onslaught of everything that happened in the two hours and a half beforehand. Suffice to say it pulls several cards out from under its hat and left me guessing as to where everything was heading. Once you finally reach that destination though, good luck figuring out what just happened!  

Also this film is long, it feels like I was stuck in that cinema for a day, like they somehow managed to distort space and time when the film started. It starts at a fairly brisk pace but suffers a bit from prolonged second and third acts packed with several moments that feel like they're building to the climax but actually aren't. It's never boring or any less than engaging, but be prepared for things to slow down a bit before the ending comes and blows your mind. 

'Interstellar' is a visually stunning epic that will transport you to the far reaches of space and back again. It's one heck of a ride that demands a lot from you so be prepared to have your socks blown off on several occasions. Christopher Nolan remains a master of his craft and blows the doors off any other movie I've seen this year. He's an incredible visionary of modern cinema, I can't wait to see his next project. 

Positives:

+ Matthew Mcconaughey, stellar cast in general 
+ Incredibly stimulating visuals  
+ Ambitious, unique script 
+ Really tense in parts
+ Several powerhouse moments
+ Intelligent, thought provoking 
+ Powerful score

Negatives:

- I didn't really understand that ending at all
- Wait, what just happened?!
- Slow middle
- The music is so loud it gave me a headache

Overall Score: 9/10

Doctor Who: In The Forest Of The Night

'In The Forest Of The Night' starts out wonderfully as we see a little girl running through a forest in a trademark red coat. Unfazed by any of this she stumbles upon a blue telephone box and decides to knock on the door. The grumpy old man inside is surprised to find a schoolgirl alone in the middle of nowhere. He tries to take her back home but it appears they're already there: the TARDIS is not in a remote forest at all, but in the middle of Trafalgar square in London! It's a great reveal that capitalises on strong fairytale imagery, like other fairytales though you have to take things at face value, if you start questioning to yourself why the wolf in 'Red Riding Hood' can talk and walk then the only answer you're going to get is 'because fairytales, duh'. Frank Cottrell Boyce's 'Forest Of The Night' is a lot like that, if you start questioning the events of this story then it falls apart completely. 'Kill The Moon' had some extremely flimsy science going on but at least it attempted to make events appear plausible, here it's outright magic with little to no explanation given. So yes, suspension of disbelief is extremely necessary to enjoy this episode. 

The best thing about 'Forest Of The Night' is it's set-up. A forest consuming the entire earth overnight is a super intriguing idea that gives the episode a unique visual flare that the previous episode 'Flatline' didn't have. The production team did a fantastic job of conveying a lush landscape peppered with London landmarks: the image of Nelsons column surrounded by green is an iconic image (aided by Murray Golds whimsical score) that once again shows how Doctor Who can separate itself from the rest of the TV landscape by being just plain bonkers when it comes to out-there ideas. The direction from Sheree Folkson, DW's first female director in a LOOOONG time, is inventive and adds a lot of personality to proceedings. I particularly adore how massive she made the TARDIS look using wide angle lens to replicate how the TARDIS would have appeared to young Maebh. It's another gorgeous looking episode. 

Aiding the fairytale-esque theme is the drove of schoolkids featured in this episode. It's a shame we didn't see Courtney again, but Abigail Eames is endearing as Maebh, the super-powered girl who can hear the trees and looking for her lost sister. The other kids are hit and miss but they're given believable/funny dialogue and aren't as intrusive as I thought they would be. Maebh aside they're mainly used as a tool to demonstrate the differences between Clara and Danny. Samuel Anderson continues to be really likeable and surprisingly parental compared to Clara, who cares more for the excitement of adventure than doing her job. I was shocked at how he brushed her lies aside, despite building up to a confrontation of some sort he wasn't really that bothered with it. Huh, ok. I like his explanation for not wanting to travel onboard the TARDIS (he doesn't want to see more, he wants to see what's in front of him more clearly). Again Doctor Who seems obsessed with flipping the script and turning established tropes on their head. Who wouldn't want to travel in the TARDIS? Well Danny apparently. It's a shame we didn't see more of him exploring the forest with the kids, the bits we did see was rather entertaining and it would have been fun to see him adventuring on his own. Maybe we'll see more of Samuel Anderson in the finale? 

That beach chair feels out of place, it's never that sunny in London!

As for Clara, 'Forest Of The Night' feels intentionally like the opposite of 'Kill The Moon' in a lot of ways. In that story Clara is furious with the Doctor for abandoning her and putting her in an impossible situation, but here she coyly manipulates him into leaving before the earth is once again struck by a natural event that could wipe us all out. Clara opts to die with the rest of her species than escape in the TARDIS, and she lied to the Doctor about leaving specifically so he would go back to the TARDIS. The Doctor refuses to leave though, and repeats word for word what Clara said at the end of 'Kill The Moon', a nice indication of how much he's changed since then: 'This is my world, too. I walk your Earth. I breathe your air'. It's a powerful moment and a great concept: the Doctor forced into abandoning the earth by his companion because he can't save us. I love that the tables have turned now, Clara is the one manipulating the Doctor whereas before it was the reverse. She's even predicting his thought patterns which is slightly concerning. Is this the control freak Clara 'Deep Breath' was going on about? She seems to be proficient at manipulating the Doctor into doing things he doesn't want to do at any rate. 

And just like 'Kill The Moon' the earth is saved by the Doctor....doing nothing whatsoever! The problem solved itself, good thing the Doctor came to this realisation in the nick of time, we'd be doomed otherwise! Not. The lack of threat is interesting, aside from a decent chase scene involving escaped zoo animals there isn't really any sense of danger present in this story at all. I can't really say the story needed a threat, the mystery of the forest was enough to keep the viewer hooked. Until we were shown what was causing the forest to grow at an alarming rate...

So those....Fairies? Pixies? Magical firefly thingies? What was up with them?! Apparently all trees have an eternal 'lifeforce' linking them together that in times of crisis can miraculously cause forests to pop out of nowhere and save the day. Erm...okay. These magical trees are going to save us from a solar flare by acting as an oxygen blanket or something (SCIENCE!) to negate the effects of the radiation/heat. In what fantastical alternate reality am I going to buy something like that? A solar flare of that magnitude wouldn't just require an excess of vegetation to brush it off surely? It's radiation, we'd all burn to death! Then at the end Maebh's lost sister shows up out of nowhere hiding under a magical bush. Did the trees magic her back somehow or has the sister literally been hiding in that bush the entire time? Either way I didn't feel anything for that scene at all, only puzzlement. Oh and Danny getting rid of the tiger thanks to shining a flashlight in it's eyes? Sure, that'll work...

Don't you just love Capaldi's facial expressions?

Despite everything 'Forest Of The Night' has going for it I couldn't fall in love with it: there's too much BS here to simply brush it to one side. Having said that I like the visuals, I thought the supporting cast was a ton of fun and there were a lot great interactions between Clara, Danny and the Doctor. This episode is unconventional and different in a lot of ways, so it's a shame everything was resolved by magic in the end.

Positives:

+ Strong visuals
+ The leads are still consistently great
+ Fairytale vibe
+ Interesting, unconventional story      
+ Continues to build the Doctor/Clara relationship dynamic 

Negatives:

- The kids are a mixed bag
- No semblance of 'science' whatsoever, completely fantastical
- Ending scene makes little sense

Overall Score: 8/10