Interstellar

 Interstellar is the much ballyhooed film of the season. Making the cover of Time magazine with its stellar stars blitzing late night shows, Interstellar has some bumps. Christopher Nolan usually deals with fantasy or comic book hero scripts is now tackling the hard science of astrophysics. Real science trumps fantasy and makes the script complex. At times I lost the tread of the movie.

 The scientific concepts in the film are not new. Wormholes, black holes, singularity and relativity theory are established theories. Einstein’s Twin Paradox (Where one twin travels into space and the other remains on earth. When the space traveler returns his earthbound twin has aged but he has not) is a main element of the script. Nolan coops these concepts into his story with Hollywood spin and gives them a veneer of newness. He could have used these tenets of cosmology for a more dramatic, even fantastic effect, in his movie.

The tenure of the film is mopey. Worldwide blight threatens life on earth (the last okra crop was lost, who cares). McConaughe and fellow astronauts are tasked with finding a habitable plant in distant galaxies. The movie runs 165 minutes (or in old man time three bathroom visits) and has some pockets of boredom. How much can you talk about the effect of time and gravity in one movie? It took almost two hours before a fist fight broke out and it was not much of a fight since they were in space suits.

The actors played their roles very well. McConaughe is a farmer/engineer/astronaut the reluctant leader of the stellar explorers. His motivation for taking the mission was the salvation of his family. I was pleasantly surprised how well Anne Hathaway handled her role. I thought she had too much glam to fit in to a space suit and get helmet hair, but she carried off the role. Regarding Jessica Chastain I cannot say anything about her role. Matt Damion plays a marooned astronaut whose space suit fit a bit too tight. With his Amish beard Casey Affleck is barely recognizable.  Michael Cain mumbles. I never complain about Hans Zimmer, the conductor, but the music was too loud (I could even hear it in the bath room) and overwrought.

Cinematically Interstellar pales compared to stunning scenes of Gravity. I expected better shots considering the expanse the space trip covered. The wormhole looked like some distant button and the black hole was some passive swirl. One of the explored plants was interesting while the other looked like a meat locker.

Towards the end of the movie Nolan resorts to his Inception bag of tricks. Now fantasy trumps science; rooms distort and phenomena abound. The movie became a bit schizophrenic; frankly this part was more interesting and fun.

I know I am whining but I expected more from Nolan and his brother.  He tried to be too true to science, which does not go well with popcorn. Nova never won an Oscar.

Dallas Buyers Club

My impression of Matthew McConaughey was of a light weight actor doing romantic comedies and at every opportunity taking off his shirt showing off his jacked body and PhotoShopped abbs. Recently his acting credentials improved with pictures like Lincoln Lawyer and Magic Mike. As Ron Woodroof, McConaughey ups his game. His acting in this role is memorable. The anger and desperation which McConaughey projects is palatable. Ron Woodroof is in a life and death struggle and McConaughey is pitch perfect portraying Woodroof’s tenacity to live. The physical challenge of the role required McConaughey to lose 50 pounds (so much for my acting career).

Woodroof is diagnosed with AIDS and in 80’s treatment of AIDS was embryonic and basically a gamble. Ron is given a short time to live by his doctors which he rejects telling them to go f__k themselves (this was before Obmacare). Ron appears to be a womanizing alcoholic cocaine drug user, which he was. But he was smart and very well organized and proceeds to get drugs from outside of the US which are not FDA approved. His battle with the FDA is one of the feel good moments of the film.

Woodroof is a homophobe, but he puts his emotions in check when he accepts that gays are lucrative clients.  A center piece of the movie is Woodroof’s relationship with Rayon, a transgender woman played by Jared Lato. The relationship goes from repulsion to acceptance to commitment. Jared Lato is outstanding in this role. Any actor can put on a dress; the trick is to make the audience see beyond the dress. Lato portrays Rayon’s hopelessness with sad eyes, an emaciated body and cheap make up. Lato’s weight he lost for the role is alarming. I think an Oscar nomination is justified here.

Another character is played by Jennifer Garner, one of Woodroof’s doctors.  She plays the role with limited emotion, but she does use the F word, once. She did a good job but this was not a transformative role for her.  Then there is Steve Zahn who plays the Ron’s cop buddy. Zahn does not have much air time and the role is pedestrian but he is sincere and he is always fun to watch.

The last scene is a very poignant metaphor for the movie. Don’t miss it.

p.s.-This is a true story.