Skip to main content

The Martian Review




What I liked: I like science and I like outerspace, clearly I liked a movie about science in outerspace. I liked the timelapse sequences of solving problems and growing stuff. I thought they did a remarkably good job conveying a plot consisting of technical questions and keeping people engaged. I liked that Matt Damon was trapped on Mars with no entertainment but disco music, which made a surprisingly good soundtrack. I liked that NASA got to be the heroes in two big movies this year. I loved that Boromir got to be in on the council of Elrond again, that was phenomenal. I wonder if they cast him specifically for that reason. I gained a new appreciation for Anderson; I never knew he had a knack for astrophysics. I guess after being driven to distraction by Sherlock he decided for a change of career and started working for NASA. Speaking of careers working for NASA I want to be whoever it was who got to drill holes in the rover, that looked like fun. I loved the mars rover, both of them. Potatoes! and interesting toppings.Space pirates! I liked seeing good old New Mexico, I really think we have been to the filming location. I think my favorite part was laughing in anticipation of his solutions to the problems when I figured them out.
What I didn’t: For being a story about solving technical problems with science and engineering, these people did very little math. Not that I want to watch them do math but I do feel like something like calculating orbital angles and velocities should probably be done ahead of time and probably with a calculator. I was totally on board with the solutions until about the last 30 min of the movie where they kept getting increasingly absurd. Blowing up your own spaceship is never the correct solution, especially if your response to a damage report is “we’ll worry about that later.” Nope, you probably should have worried about it before you decided to do it. Most of the characters had potential but were sort of blah; I think Damon was a little hobbled by needing to explain everything to his starlog. He was much better than when he was trapped on a deserted planet in Interstellar (still not sure why NASA let him keep going into space after that) but he wasn’t as good as Hanks trapped on a deserted island, or Hanks trapped in space for that matter. I appreciate that running simulations is an important part of solving a problem but I feel like usually the way to do that is not to plug in your laptop to the bank of the supercomputer with a curly usb cable. When the rescue mission is going to take over a year, why would you need to scrub two days of tests? I mean he’s already hungry two days is not going to be that big a deal. Two months? sure, you should probably do some expediting. But 2 days? for a 5% disaster probability? Bad plan. Is there any movie anyone can think of in which the PR people are good guys?
Who should watch this? It was a well made space movie. I think just about everyone would appreciate it.
Would I watch it again? yep, while eating french fries.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Titanic

What I liked: Liked is definitely the wrong word for it but the scenes of the sinking of the Titanic were masterful. They were technologically impressive, apparently remarkably accurate, and emotionally gripping. The variety of ways in which different people dealt with a completely hopeless situation was both touching and thought provoking. Especially beautiful was the string quartet. In isolation from the love story, the sinking of the Titanic is a tragic reminder of the cost of hubris and the necessity of regulating emergency procedures and capacities. It carries similar gravitas as a war film. At the 25th anniversary of the film, I can appreciate how Titanic has impacted movies made later.  What I didn't: So here's the thing. I feel very bad for you if you died in the sinking of the Titanic. I feel less bad for you if you managed to get on a lifeboat on the Titanic and then decided to get off. I question all of your decision making and priorities if you decide to get off a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Free Guy

What I liked: I liked Guy. That is in fact the point but I like how happy, carefree, and wholesome he is in what is essentially Grand Theft Auto. I like what the NPCs decide to focus on as they achieve consciousness. I liked the ridiculous YouTubers getting all philosophical about Guy and how he radically changed game play. I liked that so much of the game economy was about silly skins, just like a real game, and how that completely confused the NPCs. I liked the fight between Dude and Guy and its resolution, it managed to stay very on theme. The item cameos were fun, like seeing the Portal gun, or the Fortnite piñata. I liked guy finding the med kit and building up an inventory.  What I didn't: I am not be a lawyer but I am suspicious that there maybe more efficient ways of obtaining evidence of copyright violation than playing 12 hours of a computer game every day. With that in mind I think the evidence points to the heroine enjoying the game far more than she lets on. On the top...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them Reveiw

What I liked: For a movie based on what is in essence a fictional encyclopedia, this movie has a surprising amount of plot. Not great plot, but more than I usually get from reading an alphabetical reference book. I liked the dopey sidekick, his facial expressions were great and he was the only one who acknowledged that what happening on screen was not actually normal. I liked that the president led the tiny army of US wizards to their tiny battle in a subway. So as military victories go, this was not one for the history books, for many reasons. But it did lend more meaning to the phrase Commander in Chief. I felt like Dr Who was once again a bow tie wearing socially awkward guy who lives in a box that is bigger on the inside. Some of the creatures were cool but the CGI didn't quite make them alive. I liked the sloth monkey, I don't really know who it was or what it was doing but I would support a slothmonkey planet of the apes crossover. I like that the guy from SWAT has fina...
Post a Comment
Read more