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Project Hail Mary - Final Trailer

jason10mm said:
What technical jargon was in interstellar? If anything, that film needed MORE science, or at least a guy to say things like "hey, due to gravitational time dilation every minute you spend down there is like a year up here, so this planet is totally unsuitable for colonization no matter how much of an eden it might be but hey I can see here with my telescope that the entire planet is a flat sea with no land masses, ANOTHER reason why it's a shit planet. And wow this other report we got is from a planet with a negative 150 Celsius average temp, so his reports seem really off, perhaps we can consider reasons why he might be fabricating false info?" Stuff like that.
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The technical aspects of the science fact and science fiction related concepts are very closely related to the core drivers of the plot. For example, in Interstellar, you need to have a somewhat basic understanding of the concepts of general relativity in order to grasp the urgency for why/how/when they're doing some of the things they're doing to drive the plot along. In Project Hail Mary, special relativity is important to certain aspects of the world building and character development, but you don't need to know what it is in order to follow along. But, if you do, the movie becomes that much more rich and interesting.

Interstellar very much needs to be a sci-fi movie. Project Hail Mary's entire genre and setting could be switched to fantasy, but the core aspects of needing to save the world via means of Macguffin A and being helped by unlikely partner B would be largely unchanged.

Let me put it this way - I've watched Interstellar in English (no subtitles) with people who were not native language English speakers and they had a hard time following along, which hampered their enjoyment of the movie. I saw PHM with a non-native English speaker and she followed along just fine and loved the movie.
 
Rentahamster said:
Let me put it this way - I've watched Interstellar in English (no subtitles) with people who were not native language English speakers and they had a hard time following along, which hampered their enjoyment of the movie. I saw PHM with a non-native English speaker and she followed along just fine and loved the movie.
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That's because Interstellar is a shit movie. There, I've said it. It has a nonsensical premise and retarded characters all to serve a mystical and mumbo-jumbo gimmick.

PHM, the book at least, adheres to the rules of good sci-fi by having only ONE fantastical element (the astrophage) and then trying to stick to known science and physics for the rest. There aren't a lot of leaps of faith or the need to suspend disbelief to get to story beats, other than the sheer willpower for the character to spend weeks and weeks on tedious tasks but we know people will do this if survival is on the line and/or drugs are involved (the main character being hooked on Adderall would have been a nice touch).
 
jason10mm said:
That's because Interstellar is a shit movie. There, I've said it. It has a nonsensical premise and retarded characters all to serve a mystical and mumbo-jumbo gimmick.

PHM, the book at least, adheres to the rules of good sci-fi by having only ONE fantastical element (the astrophage) and then trying to stick to known science and physics for the rest. There aren't a lot of leaps of faith or the need to suspend disbelief to get to story beats, other than the sheer willpower for the character to spend weeks and weeks on tedious tasks but we know people will do this if survival is on the line and/or drugs are involved (the main character being hooked on Adderall would have been a nice touch).
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I don't think Interstellar is a shit movie. I think it's brilliant. The non-native English speaker example was to show that Interstellar required more effort from the math/science/logic regions of your brain to follow along, whereas PHM did not. Both Interstellar and PHM were both very emotionally driven movies at the core too, but PHM could be followed along and relatively understood with only those emotional cues.
 
jason10mm said:
That's because Interstellar is a shit movie. There, I've said it. It has a nonsensical premise and retarded characters all to serve a mystical and mumbo-jumbo gimmick.

PHM, the book at least, adheres to the rules of good sci-fi by having only ONE fantastical element (the astrophage) and then trying to stick to known science and physics for the rest. There aren't a lot of leaps of faith or the need to suspend disbelief to get to story beats, other than the sheer willpower for the character to spend weeks and weeks on tedious tasks but we know people will do this if survival is on the line and/or drugs are involved (the main character being hooked on Adderall would have been a nice touch).
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Both movies are good, one does not have to diminish one thing to like another. But I will say Interstellar is much better if you just skip the first act. Just get people into space and ride.
 
Rentahamster said:
Project Fuzzy Pickles
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Rentahamster said:
I don't think Interstellar is a shit movie. I think it's brilliant. The non-native English speaker example was to show that Interstellar required more effort from the math/science/logic regions of your brain to follow along, whereas PHM did not. Both Interstellar and PHM were both very emotionally driven movies at the core too, but PHM could be followed along and relatively understood with only those emotional cues.
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I mean half of PHM is Ryan Gosling miming to himself and a beepbooping rock puppet with legs, so of course a non-native speaker would understand the context easier than one that requires specific word language
 
The animatronics/practical effects for Rocky were outstanding; top tier work.

Stayed faithful-ish to the book and I understand they had to make changes (like removing most of his inner monologue as he figures out all the science). I do wish they would have just shown a cut of Sol growing in radiance at the end of the movie instead of cutting back to Stratton on her battleship doubt she would be alive much less still on that ship.

Highly recommended!
 
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I went into this movie not having watched any trailers nor read the book, and I really enjoyed it. After watching the movie, I watched the trailer and feel like they gave too much away. Yeah, I know it's movie adaptation of a book, but for people that didn't read the book I think it gives too much away.
 
Husky Blue said:
I went into this movie not having watched any trailers nor read the book, and I really enjoyed it. After watching the movie, I watched the trailer and feel like they gave too much away. Yeah, I know it's movie adaptation of a book, but for people that didn't read the book I think it gives too much away.
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That's why I never watch trailers if I can help it.
 
Rentahamster said:
It really does make a difference when the actors can actually play off a tangible object rather than a vast empty sea of green.
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How is this even in doubt? I so pity the avatar actors that spend YEARS in giant green rooms hugging crude foam boxes trying to pretend they are riding dragons and shit.
 
Never heard of the book, never watched the trailer, went in blind....

And it was not what I was expecting at all... A rock love story... ehh.

im good on this
 
Went in blind for this movie, only knew it was written by the guy who wrote The Martian so I was expecting something fairly scientific and grounded, which was accurate enough for about half of the movie but then it makes a hard right turn and becomes ET In Space. ET is a wonderful movie of course but it doesn't pretend to be scientific by any stretch of the imagination - it's a whimsical kids movie from beginning to end. This movie seems to take itself seriously enough, until it suddenly doesn't and stakes are thrown out the window because it now borrows heavily from a kids movie so they're going to be able to engineer anything they need out of kids toys, and they're not going to let ET/Rocky die (spoiler for a 40+ year old movie).

Having said all that, it's not a bad movie by any means - it's the very definition of a crowd-pleasing blockbuster. I just wasn't particularly fond of the direction it took. I'm sure the younger generation who haven't seen the movies it took inspiration from will adore it, though.
 
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Husky Blue said:
I went into this movie not having watched any trailers nor read the book, and I really enjoyed it. After watching the movie, I watched the trailer and feel like they gave too much away. Yeah, I know it's movie adaptation of a book, but for people that didn't read the book I think it gives too much away.
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I read the book a couple years back but I'm glad my wife (who hasn't) didn't see the trailer. It was good for the reveal to happen without her knowing.
 
Holy shit this was so good. Neither of us watched the trailer, just read the synopsis and it was incredible. Visuals, music, obviously the plot, so much heart I even teared up a couple times…

When he said he would give Grace the 2 million kgs and Grace's reaction to it. And also the end

Very happy I saw this in the theaters instead of waiting for streaming.
 
Revolutionary said:
Went in blind for this movie, only knew it was written by the guy who wrote The Martian so I was expecting something fairly scientific and grounded, which was accurate enough for about half of the movie but then it makes a hard right turn and becomes ET In Space. ET is a wonderful movie of course but it doesn't pretend to be scientific by any stretch of the imagination - it's a whimsical kids movie from beginning to end. This movie seems to take itself seriously enough, until it suddenly doesn't and stakes are thrown out the window because it's now a kids movie so they're going to be able to engineer anything they need out of kids toys, and they're not going to let ET/Rocky die (spoiler for a 40+ year old movie).

Having said all that, it's not a bad movie by any means - it's the very definition of a crowd-pleasing blockbuster. I just wasn't particularly fond of the direction it took. I'm sure the younger generation who haven't seen the movies it took inspiration from will adore it, though.
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It's a movie for al ages, not a kids movie. The science is fine considering…

The rock's species is thousands of years ahead of ours technologically. Probably at least a thousand. Self-replicating nanites and all kinds of shit our brains cant even comprehend would be the type of tech that far in the future.
 
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Loved it.

Yes a lot of, even most of, the science of the book was cut or pushed to the edges, but that stuff probably would have made for a boring film. Leaning onto the humor and the cross-species humanity was BY FAR the correct choice IMHO. I do hope there is a more grognard extended cut though. I really liked how they filmed this, with the rocky voice actor being there for every scene, even moving the puppet at times. Really allowed Ryan to connect and improvise in ways I don't think we often see with pingpong ball CG characters.

It also makes me wonder if this was the tone of the Solo film Lord and Miller were trying to deliver and Lucasfilm TOTALLY FUCKED UP in getting Ron Howard, a director I very much admire, to refilm it.

These fuckers need to deliver spider-verse 3 though, JFC whats the wait?
 
Esquie said:
It's a movie for al ages, not a kids movie. The science is fine considering…

The rock's species is thousands of years ahead of ours technologically. Probably at least a thousand. Self-replicating nanites and all kinds of shit our brains cant even comprehend would be the type of tech that far in the future.
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I didn't say it was a kids movie, I said it borrows heavily from one.

By "younger generation" I meant people who didn't grow up watching the movie it took inspiration from (again, it's a 40+ year old movie), not actual children lol
 
Esquie said:
Holy shit this was so good. Neither of us watched the trailer, just read the synopsis and it was incredible. Visuals, music, obviously the plot, so much heart I even teared up a couple times…

When he said he would give Grace the 2 million kgs and Grace's reaction to it. And also the end

Very happy I saw this in the theaters instead of waiting for streaming.
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Me too, man. What a great surprise this was. Wife and I loved it.
 
Revolutionary said:
I didn't say it was a kids movie, I said it borrows heavily from one.

By "younger generation" I meant people who didn't grow up watching the movie it took inspiration from (again, it's a 40+ year old movie), not actual children lol
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You said it turned into a kids movie

"This movie seems to take itself seriously enough, until it suddenly doesn't and stakes are thrown out the window because it's now a kids movie so they're going to be able to engineer anything they need out of kids toys"

…

I was just responding that Rocky's tech is thousands of years in advance so it's not inconceivable that he can convert things like that. Self-replicating nanites at a minimum.

It's all good tho…

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Esquie said:
You said it turned into a kids movie

"This movie seems to take itself seriously enough, until it suddenly doesn't and stakes are thrown out the window because it's now a kids movie so they're going to be able to engineer anything they need out of kids toys"

…

I was just responding that Rocky's tech is thousands of years in advance so it's not inconceivable that he can convert things like that. Self-replicating nanites at a minimum.

It's all good tho…
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Do you really not understand my point? I thought I made it clear enough...
The movie is about solving a scientific problem until halfway through where the science doesn't matter anymore because it borrows so heavily from ET, a kids movie, to the point where all tension is removed. The explanation for the little friendly alien's technical prowess doesn't matter - what matters is that the alien can and will solve anything, and that he's not going to die because that's not typically what happens in kids movies.

As I said, it's a crowd pleaser so I understand why you're so high on it. No need to play defense, your thoughts on it are as valid as mine. :)
 
Revolutionary said:
Do you really not understand my point? I thought I made it clear enough...
The movie is about solving a scientific problem until halfway through where the science doesn't matter anymore because it borrows so heavily from ET, a kids movie, to the point where all tension is removed. The explanation for the little friendly alien's technical prowess doesn't matter - what matters is that the alien can and will solve anything, and that he's not going to die because that's not typically what happens in kids movies.

As I said, it's a crowd pleaser so I understand why you're so high on it. No need to play defense, your thoughts on it are as valid as mine. :)
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You are correct. The film does not really stress the possibility of Earth dying and Mark failing. It even diffuses any scary or tense moment by giving happy/surprised/wonderous music beats. This isn't a film about the challenge of saving the Earth so much as the wonder and value of friendship. It's so damn successful that I can forgive it glossing over most of the hard science.
 
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jason10mm said:
Loved it.

Yes a lot of, even most of, the science of the book was cut or pushed to the edges, but that stuff probably would have made for a boring film. Leaning onto the humor and the cross-species humanity was BY FAR the correct choice IMHO. I do hope there is a more grognard extended cut though. I really liked how they filmed this, with the rocky voice actor being there for every scene, even moving the puppet at times. Really allowed Ryan to connect and improvise in ways I don't think we often see with pingpong ball CG characters.

It also makes me wonder if this was the tone of the Solo film Lord and Miller were trying to deliver and Lucasfilm TOTALLY FUCKED UP in getting Ron Howard, a director I very much admire, to refilm it.

These fuckers need to deliver spider-verse 3 though, JFC whats the wait?
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Started slowly reading the book after. Like 1-2 chapters at a time, looks like a fairly short book. But this is how exactly how adaptations should be done. There's been plenty of really bad ones out there. The book does go more into the science stuff and more dire straits of earth, which is fine, but obviously wouldn't stick it out in a movie. But what mattered is that they totally captured the spirit of the book in the friendship and self-character of Grace.
 
Revolutionary said:
I didn't say it was a kids movie, I said it borrows heavily from one.
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Revolutionary said:
Do you really not understand my point? I thought I made it clear enough...
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You literally said "it's now a kids movie" lol...

Revolutionary said:
stakes are thrown out the window because it's now a kids movie
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Verbiage aside, there are still stakes, and Rocky isn't a Deus ex Mary Sue. Each species fills holes in the others' knowledge base. Rocky's species doesn't know about radiation and relativity, which would make sense because they can't sense light. They both nearly die trying to save each others' asses.
 
Rentahamster said:
Verbiage aside, there are still stakes, and Rocky isn't a Deus ex Mary Sue. Each species fills holes in the others' knowledge base. Rocky's species doesn't know about radiation and relativity, which would make sense because they can't sense light. They both nearly die trying to save each others' asses.
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This stuff is lost in the film, or at least minimalized. I can't recommend the book highly enough, it really does close lots and lots of gaps in the story. I really like this author, maybe because I'm on the spectrum like he probably is. Artemis was even pretty good, I'm glad it's getting an adaptation, though it doesn't hit the highs of The Martian and Project Hail Mark.
 
I saw it yesterday, and it was solid. I sort of expected it to be a more serious movie, with some harder sci-fi, but it turned out to be a buddy movie about the importance of friendship, and that's cool enough. I definitely enjoyed it, it just wasn't exactly what I was expecting.
 
Rentahamster said:
You literally said "it's now a kids movie" lol...



Verbiage aside, there are still stakes, and Rocky isn't a Deus ex Mary Sue. Each species fills holes in the others' knowledge base. Rocky's species doesn't know about radiation and relativity, which would make sense because they can't sense light. They both nearly die trying to save each others' asses.
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I meant it figuratively... I edited the original post so people can stop getting caught up on that part.

As for your stakes... do those really count as stakes when it's immediately resolved? You're talking about like 5 minutes of runtime if we're being generous.
 
Revolutionary said:
Oh I thought you were referring to the ending where Grace realizes that Rocky is going to die on the way back to his planet.
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All of these events are connected from one end to the other in a continuous loop of "encounter problem" -> "engineer a solution". The movie is already long enough without having to involve even more exposition than necessary. I think the accumulated work, as well as the accumulated character development up to that point is enough to carry the scene quickly enough. But too quickly for your tastes.
 
Rentahamster said:
All of these events are connected from one end to the other in a continuous loop of "encounter problem" -> "engineer a solution". The movie is already long enough without having to involve even more exposition than necessary. I think the accumulated work, as well as the accumulated character development up to that point is enough to carry the scene quickly enough. But too quickly for your tastes.
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I mean... it's the ending. The ending song is already playing and there's a time limit until the credits start to play... I'm not expecting any stakes at that point in time because I understand how movies are structured, especially a feel-good movie like this.
 
finally saw this today. It was ok, maybe a 6/10.

I couldn't give a crap about visuals personally and the rest was pretty mid sci-fi affair to be honest. In a years time I wont remember shit about it.
 
Revolutionary said:
I mean... it's the ending. The ending song is already playing and there's a time limit until the credits start to play... I'm not expecting any stakes at that point in time because I understand how movies are structured, especially a feel-good movie like this.
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To get a better frame of reference to what you're describing, are there any movies that you feel did this the right way?
 
Rentahamster said:
I wouldn't describe it as immediately. Learning to communicate took a while.
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Let me put it this way, I REALLY liked the movie, but as a fan of the book if you gave me a 45 mins longer or so extended edition and invested even more time in that section of the movie I would not complain ;) wink wink nudge nudge…
 
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I didnt like it very much. Its like science fiction for kids and too goofy and quirky. The first hour is like scene after scene of goofy comments and like kind of marvel humor. Ryan Gosling acting is too flat and he is constantly like not taking anything seriously.
 
I think it was a really, really well done "Netflix" kind of movie (well, it was an Amazon production, guess that's close enough)

Gosling was great, Rocky was great, their relationship was awesome, but yeah, felt too goofy or something at times.

People saying it's better than Interstellar, just lol. It's a fun Sunday movie, not a movie we will remember 12 years from now.
 
Hugare said:
I think it was a really, really well done "Netflix" kind of movie (well, it was an Amazon production, guess that's close enough)

Gosling was great, Rocky was great, their relationship was awesome, but yeah, felt too goofy or something at times.

People saying it's better than Interstellar, just lol. It's a fun Sunday movie, not a movie we will remember 12 years from now.
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Just saw it last night and agree fully. "Sci-fi for Netflix viewers" describes the movie perfectly.

Pretends to be a hardcore sci-fi film with very little science so normies can feel smart after watching and "getting it". Restates the plot like half a dozen times. Has the subtlety of a hammer to your head. And that's perfectly okay. I'm glad to see a feel good, positive movie is doing so well in theatres instead of straight to streaming.

My only real issue with the movie was runtime. Had no business being 2.5 hours. I get they had to repeat everything like 2 or 3 times to make sure the audience gets it, but it was excessive... If they have no trust in the audience paying attention, then maybe try making the movie no more than 90 minutes? lol

I put this movie very close to Gravity and The Martian (can't decide which of the three is better), which all remain an order of magnitude behind Interstellar on the sci-fi greatness scale.
 
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Hugare said:
I think it was a really, really well done "Netflix" kind of movie (well, it was an Amazon production, guess that's close enough)

Gosling was great, Rocky was great, their relationship was awesome, but yeah, felt too goofy or something at times.

People saying it's better than Interstellar, just lol. It's a fun Sunday movie, not a movie we will remember 12 years from now.
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I guess it depends how much you liked the book or not. There is equally space for both of them in my heart so to speak, they are both above the level of quality where it makes sense to rank IMHO. For a fan of the book the movie was excellent and my only critique is that I would like even longer runtime for some of the sciency exposition they cut back.
 
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