Interstellar (12A) ****

CHRISTOPHER NOLAN’S eagerly awaited space epic is a great-looking and moving drama. It’s a shame it hits a bumpy landing courtesy of some daft twists and clunky exposition.

Running at ten minutes shy of three hours, it’s a lengthy tale where the many highlights outweigh the lows. This is Nolan at his worst, but also at his very best.

Fresh from fine performances in Dallas Buyers Club, Mud and Killer Joe, Matthew McConaughey carries the film with another strong turnout. Little wonder his career revival has been called the McConnaissance.

He plays Cooper, a former astronaut turned farmer who manages his crops in a future Earth.

A previous war is hinted at and nature has taken a hand in destiny too, with frequent violent storms carrying a dust-like compound slowly poisoning the systems of the humans who have survived.

With crops destined to fail, it’s a case of when, not if, the planet will no longer be habitable. And when he happens upon a secret group of NASA scientists and astronauts planning a crucial space mission, he is compelled to join them.

This being a Christopher Nolan film (directed by the man who brought us Memento and The Dark Knight and written in tandem with his brother, Jonathan) the story is full of Big Ideas.

The most effective of these is whether Cooper is making the right choice is sacrificing time with his family for mankind’s greater good. His devastated daughter (played by Mackensie Foy and later, Jessica Chastain) certainly doesn’t think so.

It’s a fine-looking, thoughtful film that delivers a powerful emotional punch. It’s a pity, then, that it flounders so badly in the final hour, courtesy of some silly attempts at plot resolution and the kind of tiresome plot exposition that blighted his last film, Inception.

Say When (15A) ***

Facing a crossroad in her life, immature twentysomething Megan (Keira Knightley) forms an unusual friendship with a teenage girl (Chloe Moretz).

Arrested development is the topic in this tale of a would-be adult who faces a crisis in her life  -  by befriending a group of teenagers.

Megan is too far into her twenties to be wasting her degree and doing a dead-end job at her dad’s firm.

Her family is pushing her to get her life in order, while the best friends she’s had since childhood want her to settle down with her long-term boyfriend.

Freaked at the prospect of responsibilities, Megan takes a week’s timeout to hang out with her new friend Annika (Moretz), whose life is all make-up and prom nights.

Their bond is a concern for her dad (Sam Rockwell) who’s concerned about her motivations.

Say When is written and directed by indie filmmaker Lynn Shelton, who last brought us the superb romantic drama, Your Sister’s Sister.

But while the material is elevated by a strong cast  -  especially the predictably great Rockwell  -  this suffers from too many stagey set-ups and contrived scenarios.

The film tries too hard in making Knightley’s character the kind of quirky oddball we’ve seen too often in movies like this, while the more uncomfortable elements of Megan’s motivations are neither fully developed nor adequately explained away.

It’s all way too contrived, but the three leads are perfectly cast  -  especially Rockwell, who you miss when he’s not on screen.