5 Reasons Why "Interstellar" Could be the Best Movie of 2014

With Gravity cleaning up at the Oscars last year,  Guardians of the Galaxy dominating the box office this Summer, and a new Star Wars film right around the corner, sci-fi is suddenly... kind of cool. Leave it to Christopher Nolan, however, to make it even cooler.

Interstellar, Nolan's follow-up to 2012's The Dark Knight Rises, is set to be one of the biggest films of the year - in terms of subject matter and, presumably, revenue - bar none. With a joint script - co-authored by Christopher's brother Jonathan - that's been in development since 2007 and a cast that just won't quit, here's my personal top five reasons why Interstellar just might be the best movie of the year.

1. It's a Continuation of the McConaissance

Just in case you've literally been living under a rock for the past year, sci-fi isn't the only thing that's cool again: so is Matthew McConaughey. With an almost perfect triad of movies under his belt from 2013 - Mud, The Wolf of Wall Street, and his Oscar-winning performance in Dallas Buyer's Club - not to mention 2014's near perfect HBO series True Detective, McConaughey has the chance to blow us all out of the water once again. From the extremely limited amount that we know about the film, McConaughey will be playing Cooper, an astronaut/father who is forced to leave Earth in search of a new home for his kids/the rest of humanity. As Detective Rust Cohle would say: alright alright alright. Wait. No. Wrong character.

2. This is some of the promotional art for the film:

It's beautiful and subtle and everything you would expect to see from a film about the endless possibilities of space. And it basically taps into that unrefined subconscious area of anybody who dreamed of being an astronaut when they were a kid (which was pretty much everyone, right?) I couldn't find who designed the posters, but it's better than about 95% of what studios think are smart ideas for posters these days, including this little gem. 

3. The Script is Super Secretive (and Hans Zimmer is composing) 

Alright so that's technically two reasons. Nolan, already notorious for keeping his scripts under wraps, has been more tight-lipped than ever before about the Interstellar script. So tight-lipped, in fact, that he wouldn't even give the script to his long time collaborator,  Hans Zimmer. According to Variety, Nolan gave Zimmer a one page sheet of text - that gave no hints about the film whatsoever - and told him to base the score off of that. Zimmer said that "the page had more to do with my story than the plot of the film. He knows how to get under my skin." The score will also be a step in a new direction for the duo, who have reportedly decided to scrap their loud, stringy, booming bass noises for something a little more different. 

4. The Film will Actually be Shown on Film

For it's limited release in North America (in approximately 240 theaters) Interstellar will be projected in 70mm and 35mm formats, alongside the 70mm imax projections in at least 40 locations. The film is an exception to Paramount Studios initiative to stop releasing movies on traditional film stock as opposed to digitally. Filmmakers like Nolan, J.J. Abrams, and Quentin Tarantino have all stepped forward in defense of classic film stock, even though it's becoming less and less common - and practical - for theaters. 

5. This is the full cast list:

Right here. Enjoy. Not to mention the actual plot, which has something to do with black holes and Matty McCons saving the world/ looking great in a

space suit. I've heard rumors - TOTAL RUMOR RIGHT HERE, TAKE IT WITH THE BIGGEST GRAIN OF SALT YOU CAN FIND - that the trailers don't even show footage from the second half of the movie, which, by the way has an incredibly long and exciting running time of 169 minutes. Yes, your butt will be sore, but so will your brain. In a good way. Hopefully. Here's a trailer if you're so inclined.

Film Adaptations: Memento

Christopher Nolan achieves an interweaving film adaptation from his brother, Jonathan Nolan’s, short story, Memento Mori.  The main narrative of Memento is shown in color and this narrative goes in reverse chronological order.  The black and white narrative is then told in chronological order.  These two narratives are a sujet narrative consideration and each one helps the audience receive a new piece of information about the task at hand.  This allows Nolan to play with our perceptions of the characters. At the beginning their motivations seem very clear, but at the end we just can not be sure.  Christopher Nolan does an excellent job of taking material directly from his brother’s short story and implementing the imagery in his film.  He takes the images of staircases, needles, and in many cases, what’s going on in Lenny’s head from the short story and recreates the vision through specific scenes in Memento.

Murders

The short story is full of subtle clues hinting that Earl is on a murder spree. The vague, subtle hints in the short story are translated into dialogue and narration in the film, making the premise of the story clearer – that he has been manipulated into murdering many men under the impression that they are his wife’s killer. Through dialogue and Christopher’s addition of the character Teddy, it is explained to us that Lenny is a serial killer, even though he doesn’t know he is. In both works, Earl/Lenny manipulates himself through the use of notes and tattoos. Since he cannot remember what he’s doing most of the time, his notes tell him he is on a mission to kill a man. Throughout the short story, there are many subtle indications that Earl has killed before, and what his motives are in doing so. Since time does not pass for him, neither does his grief and anger for his wife’s death. This never-ending feeling of the same emotions urge him to avenge his wife’s killer. And so this becomes his purpose in his new life. Without someone to find and kill, he has no purpose. And so he continues to find and kill men in a continuous cycle that he cannot remember. The short story discretely conveys this, while the film makes it more obvious.

Tattoos

In the short story, Earl uses tattoos as permanent reminders to himself about his mission. His tattoos serve as lists of his accomplishments regarding his investigation and things he still has left to do. They include facts about the man he is searching for. This is true for both the short story and the film. In the film, we are given a visual of his tattooed body and can read the tattoos for ourselves as Lenny reads them. The film uses the tattoos as a strong method of manipulation into searching for a murderer. Lenny believes anything that is written on his body. It is the easiest way for him to lie to himself. The film adds some tattoos not mentioned in the short story, once again clearing up some indirect things that raise questions in the short story. Not only does Lenny permanently mark himself with lethal lies, he also displays one indicator of his lies on his bicep. “Memory is treachery.” This tattoo is not part of the literary work, but it is a direct reference to the theme of the story – memory is untrustworthy.