BEST MOVIES OF 2014, #6: Interstellar. One of the frustrations of being a film fan is that the industry is becoming more and more homogenized, more and more predictable, and more and more repetitive as the years pass. As budgets continue to increase, studio executives are becoming increasingly risk-averse and, as a result, from year to year the big-budget blockbusters start to look more and more alike; the product of focus-grouped entertainment calculated to evoke the greatest response and, therefore, the highest returns at the box office. While this trend towards safety and predictability sometimes spawns great event movies that can define pop culture (e.g., the new Star Wars movies), more often it results in a generic uniformity. The plot points of “Superhero vs. Bad Guy 3” become virtually indistinguishable from those in “Prehistoric Monster vs. Society 4.” I’m not being facetious; with the large number of movies I see, it’s actually difficult to remember what kind of world-destroying threat faced civilization in Captain America: The Winter Soldier versus The Amazing Spider-Man 2 versus Transformers: Age of Extinction. Reduced to their essence, each movie is one massive jumble of CGI crap, virtually indistinguishable from the other. Against this background, we have Interstellar. Christopher Nolan is one of the few directors working today on whom studios are willing to take a big risk, spending over a hundred million dollars on a completely new and novel story featuring characters and a story line that is not easily franchised. Was Interstellar a perfect movie? No. But it WAS interesting and played with big ideas in a way that was so very different than other big-budget movies. It’s so very good to see someone like Dir. Nolan be able to explore big ideas in a big way on the big screen. Recently, a Facebook friend minimized the controversy surrounding the on-again, off-again release of The Interview by acting as though Hollywood’s problems aren’t that important in the grand scheme of things. I disagree. Hollywood matters. Hollywood and the entertainment industry are still able to, and do, sway public opinion. Hollywood is able to change minds; Hollywood is able to inspire action. Want proof? Ask Sea World how the movie Blackfish has affected its business (answer: Sea World’s business is down 50% since the movie was released). Look at how quickly momentum, and public opinion, has shifted towards supporting marriage equality. If not for Hollywood, these changes would be far slower. With Interstellar, Christopher Nolan is playing with big ideas in a way that he hopes to capture the public’s imagination and attention. The U.S. space program is hurting because we, as taxpayers, haven’t been willing to fund space exploration. Mr. Nolan is trying to change that through creating a piece of entertainment that is also inspiring. As a result, I can forgive the film’s relatively minor flaws. By looking to spur our imagination and encourage our creativity, Mr. Nolan isn’t merely creating entertainment (although the movie is very entertaining); he’s trying to change minds and shape the future. And that, my friends, I respect and appreciate.
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:09:50 +0000
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