Interstellar the Movie

I had seen Matt Mcconaughey and Anne Hathaway trot across the stages of the Late Night Show and the Tonight Show to promote their latest flick, Interstellar.  Then Todo Bramble, a Facebook friend, posted a remark about it that encouraged me to see it.

So right away, because I have always been a space junkie, I had to get to the nearest theatre to see it, but found that it was not in 3-D for which I would have paid the higher price to see but instead opted to see the standard or regular presentation which cost me much less.  I will probably see it at IMax for the high definition but believe it or not, the special effects were just as impressive in regular but cheaper mode as I had hoped they would be.  Sound was just as effective also.

This movie is one that for me is excellent!  I do not know that it will garner a bunch of awards at Oscar time but it will win the hearts and minds of people who bother to see it for its sense of urgency, its skillful method of explaining space travel related to earth, and to its theme of love in and of family, and of love as the driving force which propels us to survive in a cruel and cold universe.  Hopefully, it will also serve as a vehicle to remind people to save Mother Earth from total destruction through cleaning up after ourselves.

On that note, I wish to interject that even though the missing plane has not yet been found which supposedly went down in the Indian Ocean, it did serve a useful purpose in showing us how much a garbage dump the ocean has become for we wasteful and negligent human beings.

The premise of this movie is that the time period in which our real characters find themselves is at the near end of the earth's ability to support and sustain human life or animal and vegetable life on the planet.  Using recent actual climate events, dust storms, tsunami's, etc. the film maker shows us the struggle between man and nature.  Man is losing a battle on earth so that scientists believe that another planet must be found in the universe that can sustain human life as we know it on earth.

There is a lot of optimism in this otherwise depressing scenario of mankind's eventual extinction.  Early in the film, Cooper, a former astronaut, happens upon a secret location of NASA where astronauts are being trained and prepared for an expedition into space to find that one hopeful planet that humans from earth can be transported to develop a new habitat.

Since I already wrote one so called review of this film, I am writing this for a totally different reason.

When I was in Chattanooga, TN years ago for a court reporting stint, I happened to pick up a survivor test supposedly used at the University of Tennessee.  In it ten people are trying to flee from one place to another to survive but only four can go.  We are supposed to decide upon which four people we would choose to survive from a list of ten professionals and non professionals.  This movie reminded me of that test.  Naturally, there should be females to continue the human race and hopefully more than one.   This movie emphasizes the need for farmers which is one of the selections in this test.  I recall that I chose a farmer since I readily understood their importance in the life of the planet.  Actor or actress was one of the choices which naturally most people would eliminate without further ado.  Yet I was reminded of Frank Sinatra who made the most glorious speech at a Hollywood award show where he supported the need for actors and actresses in the community.  But undoubtedly, medicine men whether doctors or nurses would be necessary to survival, as would be a man or woman of science.  We had to choose sexes as well as job importance.  It was an interesting test that I had forgotten and am forgetting but am reminded of since seeing this film.  Intelligence is something that must survive which has always been demonstrated in a book about children's survival called Lord of the Flies.  Sometimes the smarter kids are not the most well liked kids, and popular kids are often simply popular due to pleasing appearance or nice guy behavior, but the smart kid is often needed to lead the pack due to his innate ability at comprehension and quickness and decisiveness in drawing simple conclusions.

Naturally, that leads me to Alexander the Great who I have had the pleasure of gleaning some insights into his mental capacity and his emotional stability.

Because tradition, history, and customs are so important in society and life, Alexander's birthright enabled him to follow his father in the succession of kings in his small corner of the world.  But it was his intelligence, his personality, and his character that made him the leader he became since he was dutiful to his belief in his destiny and his gods who drove him to fulfill it.

So in this movie, we find Matthew McConaughey playing the role of Cooper, a brilliant former astronaut leading the pack of young Astronauts selected for a mission into space to find that elusive planet upon which humankind's total existence hangs.

As I said, the movie is optimistic despite the depressing odds, since there appears to be a chance that on the other side of our solar system lies a planet that would sustain human and earthly life as mankind has known it.  So naturally, with that optimism, we dare to explore the system to find it.

Hollywood, being the beast that it is, conjures a plot that flies by quickly for a three hour investment of your time, and succeeds in making us understand the hazards these men and women face as well as the joys of seeing imagined planets up close and personal.  The main planet in this case being Saturn at which we are visually impressed with its many rings.

The adventures of Cooper and his crew aboard a really cool ship is contrasted to the dire circumstances on earth of the dying planet and we are constantly reminded that as we hurtle through space that there may be no human life on earth to save if by chance they could actually return to earth.  There is no sense in making this trip if someone cannot return to earth to convey the good news that a planet is found if and when it is found.   Except of course a video message has been a solution that another team of crew members could follow if any are alive to get the message that a planet does exist.  What kind of dilemma is this?  Getting there and returning or getting there and simply hoping that earthlings are alive to receive the message that a planet has been found, so another expedition can follow...which is it?

This is where I come in.  For years, I have been studying esp, remote viewing, and other paranormal studies knowing very well that the astronauts too have been doing this as well since that mental thought transference may be the one way that humans can via long distance communicate with one another.  Even those who have crossed over into the great beyond can make contact with their loved ones through spiritual clairaudience.

So there is a scene in this film which exercises this study.

Also, note to myself that I received a message the day before when I went out to see Barbara, my neighbor, watching as Shane cleaned the paint off the sidewalks in front of our apartments.  I heard my mother calling my name to me, but I did ask Barbara if she had called me. She said she had not.  That meant it had to be my mother who I heard.  That gave me hope of her being nearby.

So I could relate to the movie.  I understood well what was happening.  I will  keep mum on part of it as it is too personal to me right now to disclose.  I use it too much.

I do know positively that there are people who can communicate with one another through thought alone.  I had written a book about it years ago which is still on hold.  In first draft stage if ever I would publish it.  Not likely at this time anyway.  Too personal again in that too much of it came true, which is clairvoyance.

In fact and truth, many times so called idle thoughts and dreams do become reality.  I have had it happen to me time and again so that I have learned to be careful of what I say and do and how I say it and do it.  But remembering always that to prove my case I must at times do things in extreme!

Oh, yes, and lest I forget about the Browns in this film.  Funny that Edmund does get his credit at the end of the movie!  That did not get past me but since it is one of those optimistic bits in the film I have avoided referring to it.

Can't give everything away, can we?

Also, Ellyn Burstyn playing the role of Murphy did also make me laugh, because i always associate her with Alice Doesn't Live Here, and that makes me think of Alice Cooper.  Odd movie in its use of names, and numbers which I cannot reveal either.  Not wanting to be a spoiler.

A movie review woke me up to something in the film which is also based upon a real life experience...which may explain why one employee chose to wait while I exited to say Good Night.  I got it!

Water or dust?  And that event involving water happened only last February...no coincidence of course, but it took the review for me to realize it...another reason to see film again in either dvd form or on the big huge screen at IMAX.

I must get to Australia somehow....