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0000017c-60f7-de77-ad7e-f3f739cf0000Arts & More airs Fridays at 7:50 a.m. and 4:20 p.m.Theme music: "Like A Beginner Again" by Dan Barry of Seas of Jupiter

Interstellar: A Thoughtful Sci-Fi Thriller With Heart

For many filmgoers, Christopher Nolan has become one of those filmmakers whose movies are certifiable events. Nolan is the man who gave us the Dark Knighttrilogy, as well as the devilishly tricky mystery Mementoand the spectacular mind game Inception

Now Nolan brings us the staggeringly ambitious science-fiction epic Interstellar, which challenges us to consider the nature of destiny, the existence of fate and the question of what happens after the human race eventually drains the Earth of its resources. A bit more thoughtful, perhaps, than the latest Transformersextravaganza - and for that we should all be grateful.

Nolan has many surprises in store, not the least of which is how skillfully he balances an often heartbreaking moral dilemma with astonishing visual effects and provocative plot points. Take a deep breath just before Interstellar begins because you will almost certainly be breathless by the time it's over.

Set in a not-so-faraway future, Interstellar opens in the farm country of the Midwest, where farmers are forced to stand by helplessly as their once-robust fields slowly perish from intense heat and disease. One by one, cash crops are dying out as the country faces what looks like a new Dust Bowl: Violent winds whip up enormous clouds of blinding, choking dust. Mankind is finally facing the realization that, possibly within a generation or so, the planet will be uninhabitable.

In the midst of this is a former pilot named Cooper, played by Matthew McConaughey. He's a widower trying to protect his teenage son and young daughter with a little help from his sharp-eyed, sharp-witted father-in-law, played by John Lithgow. When Cooper and his daughter Murph, played by Mackenzie Foy, follow a set of cryptic clues to an isolated location, they can't imagine what is waiting for them; a meeting with Amelia Brand (Anne Hathaway) and her father, a professor with dreams of returning to space to find a solution to Earth's slow collapse. He's played by Nolan veteran Michael Caine.

To go any further into the story would spoil some of the twists Nolan has in store. Let's simply say that Interstellar turns out to be not only a wide-ranging adventure that spans galaxies but also a surprisingly gripping portrait of two father/daughter relationships - one fueled by intellectual curiosity, the other rooted in the struggle to survive - that frame this sweeping story.

McConaughey is splendidly cast and so is Caine, whose repeated readings of a Dylan Thomas poem become part of the movie's rhythm. Even if you don't pick up on every detail of the quantum physics being discussed, you can easily get caught up in Nolan's turbulent drama, in which the stakes are both astronomical and deeply personal. Interstellar is a rare example of science-fiction that teases the brain and touches the heart.

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