Max, Overall, how does this movie compare to 2001? Seeing 2001(in 1971) in a theatre with only a handful of people was like a "religious experience" of sorts for me. :eyepop: I may go see this based on your recommendation.
I was fortunate to see 2001 at the theatre it premiered, a week after it premiered in 1968...the Uptown in Washington DC in cinerama.
I don't think I can compare this movie, or any movie for that matter, to 2001.
Like Spielberg said in the Kubick documentary, 2001 was a turning point in how films were done, it was big budget, but unusual in that it attempted to tell a big story on humanity's future and past, relying a great deal on visuals with no narration - it didn't even have a spoken word or dialogue until 45 minutes or so into the movie.
This sort of leads me to classify 2001 in its original context more as film as art - rather than film as entertainment.
My take...with 2001 there was so little spoon feeding the viewer had to bring something to the experience, a lot of patience for one. And a level of imagination to explain what he/her was seeing..
Precisely why the old people and execs walked out at the premier row by row, some 200 of them. Woody Allen didn't like 2001 until his third viewing, whereupon he realized how far ahead Kubrick was.
I have heard of people where I lived at the time that didn't walk out, but either fell asleep, threw popcorn at the screen at matinees, etc.
Kubrick had made his mark after Dr. Strangelove and was given a lot of latitude by the studios to do what he he wanted to back then.
Given the movie going crowd today and what sells - I'm not sure if a film like 2001 would even play well today, for instance, I know young people today that think a classic like Casablanca is too boring to sit through.
Ok, that said, Interstellar relies a great deal on dialogue and a fairly fast paced level of action. Not very much like 2001 - Ok, I'll say it: Intersteller is not a 2001.
I think Nolan is too clever to step too far outside the movie genre given what the current movie crowd expects and studios want.