A cinematic masterpiece and benchmark for movies to come.
In "Interstellar", a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan,
climate change has decimated most of the world's food supplies.
Towns are regularly ravaged by fierce sand storms, and
everything is covered with thick layers of dust.
A very select group of scientists set out to embark
on humanities most ambitious mission: travel through
a newly discovered wormhole into another galaxy.
They hope of collecting the necessary data to either move
many people onto a new experimental gravitation spaceship, or find a new Earth altogether.
I have now watched this movie twice at an IMAX.
After my first viewing, when the credits rolled,
I sat there perplexed and was unable to move. I was paralysed
by what I had seen. I looked around, I was not the only one.
Unquestionably, one of the greatest movies I had ever seen.
I was almost ashamed to admit it, because it felt like I had no
say in this decision whatsoever.
There are many moments when "Interstellar" transcends into
something so artistic, you are left speechless and are moved to tears.
The cinematography and directing is, even by Nolan's standards,
his best work so far. I think his talent is even too profound for
the Academy of Motion Pictures, hence why he has yet to receive an oscar
for directing. Personally, after watching "Interstellar", I consider
him to be the best director that is currently alive, only rivalled
by Kubrick and Hitchcock.
Hans Zimmer wrote the score and I really recommend to read how
he translated Nolan's fantastic ideas into music.
I get goosebumps just thinking about the high-speed docking scene,
and you will, too! The sound engineers did an amazing job contrasting
the cosmic silence with Zimmer's incredibly ethereal music.
During the rocket launch, the entire theatre shook and you were
really feeling the thrust.
If I was forced to describe the score, I would say it was
heavily influenced by Johann Strauß, Philip Glass and Bach.
Truly a masterpiece that deserves to be revisited many times and
among all the great soundtracks he has ever done, this is simply
on an entirely different level. His most intimate work.
The visual effects were breathtaking - quite literally.
The on-screen silence during certain parts of the movie
was only rivalled by the complete and utter silence
of my fellow IMAX watchers. Nobody said a word, nobody moved.
Just hundreds of mesmerized people staring at the screen,
or digging their fingers into their armrests during
some of the most tense moments I have ever seen.
"Interstellar" depicts astrophysical concepts that
have never been seen or discussed on-screen before.
"Awesome", in its most literal sense, really describes it.
When I set out to write this review, I really tried to
avoid superlatives, and give you a more nuanced opinion
of why I think this movie deserves to be ranked among
the best, but I now see how I have failed.
I recommend to watch "Interstellar" at an IMAX,
or the best movie theatre around you.
It's not something you should rent at a Red Box or watch on Netflix.
"Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light." -Dylan Thomas
"Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts."
The Pledge:
You might think this is yet another ordinary movie about the extraordinaire: magicians.
Don't be fooled. Pay close attention to every minor detail, or none at all, if you so wish.
The Turn:
Nolan transforms the extraordinary into something even better, something almost elusive to the normal viewer. His style, story, cinematography, writing, score is, as always, exceptional.
The Prestige:
Together with the great performances by Bale, Jackman and Caine, you will have witnessed "The Prestige" first hand by the end of the movie and it's simply amazing.
10/10 - Nolan does it again. A masterpiece in every regard. Worth watching many times.
"Are you watching closely?"
Impossible to point out my most favourite line in the movie, because there are simply too many. Perhaps an indication this is not a regular movie, but something special.
10/10
This is simply an amazing movie, full stop. The performance of Daniel Day-Lewis is incredible. It is very well written and features stunning cinematography. If you haven't seen this, please do!
9/10
A beautiful movie. It doesn't only feature amazing martial arts, but also focuses on the Qui of Wing Chun.
Timeless classic. Still as good, now as it was then.
Great documentary about a guy suffering from an acute iron aggregation in his testicles.
I enjoyed watching this. A very slow paced, long shot and well-acted piece.
I like how the villain is in no way compromised to envoke sympathy from the audience, nor is the plot all that concerned with whether the audience "gets it". It just plows along and you either jump aboard or are left behind. This is perhaps also its greatest dilemma.
The cinematography is very well done and acting by Brolin, Jones and Bardem is great. There is also no score whatsoever, which also adds to its gritty feel.
They might have gone a little too far trying to "explain" the movie title in the ending, but nonetheless, an entertaining movie.
7/10 +++ great acting and overal technique -"love or hate" style of story stelling.
I loved this movie for its subdued suspense. What I did not like however was the ending, not because it was unrealistic, quite the contrary actually. Don't want to spoiler it, but "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take this anymore" comes to mind :D
History became legend. Legend became myth.
And for two and a half thousand years, the ring passed out of all knowledge.
Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's epic masterpiece "The Lord of the Rings", Peter Jackson took up the challenge, that for the longest time was told about Tolkien's book: "Too complicated to bring a true version onto film, it cannot be done."
Describing "The Lord of the Rings" to the uninitiated may perhaps be best compared trying to describe the taste of wine: Sweet, a little bitter, and intoxicating. Yet to those, who have never tasted wine, the meaning behind this description will forever elude them.
What makes this trilogy stand out amongst other equally brilliant movies, is each individual aspect of this movie is an astonishing work of art and ties "The Lord of the Rings" to something larger than the sum of its parts. The cinematography is breathtaking, in the most literal sense of the word. At times you will hold your breath being consumed by the sheer beauty of Middle Earth. You will quickly forget your surroundings and be plunged into this world. The original score composed by Howard Shore can be considered a masterpiece and Shore's magnum opus, his most brilliant work to date. Inspired by Richard Wagner, he composed the soundtrack around 80 different Leitmotifs, each focusing on an individual character/area/scene with recurring melodies throughout the trilogy. At the time of production, the most popular composers were James Horner and Hans Zimmer, and the music scene was quite astounded at Jackson's choice for the relatively unknown Shore. Jackson said his decision heavily depended on Shore's very unique style (as seen in 'The Cell') and his ability to bring something unique to each of his work.
The (special) effects are equally amazing and more importantly, believable. You will never feel like "Ah, special effects!", but be mesmerized by their authenticity. It almost seems nonsensical to talk about the performance by leading and supporting roles. They were real. I did not see them in their previous roles or as actors, they completely filled out their roles and added their own personality.
"The Lord of the Rings" is certainly not perfect, but if you came to expect perfection, you will forever be feeling disappointed.
It is however the closest thing to perfection as one might get without feeling pretentious.
If you watch this movie for the first time and have very high expectations from all the positive reviews, forget the reviews and watch it with an open mind, but also don't watch it thinking it could never live up to your high expectations, as you might miss out.
I, for one, will be watching this movie for many many years to come, and it has become quite the tradition to watch it at least once a year.
10/10 - You will witness the events unfold through the eyes of the Fellowship and come across joy, sorrow and even great despair. A true work of art that should not be missed.
"The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. " Galadriel
Thanks, those are good ones, will add them. Oops, wrong Braindead indeed. You are right, the beings in I am Legend are vampires, but the beings in REC are not zombies in my opinion. From what I understood from the movie, the beings are not zombies, but damned/evil/possessed beings and that's why the priest in the movie was shown to have investigated exorcism. Religious themes are very prominent throughout the movie.
How did I forget about TWD?
I approve of this list =)
You can watch this movie 10 times and still laugh the same.
Hats off to Wes Anderson.
A masterpiece. Simple as that.
PS: I don't think this movie was predictable at all, then again, I'm no fortune teller.
Is there a correlation between Nicholas Cage, his money problems and the quality of his movies. He's a great, yet very desperate, actor.
Deep. Deeper. The Fountain.
Darren Aronofsky tells a love story spanning thousands of years and kindly asks us to watch it more than once, so we can dive deeper into his mind. Without spoiling much of the plot, I'll go straight to the cinematography, which is simply breathtaking, aesthetically pleasing and poetic, while the original score comes from no other than Clint Mansell, the composer behind "Requiem for a Dream" and that was a great choice. Both Jackman and Weisz are exceptional and I see no reason for reproach.
I have discussed this movie with friends and I noticed that with increased artistry or complexity, mainstream acceptance declines rapidly and this also happened with "Tree of Life", by T. Malick. This movie will not be for everyone. As previously said, It urges you to watch it again and again to understand every aspect, but rewards you with astonishing beauty in the process.
Ever since watching "Requiem for a Dream", Aronofsky has become one of my favourite directors along with Nolan, Malick and Kubrick.
9/10 - Amazing love story, gorgous cinematography, great original score and wonderful performances by the leads. If you have the time, watch it at least 2 times.
My grandparents were children living in Berlin, Germany during World War 2 and remembered the air raids vividly, as well as the terror that accompanied cowering in the basement and feeling the earth rumble, fearing for their lifes, while houses right down the street where bombed to bits.
When I told them about this movie in 2004, they had to go see it and I was eager to hear what they thought. They are usually jovial and upbeat, but they felt great sorrow and despair when they saw this movie. They cried in the movie theater. It was not just a movie to them, they travelled back in time to a long forgotten and repressed time.
I thought this movie was very well made and Bruno Ganz acts frighteningly well as Adolf Hitler, but seeing how my grandparents reacted, I think this movie is also a beacon to let people remember the terror that came with war, and those that were not born yet, to get a small glimpse into that reality.
9/10 - Edge-of-the-seat atmosphere, combined with a tour de force by Bruno Ganz makes this one a winner
Took me equally by surprise. Great flick!
Tour de force by both Jake Gyllenhaal and Hugh Jackman. Academy Awards 2014?
The Dude. Epic win before that was even a thing.
Don't miss this movie. Took me by complete surprise!
2014 is going to be a great year for movies.
Tolkien fans are in an odd situation when trying to rate Peter Jackson's work after Lord of the Rings. Personally, I have established two different rating systems to compare his work to. One rating is in comparison to all other movies on the market, the other rating is relative to the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This might be unfair as explained later. He did however inadvertently raise the bar for epic fantasy movies by creating a masterpiece like Lord of the Rings, so it seems necessary to separate his own work from the remainder.
Without a doubt, the first Hobbit installment fell short of the high expectations people came to have from Peter Jackson, with regards to the Tolkien universe, but people, and myself included, probably expected another Lord of the Rings movie, not a movie based on an entirely different book, originally written for children with obviously a very different pacing. Comparing it however to other fantasy/adventure movies, it's still an amazing film, despite it's slower pace and less epic dialog.
The second, much shorter, Hobbit installment was much more action-oriented and therefore had a faster pace, hence why people and myself included rate this movie to be, perhaps unfairly, better than the first one. We also see previously unseen areas of Middle Earth like Mirkwood and it's also explained why Gandalf is quite traumatized at the very beginning of "Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring" when Frodo tells Gandalf to take the ring himself, after which Gandalf tells him with great fear in his eyes, that this ring has even too much power for him to wield. The epic battle between powerhouse Gandalf and Sauron instilled so much fear and respect into Gandalf "The Grey", that this memory stayed with him all the way into the "Lord of the Rings".
In true Jackson fashion, "Desolation of Smaug" ended with a cliffhanger and left fans yearning for more.
Once the entire Hobbit trilogy has been released, I believe fans will judge the first part more favourably and history will smile upon him kindly. The third and final movie will set the overall tone and explain certain dynamics like pacing, which were not understood yet by the time the first movie was released. I trust Jackson to pull it off.
9/10 compared to other movies
9/10 compared to Lord of the Rings.
PS: One barrel to rule them all :D
I like Morgan Spurlock. He's a funny man and usually drives home a great point. Not so much in this "documentary". He could've explored a far more important aspect of corporate sponsoring in today's society, instead, he used humour in an inflationary way to make this entire topic seem ridiculous. 5/10.
Alan Shore. Danny Crane. Mad Cow. 10/10
Multi-dimensional authentic characters, epic dialog, great camera work and editing.
Currently watching it for the second time around and it's even better now.
If you like Simon's style, definitely check out "Tremé" as well.
Many recurring actors there.
A dream-come-true for kids growing up in the 80's. Besides having great CGI, the story never felt dull for a moment and even brought up interesting aspects (group therapy for super-villains). Check it out! 8/10
Anyone expecting another gem like District 9 will be left feeling disappointed by director Neill Blomkamp. Elysium does have its merrits, but there are too many plot holes and I wish more attention would've been paid to the outer colony.
While visually pleasing, the movie fell short of expectations like "Total Recall", for almost exactly the same reasons. 6/10 simply for entertainment value.
This movie is certainly going to polarize. I can understand those who felt let down, but the premise was well made. 6/10 from me just for entertainment value.
