From one of the greatest cinematic minds in Hollywood, director Christopher Nolan, who directed the “Dark Knight Trilogy” and “Inception”, has come out with his boldest picture yet, “Interstellar.”

“Interstellar” follows former NASA pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a widowed father of two children, who is recruited by NASA again to embark on missions into outer space to save what remains of the human population by finding planets outside of our solar system that can sustain human life.

The fact that this is an epic science-fiction film coming from Nolan should be the only thing necessary to entice anyone to go and see this film.The film is just as thought provoking as one would expect from Nolan and offers some of the best acting to hit theaters this year.

With that being said, it should be noted that everyone single actor in this movie, regardless of their screen time, simply kills it. McConaughey, fresh from his late ‘Oscar’ winning performance in “Dallas Buyers Club”, gives a great and emotional portrayal of Cooper who is not just trying to save the remaining families on Earth, but is trying to save his own family as well.

Anne Hathaway, Michael Caine, and Jessica Chastain, among others, all give worthy performances, but perhaps the best acting does not come from Hathaway, Cain, or even McConaughey, but from Mackenzie Foy. Foy plays the young Murphy “Murph” Cooper. She absolutely knocks the role out of the park and alongside McConaughey sells the most realistic father-daughter relationship brought to the screen in years. There are also a few surprise actors that make their way into the picture that would simply be a crime for spoiling, but the surprise guests also make great performances.

The direction of this movie is great and the fact that Nolan went out of his way to create such authenticity to this film by consulting with real life theoretical physicist Kip Thorne, who is also an executive producer for the film, adds a high level of realism to a film that would seem far-fetched else wise. The film also provides great special effects that seem realistic to the point where it is hard to tell what is fake and what is not.

The cinematography for the film is amazing and should be noted as award worthy. Cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema who did work on 2010s “The Fighter,” last year’s “Her,” and is currently working with director Sam Mendes on the next “James Bond” film. A lot of the film was shot in IMAX and Hoytema did impeccable work on filming practical landscape shots as well as interior shots.

The music by award winning composer Hans Zimmer is simply phenomenal and evokes such a great sense of awe and wonder that matches the scope of the film. It is hard not to mention how immersive the music is. Whether it comes in with the perilous action the characters have to face in the film or if it is for dramatic effect and in this case, the music succeeds in all areas and even makes the soundtrack worth checking out.

The writing for the film, which is credited primarily to Nolan’s brother Jonathan, was at the level to be expected. The script provides all the philosophical aspects that you would expect in a Nolan film, but also adds charm and real heavyweight emotion to the story which is portrayed excellently in the film.

The story, perhaps the biggest undertaking yet for Christopher Nolan, comes with many pleasantries and cinematic value, but it doesn’t have that sense of epic fun that matches the film’s scope. The story is not hard to follow, although bringing your brain to the movie is required, it is somewhat lackluster in its execution. Some moviegoers may complain about Nolan’s choice of heavy foreshadowing in the beginning of the film as unnecessary.

Some other issues with the film are lack of character development, and questionable motives and representation in the film. Cooper’s son Tom is sadly underutilized as a supporting character. All things considered, the film could have done without Tom and if it just focused on the relationship between Murphy and Cooper. Other characters in the film do not really connect and results in a lack of any emotional attachment with the viewer.

Certain motives are questionable as well, such as Tom’s, who is portrayed one way by Nolan and then develops a whole different type of motive that does not make sense later on.

Another aspect of the story that did not really work was the ending. No spoilers here, but it seemed like Nolan was not sure how to end the movie as it went through at least three different endings instead of concluding where it seemed like it would the first time and probably would have been a much a better movie for it.

The pace of the movie certainly is not an issue-despite its 169 minute running time. The only time audiences may feel like the film is dragging may be in the beginning as they wait for the space exploration to begin.

In the end, ‘Interstellar’ is a great movie. It may not end up winning Christopher Nolan that ‘Academy Award’ or ‘Oscar’ for best director which he should have gotten by now, but it does prove why Nolan is one of the best directors of our time. Even with some of its faults, which can be easily forgiven, the film manages to keep the audience entertained and offers some fun that may remind moviegoers of previous sci-fi classics like “Star Wars” and “2001: A Space Odyssey.”