About Interstellar (2014)
Interstellar is set in a dystopian future where the human race is dying out. Prompting a group of astronauts to travel through a wormhole in hopes they’ll find an Earth-like planet. Interstellar is probably the closest to a real world Star Trek adventure based on our current level of science and exploration. It’s a wondrous spectacle.
During a recent re-watch I started to think about other movies like Interstellar which question the meaning of the universe. Here’s our picks which we highly recommend you add to your bucket list. Enjoy!
1. The Martian (2015)
Directed by Ridley Scott, The Martian stars Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It was released in the year 2015.
The Martian is about an astronaut marooned on Mars and his desperate attempts to try and survive long enough for NASA to rescue him. It’s one of the all time greats of survival science fiction.
2. Ad Astra (2019)
Written and directed by James Gray, Ad Astra stars Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler, and Donald Sutherland. It was released in the year 2019.
Ad Astra follows an astronaut who ventures into space in search of his lost father, whose obsessive quest to discover intelligent alien life at all costs threatens the Solar System and all life on Earth.
3. Passengers (2016)
Directed by Morten Tyldum, Passengers stars Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, and Andy García. It was released in the year 2016.
Passengers is more of a romantic science fiction movie which borders on abuse when a lone survivor on a transport ship in the middle of a 100 year journey decides to wake up a fellow passenger out of suspended animation because he’s fallen in love with her. However, in doing so he dooms her to a meaningless death on this spaceship in the middle of its maiden voyage. When she finds out the truth she lashes out but not before the degradation of the ship itself forced them to work together to make repairs and save the other passengers still in suspended animation.
4. Arrival (2016)
Directed by Denis Villeneuve, Arrival stars Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Tzi Ma. It was released in the year 2016.
Arrival follows Louise Banks, a linguist enlisted by the United States Army to discover how to communicate with extraterrestrials who have arrived on Earth.
5. Apollo 13 (1995)
Directed by Ron Howard, Apollo 13 stars Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan. It was released in the year 1995.
Apollo 13 is based on a true story in which the astronauts headed to space experience a technical fault on their NASA spacecraft which endangers their lives. This is a survival story in which the failing spacecraft is the antagonist.
6. The Midnight Sky (2020)
Directed by George Clooney, The Midnight Sky stars George Clooney, Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demián Bichir, Kyle Chandler, and Caoilinn Springall. It was released in the year 2020.
The Midnight Sky is about an aging scientist (played by George Clooney) who must travel across the Arctic Circle to warn away a returning interplanetary spaceship following a global catastrophe on Earth. It’s highly underrated and feels like a midday movie if midday movies had millions of dollars behind them.
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey stars Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester and Douglas Rain. It was released in the year 1968.
2001: A Space Odyssey follows a voyage by a group of astronauts and scientists plus a sentient supercomputer called HAL as they travel to Jupiter to investigate an alien monolith. Unfortunately for the astronauts, HAL goes off script and threatens their very lives.
8. The Right Stuff (1983)
Written and directed by Philip Kaufman, The Right Stuff stars Charles Frank, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Lance Henriksen, Scott Paulin, Dennis Quaid, Sam Shepard, Fred Ward, Kim Stanley, Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, and Pamela Reed. It was released in the year 1983.
The Right Stuff follows the Navy, Marine, and Air Force test pilots who were involved in aeronautical research at Edwards Air Force Base, California, as well as the Mercury Seven, the seven military pilots who were selected to be the astronauts for Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight by the United States.
9. Solaris (2002)
Written and Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Solaris stars George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Davies, Viola Davis, and Ulrich Tukur. It was released in the year 2002.
Solaris is a science fiction drama movie where Dr Chris Kelvin, one of the scientists based on a space station orbiting the planet Solaris, struggles with the hallucinations he suffers of people who have coke and gone. Hallucinations that talk back to him and interact with him. This causes Dr Kelvin the very purpose of Solaris and what it’s intentions are towards the crew of the space station.
10. Supernova (2000)
Directed by Walter Hill, Supernova stars James Spader, Angela Bassett, Robert Forster, Lou Diamond Phillips, Peter Facinelli, Robin Tunney, and Wilson Cruz. It was released in the year 2000.
Supernova is a rather convoluted film as it shared plot points with other well known science fiction which came out a few years before it (namely Event Horizon and Alien Cargo). It follows a search and rescue vessel which answers a distress signal. One of the men they rescue turns out to be dangerous and altered by a mysterious source who then proceeds to murder the crew. The remaining crew members, Kaela and Nick, must do whatever they can to survive – even if that involves a bit of genetic cross-breeding.
What did you think of this list of Movies like Interstellar?
What did you think of Interstellar? Have you seen any of these films before?
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