Likewise. I'll see it this coming Friday again for sure.
Had a question though.
Was his declining health due to the radiation poisoning?
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First Reviews for The Martian (dir. Ridley Scott; based on the book; Matt Damon)
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Likewise. I'll see it this coming Friday again for sure.
Had a question though.
Hey you are not alone although we are in the minority. I thought the movie was very mediocre. All the tension was undercut by the constant joking that I did not feel sorry or worried about the character. Argo managed to introduce jokes without ever underplaying the tension and I am surprised that Ben Affleck was able to outperform Scott in the directing department when it comes to implementing humor without sacrificing tension. That is the problem really - Movies have already come that did this stuff better. Cast Away was more charming and interesting than anything here. Gravity was far more thrilling when it came to set pieces. I mean the first 20 minutes of gravity destroys anything shown here including that laughable sequence at the end. Even Interstellar with all its flaws seemed to have more stakes.
Also everytime Matt Damon talked to the camera basically telling the audience hey look I am going to explain what I am going to do to you and try to not make it sound forced I groaned.
The bolded felt like a B grade version of Gravity.
Could be he was eating 1/9th of the calories he needed for 7 months. Also he wasn't balding so maybe not. I forgot what they said in the book :\
Razorback
Member
Cast Away is a great example. You really wanted to see the guy get off the island and you were rooting for him every step of the way. And the funny parts actually made me laugh. The humour in The Martian was all one note. Science man is nonchalant about life threatening situation.
Yup. The bolded is pretty much the summary of the movie.
Although hey he did try to cry for a few seconds after a particular scene so I guess he was actually worried about being left in Mars.
wondermega
Member
I enjoyed the movie, although not as much as some. I am still pretty curious about the timeline however, can someone break it down for me? (SPOILERS following obviously)
How long had it been since the team originally landed on Mars (before they had to suddenly leave)
How long was he there alone before being discovered?
Basically- how long between when he had been originally stranded, and then rescued?
How long had it been since the team originally landed on Mars (before they had to suddenly leave)
How long was he there alone before being discovered?
Basically- how long between when he had been originally stranded, and then rescued?
wondermega
Member
bananafactory
Banned
Skimming impressions in here, seem mostly positive
I just finished the book, gonna see the movie next week. Can anyone comment on how closely it follows it?
I just finished the book, gonna see the movie next week. Can anyone comment on how closely it follows it?
IceDoesntHelp
Banned
Saw it tonight. Loved it. Much better than Gravity.
Haven't seen Interstellar, but not sure I want to.
Haven't seen Interstellar, but not sure I want to.
ThatCrazyGuy
Member
Saw it this weekend. Didn't think it was that great. It was good, but something was missing to me. Maybe because my expectations were sky-high.
I was expecting Castaway on Mars for whatever reason. I felt no sense of isolation, fear, tension or dread, nothing when he was truly alone. Maybe it was Matt's performance. I didn't feel it.
It all felt too slick and. idk how to describe it. No soul? By the numbers? There is to much light-hearted banter about. To many "movie" lines. To much exposition when they were talking to each and explaining why they are going to do such and such. Didn't like Glover. Pacing felt off.
It felt more like a good standard hollywood adventure movie.
I enjoyed it and glad it was made and it was smart for the most part. But man, i was expecting something different, and felt there was alot left on the table. If it's faithful to the book, so be it, I didn't read and my expectations were way off. I still like Interstellar and Gravity more.
I was expecting Castaway on Mars for whatever reason. I felt no sense of isolation, fear, tension or dread, nothing when he was truly alone. Maybe it was Matt's performance. I didn't feel it.
It all felt too slick and. idk how to describe it. No soul? By the numbers? There is to much light-hearted banter about. To many "movie" lines. To much exposition when they were talking to each and explaining why they are going to do such and such. Didn't like Glover. Pacing felt off.
It felt more like a good standard hollywood adventure movie.
I enjoyed it and glad it was made and it was smart for the most part. But man, i was expecting something different, and felt there was alot left on the table. If it's faithful to the book, so be it, I didn't read and my expectations were way off. I still like Interstellar and Gravity more.
follows it pretty close. It strays a bit more near the end.
bananafactory
Banned
I like these points. That human in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes bugged me as well, since it felt like almost literally the entire movie and conflict could have been avoided if people just left the one obvious asshole at home.
It was awesome when (early plot spoiler involving said character):
They tried to justify why they needed to bring an asshole along. I seem to recall it was because he knew about hydro dams, and so he had to be there to help them repair it. Okay. What happened? They decided, "Ok, this guy really is an asshole, let's make him stay in the jeep." They then repaired the dam on their own. So he really was totally optional as far as I could tell."
NotTheGuyYouKill
Member
That was a great flick.
It basically resolves this as well:
It basically resolves this as well:
Callibretto
Member
a couple setback is skipped, and in the end, captain Lewis is the one who go out to grab Watney, not Beck. Watney also go out from the mav and prick a hole in his suit to propel him toward Lewis (like Ironman) instead of just sitting on the mav until Beck gets him in the book. Also they had whole epilogue scene with Watney on earth teaching young people at Nasa about his experiences
bananafactory
Banned
Thanks. There was
a ton of setbacks in the book, figured they'd skip some.
Does he still run into that huge duststorm? Does the rover still roll when entering schiarapelli
Does he still run into that huge duststorm? Does the rover still roll when entering schiarapelli
nope to both of your questions
MadraptorMan
Member
This movie doesn't come out until February 2016 here in Japan...sometimes this country sucks ass. Every other country in the world gets it within the next two months.
Sigh.
Sigh.
shamo42
Member
MadraptorMan
Member
I don't know why. A lot of movies come out here about two months after they do everywhere else, but this particular movie is coming extremely late. I can't think of a good reason for them to choose February over say December or January at least for the winter holidays. Bizarre.
bananafactory
Banned
Ah OK. I guess I'm OK with that because (book spoiler)
the duststorm part was weird, it was made up to be this huge deal that was going to kill him and he just casually figured it out and drove around it without any trouble. I don't mind that he managed to steer clear but the way it was written leading up to that made it kind of anticlimactic
i liked that part actually. The way he
extrapolated which way the dust storm was moving was pretty cool.
Would have been nice if they included the fact that he lost contact with NASA while drilling the roof of the rover though. That added a lot of tension in the book I think.
bananafactory
Banned
What?? They left that out too? That sucks,
he was on his own from that point until reaching the Ares 4 MAV right? That was a huge chunk of time. I also liked the fact it was his own fuckup for once and not Mars fault
this was very different then Castaway cause 1) he could communicate with Earth. 2) there was a plan to rescue him. 3) so there was hope.
Tom Hanks had no hope. he literally went crazy talking to inanimate objects. He just said fuck it and went where ever the tides took him, albeit death or salvation. The only thing he wanted was to be reunited with his wife.
There were a couple more setbacks in the book that made his rescue seem less likely but they removed it due to timing issues I guess. Hope that isn't too spoilery
^^
The entire premise of Gravity is physically impossible, which made me completely unable to take that movie seriously. Getting the science right goes a long way, and gravity failed that on all fronts, having apparently been written by someone with zero understanding of satellite orbits or what a Δv is.
The gallows humor in this movie fits in completely IMO. It doesn't lessen the tension for me at all, it just adds more depth and realism for the characters. He couldn't be grimdark serious 24x7 for hundreds of days or he would go completely insane. It also fits with the kind of personality it takes to sign up for missions like that.
crisdecuba
Member
Made this earlier today - the idea made me laugh. Not totally sure about the execution, but here it is: http://youtu.be/6sHjIae4J40
ThatCrazyGuy
Member
Well yea. I said I was expecting Castaway. Of course I didn't get that cause that is not how this story was structured and I didn't read the book going in
My fault of course.This was a good adaption of the book. It was a very upbeat optimistic movie. Even
Found it funny how Sean Bean has now participated in two Council of Elrond. I found it amusing that they kept that from the book all things considered.
If I was to raise one 'disappointment' it was that the scariest and longest 'hold your breath' part of the book was omitted:
Also, the most silly part of the movie was also a screenplay addition not part of the book:
It was a very good adaption though and I really enjoyed it!
the credits.
Found it funny how Sean Bean has now participated in two Council of Elrond. I found it amusing that they kept that from the book all things considered.
If I was to raise one 'disappointment' it was that the scariest and longest 'hold your breath' part of the book was omitted:
The whole multi-month long trek towards Ares 4 in harsh-terrain facing deadly storms and a catastrophic quicksand encounter.
Iron man propulsion.
It was a very good adaption though and I really enjoyed it!
Hyperactivity
Banned
Nope, they also didn't cover one other disaster, can't fully remember right now, but they covered most of them
The book did a better job of conveying how easily things can screw up, but the movie did a pretty great job overall too
Really looking forward to the extended cut for this one
Is this confirmed?
ZackieChan
Member
Wait, I thought that science's own Neil DeGrasse Tyson gave Gravity the thumbs up as far as science goes, except the Clooney rope scene. Do I trust him, or some guy on www.neogaf.com?
A lot of the technology (depiction of the ISS, etc) was depicted well, but the film was clearly written by someone with no idea of orbital mechanics. Of course some science needs to fall by the wayside for cinematic purposes, but not most of it. I still enjoyed the film though, but you need to completely suspend your disbelief
Great film, Its awesome to see Jeff Daniels get more work. I thought he was great in newsroom. During the credit scene I saw Aaron Sorkin had done the script I knew I was in for an awesome ride.
The biggest gripe of Aaron he sucks at writing female characters (looking at Newsroom and West Wing) but this wasn't an issue at all in this film.
The biggest gripe of Aaron he sucks at writing female characters (looking at Newsroom and West Wing) but this wasn't an issue at all in this film.
Razorback
Member
Eh, I kinda of agree in a way.
Prometheus is an interesting disaster to behold. The Martian doesn't have any real missteps, but it left me cold.
ultratruman
Banned
I was mostly in it for the gratuitous shots of red rocks, but I also enjoyed
As reviews have said, it straddles the line mostly well between hard (for cinema) sci-fi like interstellar and guardians of the galaxy fun.
Overall it was definitely good, but I couldn't help but think how much better this would be as an HBO series, where every detail could given closer attention I was looking for. Maybe the director's cut will satisfy this for me.
the political intrigue between the NASA director, the flight commander, JPL lab etc. The scene where they're debating returning to the same spot because of the bad press photos of a dead astronaut would bring was great. Digging up pathfinder and other references to older space travel technology warmed my heart.
As reviews have said, it straddles the line mostly well between hard (for cinema) sci-fi like interstellar and guardians of the galaxy fun.
I think the use of disco music to offset tension is a little hackneyed at this point (i was just rolling my eyes when they started blasting Waterloo towards the end) and a fair bit of Watney's comedy dialogue fell pretty flat. I don't know if this was lifted verbatim from the book, but his quirky monologues in the buggy just seemed really inauthentic.
Overall it was definitely good, but I couldn't help but think how much better this would be as an HBO series, where every detail could given closer attention I was looking for. Maybe the director's cut will satisfy this for me.
glassgannon
Banned
interesting movie, not bad for even a second, not truly great for a millisecond either.
the movie after the second half should have gone places it didnt even try to glance at.
there was just no tension or excitement at all
the movie after the second half should have gone places it didnt even try to glance at.
there was just no tension or excitement at all
What are your talking about? That was exciting as Fuck! The whole long ending scene was a huge adrenaline rush for me.
totally expecting someone to die.
ZackieChan
Member
Sorkin didn't write this, so I'm not sure what he has to do with this thread...
I enjoyed the movie a lot but I have to say, while exciting it didn't ever really feel tense. The movie had conditioned me up to that point that no matter what happens, there's going to be a solution. I think if
someone died, it would have felt really out of place.
I too would have liked the second half to get a bit more intense, giving me reason to feel like there was actual risk and danger.
I too would have liked the second half to get a bit more intense, giving me reason to feel like there was actual risk and danger.
sparky2112
Member
It may only be a hugely satisfying movie (not a masterpiece), but it's hard to argue against it being great movie-making. Ridley Scott is a wizard, and the effects team on this literally made it look like they shot a movie on Mars. If you said 'Fake!' even once, you're a terrible human being.
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