Interstellar...

When he was 7 years old Christopher Nolan went to see 2001: A Space Odyssey with his father at the Odeon West End cinema. And 46 years later here he is back in that same cinema standing in front of us. This time on stage introducing us to his own sci-fi film - Interstellar.  And courtesy of the lovely Marcus Tustin I'm here too at the European premier for Bafta in London's glitzy West End.

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, and Michael Caine the film is a cross between Armageddon, Gravity and 2001: A Space Odyssey. And when I say 'cross' I mean it's actually all three of those films bolted together - not the best bits of each distilled down into one film. This film is long. And at just shy of three hours it's over-long to be honest by a good hour or more.

But it's obviously been a labour of love for writer/director/producer Christopher Nolan and his co-writing brother Jonathan Nolan and there is much to admire here. The acting is great, the special visual effects are super and the plot twists suitably twisty (if a little too well sign-posted).

And sure the techno-babble gets a bit clunky at times and some of the plot holes are more massive than the final third's deus ex machina Black Hole but all in all it's great film.

Ambitious, exciting and a good watch.

Dinner party review: Good, but not as good as 2001.

Les Misérables (My Review)...

In a word the Les Misérables film was excellent. All the leads acted their socks off. Anne Hathaway particularly so (Oscar winning I imagine.) I burst into tears 7 times. The first occasion was at the ticket prices!

And let's get this out of the way, Russell Crowe singing isn't that bad actually. But expectations were low!

The strongest element in the production for me was the brave (and ultimately triumphant) live singing / close-up camera work. It was very effective. You could see every emotion playing across their 40ft high faces as they sang which really had you in the palm of their hands. You could almost see into their minds.

I thought Eddie Redmayne was fabulous. Empty Chairs and Empty Tables had me at the first line. He was convincing, handsome and tuneful. And Amanda Seyfried was a revelation. Never really rated her in stuff I'd seen her in before - especially Mamma Mia. But she really carried it off well. She sang beautifully, wasn't too coquettish, and above all carried off that love-at-first-sight thing that the love interest in musicals generally have to go through.

Samantha Barks as Éponine was good too. Had me in tears - twice.

But we do need to talk about Hugh Jackman. He was... er... well... 'good'. He acted well. But.. he did have a few duff lines in some of the songs and didn't quite carry off the part as I had hoped. I wanted a better singer I think. Our Hugh kept singing vibrato which was a tad annoying! Hold a note man!

Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham-Carter as les Thénardiers were great too. Funny, wicked and actually able to sing!

The producers could have so messed it up this film as many stage to film musical adaptations do (yes I'm looking at you Hair, Evita, Phantom et al) but they didn't. Faithful yet innovative.

If you do go take tissues. (And in this case it's not a euphemism - really take them!)