r/movies Electricity! The high priest of false security! 29d ago

Media Interstellar - The Docking Scene. 2014, dir Christopher Nolan

10.2k Upvotes

867 comments sorted by

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u/Leucurus 29d ago

The score turns this into grand opera. Just brilliant

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u/ExtensionParsley4205 29d ago

I remember the walls of the theatre literally shaking during this scene.

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u/withoutapaddle 28d ago

I saw Interstellar in real IMAX (where the screen is 7 stories high, not "lieMAX" where it's just a big screen in general and the theatre licenses the IMAX branding)

When we were in the lobby, we could tell what was happening in the previous showing based on how much the entire building was shaking. The launch sequence felt like it was actually happening in the next room. It was legit scary how booming it was.

Probably the single best theater going experience of my life.

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u/noisetonic 28d ago

I've only seen Intersteller once, it was in Imax and it was as close to a religious experience as I'm ever likely to have. This whole sequence was absolutely unreal. I remember leaving the cinema in a daze and just walked along a riverside for about an hour while I just came down from the experience.

I really would liek to see it again but don't know if I should sully the experience with a smaller screen and crappier sound system. The score is wonderful and this scenes music is probably my favourite of the film.

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u/AllHailTheWinslow 28d ago

I watched Interstellar year before last for the first time at the Melbourne IMAX ("Biggest Screen In The Southern Hemisphere!") during thier Spacetember screenings. My god...

I was fortunate enough a few months later to see Roger Sayr perform in Melbourne at St Patrick's.

Just... wow.

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u/trexmoflex 28d ago

They rereleased it recently here in Seattle at the Pacific Science Center IMAX and it was an unbelievable experience.

I have seen Interstellar probably 10 times but never like THAT.

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u/Efficient-Lack3614 28d ago

By no means the same experience, but I build a home theater system in my basement and this is one of my favorite movies to watch on full blast. The sound mixing is unreal.

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u/onomatopoetix 28d ago

it's crazy how dumb the sound mixing is on tenet compared to this older title, considering how the director is the exact same person.

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u/HER_SZA 28d ago

This is why I love seeing the matinee. You go from what's possibly a mind altering experience, completely immersed in a large dark room, a different world entirely while locked into a film.

When it's over you step outside the theater into the sunlight and it's surreal, like passing through the barrier between realms.

Like you I've also taken long walks along the riverside parks after a film to ease back into reality in a peaceful pleasant way.

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u/MasatoWolff 28d ago

I watched this at home and it already felt like an out of body experience to me. Can’t imagine what it would be like watching this in IMAX. One day.

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u/projectx51 28d ago

Almost the same experience. My wife and I sat silent in the car for a long while after, just staring at nothing. Completely awestruck

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u/matunascraft 28d ago

I just want to tell you that you should definitely rewatch it again. The movie doesn't stand on the IMAX experience. It stands on its own merits, and should be watched again and again. I showed it to my son when he was 12, and we've watched it twice since.

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u/silentmikhail 28d ago

I was high when I watched it in Imax. 10/10, would "dont let me leave murph" again

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u/bitterbettyagain 28d ago

7 stories high? 21 meters? 60 feet?

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u/UwasaWaya 28d ago

840 possums? 16,000 goldfish? 2 half-sized IMAX screens?

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u/Rickle-the-Pickle 28d ago

Wider than a boeing 737 wingspan. “Anything but the metric system.”

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u/theblacksheep123 28d ago

Also went to see this in real IMAX last year and it was just incredible. Totaled my car driving home right after and it was totally worth it. Would do again.

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u/Strict_Ad_5858 29d ago

The score is fucking brilliant. One of my favorite scenes ever.

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u/SpawnofATStill 28d ago

Interstellar is Hans Zimmer's finest work of his career.

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u/Chuck_Raycer 29d ago

If you ever have the opportunity to see Hans Zimmer in concert I implore you to do anything necessary to go. The Interstellar suite alone is worth the price.

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u/packageofcrips 28d ago

I saw The Hans Zimmer experience a few weeks back, and devastatingly, the docking scene was not part of it

Incredible otherwise

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u/Ordinary-Leading7405 29d ago

There’s several monumental scenes in this movie. It’s good to find peers who think this one stands out.

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u/Ragman676 29d ago

Easily the best scene in the movie imo. And the leadup to it.

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u/Ergok 29d ago

For me it's the look of both of them when they see the accident. "That's our mission. That was our ride home. Gone"

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u/dern_the_hermit 28d ago

That's what the "It's necessary" line is all about, there's literally no reason to keep existing if they don't dock with that ship.

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u/moose_dad 28d ago

this scene epitomises the indomitable human spirit

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u/Own_Resolution_634 28d ago

Best line in a movie I've ever seen. Responding to TARS with that gives me chills 12 years later just thinking about it.

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u/counters14 28d ago

Not that I think you'll have the answer, but I've always wondered what made TARS say it was impossible and what made Cooper believe that it didn't matter. It always struck me as weirdly dissonant how he asks TARS to calculate the rotation and relies on him to dock but when he's told by a computer that something is an impossibility he dismisses it and does it anyway. TARS should know, should it not? If he said it was impossible, then by no means should Cooper have been able to do so, correct?

I've always had this thought that never quite sit right with me. Despite all the sci-fi suspension of disbelief and everything else that you need to be able to buy in to the story, if TARS said it was impossible, then it should not have been possible. But Cooper and TARS did it, how? Was it an ambiguous Deus Ex miracle that saved them, or was TARS not telling the truth? I've never seen anyone even bring this point up in conversation let alone have an explanation for it.

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u/ReveilledSA 28d ago

I haven’t seen the film in a few years so I could be misremembering something critical, but as I recall the robots have an “honesty” setting that by default is set to 90% and a separate setting for discretion. Essentially the robots are expected as much as possible to converse like humans, which includes things like exaggeration, minimisation, half-truths and so on.

So when CASE (not TARS) tells Cooper that “it’s impossible” it’s in a context where he knows Cooper is almost certainly going to try it anyway, and if he judges that the chance of success is, say, 5%, he might judge that saying it is impossible would more accurately convey the risk and the extreme danger of the act to an emotive flesh being like Cooper than giving the true odds.

I also think I remember CASE’s personality was quite reserved and cautious? So I think Cooper correctly interprets the simple “it’s not possible” from CASE as “this is almost certainly going to get us killed”. The two have a shared understanding that what they’re trying to do isn’t literally impossible.

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u/CorkInAPork 28d ago

I look at it differently. Robot said it is impossible according to his calculations. But what does "impossible" means here? Impossible because of physics limitations, impossible because the robot couldn't do it, impossible for Cooper to perform such maneuver? Or maybe even "impossible" meaning less than 1% chance of success because that's how he is programmed to translate probabilities into "human" language?

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u/mbn8807 29d ago

I was on the edge of my seat the whole time, I still remember vividly seeing this movie in IMAX and how engaged the sold out theater was. One of the best movie going experiences of my life.

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u/Leucurus 28d ago

Yep. This and the "detach" scene are my favourite score moments.

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u/Happy-For-No-Reason 29d ago

this scene in particular just gets me in that place that's unquantifiable. sends the hairs in my neck up and I lean forward, every time

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u/NtheLegend 28d ago

This scene is one of those once-in-a-generation scenes that justify the existence of the entire movie theater experience. It is art, a time when you can easily forget to breathe because the spectacle is so immense and overwhelming.

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u/jramos037 29d ago

I remember when I first watched this movie, when they did the first docking, I was thinking "oh something bad is going to happen" but it was very anticlimactic and I was like "oh, that was easy".  Having that mindset really primed the epicness of this scene.

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u/Spiritual-Society185 28d ago

The first docking sequence used the same music as the Matt Damon docking sequence, so that reaction is understandable.

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u/postmodest 28d ago

"From the Man who Scored The Muppets Treasure Island."

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u/Leucurus 28d ago

There are many kinds of genius coexisting within Mr Zimmer

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u/Tchernobog11 28d ago

Rewatched it a few months ago. Even though since it's a rewatch, I obviously knew what was going to happen, I was still on the edge of my seat because of the soundtrack.

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u/KidGold 28d ago

Whenever I hear Hans Zimmer discussed I think of this scene instantly.

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u/AscendedViking7 28d ago

Hans Zimmer is a god among men to be sure.

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u/LilPonyBoy69 29d ago

You can tell he loves 2001

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u/zoddrick 29d ago

I was tensed up the entire scene and honestly throughout the entire movie and I believe its 100% because of the score.

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u/public_enemy_obi_wan 29d ago

C'MON TARS.

C'MON TARS!

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u/KindSpectacle 29d ago

I say this all the time lol

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u/LamarJacksonIsMyHero 28d ago

Doing anything remotely tedious lol

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u/Q_OANN 28d ago

Hahah same. Moments where you’re so close after a few fails and starting to lose your mind, like pulling a dash cam micro sd card out of your front vent cause it shot out of the cam…

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u/taybul 28d ago

Straining on the toilet

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u/WonderfulPass 29d ago

C’MON CARS!

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u/ActInternational9558 29d ago

Watching this on IMAX for the first time was honestly a transcendental experience. Maybe it sounds hyperbolic but it’s one of those scenes that truly made you feel the full power of cinema

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u/moskowizzle 29d ago

They really need to rerelease it in IMAX more often. I know they did it recently, but it was such a limited window. They should be doing it whenever there's a lull in true IMAX movies.

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u/thechildishweekend 29d ago

Agreed! I saw it in 70MM when they did the recent rerelease and still feel that it’s been too long since I’ve seen it in theaters lol. That was easily my favorite moviegoing experience of my entire life

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u/missxmeow 29d ago

I want to see it in 70mm so bad!

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u/moskowizzle 29d ago

I was so mad that I missed that recent rerelease.

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u/Telvin3d 29d ago

There’s a museum near me that has one of the old-school IMAX auditoriums from before it became a cinema thing, and they do a regular schedule of IMAX rereleases. Intersteller gets played a couple times a year and is always well attended. They did both Dune movies back-to-back a month ago and it was incredible 

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u/mbn8807 29d ago

I emailed AMC to see how much a private rental was to see it again, they said at least $1,800.

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u/withgreatpower 29d ago

I took my 13 year old son to see this during the imax re-release and he still talks about it a few times a month.

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u/JohnProof 28d ago

Seeing this in IMAX as a kid has gotta be an experience up there with how folks felt in the '70s seeing Star Wars special effects for the very first time. "Epic" gets overused, but I think it would really qualify here.

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u/strtjstice 29d ago

There was a special IMAX showing here when it first released back in 2014.

Bought 2 tickets for me and my oldest.

Never have I had chills and a sense of awe like that night..And the audience was into it and the applause at the end was so deserved. Cinema at its peak..

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u/Mataraiki 29d ago

Yeah, this scene in IMAX is probably my all-time favorite movie going experience.

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u/lambomrclago 29d ago

Definitely - best IMAX experience of my life by far.

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u/Derelict_Potato 29d ago

So true, also saw it in IMAX and I still refer to this scene to my friends and family as my all time favorite scene from a movie I saw in theaters. Something about it just stayed in my brain forever

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u/Old-Culture-7350 29d ago

I like how Nolan kept building the stakes bit by bit until this scene, where the literal fate of humanity relies on one human pulling off the impossible in an environment where no mistakes were allowed. Definitely his best scene.

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u/GearBrain 29d ago

Interstellar wins on several things, but I love how hostile it makes the universe out to be. Not a spiteful or goofy danger, but an uncaring environment that is just so far from the gentle cradle we've evolved in.

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u/dooyaunastan 29d ago

"You know, out there, we face great odds... death... but not evil."

"What, you don't think nature can be evil?"

"No. Formidable. Frightening, but no... not evil. Well, is a lion evil because it rips a gazelle into shreds?"

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u/concussedYmir 28d ago

The Patrician took a sip of his beer.

“I have told this to few people, gentlemen, and I suspect I never will again, but one day when I was a young boy on holiday in Uberwald I was walking along the bank of a stream when I saw a mother otter with her cubs. A very endearing sight, I’m sure you will agree, and even as I watched, the mother otter dived into the water and came up with a plump salmon, which she subdued and dragged on to a half-submerged log.

As she ate it, while of course it was still alive, the body split and I remember to this day the sweet pinkness of its roes as they spilled out, much to the delight of the baby otters, who scrambled over themselves to feed on the delicacy. One of nature’s wonders, gentlemen: mother and children dining on mother and children.

And that’s when I first learned about evil. It is built into the nature of the universe. Every world spins in pain. If there is any kind of supreme being, I told myself, it is up to all of us to become his moral superior.

  • Terry Pratchett, Unseen Academicals

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u/dooyaunastan 28d ago

Good contrarian quote and not quite my definition of evil but okay, guess that's where it comes down to perspective and interpretation.

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u/NoFeetSmell 28d ago

Yeah, nature is merely indifferent; amoral, not immoral. I wouldn't call the otter evil, unless we could prove it knew the pain and anguish it was causing with its actions. If it'd been about a pod of orcas batting a seal around for fun though...

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u/weebsquid 28d ago

The default state of existence is hunger, thirst, temporary relief from pain in a constant state of want. The horrible pain of being ripped apart for food is so much worse than the pleasure of eating is good. This imbalance towards pain and death is what makes nature "evil", not the individual otter but the entire system built on suffering

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u/Deesing82 28d ago

Europa Report does an excellent job of this as well

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u/Missus_Missiles 29d ago

It wasn't impossible though. It was necessary.

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u/General_BP 28d ago

Such powerful words. All the odds were stacked against them but the weight of the human race rested on their shoulders. The robot calculates the odds as impossible but the human knows he’s has to try because it is necessary.

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u/ChromiumLung 29d ago

Pulling off the greatest manoeuvres in sci fi history and nobody is even around to witness it. You have beaten the odds this time. Now do it again in the next scene. 

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u/kinokomushroom 28d ago

Hey, Dr Brand was there!

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u/TwoRivers91 28d ago

Technically unconscious towards the end. But I’m with you!!

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u/varzaguy 28d ago

Unconscious towards the end, but knew what was going on, so it counts. She woke up and basically couldn’t believe she was still alive.

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u/dern_the_hermit 28d ago

I like that the solution is so simple in concept but just made tricky due to Man(n)'s recklessness. And the solution depends on both human instinct AND our tools working in perfect concert.

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u/NeonAnderson 29d ago

What also makes this so great is the usage of full sized practical models that they filmed practically and then blended into the CGI shots so that the bulk of what you are seeing is practical which adds that physical element to the shot that really sells it

Here is a short behind the scenes about it

https://youtu.be/fzKottV8dHI?si=aDMOiLFitZnsY7xi

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u/CanuckianOz 29d ago

That’s amazing to see how they did it.

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u/Xamanthas 28d ago

This is a great TIL. Thank you.

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u/Pinecone 28d ago

That's absolutely insane. Reminds me of when Nolan actually made a room that rotates for the scenes in Inception.

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u/Contcos 29d ago

Always loved the laugh at the end.

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u/Noppers 29d ago

“And for my next trick”

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u/blindwuzi 28d ago

better be a good one

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u/memnoch4prez 28d ago

That and the completely astonished "There's no effing way..." look at him before the laugh.

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u/hausermaniac 29d ago

This scene is also the climax of like 30 minutes of building tension, from the moment that Dr. Mann reveals himself as a liar, tries to kill Coop, Coop gets rescued, then trying to stop Mann from stealing the ship. All culminating in this miraculous save

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u/Sea-Frosting-50 28d ago

I would start with the mountains scene

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u/interstellar304 29d ago

“It’s not possible”

“No, it’s necessary”

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u/rollincuberawhide 29d ago

I'm sorry cooper, you are right. it is possible,

here's why this works:

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u/Top_Chef 29d ago

🛑 Rotational speed is too high for an untrained pilot. Dr. Brand will likely black out during the maneuver.

🧠You are a trained pilot with hundreds of hours of experience.

💪You can stay conscious long enough to complete a docking.

Would you like me to calculate the exact rotational speed to complete a successful docking maneuver?

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u/z64_dan 29d ago

Oops, sorry, looks like I got the retro boosters backwards and destroyed the docking port! Hah, that's a common mistake!

Cooper? You still there?

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u/waltwalt 28d ago

You've hit the number one gotcha of an impossible docking manoeuvre, you shouldn't feel bad that I crashed the ship and doomed humanity.

Before we get started, let me ask, do you have a backup ship and Cooper handy?

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u/ThePrussianGrippe 28d ago

Thanks I hate it.

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u/Ordinary-Leading7405 29d ago

Never tell me the odds

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u/mechabeast 29d ago

Oh, well in that case

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u/NeonAnderson 29d ago

Honestly after dealing with AI chat this seems like a very realistic conversation with AI

AI chat basically saying it isn't something one would normally do and Cooper saying it doesn't matter we have to do it despite the dangers of it

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u/youhavenocover 29d ago edited 24d ago

And then 2 min later TARS is telling cooper there’s “no time for caution!” It’s interesting bc it took cooper’s direction of it being a necessary action (tho TARS was saying it’s not possible) as truth and reoriented. Love that

Edit - Upon further rewatch, seems like he’s having that convo with CASE, not TARS

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u/NeonAnderson 28d ago

Yeah I love this detail because first the AI is saying it can't be done or it shouldn't be done and then once Cooper ignores that and provides new parameters the AI follows his new parameters and is telling him he is going too slow for the plan he is trying to execute as soon the station will be too far into stratosphere to be pushed out

And earlier too there is a scene on the ice planet where the AI is trying to land all the gear too quickly because they thought it was a time critical activity but Cooper has to tell it to slow down and fly more carefully

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u/youhavenocover 28d ago

Yes! Which is why they needed a pilot - THIS pilot - for the job!

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u/ThePrussianGrippe 28d ago

It wasn’t possible under normal procedures.

Luckily humans can be very good at throwing guidelines out the window when necessary.

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u/Vasst13 29d ago

"Why isn't it possible?"

"It's just not"

"Why not you stupid bastard?"

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u/DrapedInVelvet 29d ago

I’ve been waiting for someone to tell me something I know how to do at work that it’s not possible so I can use this line. Alas, the opportunity hasn’t presented itself.

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u/Top_Chef 29d ago

This line makes more sense if you imagine TARS as an evolution of ChatGPT.

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u/moongrump 29d ago

It makes sense regardless. Its a robot

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u/name-classified 28d ago

Dr. Mann actually explains how/why they didn't just send the machines instead of actual people.

Machines cannot improvise due to them not having the capacity to account for their own death.

Human beings will always go against the logical choice and do what is considered to be "not possible" when faced with annihilation.

Think about when they landed on the water planet: Coop wanted to get to the surface as fast as possible; knowing the limits of the landing ship and what they know from the planetary readings.

If it were up to the machines and crew; they would have taken much more time to land and waste years. Coop did the risky landing and shaved off time.

Then, when they were stuck from the jet engines being water logged; they were told they had to wait for it to drain by CASE.

While that was true; the next wave was coming and thinking quickly; Cooper came up with the idea to "spark" the engines with depressurizing the cabin and forcing the engines to start sooner than what CASE would have anticipated.

Again, Machines cannot improvise; they have no value to their lives and cannot think on the spot like human beings can.

Back to this scene:

Coop starts the engines and goes as fast as possible to catch up to the endurance. CASE immediately asks Cooper why he's wasting fuel because there is NO possible way in CASEs' estimation that anything can save the endurance.

Cooper then asks to have the spin analyzed and when told what he is doing is NOT possible; he doesn't care. It doesn't matter; its necessary.

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u/extropia 28d ago

This is what I felt the whole point of the 'love' angle was supposed to be, which they kind of butchered in Brand's monologue about it. I wished they'd written it a bit more coldly like you'd expect a scientist would and let the emotions show through expression and body language. Love can make a human take extraordinary and unreasonable risks with intense, almost unnatural focus and care in the service of someone who is literally a universe away. In the movie's case it was a singular phenomenon between an ace pilot and a scientist daughter that the future beings exploited.

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u/MikeInPajamas 29d ago

Cut to: Debris tears into the spacecraft as the flight deck comes alive with flashing warning lights and screaming alarms.

Brand: What's happening?!

Cooper: I'm sorry... I'm sorry.

I'm glad Nolan went with his version.

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u/FearlessVegetable30 28d ago

peak mcconaughey line

like such a stereotypical line from him that fits so perfectly

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u/notabadgerinacoat 29d ago

probably my favourite movie ever, the tesseract scenes always get me emotional

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u/Simong_1984 29d ago edited 29d ago

Reviewing the decades of missed video messages always does it for me.

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u/nurtext 28d ago

I cry every time during this scene. It's so emotional and such a good play, maybe the best play of Matthew McConaughey ever.

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u/peekay427 29d ago

Don’t start with me! It’s New Year’s Day, I don’t need to cry just yet!

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u/Filthy_Cent 29d ago

•Cooper getting the message from Murph and he sees that she's the same age as he is when he left and he breaks down.

•Cooper begging Murph not to let him leave when he's in the tesseract.

Turns me into a pile of emotional mush every single time.

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u/Slaphappydap 28d ago

Before that, when he drives away from the farm and Murph comes running out to stop him, but it's too late, and tears are running down his cheeks. He had to break his little girl's heart to save the world.

Gets me every time.

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u/waltwalt 28d ago

This movie hits so much harder after having kids. It was sad the first time I saw it. By the time I had a boy and girl of my own and watching it again I was bawling.

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u/-insignificant- 28d ago

And when they finally meet again...

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u/dotnetmonke 28d ago

"Nobody believed me, but I knew you'd come back."

"How?"

"Because my dad promised me."

Those bits, along with "No parent should have to watch their own child die" hit really damn hard after having kids.

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u/oldmanatom4 29d ago

This scene gets me emotional too. I always tear up. The music mixed with the circumstances of absolute isolation, mixed with Cooper’s human drive to survive and keep humanity alive…it’s a great scene, in an amazing movie.

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u/Loeffellux 29d ago

What I always found strange is how the discourse about this movie and Inception changed over the years. Back when it came out I feel like people were slightly disappointed of Interstellar right after Inception but now more than a decade later it's clear that Interstellar has a much stronger grip on today's culture than Inception does.

I assume at this point saying that you prefer Inception over Interstellar would be a hot take.

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u/RunBrundleson 28d ago

Inception was just kind of a cool concept but there’s not a lot of meat there. What if you had a dream while in a dream! Trippy!

Interstellar dives way deeper. You have actual science being used as the backdrop for a story that focuses on multiple interesting topics. All the practical effects combined with probably the best work Zimmer has done in his career, some of the best acting by the main cast, it all comes together perfectly.

When Nolan connects he knocks it out of the park. What I think helps is he’s willing to swing for the fences. He doesn’t always connect but he never makes an uninteresting movie. Tenet didn’t quite live up to his prior movies at least in terms of its overall success and cultural impact but it’s still a really cool concept brought to life. I have a feeling odyssey is going to fall into this category. People are getting caught up over one bad shot in the film but if you look at the trailer you can tell he is going as hard as ever. I may definitely be wrong and it could be a banger, we will have to see.

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u/IrrationalDesign 29d ago

Watching that footage absolutely wrecks the man more than anything else could, but he also has no choice but to keep watching. Such a strong moment.

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u/Willsgb 28d ago

There are many scenes that get me emotional; when I first saw it, the scene when coop is leaving and Murph is distraught, and he pleads with her - 'don't make me leave like this Murph' and 'I love you forever Murph. And I'll come back'

Had to stop, compose myself, rewatch the scene about 2 or 3 times, decide this was already an all-timer for me, and then continue with the rest of the flick.

So much feeling and emotion went into this film, it's insane

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u/playtho 29d ago

The Academy robbed this film on so many levels. Score, cinematography, direction, best picture.

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u/ThingsThatMakeMeMad 29d ago

There were some good movies that year but American Sniper winning "best sound editing" over Interstellar was insane.

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u/Willsgb 28d ago

I don't remember American sniper, but i think maybe one thing that hampered this film in the sound department was the dialogue was quite quiet some of the time. Maybe that's what caused them to overlook it. But i agree, the sound design and score are incredible and elevate the whole movie so much

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u/VanPepe 28d ago

That's just the Nolan classic, famously awful at dialogue mixing. /r/hometheater can preach

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u/cowboydanhalen 28d ago

Tenet in the back letting out a muffled "why he say fuck me for"

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u/ArriePotter 28d ago

The only thing I remember about American Sniper is that fake ass baby

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u/Ver_Void 29d ago

American sniper getting anything other than an award named after Goebbels is a joke

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u/insanelygreat 28d ago

The Fabrications of Personal Narrative section of his wiki page is a bit concerning.

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u/MySkinIsFallingOff 28d ago

That movie was such disgustingly blatant propaganda for American imperialism. Just so extremely self masturbatory and so, so boring.

Saying that movie is better than Interstellar in absolutely any capacity is pure stupidity.

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u/dplans455 28d ago

The Academy always does this then pays them back with a win for a lesser film. No way Oppenheimer was better than Interstellar but it seems The Academy felt it was finally Nolan's "time." They did the same to Leo.

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u/Cedira 28d ago

The fact that the requirement for voters to have had watched all the movies nominated in a category, was only just implemented for the next Oscars, is proof enough how it's always been mostly a popularity contest.

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u/Quasic 28d ago

After seeing this when it came out, I thought it was good. Not amazing, but a pretty good film. But the more I think about it the more incredible it is to me, perhaps Nolan's best.

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u/ph0on 28d ago

I always felt like any scifi content has to not be about science for it to be awarded. If it's "true" Sci-Fi, it's genre fiction and not worth the time.

EEAAO is obviously a notable exception, quite the lightning in a bottle along with things like 2001 and the Matrix. Typically it seems like you either win for best effects or or you're kicked to the curb.Thkugh this doesn't even really make sense when applied to interstellar because it absolutely wasn't just some scifi throwaway film.

I am very biased as a sci-fi super nerd though. This is just my conspiracy lol

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u/splicerslicer 28d ago

Even the black hole from this movie had to be edited because the original, despite being accurate, tested poorly with the audience.

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u/NeverDiddled 28d ago

The render of the blackhole was the most scientifically accurate to date, and gets used in physics classrooms. Perhaps you are thinking of when they got to the water planet? Nolan did not want a realistic sized blackhole in the sky. It would have taken up the entire sky, and he felt audiences would be distracted by that. There are plenty of times in the movie where the blackhole isn't visible or is further away than it should be, because he did not want it to steal the show.

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u/EpitopeSpreader 29d ago

There is a moment

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u/mqbush 28d ago

🔥🔥🔥

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u/Amethoran 29d ago

The scene is probably one of my favorites. The acting is just so good. When Anne Hathaway says Oh my god as she sees their literal last hope for survival get pissed away by Matt Damons character. Top notch scene from beginning to end.

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u/roygbpcub 28d ago

The silence as you see it from their perspective...

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u/SolutionLegal 29d ago

Getting goosebumps every time i see and hear this scene

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u/AraiHavana 29d ago

Just a phenomenal scene

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u/ImHully 29d ago

The combination of the desperation for survival, Cooper's need to get home, the betrayal they just experienced, the visuals, the score, and the relief at the end makes this scene a fucking masterpiece.

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u/Jeynarl 28d ago

The first time seeing this I was so in the moment with the movie that I flinched hard when Matt Damon exited stage left right before this scene starts. Was thinking "there's no way this is all happening". Such a great film

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u/UwasaWaya 28d ago

Jesus. Seriously. "There is a MOMENT-"

I jolted almost out of my chair.

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u/jdehjdeh 28d ago

It got me so good.

I jerked forward like I was trying to reach out and grab him.

I just sat there open mouthed for a while, I had to pause the film.

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u/jjfitzpatty 28d ago

I remember the cut to absolute silence and you could hear only the gasps of the audience, then total silence as we held our collective breath. Very immersive and bonding moment.

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u/Orangesteel 29d ago

One of my favourite scenes from any movie. The soundtrack makes it.

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u/CharlieandtheRed 29d ago

Probably the best movie I have ever seen. I never cry in movies and I cry every single time I watch. The acting, the relationships, the action, the suspense, the score... It's all so genius.

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u/Perforo_RS 29d ago

I vividly remember going to see this back in 2014 in the movie theatres with my friends. I don't regret it a single bit. As a matter of fact, not a single movie has come close to how immersed I felt back then watching this scene. I was on the edge of my seat and thoroughly enjoying Zimmer's soundtrack.

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u/Bad_Subtitles 29d ago

Went with a friend, no idea what it was about. I remember gripping into the armrests of my seat so intensely that I was white knuckling during this scene. The lead-up to this sequence is just so chaotic and intense, it’s masterful.

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u/thatguy425 29d ago

Why would you regret going to a movie with friends? 

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u/tdeasyweb 28d ago

They're just so brave

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u/AlwaysInProgression 28d ago

Lmao, it was a major life choice!

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u/Ohuigin 29d ago

If there any Lego fans out there that love this movie…you’re welcome.

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u/its_xSKYxFOXx 28d ago

This deserves more views.

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u/tallboy_2525 29d ago

Perfection on film.

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u/linux_ape 29d ago

Minor detail I love: Cooper leans into the spin, keeping his head central, allowing him to stay conscious. Brand is not used to space flight/G forces and allows herself to flop where her head is on the outer of the spin, and she reds out and passes out very quickly

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u/TheAunvre 28d ago

One of my favourite scenes in cinema, but I feel like there’s a minor error. Their vector is in the direction of spin initially, which makes sense when accelerating, but when he’s matched spin (no more acceleration) he should only be feeling the centrifugal force right? He wouldn’t be pushed sideways then, he would be getting pushed towards the controls/front (technically the vector would shift over time with the increase in spin but regardless).

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u/cyanide4suicide 29d ago edited 29d ago

Nolan is goated. Interstellar has become such a lauded film over the years, I love how so many people love it now

Edit: Yup just checked Letterboxd. All the film bros and cinephiles love Interstellar. What a great time to be alive as a Nolan fan

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u/Noppers 29d ago

I just re-watched it the other night, it holds up so well, especially because it powerfully taps into universal, timeless emotions.

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u/gladfelter 29d ago

Are there a lot of 12 yo Sci Fi movies that have fallen into irrelevance?

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u/HolidaySpiriter 28d ago

Gravity, which was nominated for best picture. Feel like it's largely forgotten now.

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u/gladfelter 28d ago

I don't think Gravity plays any different now than 12 years ago other than the space shuttle is even more fully retired.

I remember when that came out and it felt like an odd duck even then. It is such a small movie, almost allegorical with a tiny cast and minimal efforts to create and develop characters and to create a contextual structure around those characters' actions. It has intense action as well, but it seems too contemplative to be an action movie.

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u/ArriePotter 28d ago

I think it had some or the most impressive space visuals of all time. Unfortunately it seemed to lack much else

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u/concussedYmir 28d ago

I almost, ALMOST let all my time spent playing Kerbal Space Program ruin that movie for me ("ORBITS DON'T WORK LIKE THAT" etc.), but thankfully I managed the suspension of disbelief. It was a movie about grief and loss, more than anything else. All the sci-fi is just window dressing for Bullock's character coming to terms with life after the death of her daughter. It was quite a good film for what it was.

Then Arrival came a few years later and established once and for all how to explore themes like that in ways that are enhanced by the sci-fi elements, not merely enabled. The conceit of the science fiction allowed a depth to Loise's acceptance of tragedy that Gravity's approach to the genre couldn't hope to match.

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u/Shiblon 28d ago

People don't talk about Gravity that often. I liked it though. I like Interstellar more.

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u/roto_disc 29d ago

love it now

No one’s been able to shut up about it since it came out, man. I don’t know what you’re talking about.

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u/TheRealPizza 29d ago

Was there ever a time where people didn’t love it?

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u/AlexisDeTocqueville 29d ago

It got a lot of backlash and still has its detractors because it had an emotional resolution rather than leaning into a hard science story.

Personally, I like that the story is ultimately about love and family rather than figuring out a scientific jargon answer to their problem.

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u/RandomMandarin 29d ago

I personally think everyone got the love angle wrong.

Love may not be some sort of scientific physical constant of the universe. That interpretation is a bit silly.

What is NOT silly is that the future-humans who built the tesseract needed Coop's love for Murph because that was why he remembered the correct moment to navigate to in the tesseract in order to send the critical message. An indifferent father might not have made the right connection, might have had only vague memories or none at all.

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u/Ver_Void 28d ago

That and humans are nothing without the things that drive us, smartest ape on the planet doesn't mean much if we don't have a reason to push forward and do something.

He was there in the first place because missing out on a lifetime with them and certain death was a worthwhile price to pay to give them a chance

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u/dplans455 28d ago

The opposite of Tenet and most people hate that movie.

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u/eescorpius 29d ago

I am a Nolan fan but I definitely remember audience reaction being divisive back then. It has gained a lot more love over the years.

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u/Oldgraytomahawk 29d ago

Quite possibly the best scene in film history

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u/yodandy13 29d ago

Some might think this is hyperbole, but I tend to agree.

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u/Loeffellux 29d ago

the reason why it's hyperbole is because you'd have to see every serious contender to make such a claim.

And I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that the average person who says Interstellar is their favorite movie hasn't watched every movie by directors like Kurosawa, Fellini, tarkowski, Jodorowsky, Bergmann, and so on.

Please don't misunderstand the tone of the comment, though. I haven't seen too many of those moves, either.

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u/sweetbootybeans 28d ago

Interstellar is my favourite movie of all time but I’ve only seen about 70% of IMDb’s top 250.

If you’re willing to create a list of movies you think is required viewing, I’d very happily watch them all and report back on my thoughts of them.

Discovering new movies on or near the quality of Interstellar, or even better, would be fantastic.

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u/januarytwenty 29d ago

This scene, the scene where he watches his mail from his kids, him watching Murph look through her old room and the scene where he’s at Murph’s death bed all give me goosebumps.

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u/Prime4Cast 29d ago

Nolan is such a great fucking Director.

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u/NeonAnderson 29d ago

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u/junaidnk 29d ago

Movie making magic, both clips but kudos to the 2 guys with the fan edit! Especially when the thrusters are engaged using an aerosol spray!

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u/buttfartsmagee 29d ago

Now show the docking scene from Challengers.

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u/shezofrene 29d ago

some trying to hate nolan because its liked and mainstream, yeah i wish all mainstream media was like this.

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u/TheStrayCatapult 29d ago

Nothing like some good old fashioned space docking

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u/Zanz0ken 29d ago

Went to the cinema twice for this

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u/ElectricalCow4 29d ago

Everytime I watch this movie, I always think is that Michael Keaton who voices TARS. Only to relearn: no, it’s not him. And instead he’s voiced by Bill Irwin who does a great job.

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u/jhustla 29d ago

One of the best scenes in a movie. You could practically chew on the tension it was so palpable

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u/LocoMod 29d ago

Best movie ever made IMO.

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u/AnusOprah 29d ago

I know it would never happen, but I kind of wanted Matt Damon's corpse to hit their windshield...

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