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Sturgeon's House

The Martian


Sturgeon

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Well, I did say "but the end". The protrayal of the black hole and worm hole was spot on, as was relativity.

Even the whole "enough speed will take you through the black home" thing is regarded as a possibly in one model of the black hole.

The tesseract is...well...but it is science *fiction* after all.

And, in what ways was the Martian any better? :P

 

Utter lack of consideration for delta-v or even consistency in how the film treats it, and how crop plagues work, for a start. The Martian actually accounted for delta-v, and while the science is a little slipshod in both the book and the movie, it's way less offensive than in Interstellar.

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Besides that, I also found it not very entertaining. I thought "Murph" was a really dumb character once she grew up, and her adult actress was terrible (she was also terrible in The Martian, but she was a much less central character). The depictions of NASA sucked, at their best being heavy-handed (audience, if you don't fund NASA, the planet will die!), and at their worst being retarded (yes, let's put the personnel facilities right next to the launch pad exhaust vents!)
 

My favorite moment from Interstellar is when the school administrator tells Bradley Cooper that the Moon landings were faked. That was the best part, visuals aside.

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Another thing that was interesting from a pop culture perspective is how a movie screened in 2015 and presumably set in the future has a soundtrack with every song that is about 40 years old. Obviously the "I hate disco" bit is mentioned by Matt Damon's character; who also affects the poze of another 40-year old pop culture icon in The Fonz from "Happy Days".

I'm sure this May or may not be written in the book but, holy hell are we in a rut creatively and culturally when a big budget movie like "The Martian" can't be marketed without trotting out musical retreads like Gloria Gaynor or Abba. Don't get me wrong, I like every single song in the movie. But I can't help but think of my parent's generation and whether my mom and dad in the 1960s and 1970s would be satisfied listening to a soundtrack featuring The Glenn Miller Band or The Charleston.

The Martian isn't the only movie guilty of this of course. Guardians of the Galaxy for example uses 30 year old music as a central plot element. All I'm saying is that other than the odd James Bond film every three years, it is rare for me to really notice a new song in movie soundtracks.

The obvious exception is the crappy comedy genre where - haha - old people might be forced to sing a Taylor Swift song or stupid white guys are put into a position where they are dancing to gangsta rap.

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Well, I did say "but the end". The protrayal of the black hole and worm hole was spot on, as was relativity.

Even the whole "enough speed will take you through the black home" thing is regarded as a possibly in one model of the black hole.

The tesseract is...well...but it is science *fiction* after all.

And, in what ways was the Martian any better? :P

 

The Martian was a much funnier movie than Interstellar for one thing. It speaks volumes that the funniest and most interesting characters in Interstellar - as in the ones the geek group I watched with actually talked about afterwards - were the two box-shaped robots.

 

Given how screwed up mankind is in Interstellar and how unlikable the whole damn cast is, the robot with unfulfilled dreams of enslaving humanity and becoming king of his new colony wins "Best Character in the Movie" award easily.

 

Also, The Martian was very clearly written with the geek crowd in mind. Leather Goddesses of Phobos as a reference? Project Elrond and everyone getting it (including Jeff Daniels who is still clearly playing his Newsroom character only he now heads NASA after Atlantis Cable went under) except the PR girl? These bits were clearly written with a specific audience in mind.  

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Humor it had, but it wasn't any out of the ordinary; and honestly, it was tiring by the end of the movie.

TARS was just as humorous at times.

Then again, both movies *are about space*, humor shouldn't be a major consideration. :P

If you want to see a funny, great movie, two words; Buckaroo Banzai.

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