An excellent film, one of Ridley Scott’s best, and certainly his best sci-fi movie (Prometheus? - 
) for many years. Go and see it.
P.S. From the evidence, Scott seems to be a director who is highly dependent on his screenwriters, and on The Martian he’s been very well served by Drew Goddard, and by Andy Weir who wrote the novel - worth reading - on which the film is based.
Thank you for the recommendation. My son saw it last night, and he tells me it’s good, too. Must watch out for it. It doesn’t seem to be on at our local cinema, or at the alternative cinema that we often go to (fifteen miles away), so I might have to go further afield.
My wife and I saw it Saturday night after having devoured the novel. The novel immediately jumped up into my top 5 favorite science fiction novels (Lois McMaster Bujold, Steven Brust, Guy Gavriel Kay, and Vernor Vinge are in that same bracket for your calibration pleasure).
The effects and cinematography are amazing. The movie storyline follows closely (but not rigidly) to the novel, but the changes make sense to bring the viewer into the story and not disrupt the pacing. My wife and I both felt that the parts that got adapted or elided were done so intelligently to adapt the visual media.
Heartily endorse the recommendation.
Still haven’t seen the film, but – drumroll – have listened to the unabridged audiobook (narrated by R.C. Bray, courtesy of Audible). This was my first proper experience of a full audiobook, but it sounded like a good idea as we have had several extremely long car journeys in the past nine days, and it seemed like as good a time as any to try out this new-fangled technology thingy. I have to say that we were pleasantly surprised. The novel itself was gripping, and the science element extremely well handled. And I enjoyed listening to the book (rather than reading it) much, much more than I expected to. Now I’ve just got to find a cinema showing the film, to see how the story, tension and scientific detail are handled in that version.
I expect that most Odeons are currently still showing it, in both 2D and 3D forms - my local is. If you can find it, 3D is worth choosing in the case of this film; having previously been bored and even irritated by the whole 3D palaver, I thought that The Martian did actually justify the effort. But there must be a risk that it will soon be squeezed out by the onrushing Bond spectral steamroller.
My wife has trouble reading text on a page after a full day of working at a computer screen and then moving on to her other job as a fine arts painter. So she has been doing books on CD and then Audible audiobooks for years now. I’ve taken to listening to her rather large collection when I’m doing chores or commuting to work, and I’ve discovered that some stories are greatly enhanced by good voice actors. It’s tough to sit through a book that is merely ‘read’, rather than acted with unique voices for each character after experiences like the Martial audiobook, so I recommend using Audible’s previews to get a sample of the skills that the performer brings to the story… even if you’re not actually buying from Audible (libraries these days serve up audio books via smartphone apps).
Am I the only one who immediately falls asleep to a book on tape? I can listen to talk radio all day, but a book … gone. No idea why. Maybe something about my brain shifting into dream land imagining all the possibilities.
And the one that had (I think) Patrick Stewart… THE. BEST. INSOMNIA. SOLUTION. EVER.
Not because he is bad, but just so nice to hear…
It really depends on the voice actor. I don’t know if Sr Pat does voices, or if he just reads it (a vast difference). Also, as I tend to be doing dishes, laundry, driving, mowing the lawn, etc… falling asleep is rarely an option, but it beats the hellish boredom that I experience during such tasks without entertainment (I can’t focus in front of a TV; can barely finish matching socks during a one hour episode).
Activity doesn’t seems to matter. Audio book and driving … bad mix.
Sir PS did voices. It was clearly him. Reminded me of a granddad reading to his grandkids. I’ll have to look it up.
Perhaps I should record myself reading a book or two and send them to you guys as a cure for insomnia. One or two of my best students — whom I’m still in touch with on a pretty regular basis — told me much later that they found my voice acted like a lullaby for them and that, even though they had no intention of doing so, they slept through my lectures.
Ah well … they were bright students now working in western law firms and fully qualified in law, or getting or having got their PhDs.
Mr X
Before our Martian-audiobook-in-car experience, I also wondered about my ability to take in the words if they were heard rather than read. Previously, I have found that radio can wash over me if I don’t pay deliberate attention, and podcasts of things that I particularly want to listen to are a great way of getting to sleep at night. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that the audiobook proved to be a success while travelling. Back at home, however, I’m less convinced. We had a final hour or two of the story to get through on Sunday after our travels were over, so I bluetoothed it through the stereo system in the living room… and found my mind drifting off to other things, despite the undoubtedly compelling dénouement. Maybe the listening context is vital, and the system works best for me if I am trapped into being an audience, with little alternative other than to listen. My next audiobook experiment is to listen to Hilary Mantel’s “A Place of Greater Safety” (one of my favourite books, due for a re-read) while doing the housework.
a very good film, actually i have watched this film ago, after i saw the recommendation, i want see this film again hulle6.com
And it turns out that The Martian is interesting in a publishing sense, as well, being self-published in online instalments, then as a Kindle book, before being picked up by a regular publisher.