A major influence on Nolan's filmmaking life has been Batman Begins. Not just because it was his first foray into big Hollywood cinema, but because the film's success was the first indication he had that popcorn entertainment could also be swallowed as 'serious' cinema if done right. Since then, Nolan's films have slowly been jettisoning the humour and upping the solemnity, and now what we're left with is Interstellar. It's a sci-fi action spectacle that wants to be a harrowing family drama. It wants to entertain you, but it also wants to be taken Seriously. In fairness, Interstellar does (infrequently) go for humour, but the sole recurring gag involving the honesty and humour settings of TARS that's repeated over and over manages to be about as funny the last time as it is the first. A moment of honesty: has anyone really laughed out loud at a Christopher Nolan film since The Dark Knight? It's one thing to keep the tone this dour in a true-to-life weepie, but it's another thing totally to ask audiences to grant complete reverence to something that's basically pulp fiction.