This is my favourite of the trailers.

I enjoyed this movie substantially. The film's emotional and philosophic/scientist roots beneath the excellent action and CGI space effects resulted in an excellent theatrical experience.

First, I walked into the movie having not really watched a trailer, nor read any informational piece about Interstellar. I knew it was good, and it had something to do with space, but that's about it. With that, I remember speculating with a friend about what was happening. 

Especially in the beginning, the plot seems not slow, but like it's unraveling with savour. The story knows not to dump information and it does a good job of building the foundation of the world slowly, but by maintaining interest. It does my favourite thing: establish an emotional bond to the characters that will be revisited throughout the film. 

Cooper and his daughter Murphy live in a world being consumed by dust. The Earth is almost uninhabitable and this is perhaps the end. Obviously, we know it's not. Cooper's wife seems to have died and he's left with his two children and his wife's father. Cooper loves his family, but it's really Murph and Cooper's relationship that shines through. 

Mackenzie Foy as Murphy does a good job capturing her character's curiosity, but also her immaturity as a child. She is sarcastic and shy, but also resilient, and she makes her character quite relatable and lovely. I thought she did appear a little older than she was supposed to be in several scenes, but she would win me over again with a pout, or a smile. 

Matthew McConaughey was phenomenal as Cooper. He was restless, angry with the world, but quite capable. His character was always warring with ambition and who he needed to be versus the family he could never leave. There is one part, later on, where it hurt me to see his face as the grief was palpable. 

I can't speak of one acting performance that I didn't like, and in saying that, let me clarify: this film's strength was not its acting. The acting was not a weakness in the slightest, but the truth strength was the storytelling, the amazing script, and the production value. 

The production was cinematic and beautiful. It had all the beautiful and quite scary space shots that you could ever want. The music built and assuaged tension subtly, but I think one of my favourite elements was the use of silence. How often do you have a scene with complete silence for a few moments? Interstellar used the silence to its advantage several times (although I may have ruined it once by cursing) and I think Christopher Nolan's grasp of tension and his vision for the film shined through.

The story was complete with many peaks and valleys, some of them rather unexpected, and I said earlier that I teared up several times because what happened was too horrible not to. The weakest part to Interstellar was the ending, which is a mindfuck because what's happening is unclear.

Actually, that is a flaw, or recurring theme, because it's not necessarily a flaw if it was introduced and obviously intentional. Interstellar prided itself on being a "big" story that did deal with abstract and philosophical ideas. There was a sense of purpose and destiny well employed throughout the entire story, and it was like what happened was literally "written in the stars". If you don't like those types of storylines, you may not like Interstellar, but I love them. 

After finishing Interstellar, all I want to do is curl up with my laptop and listen to some Carl Sagan, and then perhaps research space a little more. I highly recommend Interstellar and it's the best movie I've seen in a long time. 

-P.E.

Recently, I'm really into movies with great fantastical graphics. Movies like 300, Dracula Untold, Pompeii. I'm been thinking about watching Snow White and the Huntsman for a while and so I finally did. The cinematography looked quite similar to what I was expecting and craving, but the story and the execution was very very different.

I’m glad I watched this one on Netflix because at some point I started to fast forward so I could see the end and be done with it. The story of Snow White is almost a cliche now. We all know it and have seen it played out inside our heads so many times that it's hard to impress. This movie had a different visual take on the story and I enjoyed the narration in the beginning about the three drops of blood and the spell. However, that may have been the only creative element. Everything that came after felt out of place and didn't impress.

There were really three reasons why I watched this movie in the first place.

1. I like Chris Hemsworth.
2. I wanted to see if Kristin Stewart has improved.
3. The cinematography, graphics and special effects looked awesome.

Sadly, no matter how much one like Chris Hemsworth, if the movie’s plot and dialogue has no oomph, good looks can’t help too much. Same goes towards the cinematography that was pretty impressive. It was nice on the eyes but the same could not be said of the acting and the story.

Kristin and I have had a love hate relationship for a long time. I enjoyed Twilight but I never really liked Bella Swan in the movie. Why? Well, I notices Kristin’s awkwardness. It was understandable as Bella, because that is very similar to Bella's personality. But it seems that it's something Kristin can't shake off. She is awkward and carries it to all her roles and that just doesn’t work for me. The other problem with that is, I see Kristin playing a role, her acting never allows me to fall into the story and see a character. 

Overall, this was a disappointment. There just wasn't much development or anything special to keep me interested.

-MARI

This review may be a ruse for me to share lots of close ups :)

I am not a fan of Dracula, I have no interest in the classic and don't want to read it, final. I watched Dracula Untold because it was the only other movie that looked good and boy was it good.

Welcome to Transylvania, a small kingdom forced into treaties with the Warring Turks in order to survive. The last king promised to send Transylvanian boys to serve in the Turkish army in exchange for their independence. Among those boys was Prince Vlad, the impaler. Raised among his enemies and trained as a killing machine he won many battles for the Turks. When he returns to his land he vows for peace but it’s not long until the Turks are back and they don’t want peace. How far will he go to protect his loved ones?

Vlad (Luke Evans) was serious eye candy, I loved his accent and his acting was amazing. The movie didn’t spend too much time on him and his wife’s relationship but you could see his love for her and their son. We all love to read and watch stories about the noble man who will go to any extent to protect their family. This is one of those movies and heck was it entertaining. I may have choked up by the end but it was that great.

I went in blind and am still blind, I don’t know if the story by Bram Stoker had anything to do with the Turkish (doubt it) but this one sure added a lot of that and I’m not complaining. Honestly, if you love a hero, a romance, with lots of action; try this one.

-MARI

Release Date: June 2, 2014

Don’t shoot me, I haven’t read TFIOS the book or any other John Green book… And yes, put the gun down, I watched the movie before reading the book. Ekk!

Since I’m still alive, I guess you’ve all given me the chance to elaborate. You see, I meant to read the book. I picked it up, got a good 50 pages in, adored it and then exams hit and I dropped it. My friend who also happens to be a John Green fangirl, was nice enough to tell me the major plot twists so that went down the drain. (It’s ok buddy, still friends!)

Now that we have the back story covered, let me just say that I watched this movie with my mother and brother both of which had varying opinions but mine is the only one that counts and oh my goodness this was golden. 

It’s now been almost a month since I watched it and things are getting a little hazy but I think a lot of the things I loved had more to do with the story than the movie. Meaning the credits probably go to John Green for being a genius but I also have to thank Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort for being amazing actors who brought Augustus and Hazel to life. Dare I say, Shailene was better fitted for Hazel's role than Tris’...

Some favourite things included the normalcy that this movie was able to present to the audience. We’ve all come to see cinema as a place where stars shining in their otherworldly beauty can walk on red carpets but cinema is changing. Realism is taking over and this was a dedication to that. All the actors looked like kids I could go to school with; except for the great clothes and impeccably clean rooms. 

Since this is a movie review, I feel like it's fair to comment on the cinematography and location choice, which I felt was great. There were some really nice closeups that worked well with the mood. The setting, you guys, was perfect. SO perfect in fact that it seems the bench in Amsterdam where TFIOS was shot was stolen.

It was found :)

I loved the bickering between Gus and Hazel. Their opposing ideas of life and death and how one should go out were maybe a little morbid but also really interesting to think about. 

I didn't find any faults in the movie. I thought it was cleanly wrapped up and executed. The ending, which I heard was different from the novel, was appeasing to me and I had no problems with it. 

Overall, it was a very sweet, very touching and sensual movie which reminds us all that life is short. Don’t wait until you have a reason to enjoy it, living life should be reason enough.

-MARI