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Interstellar (2014)
A Beautiful, but Less Impressive Effort from Nolan
Interstellar is quite possibly the most anticipated film of the year. And how can it not be? It's a CHRISTOPHER NOLAN film! Chris Nolan has earned his title as one of the greatest filmmakers of his generation. When you have movies like Memento, The Prestige, Inception, and The Dark Knight on your resume, you most definitely have the right to be called that, and with that comes immense expectation and sometimes blind adoration for whatever he does. Like with every film, you've got to go in with an open mind, no matter how much you love the director. So I went into Interstellar, trying to have little expectation, and ended up really enjoying it, but not nearly as much as Nolan's other films.
There are so many GREAT things about Interstellar. The cast is wonderful and acts brilliantly and authentically, particularly Matthew McConaughey, who just keeps impressing audiences more and more as his career progresses. The film is expertly shot, with gorgeous visuals (reminding me of Gravity), and fantastic special effects. Hans Zimmer's score is powerful and complements the scope of the story. There's a great pace to the movie too; it can feel long at times but overall it is never boring. The scientific research to go along with the narrative is impressive as well. There are some nice surprises and twists (typical Nolan) here and there as well and that keeps things interesting. The best thing about Interstellar though, is it's emotional depth. My favourite part of the film doesn't involve any special effects or moments of discovery and exploration, but a showcase of heartbreaking emotion displayed by McConaughey as he sees his family grow up through a series of video messages. It's packed full of great emotional moments that make it memorable. It's actually a lot more attached to its characters emotionally than most of Nolan's other films.
However, towards the end, the film seems to slip from Nolan's grasp. It's been seen before that Nolan sometimes can bite off more than he can chew with plot. Inception was an amazingly complex plot that's concepts had to constantly be explained by the characters to makes sense of things. The Dark Knight Rises ended up becoming too big in scope, and plot holes became so apparent at times. The concepts of Interstellar go all over the place in the final act, to the point where it's so far reaching that you have to force yourself to suspend disbelief. It just doesn't flow, and it's not fleshed out really at all; it just sort of collapses. It's not necessarily incoherent, or bad, it's just too much, and not all that satisfying. It's such a beautiful journey, but runs off the rails. A small thing that pops here and there in the film is poor editing, in which sometimes scenes aren't as clear as they should be. This isn't new to Nolan films; The Dark Knight and Inception suffered from some poor editing in the action sequences.
Overall, Interstellar is a solid movie, and it's apparent that it has been made by a master filmmaker, which makes it enjoyable, but at the same time, makes it more disappointing. It's definitely one of Nolan's less impressive efforts, and I just can't see it as the "genre-defining" film mentioned in the comments of others. Like I mentioned before, there are people that are going to adore whatever Nolan does, no matter how great or not great it is. I can't say I'm one of those people, because I've seen Memento, The Prestige, and all of his other movies and I know how great he can be. Still, go see this movie; it's definitely one to see in theatres, and make your own opinion of it.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
From A Fan
My first memory is of my dad taking me to a basketball court near our townhouse, and watching me throw around my first Spider-Man action figure, which came with a parachute. I would toss him up countless times and watch him fly down and I was so overjoyed. I still have that toy to this day. That was the day I fell in love with my favorite superhero. Spider-Man was such a huge part of my dad's childhood, and he shared this with me, and it has become a big part of me as the years go by. I watched the nineties cartoon religiously, I read whatever comic book I could find, and I got as many action figures as I could and created my own adventures, and would draw my own comic books too.
When the original Sam Raimi film was announced, that was an exciting time. I would watch the movie trailers over and over again, and once the movie came out (my dad and I were there on opening day), it was like a dream come true. Not too long after that, Spider-Man 2 came out and is still to this day the best time I've ever had at the movies. This was the true realization of the Spidey character in film, and had a villain in Doc Ock that was absolutely unforgettable. Cannot forget to mention the fight on the train, it's one of the best fight scenes in film ever. It seemed like this franchise was going nowhere but up. Then, Spider-Man 3
Personally, I don't think Spider-Man 3 is a bad film, but it's certainly not a good one. It's a solid mix of some great things, and some horrendous things, there's really no in between. The disco dance crap still haunts me to this day. Anyways, after that failure, Sony decided to reboot the franchise. I remember being really upset by this, but was willing to give it a shot because it was Spider-Man. I actually consider The Amazing Spider-Man to be the biggest low-point for the franchise. Why? There was a complete lack of fresh ideas and an abundance of underwhelming ideas. Andrew Garfield was great (better than Maguire), and his chemistry with Emma Stone as Gwen was the best part, but I couldn't get past the "been there, done that" feeling. Everything had been done better before. I pretty much forgot about the movie after I saw it, and was actually starting to stop caring. Honestly, my expectations for the sequel were very, very low.
When The Amazing Spider-Man 2 opened to mixed reviews, it seemed like my predictions were coming true; that the movie was a mess. Still, my dad and I went and continued our tradition of seeing every Spider-Man movie on opening day. As I watched it, I wondered what other people had been watching. When the credits rolled, my dad and I sat in silence for a few moments, and then turned to each other, and both agreed that we had just seen a great movie.
I complained that the first Amazing Spider-Man was an abundance of underwhelming ideas, but the very beginning of the sequel is powerful, and absolutely unforgettable. I could already tell that director Marc Webb had become more comfortable and experienced with filming action sequences; his inexperience sometimes painfully showed in the first film. It doesn't let up from there, with an energetic action sequence with Spidey against a really over-the-top (sometimes maybe too much so) Paul Giammatti, and again, much more entertaining than anything in the previous installment. There were complaints about it not being well shot, unfunny, and other stuff that clearly contradicts the truth of the end product. Then, we get more of the wonderful chemistry between Peter and Gwen that absolutely energizes this movie. Universally, this is a praised component to the new movies. Peter and Gwen will make you smile, laugh, cry, and then cry some more. Rarely do we see chemistry so strong on screen, and a love story we believe in so much.
Some people have said they don't care about the Peter-Harry friendship and think it's uninteresting. Huh? If you know these characters and know their history, it's not only well-done and believable, but also nice to see again, despite the always depressing spin that seems to happen to almost all of Peter's relationships. Dane DeHaan makes for a much better Harry Osborn than James Franco. He's more of the awkward and troubled Harry we saw in the comics, and carries the role well, and I can say I was truly terrified by his portrayal of the Green Goblin. When it came to Jamie Foxx as Max Dillon, aka Electro, I really did feel sympathetic towards his character, kind of like how I felt towards Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2.
Speaking of emotional depth, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is packed with it. It's bookended by two incredibly powerful scenes, the last scene very moving, and has a lot of emotional force in between. It's this emotional depth that makes the movie work and rise above the little blemishes, and what makes it stand out compared to the other films. Gwen's death is unexpected and heartbreaking, and oh so well done. Peter's discovery of the truth about his parents was wonderful. There's so much to be emotionally invested in. The story is not perfect but engaging. Personally, I haven't actually met a person yet that doesn't like this movie. I've only come across people on the internet who have given it condemnation. I just don't see it as a franchise filler; it's so much more. I loved this movie, and can't understand the hate.I could be wrong (and I often am), but The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is great. It brought me back to the joys of playing with Spider-Man at the basketball court, and the joys of experiencing Spider-Man at the movies. Thanks to Marc Webb and the team! Sincerely, A Fan