Movie, "The Martian", due October 2nd, based on Andy Weir's great book

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3D not needed, but adds a nice touch. Large screen for the Marian landscapes were really nice. Paying extra for the 'AVX Experience' totally not worth it. (I dunno why each & every 'hit' movie needs to go into this type of theater.. Money grab I guess..)
 
Saw it 3-D Dine in theater (spent way to much on drinks). Really enjoyed it thought they stayed very true to the book. I like the book end sequence better, but some of that would have been very difficult to portray visually. My wife and I were happy that they didn't roll Purnell into another character. He's a bit different but the movie version was good. Loved the conference room scene where he is explaining things. Have some Hollywooding it up nit picks. Everything is in metric except the suit displays for pressure are in psi, the above mentioned use/unuse of tethers, and the "loading dock" scene docking. Glad to see that they borrowed ISS hardware for Hermes. Also we thought they had softened Annie (NASA PR) and Mitch (Flight) charters a little too much. I definitely recommended it and so do my coworkers who saw it this weekend.
 
I give them an A- for the movie. Liked most of it, but the effect of Hollywood on some of the scenes was just a bit too much.

I liked the alternative ending fairly well, though. (I still think the original book ending when he encounters the mom and kid was hilarious)
 
anyone know if the original book ending is still available anywhere? after the few comments on it I'd sure like to read it.
 
Mjennings - my thoughts exactly! Kirsten Wigg was wasted as Annie (as portrayed). I wish the two first 1/2 hrs of the movie were reversed..
 
To get to the part you are looking for, that rc dude provided a link for the whole book (early version before Weir sold it to a publisher), use this link for the ending:

https://www.freebooksvampire.org/science_fiction/The-Martian-by-Andy-Weir/67.html

Near the bottom. Once on that page, do a search for the word "public" and that will take you to the epilogue.

Interesting that some details that original epilogue ending is actually in the movie.

BTW - You know how sometimes you see a movie, and then much later you see it, and it does not hold up?

Well, The Martian held up well, after a whopping 3 days between seeing it the first and second time. :)

First time Thursday night was a 10:15 3D showing, there were only a handful of people (Movie officially opened the next day, it was late, and not as many spring the extra $ for 3D). So, that was good for seeing it without distractions from others. But for the second viewing I decided to see it with a big audience, so went for Sunday afternoon. The theater has reserved seating, I have my favorite spot, and a guy sat down right next to me, his favorite spot too. Mid-40's also a space fan. We talked a bit about real Mars missions, the shuttle, SpaceX….and then the movie started.

And as I said, it holds up.

Next time I see it, maybe a couple of weeks, during a $5 Tuesday viewing.

Then I'll start counting down to Star Wars Episode 7. But I'll let someone else take the lead in a thread about that. Also hopefully by the end of November, SpaceX Falcon RTF, and more tries for the first stage barge landings.

- George Gassaway
 
Just scroll down. You'll see the break in text. Right after skunk reference...
 
For those of you that dig soundtracks....

You know, it didn't occur to me until after getting back home from my viewing of this film that I didn't recall any major soundtrack "themes" to this movie like I recalled with Interstellar or Gravity, (at least not in the John Williams, James Horner, Hans Zimmer or Phillip Sheppard frame of reference) which kind of indicated to me that for once the soundtrack was a little more understated and used more in the back ground supporting role (not that it makes a big difference - but I happen to like movie soundtracks).

But a listen to the Harry Gregson-Williams soundtrack "The Martian" on iTunes reveals some very nice tracks...esp. "Making Water", which plays off the "Mars" title theme pretty well.

For what it's worth...one of the space movie themes I really liked - from a trailer from that "other" movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAzCf0ascW8
 
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Spoiler, dont' read if you haven't seen it....

Ok, I think it's been out long enough, so why do you make a lander that is so sensitive to wind that it will fall over, yet you are willing to send the future landing craft to the planet 3-4 years ahead of time and let it sit there hoping it won't be tipped over when you get there? Was this a once in a 100 storm scenario?

Frank
 
burkefj said:
Spoiler, dont' read if you haven't seen it....

Ok, I think it's been out long enough, so why do you make a lander that is so sensitive to wind that it will fall over, yet you are willing to send the future landing craft to the planet 3-4 years ahead of time and let it sit there hoping it won't be tipped over when you get there? Was this a once in a 100 storm scenario?

Frank
Click to expand...

Good question.
My brother asked he same thing after he saw it.

I was wondering if anyone noticed the plot situations that appeared in a couple of other mars movies in recent memory...(I think you all know the ones).
Did they influence the writer?
 
I take it more like a freak 1 in 100 storm type thing. Even a "squat" harder to tip over vehicle would not fare well in a severe enough storm. Yet that is indeed the risk that any Mars plan involving sending supplies and retunr vehicle well in advance risks, it's the odds. If the VAB at KSC was hit by a category 5 hurricane.... i do not think it would fare well. If it was it by an F5 tornado, there would perhaps be little left but the remnants of the foundation.

Andy Weir admitted that one thing he perhaps should have changed was the initial cause. Because the Martian atmosphere is actually not dense enough to have such physical effects even if it was blowing 200 mph. So, he'd have come up with something else that would have caused the crew to evacuate but to think Watney was killed.

Any of you guys see "Unbreakable"? Any complaints about technical issues in that?

- George Gassaway
 
I haven't seen unbreakable. For me, if the movie is compelling and the story is great, these technical things don't bother me, but in this movie I never really found myself having an attachment to the main character and my mind kept wandering to these sorts of things that bothered me....I'm sure the book was great, but I just didn't love this movie...it was nice and had some funny moments...Intersteller had some similar sorts of things, but the didn't bother me as much because I thought the characters/story more compelling...but I didn't think that move was the best either...I think it comes down to hinging main plot lines on some stupid thing like manually guiding the ascent vehicle to a rondez vous is more blatant than if it is a small side issue but the story doesn't depend on it....know what I mean?

some movies you get caught up in the story and visual thing, this just didn't happen for me.
 
I'm finally reading the book.
I'll be good for a second viewing after that.

Couldn't help but nticing afew thngs.

Anyone see these previous Mars films? :

Red Planet
Mission to Mars

There were some things in the plot of each that The Martian reminded me of ...I won't get into details at the moment.
But I have to wonder...did they come out before Andy wrote his book?
 
Oh geez, Mission to Mars and Red Planet were HORRIBLE movies. Indeed Mission to Mars was on cable a few weeks ago, I came across the scene where the mission commander....well, is not the mission commander after awhile. And wow was that whole sequence so boring and stupid and the music was so ridiculous, plodding organ music almost more suited for a muted 1960's Halloween movie, or more accurately an unintended funeral dirge, than a late 1990's space movie.

Karma owed us big for all the horrible rotten Mars movies thru the years, and The Martian makes up for it (I give "Rocketman" a free pass since it was a grade B silly space comedy sorta like "The Reluctant Astronaut goes to Mars", with Harland Williams playing a Don Knotts-like role, and I enjoyed it as such, for what it was)

I asked about Unbreakable, because there were scenes aboard a B-24 Liberator during WWII. Particularly when the bomb bay doors were stuck open and attempts were made to close them, walking along a middle beam with only ground below to the left and right, to no avail. And also, attacks by fighters while the side gunners were doing their thing, machine guns sticking out thru the BIG rectangular open side windows. DEAD CALM inside!!!! Even the open bomb bay doors scenes, no hair got mussed. No extreme rush of air sounds either. They could not afford some fans to blow some air? Anyway.....did that ruin the core story of the movie?

- George Gassaway
 
Saw the movie tonight with my mom. Yes, I'm 48 and 11/12ths, but I didn't want to go alone... She has NOT read the book, and I have 3 times. So it made a good test.
She likes spacey stuff, in fact, it was her watching the Apollo launches that got me hooked on rockets. Anyhow, we both thoroughly enjoyed it. So, bring on the bluray with all the deleted scenes.

Adrian
 
jd2cylman said:
Saw the movie tonight with my mom. Yes, I'm 48 and 11/12ths, but I didn't want to go alone... She has NOT read the book, and I have 3 times. So it made a good test.
She likes spacey stuff, in fact, it was her watching the Apollo launches that got me hooked on rockets. Anyhow, we both thoroughly enjoyed it. So, bring on the bluray with all the deleted scenes.
Click to expand...
Great to hear.

I think it was BEC who wrote that he heard an interview with Ridley Scott where he said the first cut of the movie ran about 30 minutes longer. So, that lends a lot of hope that there indeed were a lot of unused scenes shot and eventually there may be a Director's Cut that runs 30 minutes or so longer. Although of course to maximize the profits off the movie, it is likely that first the studio will do a Blue-Ray/DVD with some extras or deleted scenes (around January), then follow up a year or two later with a Director's Cut.

- George Gassaway
 
georgegassaway said:
Oh geez, Mission to Mars and Red Planet were HORRIBLE movies. Indeed Mission to Mars was on cable a few weeks ago, I came across the scene where the mission commander....well, is not the mission commander after awhile. And wow was that whole sequence so boring and stupid and the music was so ridiculous, plodding organ music almost more suited for a muted 1960's Halloween movie, or more accurately an unintended funeral dirge, than a late 1990's space movie.

Karma owed us big for all the horrible rotten Mars movies thru the years, and The Martian makes up for it (I give "Rocketman" a free pass since it was a grade B silly space comedy sorta like "The Reluctant Astronaut goes to Mars", with Harland Williams playing a Don Knotts-like role, and I enjoyed it as such, for what it was)

I asked about Unbreakable, because there were scenes aboard a B-24 Liberator during WWII. Particularly when the bomb bay doors were stuck open and attempts were made to close them, walking along a middle beam with only ground below to the left and right, to no avail. And also, attacks by fighters while the side gunners were doing their thing, machine guns sticking out thru the BIG rectangular open side windows. DEAD CALM inside!!!! Even the open bomb bay doors scenes, no hair got mussed. No extreme rush of air sounds either. They could not afford some fans to blow some air? Anyway.....did that ruin the core story of the movie?

- George Gassaway
Click to expand...

To be fair, anything involving radial engines and talking in normal volumes sort of blows the whole reality thing right there.
 
Well I saw the movie. Quite honestly, I gotta say........"meh".

I'm not saying it was bad or awful or anything like that, and I did have fun on a night out at the movies. There were a few pretty cool moments definitely. But overall, really it wasn't anything especially good either. It was just a decent movie. That's all.

The book was special - it was unique, very memorable, and really well crafted. As a book, it very much stood out from the crowd. The movie was pretty much standard-fare, with nothing that differentiated it from most any big name Hollywood feature.

One particular quality that really struck me is the whole "going to have to science the s*#t out this" thing. What made the book fun (and VERY good) was that's exactly what Watney did. The focus was on how he applied science/inventiveness/data/etc. to the problems at hand, and how that worked (or didn't sometimes). In the movie, the focus was so much more on "indomitable human spirit" and all that - pretty much standard Hollywood formula like SO many other big budget films. Don't get me wrong, I LIKE stories that are about humans, our emotions, what we are capable of (and how we are weak), and such. But big productions so often just make it cheesy and overly polished. It's like watching those American Idol type performances - the singers are emoting SO much and trying so hard to make you see that they are really feeling it.....and I don't buy it for a second. It's such a fake, such a put-on, and completely unbelievable. Such is the case with most Hollywood movies, and sadly I felt a bit too much of it here. Yes, I do of course understand that these ARE actors, and by design the whole thing is a "fake", a "put on" - I get that. But still.

I don't want to sound too harsh - Like I said, this wasn't a bad movie, and I do think folks should check it out if they want to have a decent time going to the movies. It's just a movie after all, and decent one at that.

But years from now, the book will still stand out as something unique that was really special. The movie? - I bet I hardly even remember it.

s6
 
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georgegassaway said:
Oh geez, Mission to Mars and Red Planet were HORRIBLE movies. Indeed Mission to Mars was on cable a few weeks ago, I came across the scene where the mission commander....well, is not the mission commander after awhile. And wow was that whole sequence so boring and stupid and the music was so ridiculous, plodding organ music almost more suited for a muted 1960's Halloween movie, or more accurately an unintended funeral dirge, than a late 1990's space movie. - George Gassaway
Click to expand...

I hated Mission to Mars, I still have never seen the whole movie.
Red Planet...I liked parts of it. Only reason I mentioned them was some plot situations that I remembered when seeing The Martian...
SPOILER ALERT :

- tether rescue scene of Tim Robbins -----in Mission to Mars
- finding an old Martian lander and using the old radio (frequency long out of date) to communicate that they are alive , and cobbling together a vehicle to leave the Martian surface to be rescued, with the roof blowing off on ascent -----in Red Planet

When watching The Martian these same situations seemed awfully familiar...wonder if they influenced Andy Weir?


One other Mars movie is the Spanish made/but in English "Stranded" which also had a Martian mission called Ares that gets, well, Stranded.......
Low budget....and had two of the lousiest acting performances in it but three actors were likeable.
Joaquim De Almeida - of Clear and Present Danger
Maria de Medeiros - of Pulp Fiction
Vince Gallo - Basquiat and Goodfellas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmxEWRt1iyc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QodgG5FY7uU
 
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Interestingly, yet another "Ares 3" video that was released Oct 8th, that I just ran across. While other Ares-3 viral videos begged the question of whether the ones with crew members were shot for the movie, or made for the sake of the viral videos, this one pretty much seems exactly like an unused scene, and references other events not shown. So this again may bode well for an eventual longer Director's Cut.

[video=youtube;bTRy9etXnfs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTRy9etXnfs[/video]
 
So today I finished “The Martian” and here’s my review.
Forget the thrilling survival story.
Forget the scientific accuracy.
Forget the main characters endless creativity and resourcefulness.
Forget the feelgoodisness of the whole world pulling together.

This book should be read by every mouth breathing knuckle dragger that thinks “Funny” begins and ends with Will Farrell movies or “Hangover” 1, 2 or 3. “Hangover 3”? Really; we needed “Hangover 3”? Like we need a dinosaur killer asteroid strike is how much we needed “Hangover 3”. . .but I digress.

Anybody that can read “The Martian” and NOT LAUGH OUT LOUD at least a dozen times while getting a good chuckle every third page or so should be taken somewhere and quietly put down for the sake of humanity, or at least for the good of the United States.

It need not be anything painful, I’m not cruel. Perhaps putting them in front of a big screen TV and making them watch an endless marathon of “Dukes of Hazzard” until their brain ossifies and they go quietly into the night.

That’s my opinion and you know what I have to say to those who disagree?
“Well, I don’t say anything to them because I kill them”.*


*Extra Nerd-points can be scored by furnishing the source of this quote.
 
My wife and I are in our third or fourth pass through the audiobook in the evening and I have to agree. I really hope that aspect of Andy Weir's writing shows through in his next book, whatever it is and whenever it comes out.

Force watching of "Dukes of Hazzard" of course ties right in with Mr. Watney's situation.... :D
 
Just finished the book... AWESOME

Now it's time to hit the showers... Fortunately, I don't smell *THAT* bad.
 

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