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Just watched Interstellar with my 8 & 10 year old daughters...

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Creepy Green Light

Creepy Green Light

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We watched the first hour last night (and then it was time for bed). So when I got home from work today they were both pretty excited saying "Dad, can we watch the rest of Interstellar now?" Their interest was kept the entire time and every so often they'd say "Dad, pause it for a minute." Then they would ask me a question. I know some of it was tricky for me to try and follow - so for a 8 & 10 year old it could have made it so that they lost interest -but they didn't. They were truly excited and at certain parts towards the end they were gasping. I've seen the film once by myself. But watching it with my girls was a totally different experience.

If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend it :)
 
I liked it but I thought that the plot was a bit contrived, and no matter what the math and theory says, I don't buy into the plausibility of communication backwards through time or spatial dimensions beyond 3D, but other than that I liked the classic sci-fi approach and the effects were very good. The coolest thing about your post is your enjoyable experience of sharing it with your kids :) .

This is great scene, but it's also where the film lost my engagement with it, and I found myself asking: How did a giant tidal wave sneak up on them so fast when they were looking right at it? How did there get to be a giant tidal wave anyway? I was thinking that something about this just doesn't seem right and sure enough: How did such gigantic waves get generated in such shallow water in the movie Interstellar? - Quora

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I thought it was a great movie and what is contrived for some people is not contrived for other people. I can look at most movies and if I want to dig deep enough, find questionable assumptions in them. For me, I was maximally engaged throughout the entire movie and thought it's possibly the best science fiction film since 2001 (although there are a few others I loved along the way). Art is very personal of course, so I don't expect everyone to share this point of view.
 
technomage said:
I thought it was a great movie and what is contrived for some people is not contrived for other people. I can look at most movies and if I want to dig deep enough, find questionable assumptions in them. For me, I was maximally engaged throughout the entire movie and thought it's possibly the best science fiction film since 2001 (although there are a few others I loved along the way). Art is very personal of course, so I don't expect everyone to share this point of view.
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You mean since the year 2001 or the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey? Along with Gravity and Interstellar it is certainly one of the best sci-fi movies since the year 2000 ( I haven't yet seen The Martian ), but in 1999 a little movie called The Matrix came out, which IMO nothing else compares. This is not to say other movies with a different twist, like 2001 a Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Star Trek, 2000 Leagues Under The Sea, Predator, Close Encounters, etc. don't hold unique places in sc-fi fandom as well.
 
ufology said:
You mean since the year 2001 or the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey? Along with Gravity and Interstellar it is certainly one of the best sci-fi movies since the year 2000 ( I haven't yet seen The Martian ), but in 1999 a little movie called The Matrix came out, which IMO nothing else compares. This is not to say other movies with a different twist, like 2001 a Space Odyssey, Star Wars, Star Trek, 2000 Leagues Under The Sea, Predator, Close Encounters, etc. don't hold unique places in sc-fi fandom as well.
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Since 2001: A Space Odyssey. I just saw the Matrix recently again and while I enjoyed it, I found the overemphasis on action to be a problem. I also am not a huge Keannu Reaves fan, so that doesn't help.
 
I still prefer Dark City to the Matrix although the movie did somewhat come off the rails after Murdoch and Bumstead broke through the wall but my judgement may be colored by the fact that I was a big Jennifer Connelly fan as well as Kiefer Sutherland also for some reason the settings ...I.e. new-NYC in the late 30s ...really resonates with me .

I thought the Prodigy soundtrack made The Matrix better for me.
 
Regarding the Martian, and no offense to people who liked this movie, I thought this was one of the worst movies I've seen in a while (and I'm a big Ridley Scottt fan).
Wade said:
I still prefer Dark City to the Matrix although the movie did somewhat come off the rails after Murdoch and Bumstead broke through the wall but my judgement may be colored by the fact that I was a big Jennifer Connelly fan as well as Kiefer Sutherland also for some reason the settings ...I.e. new-NYC in the late 30s ...really resonates with me .

I thought the Prodigy soundtrack made The Matrix better for me.
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I agree on Dark City. I liked the movie much more than the Matrix.
 
Creepy Green Light said:
We watched the first hour last night (and then it was time for bed). So when I got home from work today they were both pretty excited saying "Dad, can we watch the rest of Interstellar now?" Their interest was kept the entire time and every so often they'd say "Dad, pause it for a minute." Then they would ask me a question. I know some of it was tricky for me to try and follow - so for a 8 & 10 year old it could have made it so that they lost interest -but they didn't. They were truly excited and at certain parts towards the end they were gasping. I've seen the film once by myself. But watching it with my girls was a totally different experience.

If you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend it :)
Click to expand...

I totally agree. I think it is a movie that stands so far apart from run-of-the-mill SciFi. I especially liked the visuals near the end that illustrate the timeline/dimensional stuff, works a treat.
 
technomage said:
Since 2001: A Space Odyssey. I just saw the Matrix recently again and while I enjoyed it, I found the overemphasis on action to be a problem. I also am not a huge Keannu Reaves fan, so that doesn't help.
Click to expand...
I find that the action in The Matrix enhances the movie experience, while beneath it there is a wealth of philosophical content. The science took us out of traditional space-based sci-fi and into the universe of the mind, exploring concepts of perception, reality, and the possibility of interfacing human consciousness with sentient supercomputers ( a step beyond HAL in 2001 ). Plus the characters, particularly Morpheus, Agent Smith, and Trinity, are more unique than typical spaceship captains, scientists, and engineers.

But in the end whatever you're watching needs to be personally enjoyable. So reasons only go so far. I recently experienced this sort of thing trying to get into Game of Thrones. So many people are totally hooked on it I figured why not give it a try. Ultimately I quit watching after Season Three. I won't watch it again unless I can get it free from the library. It's non-stop soft-core porn, gore, and sensationalist medieval fantasy without any particularly original plot, and if there is some long-term plotline, it's far too slow in developing because of all the relatively pointless sensationalist garbage.
 
Yeah, there is no point in discussion movies or shows where disagreement is high. It's actually more interesting to discuss movies or shows where there is reasonably close agreement and the finer points can be discussed.

I consider Games of Thrones to be a great show, but it's best to discuss that with people who agree.
 
ufology said:
I liked it but I thought that the plot was a bit contrived, and no matter what the math and theory says, I don't buy into the plausibility of communication backwards through time or spatial dimensions beyond 3D, but other than that I liked the classic sci-fi approach and the effects were very good. The coolest thing about your post is your enjoyable experience of sharing it with your kids :) .

This is great scene, but it's also where the film lost my engagement with it, and I found myself asking: How did a giant tidal wave sneak up on them so fast when they were looking right at it? How did there get to be a giant tidal wave anyway? I was thinking that something about this just doesn't seem right and sure enough: How did such gigantic waves get generated in such shallow water in the movie Interstellar? - Quora

​
Click to expand...
Great link that you included. Thank you :)
 
technomage said:
Yeah, there is no point in discussion movies or shows where disagreement is high. It's actually more interesting to discuss movies or shows where there is reasonably close agreement and the finer points can be discussed.

I consider Games of Thrones to be a great show, but it's best to discuss that with people who agree.
Click to expand...
It's kinda like fans of Frank Sinatra and Cannibal Corpse debating who is a better musician/band.
 
ufology said:
I find that the action in The Matrix enhances the movie experience, while beneath it there is a wealth of philosophical content. The science took us out of traditional space-based sci-fi and into the universe of the mind, exploring concepts of perception, reality, and the possibility of interfacing human consciousness with sentient supercomputers ( a step beyond HAL in 2001 ). Plus the characters, particularly Morpheus, Agent Smith, and Trinity, are more unique than typical spaceship captains, scientists, and engineers.

But in the end whatever you're watching needs to be personally enjoyable. So reasons only go so far. I recently experienced this sort of thing trying to get into Game of Thrones. So many people are totally hooked on it I figured why not give it a try. Ultimately I quit watching after Season Three. I won't watch it again unless I can get it free from the library. It's non-stop soft-core porn, gore, and sensationalist medieval fantasy without any particularly original plot, and if there is some long-term plotline, it's far too slow in developing because of all the relatively pointless sensationalist garbage.
Click to expand...

The philosophical content of the Matrix is very good. I just had issues with the movie from the artistic side that made me like it much less than Dark City, for example.
 
Not to further derail your thread CGL but last night I had the opportunity to watch a newly remastered version of Phantasm (courtesy of J.J. Abrahms) and the latest (and last?) variant of Phantasm (5 ) Ravager.

A neat little synchronicity, several years ago I attended the premier of another Don Coscarelli movie (John Dies at the End) and I got chance to briefly meet Angus Scrimm...who passed away back in January)... I say briefly because I had just exited the men's room and he was headed toward it and I could tell he needed to relieve himself so I don't want to stop him from doing it by chatting him up. Last night as same thing happened when I was exiting the restroom and ran into Reggie Bannister and it was the same thing as I was just exiting and he was just about to go in and again I wanted to say something but other than a quick nod and a handshake that was all I could do because he had to relieve himself as well.

Fun fact, The chrome plated Captain Phasma in The Force Awakens was a tip of the hat by J.J. to the original Phantasm movie.
 
Wade said:
Not to further derail your thread CGL but last night I had the opportunity to watch a newly remastered version of Phantasm (courtesy of J.J. Abrahms) and the latest (and last?) variant of Phantasm (5 ) Ravager.

A neat little synchronicity, several years ago I attended the premier of another Don Coscarelli movie (John Dies at the End) and I got chance to briefly meet Angus Scrimm...who passed away back in January)... I say briefly because I had just exited the men's room and he was headed toward it and I could tell he needed to relieve himself so I don't want to stop him from doing it by chatting him up. Last night as same thing happened when I was exiting the restroom and ran into Reggie Bannister and it was the same thing as I was just exiting and he was just about to go in and again I wanted to say something but other than a quick nod and a handshake that was all I could do because he had to relieve himself as well.

Fun fact, The chrome plated Captain Phasma in The Force Awakens was a tip of the hat by J.J. to the original Phantasm movie.
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Excellent story & thanks for sharing. I actually watched the trailers just the other day with my daughters (Phantasm).
 
technomage said:
The philosophical content of the Matrix is very good. I just had issues with the movie from the artistic side that made me like it much less than Dark City, for example.
Click to expand...
I have Dark City in my collection. Another one that came out around the time of The Matrix was eXisistenZ. I just picked up The Martian on disk. A good movie, but I can see how it could drag for some people, and it was very reminiscent of Red Planet.

Red Planet - 2000

 
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