Dunkirk (2017)

This truly is a masterpiece. It is not your typical war film. It does not tread on your emotions. It is not bloody. There is no climactic battle. You never see the enemy. You never see the loved ones on the home front. It is pure war, intense drama.  It is fully immersive. I am now traumatized by that ticking soundtrack by Hans Zimmer (the fan in Morgan's room was making the exact same sound). I saw it in glorious IMAX on 70mm film. Christopher Nolan is the savior of film. Film is somehow old school and also the future of theatrical experiences. The picture was so clear. You could see every face. You wallow in the expanse of the sea and the beach. The cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema is stunning, especially in the aerial scenes. The scenes on the boat were not filmed in IMAX. You can see the ratio is different. It doesn't fill the top and bottom of the screen. But I want to say that the picture looked not necessarily sharper but more vivid and real.

Remember, this is a Christopher Nolan film. Nothing is straight. So we follow three different non-linear narratives. The Mole (the beach) story takes place over a week. The Sea story takes place over a day. And The Air story takes place over an hour. The film cuts back and forth between the narratives without telling the audience what takes place when. You see some scenes in the darkness of night intercut with daytime scenes. You see the boat in the background of the plane scene, watching an event that hasn't yet happened in the Sea story. This is all just brilliant editing and storytelling.

Dunkirk is a point of pride for British people. It was a lost battle, an utter defeat, but a successful retreat. America had not yet entered the war. And that is why American's don't really know what happened at Dunkirk. The focus of the film is strictly on the British. The Germans are never named. The French are not shown, controversially. The Indians are not shown, controversially. But that's not the point. The point here is that Dunkirk is a British success story. This is about British pride. And you never lose focus of that.

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.