Re-watched Interstellar

[cockerpunk]

speaking of old sci fis ... i was just recently rewatching contact.

what a good fucking movie it is.

my favorite part is that its a movie written by scientists. and throughout, there is just a heavy, heavy, skepticism of engineers. lol. like all the scientists are doing science stuff, and then in the back corner, hadden, the engineer, is doing something useful, but also nefarious. always nefarious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loUZI_cufKc

[cockerpunk]

yup

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

Sick dude grew up watching those videos and got into pumps and phantoms

[Bang*Bang**]

LOL. Cockerpunk fan boys unite!

[bored383]

Arrival > Contact

[Bang*Bang**]

Shot fired.

[vijil]

Arrival is my favorite scifi for a long time. As a piece of art, it's brilliant. The suspension of disbelief was almost perfect. There were no blatant plot holes that I could detect, and the alien mastery of gravity, while outside our current knowledge of physics, was done in such a way as to make the hairs on your neck stand up rather than any kind of gimmick.

[cockerpunk]

Arrival > Contact

arrival is a movie that will make me cry immediately.

its a fantastic movie.


i wouldn't put them in the same category besides sci fi though. contact is about one woman's struggle with the limitations of science, and her personal experience, and how one finds truth, and the arrival is a movie that asks a very specific question: "if you knew it would end badly, would you do it anyway?" which is an exceedingly painful question.

[Magmoormaster]

I watched Arrival with my wife a few weeks ago. It was her first time seeing it. I'm a huge Denis Villeneuve fanboy, and I think this was the first movie of his I saw.

I've never seen Interstellar, but my first boss is apparently related to the physicist who came up with the theory. From what he was telling me, they kinda butchered the science. Still said it was a good movie though.

[Chuck E Ducky]

Never see it but I will give it a go thanks.

[Trbo323]

If we are talking about real world physics and science

The expanse > everything

The show is very good, because they follow the books somewhat closely the stuff they do change is understandable because in the books it would not be very visually simulating

All that said, if you are a sci-fi fan, go read the books. If you can't read, the audiobooks are probably some of the best out there. I forget his name but the narrator does an amazing job. Top notch voice acting, he gives each character a different voice but none of them feel forced

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[Grendel]

Narrator - Jefferson Mays

[XNine]

Interstellar is so good. The soundtrack, ESPECIALLY the "No time for Caution" scene is just fucking uuuuuugh. I don't know that I've felt tension like that from a movie before.

I love how they theorized what a black hole would look like up close and then a few years later we got photos showing they were right.

[Bang*Bang**]

***Spoiler warning for Interstellar***

Hopefully all the initial eyeballs have read this thread and the only ones that'll read this have already seen Interstellar.

I HATE SPOILING MOVIES FOR PEOPLE!

Just sayn'.

Are we going down the **spoiler warning** rabbit hole, or would that just derail this thread?

Cause, I will vamp haaaaarrrrd on this movie if allowed.

I couldn't find a way to quote a comment, but the OP (Cheapguitars...) said I could. I've been sitting on this for a minute, but I think I found some stuff to support my rant. Again, haven't seen the movie in ages, so I might get some details wrong. Hopefully you can forgive me.

0. What I didn't like

Yes. I'm going to start with what I didn't like, and I'm sure there may be more once I rewatch, but this sticks out to me AND is probably one of THE BIGGEST SPOILERS, so skip ahead if you don't want spoilers. You've been warned.

Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) Escaping the "Tesseract?" Dafuq? Or, for Gen X and above, What The F@#K?

I've read the "Fandom" explanation here:

https://interstellarfilm.fandom.com/wiki/Tesseract

And I dunno. Seems plausible, but it also skips over some existing theories like "The Einstein-Rosen Bridge." I get it, it's towards the end of the movie. They wanted to wrap everything up with a nice happy bow. But, ugh, it just didn't sit right with me. I only just read the fandom explanation, though, so maybe that's a me problem. After watching the movie itself, it bugged the hell out of me. Hero armour? Lazy writing? I could digress more, But I'll leave it at that.

1. The visualizations of the "Tesseract".

SO GOOD!

It seems to be a creative vamp on the Superstring Theory, which, if you believe Michio Kaku and his bias from working on the theory, that it may be THE theory of everything... as opposed to what it is, just one candidate for the theory of everything. Whether or not science proves Superstring theory to be true or not, it certainly seemed to do a great artistic job on touching on some of the 10-dimensional aspects of the theory, specifically on the dimension of time (4th dimension) and how Cooper exists outside of it when he's in the belly of the beast that is the Tesseract. And, in a way, can't access these different moments in time directly, but can indirectly when he puts a lot of energy towards it.

Some links to clarify what I'm talking about here:
Better visualizations:

https://stillunfold.com/science/10-dimensions-of-reality-according-to-superstring-theory

More credible source, so you can see I'm not a crack pot (This might be where link #1 got their info) - Phys.org:

https://phys.org/news/2014-12-universe-dimensions.html

Michio Kaku's site, with his thoughts:

https://mkaku.org/home/articles/blackholes-wormholes-and-the-tenth-dimension/

2. Gravity

Okay, as far as I (a layman) can understand it, humans have yet to have a clear definition of gravity. However, the way they handle gravity and gravitational waves in this movie seems not completely unreasonable. So just highlighting that it's nice to see something that is beyond our current knowledge handled in an artistic way that isn't completely ridiculous and outside of what we DO know about. Like, sure, if we crack the code on gravity, maybe some of the stuff depicted could be created? Who knows. Hopefully we'll live long enough and find out.

3. The hard sciences that are harness to propel the plot, rather than ignored as inconvenient facts like other movies (Sorry, Star Wars, I still love you)

Just giving a nod to the tidal wave planet with larger than earth's gravity. It's nice to see they included some stuff that is not observed but completely scientifically possible... ignoring, of course, how they escape this planet. I think they would have died, but whatever. That would have been a boring movie.

Also the relative relationship of time passing, for each of the characters. This is a basic principle, with plenty of experimental evidence to back it up. Nice to see they used something from reality in a way the propels the plot and character development.

4. Okay, this is where I'm going to stretch a bit. Emotions or feelings as a force?

Hear me out.

Feelings, emotions, like love, can be transcendent inter-dimensional forces.

I know this isn't necessarily explicit in the movie, though I can point to certain moments with a certain "book shelf," or "passenger on a space ship" (viewed from two perspectives at different points in the movie). But I love how one could draw this conclusion.

Like, when we think of it, what is a feeling? Sure, an elaborate collection of neurons firing in one's brain, sometimes triggered by a conglomerate of stimulus. But we could also consider it an intangible thing that may exist inside or outside of us. One can sometimes convey a feeling through tangible or intangible means as well. Like, if someone is feeling happy, or sad, or in love, or not. There are ways they can communicate that directly, or indirectly. Through other people, through other's actions, or through there own actions or words. So I like how the movie uses Cooper in the Tesseract reaching across dimensions simply with a feeling or emotion of love... which seems to be understood by the recipient Brand (Anne Hathaway). Like Cooper knew what he wanted to convey (once he narrowed down what was driving him). It took a lot of work to convey the message. However, the message was received and understood by a simple inter-dimensional-gravitational-wave-formed-hand-like-structure. You know, everyday normal stuff. (LOL)

More relatable examples, have you ever:
- Felt shivers as if something or someone just brushed by them or something along those lines
- Randomly thought of someone that they haven't seen in years, or bumped into someone they've been thinking about out of complete coincidence
- Had someone pass away in their life, and yet see little things that remind them of them in a fond and comforting way
- Have had spiritual experiences that make one wonder if there isn't more to our perceivable plane of existence
- Have had things happen to oneself that, to the outside observer, seem meaningless. However, seen through one's lived experience and perception of reality, have deep meaning. This could perhaps relate to someone meaningful in their life that's passed away or something else along those lines, but I think you get the idea. Something seemingly meaningful for you, can mean nothing to someone standing beside you. That kind of experience

But, in each of these completely unprovable examples, it makes me wonder if there isn't some kind of Tesseract-like analogy, where an entity could exist outside of our perception and yet influence it in subtle ways.

Like, for example, if there is any kind of existence after death, there is no means to communicate by traditional speech, or message. Sure, one could pre-write an email and set it for months/years in the future, but I'm vamping in la la land, not reality. So, operating in the imaginary universe the Interstellar movie provides, one would be able to affect any moment in time, forwards or backwards, in very subtle ways. Granted, this would also take huge amounts of effort, but I think that adds to the idea in the sense that the universe, and perhaps time or timelines themselves have a certain inertia or 'weight' to them, and don't want to be affected or displaced by outside forces. However, sometimes, in small ways, a very motivated someone or something, likely driven by a strong emotional force (in this case, love), could transcend space and time in small perhaps inconceivable but hugely meaningful ways.

I mean, it's kind of a beautiful thought. A loved one reaching out from the after life to give you a high-five.

Maybe I just like the thought of those that have passed before us could have a way of reaching out to us. I dunno, but I like that this movie conveyed this idea in such a beautiful way. And, in a way that isn't completely devoid of scientific possibility.

Anyhow, just some thoughts to chew on.

If you read this before watching the movie and I spoiled all the best parts for you. Let this be a gentle inter-dimensional slap in the face. As the haunting words "I warned you" echo in the chamber of the mind.

Feel free to pick this apart or whatever. I'm not a scientist or a movie critic. Just a guy with too many thoughts, and not enough sense to keep them to himself.

Guess I need to get out and paintball more.

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

I like your thoughts on "transcendental feelings" I feel like everyone has had that feeling of thinking of someone and then they text or call you. There's a lot in this world we don't understand and you definitely have stronger connections to loved ones. Just the other day I mentioned something to my best friend that happened when we were maybe 12-13 (both 33 now) insignificant as it might have been he said he was just thinking about the same thing. Now this has been my best friend since probably the 2nd grade but weird coincidence to say the least. I always joke with him that it's our "mushroom brain" because the clearest example of this is tripping and the feeling of having he same thoughts as your buddies without verbally communicating or otherwise. As far as McConaughey surviving the tesseract definitely hero armor/ they probably wanted a happy ending. I don't think it ruins the film though. Good write up my dude

[vijil]

My biggest problem with interstellar was genuinely being unable to hear a lot of the dialogue.

I watched it again with subtitles and that helped a lot.

I have perfect hearing when tested, but I dunno, just something about the way it was put together meant I couldn't hear. It didn't help that the theater turned the volume up to "permanent damage" range.

[Trbo323]

My biggest problem with interstellar was genuinely being unable to hear a lot of the dialogue.

I watched it again with subtitles and that helped a lot.

I have perfect hearing when tested, but I dunno, just something about the way it was put together meant I couldn't hear. It didn't help that the theater turned the volume up to "permanent damage" range.

It's not just you and it's not just interstellar either. It's a trend. I think they do it on purpose so it forces you to turn the volume up in the quiet parts so the action and loud parts become more "dramatic"

Dramatic, apparently means hearing loss for everyone and noise distortion unless you have a good theater setup at home

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[William the Third]

Like Trbo323 said, it's a "thing" now. It's like the "loudness war" in music that ruined many a good song/album from the late 90's, through the 2000's, and into the 2010's (it's not 100% dead, but mostly limited to mainstream crap now). Songs/Albums were mixed with dynamic range compression, which resulted in music with virtually no dynamic range, making the song artificially louder, and more likely to "standout" when played on the radio (similar to what is done with commercials/advertisements to make them annoy you, despite the CALM Act that was supposed to fix that).

Why Movie Dialogue Has Gotten Harder to Understand
Can't Hear What Actors Are Saying on TV? It's Not You, Probably
Amazon Introduces New Feature To Make Dialogue In Its TV Shows Intelligible
Why Are So Many People Watching TV With Subtitles?

[vijil]

Ok, makes sense.

It's funny, I recently bought a new TV. I've disabled all the frame generation/smoothing/anti motion blur features (I'll watch it the way the director intended, not the way my TV thinks I want it), and turned on all the "quiet mode" audio stuff to even out the volume. We watch movies when the kids are in bed and there's no way I can have the volume loud enough for all the dialogue without this. Also, honestly, I just prefer it.

And we normally leave subtitles on unless we're watching a comedy. But comedies aren't so annoying generally with the volume.

The last movie I went to the movies for was Maverick. That was worth all $27 per (basic) ticket. Booked in for the F1 movie next (we're all big followers here). Hopefully they also manage to get the balance right.

[Frmrspec]

Like Trbo323 said, it's a "thing" now. It's like the "loudness war" in music that ruined many a good song/album from the late 90's, through the 2000's, and into the 2010's (it's not 100% dead, but mostly limited to mainstream crap now).

lol that reminds me of the secret song from Limp Bizkits first album where the guy is talking about distortion.. somewhere in the song Clunk

[cheapguitarscheapthrills]

Ahh the old hidden track days, good times. KoRn's version of "Earache my eye" was my jam

[William the Third]

My first encounter with a hidden track was "All by Myself" from Green Day's "Dookie" album. Way back in my youth I had the CD playing in the background while doing something else. The album "finished", and I was busy with whatever I was doing, so I was quite surprised when five or ten minutes later a song that I'd never heard before started playing. My favorite trick for hiding tracks on CDs was when they were hidden in the pregap, as these song were truly hidden.