[WGH]

Interstellar, Christopher Nolan's space sci-fi drama is as big as the universe...and so is the sound. Clocking in at 2 hours and 49 minutes, then add in previews and you're gonna be sitting for a long, long time and once the film starts picking up speed in the second half there is no pause button for a bathroom break so plan accordingly.

Julie and I saw it at the IMAX and every detail was crystal clear, a movie this big begs to be seen on the huge screen and we were not disappointed. The directing and editing is excellent and I was so completely absorbed into the movie that time was suspended, a very rare occurrence. The story is satisfyingly complex in typical Nolan fashion with an unpredictable ending.

The sound is another matter. The state-of-the-art IMAX system had no problem conveying Nolan's intention but it's that very intention that almost everyone is questioning. Mixed way too loud, dialog is often drowned out by swelling organ music. Julie had fingers in her ears during action sequences and it was right at the edge for me, when this film comes out in Blu-ray nobody is going to watch it at Dolby reference levels. Nolan's sound experiment to convey emotion has failed miserably.
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/17/7234689/interstellar-sound-problems-addressed-by-christopher-nolan-sound-designer

But even with Interstellar's flaws it is still an excellent film and highly recommended - just bring your ear plugs.
      

Wayne

[TF1216]

I will echo your sentiments about the movie being stellar (pun intended).  However, I saw the flick in an Atmos theatre and didn't have any issues with the soundtrack or dialog. Though, I was not sitting in the center of the theater. I am paranoid that every movie I see will be too loud and bother me.

I have been fascinated by Einstein's work sine high school so this movie was a complete joy. I loved how it made me think.

[Rob Babcock]

I was amazed by Interstellar!   The cast was uniformly excellent.  Incredible effects.  The story was very original IMO with some great twists.  One of the best movies of the year in my estimation.

[charmerci]

I just happened to see it in the theater because a friend wanted to see it. (Thanks for not giving any spoilers!)

Yeah, it was really good - however, as a person who's a science nut, some of the physics "effects" made me roll my eyes - in the sense that it's not how time/space is suppose to "behave" - and I didn't like one plot twist but I mostly enjoyed watching it. And yeah, that loud music covering up some of the dialog was rather   

[wushuliu]

This movie is BAD@SS!!!! This is the best soundtrack Hans Zimmer has ever done. Frankly I hate his soundtracks and never thought he had it in him to create such beautiful work.

Nolan has become my current favorite director, precisely because he knows how much to 'cheat'. Who cares if the 'science' isn't exact in portrayal, the film is also about ideas and about relationships. I appreciate his knowing just how to manipulate his films enough to suit the context. He is the New Spielberg but without the maudlin shmaltz.

Originally Spielberg was going to direct Interstellar and it's easy to see why. In this case Spielberg could have made an amazing version as well. But he'd probably have added an actual alien with triple layers of cheese.

This was an amazing film and needs to be seen on the biggest screen possible. I loved the subtle and not so subtle references to 2001. I also enjoyed the twists to some of them: the two monolith shaped AI who are the opposite of humorless HAL along with the humorless human who later shows and turns out to be the HAL of the movie. Great twist of characters.

Speaking of which awesome f*cking cameo. Nolan knows how to market his movies without giving everythingg away. I totally did not see that cameo coming and it was PERFECT. Speaking of twists, consider this cameo in light of Clooney's role in Gravity. Pretty interesting given their real life friendship!

[charmerci]

Here's a great short video about the possibility of future space exploration with places that actually exist in our solar system! 

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/the-most-amazing-and-inspiring-vision-of-our-future-ive-1664783812

[jarcher]

I'm a fan of Nolan (more so for the non batman movies) and this movie was definitely worth it. I think lot of the rest of the audience agreed as many actually clapped at the end - something I don't recall happening in a movie theater in a long time.

The movie returns to themes of previous movies, particularly Inception, most notably such topics as time and reconciliation. Won't say more so as to not spoil it. Despite some surprises, the main point of the movie is not really about twist endings. And even though some parts stretched plausibility somewhat, it wasn't intrusive enough to dampen the effect.

I agree that if Speilberg had done it the sentimentality factor would have been raised twice fold and there'd be some dumb CGI creature pontificating. He managed to spoil A.I. that way in what had been up to the end a pretty good movie. Nolan gets pretty emotional / dramatic without falling into the sappy trap.

I can't say I was too impressed with the IMAX version (at least not the digital projection version I saw - did not see it in 70mm film). Sure the image was large, but some important things such as the black levels / contrast, color saturation and even sharpness were to me sub par vs even my "entry level" JVC projector at home. And I'm not a super big videophile. I lay the blame on sub par digital projectors particularly if their calibration and / or maintenance is not kept up. I honestly think at this point I'm done going to see movies at a commercial theater with their ever rising ticket prices. I don't think many commercial theaters really care much anymore about the quality of their picture and sound.

Sound quality though for this movie at the theater was decent. Sure, it got loud and wall shaking rumbles in some of the space craft scenes - but that's what you'd expect. I do think sometimes the music score was amped up too high for unnecessary dramatic effect. I was not aware people were complaining about the sound. I will admit that at one or two moments - most notably a key hospital scene - I wasn't able to make out the dialogue. Glad to know from the linked article that understanding it wasn't critical to the movie.

Anyway - again I really recommend this movie - but if you have a nice home theater  - watch it there. You'll likely have an equally good experience and won't have to hold your bladder all the way through.