The Old Man & The Gun (2018)

This is such an unassumingly charming movie. I love everything about the retro, sort of grainy film-style. Robert Redford, in supposedly his final acting role, is just delightful. He acts so effortlessly, demonstrating decades of experience. You can't help but smile and be charmed like Sissy Spacek. And the movie is wistful, full well acknowledging the nostalgia factor in a brilliant Wes Anderson-esque montage at the end (paying homage to a young Redford, I think). The movie is actually quite funny, too. The dialogue between Redford and Spacek is disarmingly charming.

I do have one big criticism of the film. I really cannot stand Casey Affleck. He basically plays the same character from his previous collaboration with director David Lowery, A Ghost Story. Yes, in that movie he plays a dead sheet ghost. And in this film, he plays just as lively a character unironically. Actually, he plays himself. So is he even really acting? I don't think his story line really adds anything to the movie. We clearly are meant to sympathize with the criminal, so why go to the detective's point of view at all? Tika Sumper is fine but we unfortunately have to get Casey Affleck to get her. I am willing to overlook this glaring black spot because the rest of the movie is so darn pleasing.

A Ghost Story (2017)

The cinematography is beautiful. The soundtrack is beautiful. The aspect ratio works. That one monologue is delivered at such an impactful pace, constantly moving forward, and deeply spelling out the point of the movie. That all said, damn is this movie slow and boring. I'm impressed as anyone that Rooney Mara ate a whole pie, but it does not make for interesting footage. I also can't stand Casey Affleck, even under a sheet when you can't see him. It is beyond me how he won an Oscar; he literally just plays his own low-energy self in this role and in the one that won him an Oscar.

Manchester by the Sea (2016)

By no means is it a fun film. No, it's about as depressing as it gets-. I really appreciated the storytelling. Kenneth Lonergan's script is well developed, unfolding in stages, weaving in flashbacks seamlessly, slowly revealing how our characters became the characters they are. It is an emotional story made more so by full fledged characters. Casey Affleck plays the troubled brother of the deceased. He is very good, dealing with grief in his own way. His expression does not change when he is first informed of his brother's death. Grief is a process, and we watch him go through various stages. Lucas Hedges, too, is excellent. His is another approach to grief. He provides some comic relief to the audience. What is perhaps so impressive about the characters are how real them seem. That's why it's so powerful.

Interstellar (2014)

Christopher Nolan makes some really special movies.  The unique ideas that he comes up with are always thrilling, mind blowing and thought provoking.  This is no exception.

Interstellar presents some really ambitious, out-there science fiction (in science fiction, you just have to roll with it).  Granted, some of the ideas are unbelievable, especially as you get further into the movie, but I feel like I followed it up to the last 20 minutes or so.  Without giving too much away, the story falls apart a bit at the conclusion.  Nonetheless, the film triumphs at integrating powerfully emotional scenes and human drama with a confusing and complex plot.  

On the creativity front, I was most impressed by the conception of the planets that they visit.  It's hard for us to imagine what the environment of other planets might be like, and Nolan shows us two interesting, well conceived theoretical planets.  The robots are not anthropomorphic, rather they are made up of four bars, that can arrange into different useful formations.  Perhaps the wackiest creative freedoms were taken in the physical representation of higher dimensions.

The visuals are stunning and are especially incredible in the IMAX 70mm format.  The visual effects, especially when in the emptiness of space, or in the unreal environments of the planets, or looking in a black hole or a worm hole, are breathtaking.

Hans Zimmer, as always, has composed a magnificently fitting score for the film.  With the backdrop of empty space, or the varied environments of the different planets, or the expansive corn fields on Earth marred by dust storms, Zimmer's score adapts and shines.

Interstellar features a star-studded cast, from frequent Nolan collaborator Michael Caine, to Hollywood's current it-man Matthew McConaughey.  McConaughey's character and dialogue resemble the soft philosophical ramblings that we've come to know him for in the Lincoln ads and True Detective. Anne Hathaway is also excellent, though she has way too much makeup for someone going to lonely outer space.  I appreciated the casting of Mackenzie Foy as a young Jessica Chastain.  The resemblance is uncanny and Foy proved to be a very capable young actress.

In summary, despite some problems with the plot and the science, Interstellar is a solid film that truly embodies the magic of the movies, featuring imagination, spectacle, and pure entertainment.