The Martian

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Deuce66, Jun 8, 2015.

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  1. neo123

    neo123 Senior Member

    Location:
    Northern Kentucky
    My brother just called me on the phone and told me he saw this today (I am going over the weekend.) He said it is one of the best pictures he's seen this year and he could see Matt Damon possibly getting nominated for awards. I will give my opinion of the film after I see it.
     
  2. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Bwah! Glad I'm such an accurate litmus test. :D


    I'm sure people will like this film. It's satisfying and if I hadn't seen the mechanics of the film done over and over before, it might have felt fresher. I personally think there are more implausibilties in this film than "Interstellar!" The humor is good, however. Matt Damon is good. They must have tinkered with his face to erase some age. But I think Ridley Scott trying to do Spielberg is a let down. This tries to be a Spielberg movie with lots of cuddly secondary characters. Of course, Scott pretty much hasn't had a winner in a long time. I hated "Prometheus." I loved "Gravity" and I loved "Interstellar" but this space movie never achieved the poetry of those movies. Isn't there something poetic and metaphysical about space? Not in this film. What really irked me was Scott was sort of the granddaddy of the "shaky cam." All that cool inside-the-helmet footage in "Alien." That whole "through the camera lens" effect is so frequently and boringly done in this movie, it's distracting. And really irritatingly this whole thing was shot for the television screen
     
    Last edited: Oct 2, 2015
  3. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Canada
  4. charlie W

    charlie W EMA Level 10

    Location:
    Area Code 254
    I just saw this afternoon. It was my first movie viewed with Barco's laser digital projectors and Dolby Atmos sound system. Using a grading system, I give it a B, no plus or minus. It was entertaining all around though I expected more solitude screens with Matt alone on Mars. But I understand they had to compress much of the book into a 2-hour, 20-minute window. It could had been a TV-movie on SyFy. I didn't recognize much of Ridley Scott's touch or style in the movie.
     
  5. Monosterio

    Monosterio Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Florida
    Yes, in my case this happened with Ex Machina. I'll have to check chadbang's back posts and see if there are any others. :D

    I'm seeing The Martian this weekend, btw.
     
  6. cwsiggy

    cwsiggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vero Beach, FL
    You are kidding right?

    This is spot on for that film.

     
  7. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Bingo.
     
  8. Encuentro

    Encuentro Forum Resident

    Was this a comedy or a science-fiction film? There was a joke in virtually every scene. Despite the premise, I never felt that Damon's character was in danger. He seemed to be having a grand old time. I never felt that NASA was concerned about Damon's character. Everybody just seemed to be having a wonderful time throughout this film. The ending was, of course a foregone conclusion. The film was derivative, and that's fine as long as it's done well. This film was not done well, in my humble opinion.
     
  9. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    That ending. Ugh. I swear they must have re-written it to 1) wrap it up nicely for a mass audience and 2) set it up for a sequel. And what about his son that they barely even gave any screen time to? Murrppphhh!!!

    This movie could have been so much better.

    Non-spoiler: Primer. That's a movie that went over my head and I had to re-watch just to figure out what I missed. :)
     
  10. cwsiggy

    cwsiggy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vero Beach, FL
    Primer is pretty cool and considering it was shot for like 20k or less is impressive. Google Primer timeline. I can't believe someone figured that one out.

    Anyway - Martian expected to do near 50 million this weekend.
     
  11. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    Thanks. I had read the book and without the humor this movie would have disappointed me (I haven't seen it yet - I'm hoping this weekend).
     
  12. The Hud

    The Hud Breath of the Kingdom, Tears of the Wild

    Great movie--I highly recommend seeing it in 3D!
     
  13. Marky316

    Marky316 New Member

    Going to see it since I like the space sci fi stuff
     
  14. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

    Haven't been so stressed by a movie in a long while. Beautiful film, and definitely makes me want to seek out the book.
     
  15. MekkaGodzilla

    MekkaGodzilla Forum Resident

    Location:
    Westerville, Ohio
  16. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    It's not horrible, but as you say derivative. And you're right about everyone being so chipper. For a story about someone trapped on Mars, Ridley Scott spends way too much time making cute. Even the big decision by the crew is a big happy party time. The only one who shows the slightest angst is Sean Bean, but it's like they put a gag on him for being a downer -- he only gets to mutter the same line over and over "Why don't we let them decide?" and then he gets pushed aside. I couldn't figure out who this guy was (Mission control director?) and why nobody was paying attention to him. And for a master of visualization, the only visually interesting space scene was the last one he stole from ‎Alfonso Cuarón. And some of the others they tried to copy of zipping around in zero gravity looked fake -- like the SPFX guy from "Superman II" rigged them. I didnt realize it was over two hours long, no wonder the idea of walking out went through my head.
     
    Last edited: Oct 3, 2015
    Encuentro likes this.
  17. Nobby

    Nobby Senior Member

    Location:
    France
    I hadn't read a book in 20 years. Hi Fidelity if I recall.

    This was recommended to me by a book store owner who knew I didn't really read fiction.

    Finished it in 3 days and really looking forward to the film.
     
  18. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    :eek: :confused:
     
    Mazzy and somnar like this.
  19. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    For all of those who didn't like the movie, read the book.
     
    No Static likes this.
  20. No Static

    No Static Gain Rider

    Location:
    Heart of Dixie
    Love the opening line of the book. Really set the tone of the character for me. Little wonder there's humor involved.

    Haven't seen the movie yet but will next week.
     
  21. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    I liked the movie a lot, but I agree that it is a strangely anonymous picture for Ridley. Even Exodus, for all its faults, had his trademark lived-in, semi-gothic aesthetic and skeptical view of institutional authority. This one kind of reminded me of a more humane version of Jurassic Park -- the comparisons to Spielberg and, IMO, Robert Zemeckis are on the money.

    It seems Ridley had trouble finding his own voice within the confines of a very tight, fun, frothy screenplay. It was more similar in tone to the writer's other movie, The Cabin in the Woods, than anything Scott has made (especially the witty intercutting between disastrous peril and bland office settings). I also thought the frenetic editing (especially in the first 20 minutes) was out of character for Ridley. It's a long movie, so maybe they were cutting so quickly to keep the running time down, since running time seems to be a recurring problem for Scott's movies.
     
    Ghostworld likes this.
  22. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    Exactly. There's a lot of humor in the book. I've mentioned before that I think Damon is at least ten years too old to play the lead in this but I'll probably still check it out.
     
  23. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Canada
    I disagree, I just got back from seeing it and his "real" age is not an issue in this movie at all. Overall I'd give it a solid 4/5 my only complaints are some of the obvious 'model' looking shots on Mars the scale was not in proportion and it kind of bugged me a little, if you're going to make this type of movie it has to look right, otherwise it was solid entertainment. Fans of the book will not be disappointed in my opinion, the ending was different and they hit almost all the important plot points in the book except for an obvious towards the end. It was solid and I'll watch it again for sure.
     
    ssmith3046 and Pete Puma like this.
  24. dewey02

    dewey02 Forum Resident

    Location:
    The mid-South.
    I don't know you and am not judging you. I am just happy you found a book that got you reading again. I hope you continue to do so. :edthumbs:
     
  25. Gaslight

    Gaslight ⎧⚍⎫⚑

    Location:
    Northeast USA
    I just saw it this afternoon. Read the book twice (it's a fairly short read and easy to get drawn into, once you start).

    Some possible spoilers head, if you read the book / haven't seen the movie yet.

    Generally, I liked it - a lot of the humor was intact, which I was happy about. And at least some of the science was intact as well, as were many of the main plots points (with two fairly large ones missing in the third act, which I found strange. Almost like they rushed the third act just a bit). But I get that there were simply going to be certain things that had to be excised from the book.

    One complaint : the "Iron Man" thing. Ugh. Didn't like that change, I felt it detracted from the suspense completely. But I looked past it. :)
     
    ssmith3046 likes this.
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