THE MARTIAN | Oct 2, 2015 | Will compete as a comedy at the Golden Globes

[WrathOfHan]

Fox is pulling a Frozen and releasing this on Blu Ray waaaaaaaaaay too soon. Releases January 12: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Martian-3D-Blu-ray/142460/

[Tau Ceti]

5 hours ago, WrathOfHan said:

Fox is pulling a Frozen and releasing this on Blu Ray waaaaaaaaaay too soon. Releases January 12: http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/The-Martian-3D-Blu-ray/142460/

 

So weird. A week or so before the Oscar noms and they'll be effectively cutting off their box office. Makes no sense.

[Avatree]

On 11/13/2015, 4:55:21, CoolioD1 said:

I don't see the big deal with this. it's pretty much airplane! compared to laugh riots like big eyes and american hustle and my week with marilyn.

Yep, pretty much everything seems to be categorised as Comedy at the GGs.

[kayumanggi]

THE MARTIAN (IMAX, 3D) earned est. $0.64M from Tue. midnights, +80% INTERSTELLAR's midnight # (IMAX, 2D) @ChinaBoxOffice

— BoxOffice (@BoxOffice)

November 24, 2015

[Harley]

This is why award shows are such a joke. This years crop of movies are so average they should halt the awards race a year. 

[Jandrew]

i hate being the last post on the page

[Jandrew]

Never got to tell my feelings on this movie. I thought it was good not great. That's how most everyone I know who saw this feels. It was a good movie, but that 93% feels a little inflated imo. It lacked that certain something that wouldve pushed it to the next level.

 

There wasn't as much action as I hoped and the climax didn't pack the punch I was hoping for. And I appreciate the fact that this movie spent a lot of time on the science, but it started to get too obvious.

 

It was well directed and written and contained a great dose of humor, and the cast was good, though the crew was underused. That's probably why the climax lacked.

 

Not as good as Gravity. Around Interstellar, but I need to watch that again. Both movies did too much talking and preaching. Interstellar took me to a place I hadn't seen (deep space), though it did get pretty silly, which Martian never did.

 

[Jayhawk the Hutt]

1 minute ago, jandrew said:

i hate being the last post on the page

Same. People probably are too lazy to go back and read what incredibly interesting thing I have to say. 

[Tau Ceti]

8 hours ago, jandrew said:

Never got to tell my feelings on this movie. I thought it was good not great. That's how most everyone I know who saw this feels. It was a good movie, but that 93% feels a little inflated imo. It lacked that certain something that wouldve pushed it to the next level.

 

There wasn't as much action as I hoped and the climax didn't pack the punch I was hoping for. And I appreciate the fact that this movie spent a lot of time on the science, but it started to get too obvious.

 

It was well directed and written and contained a great dose of humor, and the cast was good, though the crew was underused. That's probably why the climax lacked.

 

Not as good as Gravity. Around Interstellar, but I need to watch that again. Both movies did too much talking and preaching. Interstellar took me to a place I hadn't seen (deep space), though it did get pretty silly, which Martian never did.

 

 

Thanks for the thoughtful review, jandrew. Your point about lack of action has come up frequently and you're obviously not alone. You're right Gravity is the better action movie. I recently rewatched it, and its pacing is as good as any movie I've seen in the last ten years. Keeping it to 90 minutes was a superb decision.

 

But Gravity also has a hackneyed, manipulative script (not only is she lost in space, she also has a dead daughter!) plus plausibility holes you can drive a truck through. The Martian exceeds it in terms of ensemble, dialogue, and plausibility.

 

And I would say that you can't get a +4 multi off 50M opening (achieved this weekend) unless some people thought the movie was great. The Martian has succeeded despite the ostensible lack of action and without sacrificing its hard sci-fi faithfulness. That's an accomplishment rare in the space movie genre.

[Dementeleus]

GRAVITY is better than THE MARTIAN. INTERSTELLAR is the weakest of all of them (though the most ambitious).

[MovieMan89]

8 hours ago, jandrew said:

Never got to tell my feelings on this movie. I thought it was good not great. That's how most everyone I know who saw this feels. It was a good movie, but that 93% feels a little inflated imo. It lacked that certain something that wouldve pushed it to the next level.

 

There wasn't as much action as I hoped and the climax didn't pack the punch I was hoping for. And I appreciate the fact that this movie spent a lot of time on the science, but it started to get too obvious.

 

It was well directed and written and contained a great dose of humor, and the cast was good, though the crew was underused. That's probably why the climax lacked.

 

Not as good as Gravity. Around Interstellar, but I need to watch that again. Both movies did too much talking and preaching. Interstellar took me to a place I hadn't seen (deep space), though it did get pretty silly, which Martian never did.

 

Agreed with all of this. I too have been surprised by the lack of enthusiasm among friends and family considering the movie's legs. I mean everyone I know feels the same as me. A competent film, but nothing special. I guess maybe sometimes just "good" really is good enough though. I think the film has the advantage of not being one that is going to be hated by much of anyone. It's way too inoffensive. So that obviously helps with legs. The worst thing for legs is always really negative WOM from certain people, and I doubt The Martian had much of that. 

[Jandrew]

5 minutes ago, Tau Ceti said:

And I would say that you can't get a +4 multi off 50M opening (achieved this weekend) unless some people thought the movie was great. The Martian has succeeded despite the ostensible lack of action and without sacrificing its hard sci-fi faithfulness. That's an accomplishment rare in the space movie genre.

 

Martian may be the more rounded movie, but it's not just the literal movie for me, but the experience as well. Gravity was one of a kind experience for me, in 3D and 2D. Gravity was the first movie to actually make me start choking up in the theater (that I remember at least). I felt no emotional connection with Martian.

 

Even though Watney was all alone, i still never felt much real danger because he's so smart, you knew he'd "science" his way out all his situations (and he kind of did). Actually everyone in the Martian was so smart, it made things feel a little too easy. Gravity and Interstellar had more guessing, blind luck, and "I don't know if thisll work, but lets try it anyway", which is something I like to see, especially when the setting is in space where you can't really play guessing games.

 

I will give the BO credit, it has done pretty well for not having much action or blatant CG spectacle. It's not a bad movie by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of what Movieman said pretty much sums it up. A movie doesn't always have to be a trailblazer. It can be "good enough" and still suffice and please.

[movieboner]

Due to a weak Oscar year, I wouldn't mind The Martian winning best picture as it was better than 90% of the films released this year. Although it doesn't have grand moments, it's a safe crowd pleaser choice like Argo. The only Oscar contending films I haven't seen yet are The Revenant, H8ful 8, and Joy. I highly doubt those films will be better than The Martian. Anyone feel it'll be a good choice in this weak year? If this was 2013 or 2014, it'll be a mile longshot for it to win.

[MovieMan89]

Fury Road or Inside Out are much more memorable and all around superior if they wanted to award a populist film. 

[Claire of Themyscira]

2 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

Fury Road or Inside Out are much more memorable and all around superior if they wanted to award a populist film. 

Bless you, bb. I see no lies.

 

 

Plus, if Fury Road, what if WB decided to do a release with some more footage or something? I don't know. I just wanna see this again, but in IMAX, which I never got the chance to do.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

3 hours ago, MovieMan89 said:

Fury Road or Inside Out are much more memorable and all around superior if they wanted to award a populist film. 

Hopefully Star Wars will join that list. 

[Claire of Themyscira]

3 hours ago, Telemachos said:

GRAVITY is better than THE MARTIAN. INTERSTELLAR is the weakest of all of them (though the most ambitious).

 

But I'm not mad at what you said in the parentheses.

[MovieMan89]

12 minutes ago, Dexter of Suburbia said:

Hopefully Star Wars will join that list. 

Fingers crossed. I am worried about the whole Disney connection and being part of a cinematic universe thing though. It is going to need to smash records and be like a 95%+ RT film to get the BP nom I think. 

 

On a related aside, what if IO, Martian, TFA, Fury Road, and Creed all scored BP noms? I mean it will never happen, but would be a nice change of pace in a way from the Academy's usual token populist nom. The Revenant, Joy, Carol, Room, and Spotlight could be the other half of the noms for their usual types. 

Edited December 1, 2015 by MovieMan89

[ShouldIBeHere]

3 hours ago, Telemachos said:

GRAVITY is better than THE MARTIAN. INTERSTELLAR is the weakest of all of them (though the most ambitious).

 

Go, Tele!

 

100% agreed.

[Kvikk Lunsj]

4 hours ago, Telemachos said:

GRAVITY is better than THE MARTIAN. INTERSTELLAR is the weakest of all of them (though the most ambitious).

Interstellar > Gravity > Martian