After INCEPTION and the awful THE DARK KNIGHT RISES, my expectations for Christopher Nolan's new science fantasy film were low. And at 169 minutes, INTERSTELLAR is a bloated mess, with a few breathtaking visuals and ambitious concepts thrown into the mix.

Nolan has become one of those A-list directors who thinks that every idea he has while cutting his toe nails somehow reveals a Deep Insight About The Human Condition that must be expanded into a movie. Merged from two screenplays, the story is full of plot holes and characters who do stupid things. Some key elements are not explained at all.

To his credit, Nolan hired astrophysicist Kip Thorne to advise him about wormholes and black holes. It's the futuristic space elements that kept me awake between stretches of tedious melodrama delivered by various "name" actors. I actually liked the quirky robots more than the people in this movie. By design or accident, INTERSTELLAR has a strong 1970s sensibility. Think SILENT RUNNING, PHASE IV, SOLARIS, SOYLENT GREEN, and BLAKE'S 7. There's just too much of Disney's THE BLACK HOLE and not enough of what Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke did so well in 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY.

Ultimately, the cringe-worthy ending shows that Nolan was just making it up as he went along. Let me say that if you liked PRO-MEH-THEUS and INCEPTION, you should enjoy INTERSTELLAR. Otherwise, proceed with caution.