The Martian

[K9]

TRAILER

Loved the book; film looks like it has the potential to do it justice. Really solid cast.

[Surlyboi]

They had me at, "I'm gonna science the shit out of this."

[Samwise]

That looks pretty cool.

Although if Interstellar taught us anything, it's that if Matt Damon gets stranded on a lifeless rock, JUST LEAVE HIM THERE.   

[tazelbain]

That reminds me: Matt Damon and things voiced Matt Damon were the only parts of Interstellar that wasn't crap.

[murdoc]

I can't wait for this movie - I loved the book and from the looks of it, Ridley Scott is capturing the tone fairly close.

[K9]

I think the most important thing is that the film needs to stay upbeat; what made the book work so well was Mark Watney's relentless optimism and determination. If it goes all soul-searching and moody then it won't work; or at least it won't stand out from the rest of the cabal of space movies.

[pxib]

That reminds me: Matt Damon and things voiced Matt Damon were the only parts of Interstellar that wasn't crap.

That and the wise-cracking robots.

Damon is great at earnest authenticity. Even when he's over-acting he comes across as somebody truly invested in what he says and does. It's why his short career as a stoic, bravura action star puzzled me. Why take away the man's substantial ability to emote?

Somebody told me that the trailer had too many spoilers, and I haven't read the book, so I'm keeping away and if the reviews look good then I'll go see it. Ridley Scott has lately produced way, way too much plot diarrhea for me to venture into any of his opening weekends. His films still trailer well, but the guy has almost lost the ability to stretch that experience all the way to running length.

[Ragnoros]

Yeah. The trailer was actually the whole movie in two minutes.

[Tannhauser]

In this case, the trailer was fine for me because it showed more than Watney.  Having not read the book, I wasn't going to go see Matt Damon space-farm for two hours.

Still, Ridley Scott...think I'll wait for reviews to come in first. 

[Riggswolfe]

They had me at, "I'm gonna science the shit out of this."

This all the way. I saw this trailer before Jurassic World and it's the only one I walked away from going "I want to see that" but...

Ridley Scott has lately produced way, way too much plot diarrhea for me to venture into any of his opening weekends. His films still trailer well, but the guy has almost lost the ability to stretch that experience all the way to running length.

I was thinking part of this could be laid at the feet of Damon Lindledof, then I remembered the awfulness that was Robin Hood. So, I need to see who wrote the script on this and maybe wait for reviews.

So anyway, my first reaction was "Hell yeah!" followed closely by "Ridley Scott's last few movies have sucked, will this be another in the trend or him getting his game back?"

[Malakili]

They had me at, "I'm gonna science the shit out of this."

I kind of cringed at that one.  It felt like pandering.

[Trippy]

http://www.thinkgeek.com/product/dacb/

[Malakili]

Yeah, it was cute like 7 years ago.  Now it showing up in a Matt Damon movie felt like to me.

[Ragnoros]

I totally agree on both your points Malakili. Pop culture science is generally shit. This movie feels like Moon or Intersteller with the interesting bits ripped out for the popcorn masses.

[KallDrexx]

While overall I enjoyed the book, by the end of the book I was definitely ready for it to be over as I felt it was stretched a bit too long without a lot of variety.  It's going to be difficult for them to maintain a good flow through the whole 1:30 - 2:00 movie imo.

[Velorath]

Haven't read the book but really enjoyed this movie. Good to see Ridley Scott put out something worth watching before he goes back to making Alien prequels. Great cast even though Damon obviously gets most of the screen time. Also has a very Guardians of the Galaxy-esque soundtrack (all 70's music with an in-movie justification for it) which helps lighten the mood at times and keeps it from being almost 2 1/2 hours of pure tension.

[Merusk]

This movie was great. The tension was really amped-up when it needed to be and underlies the whole movie, but you still got some nice lighthearted moments. Very human in that regard. I don't think I've become so emotionally invested in a film in quite some time. Even though I knew it would end as it did, I was nervous and overwhelmed at several points.

The China scenes I kind of rolled my eyes at a bit as they were a bit ham-fisted like other China scenes have been lately. "OH, here's the little bit we get of a larger storyline meant to sell the movie in the bigger market."

Also:

[Miasma]

Someone spoiler me whether or not it's a happy ending.  I don't have enough life force to watch movies with unhappy endings anymore, drama and art be damned.  And by happy I mean rescued and all is well not "he died in such a horrible way that we all appreciate life more".

[Rishathra]

Someone spoiler me whether or not it's a happy ending.  I don't have enough life force to watch movies with unhappy endings anymore, drama and art be damned.  And by happy I mean rescued and all is well not "he died in such a horrible way that we all appreciate life more".

[Tannhauser]

Great film.  Really good sci-fi and oozes with humanity.  Tip of my hat to Ridley Scott who CAN apparently still direct.  Now please make Promethus 2 not suck.  This passes Interstellar, Gravity and even Sunshine for 'hard' sci-fi for me.  IMO a sci-fi classic.  The crowd I was with was small but enjoyed it enormously. 

[lamaros]

I enjoyed Prometheus more...

A lot of this just fell flat for me. I felt the NASA advertisement bit a little too much.

Still good, but not great.

[Khaldun]

I can't believe anybody enjoyed Prometheus at all, let alone more than this film.

[lamaros]

It's time to believe.

[Khaldun]

Ok, let me be more precise. You are bitching about Interstellar's improbabilities in the other thread but you are ok with Prometheus? WTF, seriously? Prometheus where scientists touch stuff without studying it and think alien space cobras are just cute li'l critters and all that? And then The Martian, which goes out of its way to be probable, is "flat"? What is it you are looking for? At least try to be consistent a bit. "Big, crazy, improbable", ok. "Probable, careful", ok. But "I didn't like this because: probable" and "I didn't like this because: improbable" is sort of 

[lamaros]

Prometheus is average and stupid, but I found it fun.

Interstellar is average and conceited and stupid. If it wasn't so conceited maybe I would like it as much as Prometheus. But it is what it is.

The Martian isn't very dumb, but its also not very interesting. I found the Martian to be flat in regard to its drama, and pretty unexceptional in its ideas. I much preferred Gravity, even if Gravity was a bit stupid, because it was more of an entertaining spectacle for me.

These might seem inconsistent if you apply the same criteria to all the films, but I'm not. Its not a case of ranking them against each other in regard to the same elements, but how I enjoy the how each individual film comes together as a whole.

It's ok if you disagree with me, we are different people and all. (I like Gravity best, followed with a gab by Prometheus, then The Martian close behind, with a large gap to Intersteller down at the bottom.)

[Yegolev]

Promethus 2

Premetheus?

[Mattemeo]

Big fan of the book, and Ridley and co have done it massive justice. Brilliantly shot, superbly scripted taking the best of the book and adding in some extra gags, a few cheeky nods to Scott's part glories (check out those sound effect cues and score winks) and some of the most beautiful orange vistas imaginable. I could watch Damon farm potatoes for hours.

Everyone involved in this was firing on all cylinders. Best Ridley Scott since fucking Gladiator. Old bugger still has it.

[Rendakor]

Just saw this, good flick. Little long towards the end, but overall very enjoyable.

[K9]

Saw this, really enjoyed it. They did a really good job of adapting the book which wasn't really natural screenplay material.

[Samprimary]

Ok, let me be more precise. You are bitching about Interstellar's improbabilities in the other thread but you are ok with Prometheus? WTF, seriously? Prometheus where scientists touch stuff without studying it and think alien space cobras are just cute li'l critters and all that? And then The Martian, which goes out of its way to be probable, is "flat"? What is it you are looking for? At least try to be consistent a bit. "Big, crazy, improbable", ok. "Probable, careful", ok. But "I didn't like this because: probable" and "I didn't like this because: improbable" is sort of 

"We just have to accept it," said Jonathan. "Prometheus was just a bad movie."

Adam, seated across from him, dropped his spoon.

"A movie is not a good movie if it is terribly written. A movie is not clever if it is confusing because of plot holes and internal contradiction. Prometheus is a bad movie."

Adam let out a guttural roar and violently overturned the table they were both seated at.

"Like, I mean, what's, really, what's the counterargument supposed to be," continued Jonathan. "does the movie want a special pass for some pretty shots?"

Adam, now screaming incessantly, tore the kitchen cabinet down from the wall. Plates, glasses and china were smashed to bits and spread across the floor.

"Well, it doesn't get one," said Jonathan. "There's no special exemption for, for, you know. Having your movie be full of characters who do dumb things that make no sense or are otherwise regularly contradictory with any established prior motivations or tendencies or expertise. There is no worse way to create meaningful tension."

Adam did a piledriver straight into the wood on the backside of the cabinet. If it shattered his arm, he made no indication he could feel it. He just kept shrieking with pure anger, suplexing random shards and beams of wood as fast as he could kick them out of the ruined dresser frame. Then he ran out of the room.

"The movie's essentially indefensible, but I've never seen a movie so indefensible come up with so many people unstoppably drawn to try to defend it. I just don't understand it, was there a hype train I didn't see?"

Adam's incoherent banshee-like wails rose in intensity as he sprinted back into the room, hoisting a file cabinet over his head. He threw it as hard as he could over Jonathan's head. It caved in the sheetrock and became affixed two feet deep into the opposing wall.

"And it's not even really that it's bad writing. It's bad writing that is equally pretentious as it is dull. And pretentious writing really sticks out when it's that full of plot holes."

Adam wrested the chair out from under Jonathan, toppling Jonathan onto the floor.

Now lying on his back, Jonathan said "It's both not fun AND intellectually unfulfilling because of its core weaknesses. Are we that desperate for groundbreaking sci-fi that we'll pretend Prometheus is groundbreaking? Are we that desperate that we'll pretend Prometheus is even just okay?"

Adam savagely mashed the chair against his own head until it broke into splinters. He then rammed his head directly into the doorframe, and collapsed, twitching, on the floor.

Placidly looking at the ceiling, Jonathan shrugged. "I just don't get it."

"I like the imagery," Adam said.

also martian was p. good i had fun

[Furiously]

I was at a half-priced books today and figured I'd pick up the book before I saw the movie.  I devoured the book, with breaks for going out to get my kid and dinner and the costume store I finished it in like 8 hours. I don't think I've ever done that with a book. I don't think I've ever paced reading a book before either.

[Ghambit]

This movie... I personally think it's the best hard sci-fi film ever made.  I kinda thought Interstellar was, but this pretty much steals that away easily. 
This movie was the engineer's movie.  The scientist's movie.  Perfect really for those circles.

I did find myself yearning for a bit more drama, but I don't want to be beat over the head with it like in Interstellar.

[schild]

Just popping in to say, looking back, I fucking hated Gravity. I like Matt Damon enough that I will legitamately purchase this movie through usenet and likely enjoy it. I've seen a lot of people talk about it - not just here - as one of the best hard sci-fi movies ever made. But uhhh

Primer still exists. (also, Gattaca, Moon, and The Matrix - the latter of which I consider a hail mary rather than Hollywood being Hollywood, I mean it's Keanu Reeves ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

So I absolutely refuse to believe Hollywood is gonna make a leap to top that.

[Ghambit]

I wouldn't consider The Matrix "hard" sci-fi, but it's definitely the best post-apoc sci. fi movie ever made.
Gattaca?  Great movie.  Moon? Great movie (but Gattaca was better).  The Martian?  Better than both of those, and a much bigger film.  They employed something like 12,000 people to make The Martian.  Then again, some folk like more artsy films...  The Martian is not artsy until it focuses on the planet itself and the few Damon montages exhibiting the human-space-experience.

I guess The Martian is probably the best somewhat contemporary hard sci-fi piece?  Some other offerings might be considered hard sci-fi, but they're so far out there that it's tough to identify with them.  Note: I think 2001/10 were hard sci-fi, but honestly I thought The Martian was better as a movie, whereas the former was obviously better as a film study.

In any case, Hollywood is trying to make the leap... and gotten better at it of late.  This stuff has become very en vogue the past few years, especially when producers can snipe federal sponsorship (as in this film; nasa, jpl, etc.).  Underneath all of this, there is a definite push in the science community to bring more of the arts into the work; including movie-making.  I've been to a few colloquia that bring up the meshing of these mediums.  It is definitely "a thing," and a new thing at that.

Will Hollywood find a way to fuck it up though?  Of course.  

[Rendakor]

This was good, but not better than Primer. It's still very Hollywood in the drama.