Episode 49: Interstellar

When you approach a black hole, the black hole is distorting space in its vicinity, and this was captured beautifully. I enjoyed watching the surrounding imagery get distorted. … It’s a sophisticated ray-tracing problem, and if you’re a movie producer and you can get it right, then why not?… At the time of ‘2001,’ the mathematical formulation of black holes was not fully explored, so all they could do was play with the space and time dimension without being anchored to actual gravitational physics.
— Neil deGrasse Tyson
As a filmmaker, you know, no matter how positive things seem, you always notice the bad reviews, you always notice that the things people love are the same things other people hate, so you can’t react to that. To me, it’s all about doing what you believe in.
— Christopher Nolan in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, January 3, 2015

One of Kip's favorite films of 2014, Interstellar, was both highly anticipated and received with various reviews. Some loved it, others found it confusing, drawn-out and illogical. And while some see it as a science fiction film, its themes deal largely with the most innate levels of humanity, our fears and our hopes. It is as much about love, solitude and exploration as it is about space travel. We welcome back Kyle Aaronson to discuss his take as well as the highs and lows of the film.