The Martian Movie - Survival Thriller

[Greg Bernhardt]

Who is excited for this film? I love survival films and his one is hot on my radar!



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/

 

[jerromyjon]

Wow it looks amazing! Now I'm excited too!

 

[OmCheeto]

Who is excited for this film! I love survival films and it's hot on my radar!



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3659388/

YES!

The problem is, should I read the book first?
My friend gave me her copy of the book this last Monday.

​

She'd been meaning to loan it to me for months.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The problem is, should I read the book first?

My dilemma as well. We only have a week until the movie is out.

 

[cpscdave]

Haha I was really excited to see it this past weekend... Only to find out that it is released next weekend!
Thats what I get for assuming that all this hype on social media implied that it was released.

I debated reading the book after I saw the first trailer, but I fell back on past experience. Movies can be good. But the book is almost always better. So if you see the movie then read the book you get double enjoyment. If you read the book and then see the movie you're disappointed in how much better the movie should have been :)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

93% on RT! I can't wait to see it next week!

 

[phinds]

Yeah, this does look like a good one, and Matt Damon is usually good. It has gotten unusually high ratings for this type of movie.

 

[OmCheeto]

93% on RT! I can't wait to see it next week!

4 hours until showtime for me.
Ugh! It's in 3D. I hope that technology has improved a bit.

ps. In case anyone was wondering why I posted an image of the book, it's because my friends' houseboat burned down the day before one of them gave me their copy, and the book is one of only a few items that survived. I never got past the first sentence of the novel, as it seemed oddly appropriate, for both the situations, and I couldn't stop laughing.

"...laughing and crying. You know, it's the same release..."

 

[OmCheeto]

I liked it.

 

[OmCheeto]

My brother also liked it:

Elon Musk

Mostly accurate and fun movie about Mars. Worth seeing.​

 

[berkeman]

I love survival films

So he survives! Great, thanks!

 

[cpscdave]

Saw it yesterday! really great film! Thoroughly enjoyed it.

However 1 small issue.

Matt Damon's character should've been named Marvin!

 

[analogdesign]

Overall I quite liked it. I think the *small* changes they made to the book cheapened the story, but that's Hollywood for you.

Overall probably my favorite outer space movie yet!

 

[DiracPool]

Ugh! It's in 3D. I hope that technology has improved a bit.

You didn't show up to the theater with your old "Jaws 3-D" anaglyph glasses from 1979 you've been holding onto for such an occasion, did you?

I saw it yesterday. Loved it. Would recommend seeing it in 3D with the rest of the Roy Orbison clones. The panning landscape shots of the Mars terrain in 3D looks real neato!

 

[CrazyNinja]

Here comes the big question though: is it actually possible?

These people made Gravity look like child's play. Walk upto NASA in this movie and say "we have a astronaut stuck in orbit " and they will bring her back before you have the complimentary muffin. :P

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

Going to see it tonight!

 

[phinds]

Going to see it tonight!

Bring back some popcorn to share !

 

[Borg]

I saw the film a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. As usual there are a few holes in the science from time to time but, otherwise it was really good.

 

[meBigGuy]

Going to see it tonight!

No followup? Were you that disappointed?

 

[Drakkith]

No followup? Were you that disappointed?

Due to a freak dust storm, Greg will be temporarily delayed. For a year and a half.

 

[OmCheeto]

I heard on the radio yesterday morning that a lot of new movies coming out are not doing too well.
After being out for 5 weeks, "The Martian" is still #1. [ref]
Yay!

I saw the film a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it. As usual there are a few holes in the science from time to time but, otherwise it was really good.

Spoiler

Given it's still current popularity, and the fact that I still haven't read the book, I'll not weigh in with my theory on "the holes".

 

[Borg]

I heard on the radio yesterday morning that a lot of new movies coming out are not doing too well.
After being out for 5 weeks, "The Martian" is still #1. [ref]
Yay!

It barely lost 1st place for one week but came right back. It's been #1 for 4 of 5 weeks. The new Bond film Spectre is coming out this week so The Martian will finally be dethroned.

 

[Bandersnatch]

I finally saw it. It was everything I was hoping it wouldn't be.

 

[phinds]

I finally saw it. It was everything I was hoping it wouldn't be.

Expand, please (preferably w/o spoilers)

 

[Bandersnatch]

The film is superficial and badly dumbed down. This is especially jarring when you consider what made the book it's based on so much fun.

Like most science fiction, the book has a simple story arc and shallow, two-dimensional characters, in service of presenting an idea - that of using one's brains to get out of sticky situations. It is all about letting your inner engineer out, about problem solving using relatively basic knowledge and back-of-an-envelope calculations.

In the film, nearly all of that is gutted. Rather than a story about human resourcefulness, it is a story about the magical science people and their incomprehensible ways. Most of the reasoning goes off-stage, and we're only presented with conclusions. Furthermore, these conclusions tend to be presented in the worst possible way - you've got characters explaining them to other, highly qualified and educated characters using ham-fisted analogies.

Everything is telegraphed to the audience in the simplest possible ways. You don't get people talking like they are among their coworkers, but like they explaining their job to little children.
There's one scene in particular that had me roll my eyes - an astrodynamicist sits with his laptop hooked up directly to the mainframe of a supercomputer, and the laptop displays a huge message 'calculations correct'. Oh, really? That's what the supercomputer actually told you? And you couldn't check it from your office?

This ties well to the discussion in the recent insight posted by mfb - rather than show how the science and engineering 'actually' works, trusting the audience's intelligence to follow and enjoy the ride (like the book did), the film obscures the whole process, basically calls the viewers too dumb to follow, and cementing the divide.Then you've got all the characters from the book show up in the film - but due to time and form constraints, their already shallow personae are even more simplified, to the point where you're just witnessing a string of cameos with little to say, or reason to be there.

So you end up with a film that doesn't have the book's gimmick, character drama, or proper story, and consists of MacGuyver making bombs out of shoelaces, scientists waving their magic computers and spelling the obvious to each other, and pretty visuals peppered with cheap American-centric pathos.

 

[phinds]

Yikes. Thanks.

 

[Drakkith]

So you end up with a film that doesn't have the book's gimmick, character drama, or proper story, and consists of MacGuyver making bombs out of shoelaces, scientists waving their magic computers and spelling the obvious to each other, and pretty visuals peppered with cheap American-centric pathos.

But it does it all so well!

 

[phinds]

But it does it all so well!

I'm sure. Let's hear it for low standards.

Actually, I've got no room to talk. I watch a lot of action movies that are SUCH junk.

 

[Drakkith]

Actually, I've got no room to talk. I watch a lot of action movies that are SUCH junk.

But it's such delicious junk! Good for the soul and tattered, frayed, worn-out nerves!

 

[OmCheeto]

Glad I didn't read the book first.

ps. Just now started reading the book.

 

[OmCheeto]

Glad I didn't read the book first.

ps. Just now started reading the book.

Just finished the book. 10 stars out of 10.
Now I have to go see the movie again.

 

[Trinity777]

Well, surviving was good, using crap for fertilizer...interesting. Farmer's have had that one down...forever. Intrigued, definitely; having access to other specialties ie: notebooks others left behind and finally actual communication. It was fairly well thought out, that said I am certain if it had been me I would have died in my own crap :)

 

[PapersOwl]

YES!

The problem is, should I read the book first?
My friend gave me her copy of the book this last Monday.

​

She'd been meaning to loan it to me for months.

Noooooooo! Don't read it before watching movie! Book is better but movie is also worth seeing :) So watch and then read, so you can enjoy both :)

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Been a while since I read the book, and am just now watching the movie again, so some questions.

First: Why were the suits RED? I've done SAR work in the Navy and I'd have made the suits green or blue so they stand out against the back ground.

Second: He carefully saves the live plants when he harvests the potatoes. What would he do with those?

Third: He counts the potatoes to determine his supply. That's dumb. He should have weighed the trays and figured out how many grams of potato he could have for each ration.

Lastth: The evacuees would have left vitamin supplements behind, so he had "300 days" of vitamins as well as food. But he has scurvy at the end. Why?

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

AltHist for The Martian:

2073 CE: The first international historical mission to Mars lands near the Ares III HAB, which had been declared off limits by the Tellurian Space Agency at the request of Mark Watney's parents. They find that, as satellite pictures have shown and nobody can explain, the HAB is completely free of dust. As the team approaches they notice a vague shimmer in the air around the HAB. They stop just before touching it and start to debate what to do next. One of the team, a Watney himself, kills the arguments by just walking through the haze. His suit immediately reports Earth-like atmosphere inside. They move quickly to the HAB and enter through an airlock with both doors open.

Inside, floating in a large ball of silvery-gold liquid, Mark Watney can be seen, looking very fit but asleep. One of the academics touches the ball and a voice is heard in everyone's head, and in the language of the person hearing it.

"Here's your astronaut, safe and sound. Try to take better care of them in the future.

"And please listen to Mark when he wakes, he has so much to tell you.

"We'll be seeing you soon."

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Question about the explosion. On Sol 21 the read-outs showed O₂ level at 20.74%

Before the explosion on Sol 37 the readouts showed 20.81% O₂

After the explosion the readouts showed 17.71% O₂, or 3.1% reduction.

So, from a non-sciency guy, was the explosion enough to burn that much O₂, and would the O₂ before the explosion be enough to Hindenburg the HAB?

Just wondering. Secondary explosions expected.

 

[Drakkith]

So, from a non-sciency guy, was the explosion enough to burn that much O2, and would the O2 before the explosion be enough to Hindenburg the HAB?

Not sure. Any idea of the volume of the HAB?

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Not sure. Any idea of the volume of the HAB?

Mark said he had created 127 sq. m. of soil, in circular patch.. No other hard numbers. Allow 2 m. for the torus around the soil and 3 m. for overhead?

 

[Drakkith]

Well, if we go with 350 m³, that's somewhere in the ballpark. That's 350,000 liters of air. At STP, 20.81% of 350,000 liters of air is about 3250 moles of O₂. A decrease in the oxygen level of 3.1% is about 480 moles. The reaction of 2H₂+O₂ => 2H₂O releases about 570 joules of energy. That times 3,250 is 1.85 MJ, which is comparable to a pound of high-explosives.

Those numbers depend on the temperature and pressure being near STP and on my math and chemistry being correct, so they could be wrong.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

I'm utterly sure of my math skills. They have a 100% track record. All failures.

 

[Drakkith]

I'm utterly sure of my math skills. They have a 100% track record. All failures.

By your own admission, that number may be inaccurate.

 

[phinds]

I'm utterly sure of my math skills. They have a 100% track record. All failures.

Sounds exactly like my method for cabinetry. Measure twice then screw it up anyway.

 

[jim mcnamara]

@phinds I fall flat on my face making backs of chairs. Probably why some those pieces are called splats.

 

[phinds]

@phinds I fall flat on my face making backs of chairs. Probably why some those pieces are called splats.

Jim if you enjoy wood, you should check out my site: http://www.hobbithouseinc.com/personal/woodpics/

 

[jim mcnamara]

My grandfather (from Europe) had a shop that made what they called church fixtures. As a teenager, I had to make a bow saw, several hand planes, and chisels, then use my tools to hand cut joints. All under the scrutiny 5 men in their 70's who had phenomenal skills. I learned humility first and foremost.

After a while, one of them talked my Mom into the idea of college for me. I always suspected this was a reflection on my shop skill level.

I've been to your site - yes!. Also liked the 'measure twice and screwup anyway' approach.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Question: The Earthbound souls, those poor dears, were aware of Mark being alive after Teddy announced it at that news conference. So, the families were communicating with the Ares, why didn't they mention this to the people they wrote? They'd be aware that the survivors were feeling terrible about having lost him.

Would self-censorship be requested?

Oh, and if you don't want to run out of ketchup, don't use it to make tomato soup.

 

[phinds]

Question: The Earthbound souls, those poor dears, were aware of Mark being alive after Teddy announced it at that news conference. So, the families were communicating with the Ares, why didn't they mention this to the people they wrote? They'd be aware that the survivors were feeling terrible about having lost him.

Would self-censorship be requested?

Oh, and if you don't want to run out of ketchup, don't use it to make tomato soup.

On reading this I was completely flummoxed and could not figure out what you were talking about and then I realized that we have comletely hijacked your recent comments in this thread and started making it a woodworking thread and you are appropriately taking it back to where it is supposed to be. Sorry.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

No prob. I'm watching the movie for the nth time and nitpicking.

I do woodwork too, I'll have to put up some pix.

 

[phinds]

Also liked the 'measure twice and screwup anyway' approach.

I always say that as a joke but sadly for me it's not, actually. Every project becomes a challenge in hiding my mistakes.

 

[Noisy Rhysling]

Movie has officially passed into popular culture:

My cousin was doing the families annual tornado stand-down, reviewing the does and don'ts.

Dad: Do we take shelter under a highway overpass?

Daughter: Yes!

Dad: But wouldn't you get sucked out and toss about by the tornado?

Daughter: Yes, but consider this, I'd get to fly around like Ironman!