By Susan Granger
With “Interstellar,” visionary filmmaker Christopher Nolan (“The Dark Knight,” “Memento”) has created a speculative, mind-bending sci-fi adventure through the celestial space-time continuum.
Sometime in the future, Earth is dying and famine is rampant. An aeronautical engineer-turned farmer (Matthew McConaughey) is secretly recruited to pilot a NASA spacecraft through a wormhole near Saturn to find a suitable place for Earthlings to colonize.
He’s reluctant to leave his family but leads his crew (Anne Hathaway, Wes Bentley, David Gyasi) on what becomes a spectacular thrill ride, encountering incredible beauty and inconceivable terror.
As years pass, his now-grown daughter (Jessica Chastain) realizes that in order to see her father again, she must solve an essential equation involving time, gravity and space.
It’s a captivating premise, even if movie-goers understand very little of the techno-babble, and the “2001: A Space Odyssey”-inspired metaphysical conclusion is bewildering.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Interstellar” is an audaciously ambitious, awesome 8.
In “St. Vincent,” Bill Murray plays a crusty, foul-mouthed curmudgeon who’s entrusted with the after-school care of the politely precocious 12-year-old son (Jason Lieberher) of his hard-working next-door neighbor (Melissa McCarthy).
It’s a star vehicle for Murray, whose command of physical comedy is masterful. Abandoning her usual loudmouth shtick, Melissa McCarthy reveals surprising maternal vulnerability, while Naomi Watts turns what could be a caricature into a sympathetic supporting character.
On the Granger Gauge, “St. Vincent” is a slyly subversive 7 – with Murray already generating Oscar buzz.
Keanu Reeves plays the taciturn titular character in “John Wick.” He’s retired hit man who is determined to wreak homicidal vengeance when a young punk kills the beloved beagle given to him by his late wife (Bridget Moynahan) and steals his classic 1969 black Mustang.
With backgrounds as second-unit directors, martial arts experts and stunt doubles for Keanu Reeves and Brad Pitt, respectively, Chad Stahelski and David Leitch deliver acrobatic, cartoonish violence and bullet-riddled mayhem.
On the Granger Gauge, “John Wick” is a relentlessly violent, fierce 5, revolving around revenge, retribution and redemption.
( Editor’s Note: Westport resident Susan Granger grew up in Hollywood, studied journalism with Pierre Salinger at Mills College, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism. In addition to writing for newspapers and magazines, she has been on radio/television as an anchorwoman and movie/drama critic for many years. See her reviews at www.susangranger.com.)
