A must-see sci fi movie

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Bill Glasheen
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A must-see sci fi movie

Post by Bill Glasheen »

I can remember as a kid seeing 2001 when it came out. I was the geek kid in my family of 8. We all did well in math, but I was the one who also loved the sciences. My parents dropped me off at that movie with my twin and another sister. On the way home, I remember how my sisters were laughing, and I felt somewhat offended. I hadn't completely absorbed the movie, but I definitely understood and appreciated the overall theme of man as a chosen species on the planet who was guided through his evolution from beast to superior being. To this day, you can still watch this movie and be awed by its vision of how life may be one day as we routinely travel outside our terrestrial tribe boundaries.

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I saw Interstellar last night for the second time in as many weekends. Both times I saw the movie with kids (16 and 8 ). And while it's a very long movie for a young kid, there's something in it for everyone. Sadly this movie hasn't captured the audiences that I thought it might. This has less to do with the quality of an amazing film, and more to do with the unfortunate breadth of knowledge and appreciation of math and science in this country. When you have almost half of the country falling for what I like to call climate change religion and politics, well... We've got a lot of work to do before we get an entire country back to what it was like in the 1960s when the U.S. was racing the Soviets to the moon.

By the way... if you want to argue global warming turned climate change, you'd better bring something more than a knife to a gunfight with me. I was trained in mathematical modeling, I grew up in a NASA family, and I know of at least 2 fatal flaws with the doom and gloom projections. But if you insist, we can take it to another thread.

The good news is that Interstellar avoids the whole current politics/religion problem of the environmental scientist ninnies, and instead presents a completely unique Vonnegut-like dystopian scenario. Better yet... it is the best use of my graduate school training in relativity physics today. If you fear you might be blown away by the advanced physics which underlie the whole plot, well you might. But there's enough of a human story to this that it teases and cajoles you to jump in with both ignorant legs. And like 2001, the visuals and the plot will keep even a child interested. Who knows... it may be a catalyst for the next generation of U.S. scientists.

Yes, I needed to explain some of what was going on to the people who saw it with me. But they were curious enough to care, and that allows them to venture into topics that perhaps they can't quite grasp today.

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By all means go see it, and enjoy the discussions afterwards.

- Bill
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Bill Glasheen
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Re: A must-see sci fi movie

Post by Bill Glasheen »

One word of warning about where you see it...

I saw it the first time in IMAX format in a theatre near me with a serious sound system. The beginning of the film had a deep bass run so loud and annoying that you couldn't hear the dialogue. In the second theatre I went to, it was normal theatre format and the sound system was more pedestrian. The bass problem didn't exist there. I don't know if it's a problem with the film editing or a poorly-tuned sound system in a theatre, but be warned. It detracts from an otherwise visually stimulating movie.

By the way... I couldn't post the best pictures. They're all too large for this Forum's format. In general this is a film that you'll want to see in a good theatre rather than later on at home.

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- Bill
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Bill Glasheen
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Re: A must-see sci fi movie

Post by Bill Glasheen »

This excellent article explains the issue with this movie. Obviously you know which group I fall in. ;-)

- Bill
Popwatch Entertainment wrote:Christopher Nolan made Memento, but he also made The Dark Knight Rises. Great filmmakers can make bad movies: This is not a particularly complicated equation. And Nolan’s new space melodrama Interstellar is not a particularly complicated movie. The science is elaborate and insane, but the emotional stakes are simple: Father loves daughter, father saves humanity.

But Nolan is one of our plottiest filmmakers. (Most films have three acts; Nolan’s movies usually have at least six, usually out of order and/or overlapping.) I attempted to explain the plot of Interstellar, but even I ran up against some impenetrable cosmo-logic. Some readers in the comments offered helpful suggestions. Some readers were angry that people didn’t like Interstellar, a transcendent visually stimulating three-hour odyssey. Some readers were angry that people liked Interstellar, a gooey three-hour snoozefest. Some heavy thoughts on Interstellar, is what I’m getting at.

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Jason Rees
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Re: A must-see sci fi movie

Post by Jason Rees »

Bill,
I watched Interstellar with my middle son, the most likely to grasp most of the science involved. It was a long movie, but a good one. My son and I both felt booted from the movie after the main character went into the black hole (what happened next stretched the bounds of believability for us), but the ending wrapped things up nicely. It was visually stimulating, mentally engaging, and emotionally heartrending.

I personally enjoyed the seven-act structure of the movie, and wish we'd see more of it in movies today. If society weren't so dumbed-down, maybe movie directors wouldn't have to spoon-feed us a story, eh?
Life begins & ends cold, naked & covered in crap.
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Glenn
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Re: A must-see sci fi movie

Post by Glenn »

Being an avid reader of astronomy, astrophysics, and cosmology, this movie is right up my alley; but not being a fan of theaters, and not having about 4 hours to kill at one, I will wait until it is available on DVD to see it. However equally of interest to me is that noted theoretical physicist and black hole expert Kip Thorne, who served as a science advisor on the movie, has a companion book out:

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I enjoyed Thorne's 1994 Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy when I read it almost 20 years ago, The Science of Interstellar looks to be even better. Here is some info on the book and the science in the movie:
To really get 'Interstellar,' you'll have to read Kip Thorne's book
Glenn
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