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Author Topic: The Martian (2015) Matt Russell Expert Film Handler Posts: 142 From: Aurora, USA Registered: Aug 2015 posted 10-01-2015 10:52 PM                    All I have to say walking out of this was "WOW!" Perhaps the most creative. gratifying film centered around space since Gravity, The Martian works on really every level. Matt Damon's Mark Watney performance is very faithful to how he was portrayed in the novel, keeping a sharp edge to his humor even though he's in a rather unfortunate situation. The novel was brilliant and a really fun read, but I always imagine it's format being hard to bring to film, but Ridley Scott, master filmmaker and knows damn well how to make a space movie, and shockingly makes a very personal narrative movie feel huge and compact in many levels. The supporting cast is also very impressive, led by a strong performance by Jessica Chastain as the commander of Watney's team and Jeff Daniels as the administrator of NASA. Cinematography is also stunning even though a good chunk of the movie takes place inside a "hub". Overall, The Martian is one of the best movies of the year so far, proving that Matt Damon can continue to lead his own flicks strongly and a comeback for Ridley Scott after coming off the terrible and disappointing Exodus and Consoler movies. Even if you don't dig science or space, I guarantee you'll get a kick out of The Martian. Film: 4 out of 4 stars Presentation: 3 out of 4 stars (saw it in Cinemark XD, really great soundtrack, some dialogue got overshadowed at times though and the picture looked a little bit washed out. And on a very small side note, my theater played a lot of trailers for movies that are gonna be in "flat", and letterbox sides on a gigantic screen doesn't look that good. )  |  IP: Logged Sam Graham AKA: "The Evil Sam Graham". Wackiness ensues. Posts: 1431 From: Waukee, IA Registered: Dec 2004 posted 10-04-2015 09:03 AM                        CINEMA: Regal Kansas City 18, Kansas City, MO AUDITORIUM: 16 PRESENTATION: Mystery Meat Digital PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None RATING: Three stars (out of four) I walk into the auditorium with my medium popcorn and Coke ($13.85) and wonder if they remodeled because the walls are black and void of sconces. Then I realize that this is NOT the case...there just aren't any lights on. The floor guide lights and the projector aren't on either. It's damn near pitch black in here. So I end up feeling my way to my seat, which is not terribly easy with my hands full. First Look came on a few minutes later and the lights came up to trailer level, so others coming in (I was the first one in here) didn't have the same issue. THE PLOT: An astronaut dies and...what? He's NOT dead? We just LEFT him there? Awww crap. Wackiness ensues. This is a pretty great fluffy feel-good mainstream movie with some really well done space genre cinematography that the masses will eat up and claim to be one of the most amazing things ever filmed, even though it's not. But that's okay. Everyone needs to smile sometimes. Except maybe goth chicks.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 10-04-2015 10:32 PM                     Sony 4K at that theater, Sam. And I think maybe 7.1 in some of the houses?  |  IP: Logged Michael Gonzalez Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 790 From: Grand Island , NE USA Registered: Sep 2000 posted 10-07-2015 05:26 AM                     Well between "The Martian", "Interstellar" and "Saving Private Ryan", the good old USA has spent a TON of money saving Matt Damon. Way more then we have spent trying to kill him (Jason Bourne). Couldn't help but think about the (fictional) cost when I was watching this movie.  |  IP: Logged Pravin Ratnam Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 844 From: Atlanta, GA,USA Registered: Sep 2002 posted 10-07-2015 02:25 PM                     Saw this at Regal Avalon, a fairly new complex. So I assume their bulbs should still be fairly new. but the scenes with mostly white backgrounds like the press conferences had a dim lighting backdrop to them and seemed a tad blurry. Projection or the cinematography? Movie was decent fun. Michael Pena was a funny choice for an astronaut role as I am used to seeing him as the comedic strange guy in some movies. Watched it in 2D.  |  IP: Logged Steve Guttag We forgot the crackers Gromit!!! Posts: 12814 From: Annapolis, MD Registered: Dec 1999 posted 10-07-2015 03:37 PM                     The movie was only 2K (if there is a 3D version of the movie, then it tends to be 2K for the 2D version as well). The movie did have a 7.1 soundtrack.  |  IP: Logged Buck Wilson Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 894 From: St. Joseph MO, USA Registered: Sep 2010 posted 10-09-2015 12:37 AM                     I was referring to the theater equipment rather than the movie if that was directed towards me.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 10-12-2015 10:34 PM                     I've seen this twice and yes, all the press conference/office room scenes do have this drab, oddly lit darkness on two different projector setups. the best use of 3D is the last thirty minutes of the movie. I don't know what it is, but of the two Atmos mixed Ridley Scott movies: this and 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' neither of them impressed me  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-12-2015 10:35 PM                        This movie was quite refreshing and I thought it was great. Somewhat far-fetched of course, but who knows? Maybe Mars travel will be commonplace in a hundred years and people will look back on this movie and marvel how much they got right. To me the best thing about it was how "human" it was. In an era where we have Marvel superhero movies and Transformer movies in which every machine has thousands of clicking, whirring gears and hinges and solenoids and other gadgets that all work perfectly despite being blown up, crashed into or otherwise abuse, here we have a movie in which things don't work, have to be improvised, or are otherwise inadequate for the task at hand. And a hero who displays the kind of ingenuity that a real person probably WOULD display in the same kind of situation. In short, despite the far-fetched story line, these human touches made the movie quite believable. One thing that sort of irritated me was the phony-looking zero-gravity scenes, in which the astronauts flew around like Superman, taking off and changing directions at will and being able to walk around on the ground when they needed to. I don't know why that stood out for me among the (probably) dozens of incorrect scientific details but it did. And the depiction of gravity on Mars, too, was pretty variable, considering it has a gravitational pull just one-third of Earth's. The cast was uniformly perfect, although the kid who "saved the day" was more of a smartass than he probably needed to be (no person knowing lives were in the balance would ever say, "I've got a great idea that might save the day! Wait.... I need more coffee before I tell you what it might be") but it does make for a great movie moment. I thought the Chinese-government aspect of the story kind of got shortchanged. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised to see a director's cut of the movie with that angle explored a bit more. The movie started to seem a little long by the third act; but by and large it was a huge amount of fun and probably my favorite sci-fi movie since Gravity. The sound mix was pretty good and I enjoyed the 70s soundtrack, pretty much all songs I got sick of back in my DJ days. (Except "Waterloo," that tune is still great.) Four out of five stars from me.  |  IP: Logged Aron Toplitsky Expert Film Handler Posts: 113 From: Gardena, CA, USA Registered: May 2012 posted 10-16-2015 04:51 PM                     From Jonathan "I don't know what it is, but of the two Atmos mixed Ridley Scott movies: this and 'Exodus: Gods and Kings' neither of them impressed me" I thought it was just me and was concerned since the theater I saw it in is very reliable. I agree this Atmos mix wasn't anything too special. I haven't seen Exodus. If I had to describe The Martian's Atmos mix, I would have to say...subtle and toned down.  |  IP: Logged Mark Ogden Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 943 From: Little Falls, N.J. Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-16-2015 05:33 PM                     quote: Mike Blakesley phony-looking zero-gravity scenes, in which the astronauts flew around like Superman, taking off and changing directions at will and being able to walk around on the ground when they needed to. I don't know why that stood out for me among the (probably) dozens of incorrect scientific details If you notice, what they were doing was moving in zero-gravity along the long axis of the ship, but swinging themselves into a section that was spinning like a centrifuge, where the sitting/walking areas were. This, apparently, is a viable way to simulate gravity in outer space. I thought the picture was a little dry in the first half, not being especially interesting to watch a guy grow potatoes in his own poop. Actually, I was wondering why there was a botanist on the mission in the first place, since, as he pointed out, nothing grows there (sure is lucky for the screenwriter though). It picked up nicely once NASA got into the act, but the reaction shots of the Kristen Wiig character got a little tedious. My only real disappointment was that a very exciting set piece towards the end of the novel didn't make it into the movie. It was still in all worthwhile to watch.  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 10-16-2015 08:37 PM                     interestingly Seattle's Cinerama is promoting: "We're still showing Ridley Scott's The Martian and it's still selling out, so be sure to grab your tix in advance! And thanks again to our friends at 20th Century Fox for cutting us the only 'high-brightness' version of this film in the nation!" I wonder how this actually looks (?)  |  IP: Logged Michael Kurtzke Film Handler Posts: 45 From: Ashburn, VA, USA Registered: Feb 2013 posted 10-18-2015 10:42 PM                     I Wish I knew about the 14 FtL version of The Martian before I got rid of our 3D Print. I would have loved to see it! When I called Deluxe about it, they said that it wouldn't be a big deal to ship me the 14 FtL version. I assume it's not just for the Cinerama. I hope this becomes a new thing because one of our houses can hit almost 15 FtL per eye!  |  IP: Logged Jonathan Goeldner Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1360 From: Washington, District of Columbia Registered: Jun 2008 posted 10-18-2015 11:29 PM                     Just out of curiosity,which theater are you referring to Michael?  |  IP: Logged Michael Kurtzke Film Handler Posts: 45 From: Ashburn, VA, USA Registered: Feb 2013 posted 10-20-2015 12:16 AM                     We can hit that light spec in Theatre 2 when we are playing scope films. We can almost hit it in Theatre 3 with a new lamp (~13Ft L) while playing a scope film. Even though we are common width, we set up our 3D lenses for common height (for scope) so we can get ~80% of the light we get out of a 2D Lens. I'm hoping Star Wars has a 14 Ft L version!  |  IP: Logged

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