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

charlie_says

There was a bit in the soundtrack, more than once that reminded me of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thnc1yz-eA0&list=PL6D232BCBD70E3C2B&index=11

Sad Professor

McDermotX wrote: »

This is Zimmer's original version of the track. It lacks the organ and choir heard in the film version. It would appear that the final cue was mainly the creation of the music editors and not Zimmer, hence why was left off the soundtrack to begin with.

Sad Professor

charlie_says wrote: »

There was a bit in the soundtrack, more than once that reminded me of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thnc1yz-eA0&list=PL6D232BCBD70E3C2B&index=11

Both scores are inspired by Philip Glass's Koyaanisqatsi soundtrack. Nolan has mentioned Koyaanisqatsi in interviews, so I’m guessing it was used on the temp track and Zimmer was told to emulate it.

nyarlothothep

As an exploration of the emotional effects of space time dilation it was excellent. The score was excellent. The visual effects were excellent. The performances were good to excellent. However...

How the hell did Cooper send back advanced data through morse code in a watch, just how could you store all that data in a clock hand making morse code ticks? Unless he was just conveying the general principles, ie look at this and think about that etc. But then it is stated that he is relaying the data.

Cooper is a pilot ace and judging by the fact that he docks with a spinning spaceship the greatest space ace who ever lived. However... how the fck was he able to fly into a black hole????!? In a chemically propelled ship with space shuttle era tech? Unless Gargantua is not in fact a real black hole but a massive space computer with higher dimensional properties that recognised Cooper's ship and disabled it's gravitational effects or something to let him in.

Also if these higher dimensional aliens/humans have no concept of time in the sense that we do, then how could they identify Cooper, the ultimate pilot and Murph, the ultimate physicist as the ones that would create this utopian future? I assume this is following Terminator rules where they're kickstarting their own evolution by selecting people in the past to create this future/present. They can't pinpoint individual instances of time and what if it had been a mediocre pilot or a great pilot with a daughter who had no interest in physics? Then it would be pointless. Coincidence???

If someone can please explain these two issues I can make a judgement about whether the film is a masterpiece or a monumental failure,

ie if it turns out that "love" is the answer to the problem of gravity I will hate this film.

FlyingIrishMan

nyarlothothep wrote: »

As an exploration of the emotional effects of space time dilation it was excellent. The score was excellent. The visual effects were excellent. The performances were good to excellent. However...

How the hell did Cooper send back advanced data through morse code in a watch, just how could you store all that data in a clock hand making morse code ticks? Unless he was just conveying the general principles, ie look at this and think about that etc. But then it is stated that he is relaying the data.

Cooper is a pilot ace and judging by the fact that he docks with a spinning spaceship the greatest space ace who ever lived. However... how the fck was he able to fly into a black hole????!? In a chemically propelled ship with space shuttle era tech? Unless Gargantua is not in fact a real black hole but a massive space computer with higher dimensional properties that recognised Cooper's ship and disabled it's gravitational effects or something to let him in.

If someone can please explain these two issues I can make a judgement about whether the film is a masterpiece or a monumental failure,

ie if it turns out that "love" is the answer to the problem of gravity I will hate this film.

Perhaps it was just a formula? Wouldn't require too much Morse for a math formula.

The ship was on course up until Mann blew the hatch and that sent it spiralling towards Mann's planet, so upon docking his only focus was to get it out of the atmosphere of that planet and safely into space. Once that was done they were too close the blackhole so the only way Brand could get away safely to Edmunds planet was if they sacrificed the fuel in all the landers and drop the landers to be lighter, so they could get it just barely outside the pull of the blackhole.

Mister Vain

Nothing escapes a black hole, not even light.

darced

This post has been deleted.

nyarlothothep

FlyingIrishMan wrote: »

Perhaps it was just a formula? Wouldn't require too much Morse for a math formula.

The ship was on course up until Mann blew the hatch and that sent it spiralling towards Mann's planet, so upon docking his only focus was to get it out of the atmosphere of that planet and safely into space. Once that was done they were too close the blackhole so the only way Brand could get away safely to Edmunds planet was if they sacrificed the fuel in all the landers and drop the landers to be lighter, so they could get it just barely outside the pull of the blackhole.

Yeah but...if it was spinning out of control down towards the planet due to the explosion then it would be difficult to dock no? As far as I know anything about spaceflight from Kerbball Space Program, space flight is bloody difficult at the best of times so this would require piloting skills off the chart. (I can go with this though, Cooper could just be this guy who is so experienced and so talented he could pretty much do anything).

The bit I don't get is how he could survive within a black hole, (I read ages back that you can fly just at a particular angle to the event horizon and safely pass through it, correct me if I'm wrong on the details but something along those lines, there's a very narrow area that you can pass through, however the opportunity to do so would be infinitessimally slim, so I can't go with the idea that even as the ultimate space pilot he could manage to safely navigate a black hole. If he was in a 3D tesseract with a 5D interface between it and the universe which allowed him to influence spacetime then that along with the de-rezzed lines which came into focus whenever he interacted with them would suggest a computer which would in turn suggest that the black hole really wasn't a black hole but a metaphysical computer designed by the future humans. The formulas though that she was writing were spanning boards so he might have given her the basic premises but not all the data, which would reinforced by the fact that she was correcting what she was writing on the board. But I'm not particularly sure of this interpretation. I think this film was quite heavily influenced in certain ways by 2001 and Solaris, although these films are older and not as visually impressive I think ultimately they were more believable in the sense that they didn't take existing scientific theories ie black holes and have their characters manage the impossible with them.

stealinhorses

@nyarlothothep

you can use morse code to fully translate complex formulas, for example, something like "gamma squared over x squared upon 92" is

--. .- -- -- .- / ... --.- ..- .- .-. . -.. / --- ...- . .-. / -..- / ... --.- ..- .- .-. . -.. / ..- .--. --- -. / ----. ..---

in morse (from http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html)


so it's just a case of sitting down and noting it down correctly

Sad Professor

I'd recommend people check out Kip Thorne's book about the science of the film. He goes into a lot of detail about many of the scientific issues raised here. He explains that Gargantua is a spinning black hole with a gentle singularity which it's concievable a human being could survive beyond the event horizon.

nyarlothothep

stealinhorses wrote: »

@nyarlothothep

you can use morse code to fully translate complex formulas, for example, something like "gamma squared over x squared upon 92" is

--. .- -- -- .- / ... --.- ..- .- .-. . -.. / --- ...- . .-. / -..- / ... --.- ..- .- .-. . -.. / ..- .--. --- -. / ----. ..---

in morse (from http://morsecode.scphillips.com/jtranslator.html)


so it's just a case of sitting down and noting it down correctly

Yeah

but to store pages upon pages of equations in watch ticks?

I think this film despite it's flaws was probably my favourite Nolan film. I don't like his films except for TDKR, I think he's toned down the annoying aspects of his style (like spelling out the theme over and over again, trailer editing etc) and this film is commendable in exploring "big" philosophical/human themes. Also that has to be one of the best scores in decades. I'd give it 4/5 for now.

Mister Vain

So what were your favourite scenes from the film?

For me the scene where Cooper left his family behind was great because it was very emotional. Murph running out the door and then it cuts straight to the launch sequence. It was so well done. The scene with the huge waves was also great. The docking scene was good too but I thought the music was a little over powering. The music is almost too good that it becomes a distraction.

batnolan

Can anyone explain to me why in the docking scene (here - ) that Hatheway passes out even though she has a helmet on but Cooper doesn't? Surely when he opened the hatch in his vessel he wouldn't have been able to breathe given that he was in space? Struck me as odd.

Enjoyed the movie and hopefully it inspires youngsters, and adults I suppose, into having an interest in science.

Preferred Inception however (one of the most underrated movies ever I feel)

Oregano_State

batnolan wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me why in the docking scene (here - ) that Hatheway passes out even though she has a helmet on but Cooper doesn't? Surely when he opened the hatch in his vessel he wouldn't have been able to breathe given that he was in space? Struck me as odd.

Enjoyed the movie and hopefully it inspires youngsters, and adults I suppose, into having an interest in science.

Preferred Inception however (one of the most underrated movies ever I feel)

Not everyone has the same ability to withstand high G-forces. Some people pass out more quickly than others. As a trained pilot, we can assume Cooper has had training exposure to these type of conditions, so it's logical enough that he would be better at dealing with it than Hathaway's character.

Dempsey

batnolan wrote: »

Can anyone explain to me why in the docking scene (here - ) that Hatheway passes out even though she has a helmet on but Cooper doesn't? Surely when he opened the hatch in his vessel he wouldn't have been able to breathe given that he was in space? Struck me as odd.

Enjoyed the movie and hopefully it inspires youngsters, and adults I suppose, into having an interest in science.

Preferred Inception however (one of the most underrated movies ever I feel)

I thought that was self explanatory, Cooper is a pilot and experienced astronaut and Brand isn't. As explained, he is trained to deal with extreme flight conditions, she isnt. If she wasnt her fathers daughter, I doubt she'd be even on the trip.

Mister Vain

batnolan wrote: »

Preferred Inception however (one of the most underrated movies ever I feel)

Not according to IMDB it isn't. I personally think its the most overrated films ever.

DoYouEvenLift

Thinking about it, if Nolan ever did another action movie like TDK I'd like if he worked with Gareth Evans and his choreographers used for The Raid movies, actually cannot imagine how good he'd make superhero fight scenes since he'd have crazy powers and abilities to work with

Oregano_State wrote: »

Not everyone has the same ability to withstand high G-forces. Some people pass out more quickly than others. As a trained pilot, we can assume Cooper has had training exposure to these type of conditions, so it's logical enough that he would be better at dealing with it than Hathaway's character.

Yeah, you can see he's also really feeling it the way his eyes and face look and his body stature, he's leaning to the left almost out of his seat and looks like he's struggling to stay conscious

the_monkey

Mister Vain wrote: »

So what were your favourite scenes from the film?

For me the scene where Cooper left his family behind was great because it was very emotional. Murph running out the door and then it cuts straight to the launch sequence. It was so well done. The scene with the huge waves was also great. The docking scene was good too but I thought the music was a little over powering. The music is almost too good that it becomes a distraction.

Launch Scene.
Wave Scene + 23 years of messages after
Conversation on the trek with Mann
Docking Scene - left me breathless.


Cooper is an experienced pilot - better equipped to deal with high G forces.

DoYouEvenLift

the_monkey wrote: »

Launch Scene.
Wave Scene + 23 years of messages after
Conversation on the trek with Mann
Docking Scene - left me breathless.


Cooper is an experienced pilot - better equipped to deal with high G forces.

Thinking about the 23 years of messages part and knowing similar is possible in real life is insane. I'd probably have a total mental breakdown having all that information thrown at me in the space of a few minutes because all I'd think about is how it's a result of all the years back on Earth I'd missed. Seeing your kids messages going from being totally optimistic to doubting you're still even alive to trying to move on and let you go even though for you it seems like last week you were with them. The part about his son's grandfather dying and getting buried out back "beside Mom" was honestly heartbreaking.

positron

I have been hearing about this being 'better than Gravity', and I finally managed to watch it at Swords yesterday. I am glad I didn't see this thread and spoilers before watching the movie - and I loved it. As a father of two young girls, predictably leaving murf behind without coming to an agreement with her was absolutely excruciatingly painful to watch. And realising that she's now in her thirties, and later on when she's 100+. These personal moments were the key part of a sci-fi film to me. How ordinary life changes a man's perception huh?!

the_monkey

DoYouEvenLift wrote: »

Thinking about the 23 years of messages part and knowing similar is possible in real life is insane. I'd probably have a total mental breakdown having all that information thrown at me in the space of a few minutes because all I'd think about is how it's a result of all the years back on Earth I'd missed. Seeing your kids messages going from being totally optimistic to doubting you're still even alive to trying to move on and let you go even though for you it seems like last week you were with them. The part about his son's grandfather dying and getting buried out back "beside Mom" was honestly heartbreaking.

Absolutely, for me it was the most emotional part of the film - especially when his son was showing him his grandson !

Maybe cos I have a son and no daughter this rang with me more then scenes with Murph - but I don't want to devalue those scenes either.


But yeah, stunning stuff and I'm going back for #2 this Saturday with my Dad , his second time seeing it too and we are both into SciFi ... looking forward to a few pints after it do "discuss" the finer points

circadian

So many holes in this it's unreal (excuse the pun).

I was excited about this film for ages but it fell so short, I don't even know where to begin with it.

Anyone else let down or was it just me?

Bacchus

circadian wrote: »

So many holes in this it's unreal (excuse the pun).

I was excited about this film for ages but it fell so short, I don't even know where to begin with it.

Anyone else let down or was it just me?

You are literally the first person let down by it. What's WRONG WITH YOU!!

:pac:

Have a look through the thread. Interstellar has split audiences it seems, which I find odd because IMO it doesn't have the markings of being such a divisive movie other than the fact that Nolan directed it so everyone has their tail up. The sound editing seems to be high on people's lists on things to knock the movie for (illustrating the high standard against which the critics here are holding the movie to).

It's a fairly run of the mill sci-fi thriller (albeit a beautifully crafted one) with a few high concept science tricks and a father-daughter relationship at the core.

circadian

I generally enjoy Nolan films, I loved Inception but this was all over the show.

I can't comment on the audio as the cinema I was in last night was having technical issues but I'd imagine it didn't help my general opinion of it.

I know it's Sci fi and there's a certain artistic licence allowed but to spend so much time on the theory of relativity, time and gravity to then include absurd anomalies just didn't fly for me.

How did the planets get any sunlight? The black hole is swallowing sunlight, like you would expect.

The first planet, so close to the singularity that it has such a strong effect on time should have been tidally locked thus most likely not have huge tidal waves, at the very least. In all probability it should have already been decimated, rgardless of the weak nature of the singularity.

They were in cryogenic sleep for so long their muscles would have degraded and the first thing they do is land on a planet with 130% Earth gravity?

It just goes on and on.

I enjoyed the spectacle of it, the big space scenes could have lasted a while. The concept of gravity effecting time is sound, even the wormhole is ok but getting into a singularity and he happens to be able to communicate through time. It all gets far fetched.

Did humans on a different timeline, who didn't suffer from the death of the Earth build the wormhole? Who else could it have been? It seems like a case of both the chicken and the egg coming first.

the_monkey

I'm wondering will this come back to the 70mm IMAX in London once it's finished?

for special screenings ?

Because I regret that I won't get the chance to see it in IMAX format..

Bacchus

circadian wrote: »

I generally enjoy Nolan films, I loved Inception but this was all over the show.

I can't comment on the audio as the cinema I was in last night was having technical issues but I'd imagine it didn't help my general opinion of it.

I know it's Sci fi and there's a certain artistic licence allowed but to spend so much time on the theory of relativity, time and gravity to then include absurd anomalies just didn't fly for me.

How did the planets get any sunlight? The black hole is swallowing sunlight, like you would expect.

There was a star in the system too, Gargantiuan (sp?). That provided the light.

circadian wrote: »

The first planet, so close to the singularity that it has such a strong effect on time should have been tidally locked thus most likely not have huge tidal waves, at the very least. In all probability it should have already been decimated, rgardless of the weak nature of the singularity.

I think they actually had their science consultant rubber stamp the effect of the singularity on the tidal wave planet - in theory anyway. The planet was in the lowest stable orbit too btw - they mentioned that during the movie.

circadian wrote: »

They were in cryogenic sleep for so long their muscles would have degraded and the first thing they do is land on a planet with 130% Earth gravity?

Because... future. This is just something you have to suspend belief and accept that in the future we develop a way to put someone in cryogenic sleep without muscle degradation. It was never a problem in the Alien movies, I think it's nit picking to question it here.

circadian wrote: »

It just goes on and on.

I enjoyed the spectacle of it, the big space scenes could have lasted a while. The concept of gravity effecting time is sound, even the wormhole is ok but getting into a singularity and he happens to be able to communicate through time. It all gets far fetched.

There are two things to consider though...
1. Noone knows what is inside a singularity/black hole. Nolan had plenty of scope to do what he wanted here really. Ditto, the theory about gravity, noone really knows so therefore there is artist license to use gravity as the medium for communicating with the past.
2. What we were shown inside the singularity was a creation of future humans, not a natural phenomenon. So again, there is plenty of wiggle room to account for what happened in the last 20 minutes or so.

circadian wrote: »

Did humans on a different timeline, who didn't suffer from the death of the Earth build the wormhole? Who else could it have been? It seems like a case of both the chicken and the egg coming first.

This is the only real plot hole in the movie as far as I'm concerned. However, the same paradox exists in Terminator and that doesn't stop me enjoying that movie. It's a noodle scratcher but not something that takes away from the movie IMO.

Sad Professor

circadian wrote: »

How did the planets get any sunlight? The black hole is swallowing sunlight, like you would expect.

No, the black hole bends and distorts light and traps light within from escaping. It’s not clear exactly how Miller’s planet gets its sunlight, but I assume it’s mostly coming around the black hole or from its accretion disk.

The first planet, so close to the singularity that it has such a strong effect on time should have been tidally locked thus most likely not have huge tidal waves, at the very least.

According to Thorne, the planet isn’t fully locked. It’s rocking back and forth.

In all probability it should have already been decimated, rgardless of the weak nature of the singularity.

Thorne justifies this by the fact that it’s a spinning black hole which is whirling space around it, thus protecting the planet from being torn apart by centrifugal forces.

They were in cryogenic sleep for so long their muscles would have degraded and the first thing they do is land on a planet with 130% Earth gravity?

I haven’t a clue how the hypersleep chambers were supposed to work, but I don’t think they were cryogenic.

I enjoyed the spectacle of it, the big space scenes could have lasted a while. The concept of gravity effecting time is sound, even the wormhole is ok but getting into a singularity and he happens to be able to communicate through time. It all gets far fetched.

I don’t think Cooper himself goes into the singularity. Rather he's rescued from the singularity by the tesseract which is residing on the edge of it. I think the tesseract is best understood as a kind of inter-dimensional ship built by higher lifeforms.

Did humans on a different timeline, who didn't suffer from the death of the Earth build the wormhole? Who else could it have been? It seems like a case of both the chicken and the egg coming first.

This assumes that time is linear because that’s how we experience it. As shown in the third act, there’s another dimension in which time can be traversed the same way we traverse the three physical dimensions. Logically this kind of (from our perspective) closed loop timeline makes far more sense than traditional depictions of time travel which are inherently paradoxical.

orubiru

Mister Vain wrote: »

So what were your favourite scenes from the film?

For me the scene where Cooper left his family behind was great because it was very emotional. Murph running out the door and then it cuts straight to the launch sequence. It was so well done. The scene with the huge waves was also great. The docking scene was good too but I thought the music was a little over powering. The music is almost too good that it becomes a distraction.

Watched a 2nd time at the weekend.

The whole first part of the movie up to the launch is great. Especially when you now know the ending of the film.

All of the space stuff. Brilliant, beautiful, unsettling.

The scene on the wave planet is awesome. When they get back to the ship and realize they were gone for 23 years... such a punch in the gut. Poor Romilly. Then the messages from home... f*cksakes.

I liked the stuff with Dr Mann. Yeah, I know it was predictable that he would be a "villain" but I felt like the movie was intentionally trying to draw a line under a lot of the standard sci-fi and space travel tropes. So, I liked it.

The "docking" sequence is absolute solid gold. Amazing. They've built the tension perfectly there and just pulled out this unbelievably tense sequence. Loved it.

Everything beyond the black hole and the ending really had my attention. A lot of thought provoking stuff in there.

Thinking back on it, the movie does have a little bit of everything and there are genuine moments of drama and tension and emotional involvement with the characters.

Thargor

I thought in Terminator it led to a more advanced model being sent back in the sequel? Arnie even says Judgement Day is inevitable at some point.

stereo_steve

Loved the first two hours. But I hated the end with Matthew McConaughey in that room pushing books. I felt that I had been cheated of a believable ending. It felt like Indiana Jones 4 all over again.

I think MM should have died in the blackhole and then it could have just finished with the hope of mankind getting a fresh start on the new planet.