Interstellar (2014), directed by Christopher Nolan

This film was seriously overhyped on release. Watching it several years later on DVD, it is hard to see where all the hoo-ha came from. Possibly it was from Batman afficionados worshipping at the shrine of Christopher Nolan. Probably it played better on the big screen. The film has a solid cast – Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain – and a really interesting premise – the search for new worlds to replace the one humans are in the process of killing off. It takes a gamble on hard science, which doesn’t pay off because the subject is very dense and then is eventually overtaken by fantasy. Even devotees of science fiction would find it hard to suspend disbelief. The broad themes are admirably ambitious, but heavy work is made of the messaging and the film drags to an unlikely conclusion. It's disappointing, because there is a sense that it could have been really good when it is just meh.