November 8, 2014 -- I did not know what to expect with this film, since it's director has been all over the map with science fiction and fantasy films for years. Ever since Christopher Nolan achieved fame with his mind-bending film “Memento,” he has had a cult-like following that has worshiped at his altar (much like the Stanley Kubrick and Alfred Hitchcock worshipers). I was not sold on the story gimmicks and plot holes in his more popular films, like the Batman series and “Inception,” but I admired “The Prestige” and “Insomnia.” This film ranks right up there with Nolan's best.

Unlike his earlier films, “Interstellar” is more of a grand epic, with a lot of similarities and even homage scenes to remind us of Stanley Kubrick's “2001: A Space Odyssey.” This film takes place in the not-too distant future when global warming has caused conditions like the dust bowl years in the 1930s. Crops are failing and mankind is doomed. We see footage of actual people who lived through the dust bowl years talking about their experiences as if they are talking about living through these future dust storms. It is a nice touch.

Most people of the future are farmers, struggling to feed the population with ever-dwindling crop yields. One of those farmers, Cooper (played by Matthew McConaughey of “Dallas Buyers Club”) is a former astronaut and engineer. He doesn't like being a farmer, but that is the only career available. His daughter, Murphy (Mackenzie Foy of “The Conjuring”) is a budding scientist who thinks there is a ghost in her room, where books fall off the shelf mysteriously.

One day, during a fierce dust storm, Cooper discovers a strange gravitational anomaly in Murphy's room. It spells out geographical coordinates in code. He follows the coordinates to a secret NASA base where spaceships are being built to explore another galaxy. Cooper is invited to pilot a spaceship to another galaxy on a mission to find a new home for mankind. Cooper takes the opportunity, even though his children hate him for deserting them. Murphy becomes a scientist herself, and eventually takes over the same NASA exploration program, hoping to solve the “gravity problem.”

Cooper and his fellow astronauts embark on an adventurous trip to another galaxy on the Endurance spacecraft by heading through a mysterious wormhole in space (an Einstein–Rosen bridge) which is a shortcut through space-time. The wormhole, located near Saturn, appeared 40 years ago, and is thought to have been created by an advanced civilization in order to provide an escape route for the doomed humans.

The astronauts on Endurance are following in the footsteps of earlier astronauts in the Lazarus project, who have been out there on their own, exploring promising planets where mankind might be relocated. Without a solution to the “gravity problem” however, there won't be enough resources on earth to move the earth's population to the stars. The Endurance astronauts visit strange worlds of ice, water and sand, including one where the passage of time is greatly distorted.

The cast of this film is very talented, including Michael Caine, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway and Ellen Burstyn. They give excellent performances. Unlike some science fiction films, the cast is given something to do in this one. There is a lot of emotional content here, more than what is found in most of Nolan's films. This has upset many Nolan fans, and those who like films which are largely devoid of emotion, like the films directed by Hitchcock and Kubrick. For me, performances with emotional content make the characters seem more human.

There are some interesting plot twists in this film, which has a non-linear quality like a Möbius strip. Future and past blend together in some remarkable scenes. This reminded me a bit of “Memento,” but instead of a twist based on Narcissism and self-delusion, as in the earlier film, the new film's twist is based on love, courage and a desire to save humanity. This is a film which celebrates mankind's spirit of exploration. It is the perfect antidote to the spirit of the times we live in where we seem doomed to settle for mediocrity, bitterness and vindictiveness (as well as the endless search for scapegoats to hate) rather than seeking out the better angels of our nature.

In addition to the rest of the fine cast, there is also a combination voice and animated character, the robot TARS (voiced by Bill Irwin of “Rachel Getting Married”). The TARS robot has a real personality in this film, and a good sense of humor. This is a very unconventional robot with a very unusual design. TARS would be a fine addition to the crew of any starship.

I also liked the way the film's vision of the future which included re-written school textbooks that teach that the moon landings in the 1960s and 1970s never happened. This sort of nonsensical self-depreciating conspiracy theory is just what you would expect to be taught in a future where mediocrity and fear are so prevalent, or is that the present? Anyway, I really like this ambitious, thought-provoking, uplifting film. It rates an A.

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