Interstellar trailer review

[FOUR STARS]

Christopher Nolan, now free from the bat-grip of Batman, has basically earned the right to make any movie he wants. If his name is on it, it will be green-lighted. That is new Hollywood law. So Interstellar, Nolan’s first directorial effort since the overwrought but fitting ending to his Dark Knight series, will obviously hold a lot of interest to the movie-going public.

Nolan’s last non-Batman film was the mind-bendingly fabulous Inception, and while that film was a deep exploration of inner-space, Interstellar looks to be a deep exploration of outer space. Hopefully it’ll also be mind-bendingly fabulous.

Since this trailer is a teaser, there’s not much substance to review. But we do get a hefty voiceover by star-of-the-film Mathew McConaughey. Over a whole lot of archival footage of mankind’s achievements, McConaughey says things like, “We’ve always defined ourselves by our ability to overcome the impossible” and “Perhaps we’ve just forgotten that we’re still pioneers.” A little grandiose, but hey, it’s a movie about exploring space, which is inherently grandiose.

The only footage we see from the actual film are a bunch of shots of cornfields, a teary-eyed Mathew McConaughey driving off in his truck, and a rocket being launched into space from a cornfield. IMDB describes Interstellar as “A group of explorers make use of a newly discovered wormhole to surpass the limitation on human space travel and conquer the vast distance involved in an interstellar voyage,” leading me to conclude this is a film about amateur astronauts from the countryside making an incredible discovery. And frankly, that sounds very awesome. Especially in the hands of Christopher Nolan.

That’s why I give Interstellar Four Stars. Nolan has earned our faith over the years, especially with his non-Batman films. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one day he will be regarded in the same way we view Alfred Hitchcock today. Film by film, Nolan is making the modern classics.

The Lego Movie

So…the Lego Movie is happening. And based on the look of it they were aiming for the glory of Who Framed Roger Rabbit but fell into the depths of half-assery.

The initial concept — to make a movie set in the Lego world — is a good one. But the execution of The Lego Movie looks clunky, visually too dark, and not very funny. Admittedly, it’s possible that I’m not the audience for this film. In the trailer when they’re doing a role call and they list Superman, Wonder Woman, and Michelangelo (the ninja turtle) amongst their rank, I couldn’t relate. These characters were not the Lego characters of my youth. 1980-something space guy— that’s the Lego I remember.

From this trailer I got the sense there was going to be a lot of action and pizzazz in the story but none of the do-it-yourself spirit of a real Lego set. For this film to be successful, I think it has to lock into the wonder of building: the control, the accomplishment, the limitlessness. And I’m not sure tepid Batman jokes convey that.

I give the Lego Movie one star. I hate to do it too because I love Legos so much. They’re a true enabler of the imagination. Unfortunately, with the licensing agreements that have given rise to Batman, Star Wars, Spongebob, Harry Potter and everything else under the sun Lego sets, some of that imagination enabling has been diluted. This movie being the ultimate victim.

Man of Steel (trailer 2)

You know, I never thought about it before, but Clark Kent must have had a messed up childhood. Suddenly realizing you’re 80,000x stronger than your dad? That you can fly? That you can save busloads of children? I love that young Clark Kent seems agoraphobic in this trailer. “The world’s too big, mom,” he says with tears in his eyes. Those are strange and powerful words coming from the boy who will one day be Superman.

Yes, it must be scary to be the man of steel. It must be confusing and hard. Isolating. Lonely. And what looks so excellent about Man of Steel is the nuances of being Superman are taking the forefront. It’s noteworthy that the most compelling moment in the whole trailer is not an explosion or a spaceship. It’s when Clark Kent asks his dad if he should’ve let those kids in the bus die, and his dad says, “Maybe.”

There’s going to be a lot of people (including myself) who’ll say Man of Steel is taking cues from Batman Begins. But though these films look similar in style, the underlying themes of their heroes couldn’t be more different. Batman is and forever shall be about determination. Superman is about goodness.

And the best Superman stories always ask what does goodness mean in a world that’s so big?

Once again, I give Man of Steel four stars. It’s nice when a teaser trailer teases you and then the actual trailer floors you.

The Heat

I want to offer a genuine Thank You to Bridesmaids. It was a great movie and it really swung the door open for bawdy comedies starring women, which the world was in dire need of. Unfortunately, sometimes when you swing open a door, a movie like The Heat walks through. Which is not to say this film won’t have its laughs. But, I mean, come on. This is essentially The Other Guys remade with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. Where’s the originality and bravado of Bridesmaids, I ask?

Every cop movie is pretty much the same. The Heat will be no exception. You got your “by-the-books” cop and you got your “psychopath” cop. When first paired together they form an uneasy alliance but over the course of events they become friends, and then in the climactic scenes they discover their “by-the-books” and “psychopath” natures have a certain synergy, which allows them to prevail. it’s pretty obvious from the trailer who’s the books and who’s the psycho in this film.

I give this film two and a half stars. Sandra and Melissa can both be really funny when they have a good script working for them. This might be a good script, but it looks too dependent on too many clichés. Hard to say. Though I did LOL when they drop the guy on the car. But I mainly laughed because that’s a classic Batman intimidation-technique and they fail at it so epically!

Back to Bridesmaids for a second. The reason comedies like Bridesmaids and Sex in the City (the series) are so important is because for the longest time, popular movies/TV didn’t have much of a sense of humor when it came to women’s issues. Now, thanks to pioneers like Kristen Wiig, the foibles and shenanigans of women are fair game for awesome comedies.