As actual astronauts watch ‘The Martian’ in space, mere earthlings challenge

I don’t want to push an agenda. “It would be awful”. Damon’s Watney is the only one worth feeling anything for, and whatever The Martian’s problems may be, Damon is undoubtedly the best thing in it. Even in middle age, he looks boyishly vulnerable, especially when seen in that tight-fitting skullcap astronauts wear beneath their helmets, kind of like the ones Baby Jesus wears in Flemish paintings.

Scott, renowned for his futuristic ventures such as “Blade Runner” and “Alien“, directs and produces.

“My interest in space exploration started after Interstellar“, Chastain explains. Believe it or not…I think that it can. So what happens if we have astronauts spend about that long in zero gravity, and then they need to step out of their capsule onto the surface of Mars? After Watney manages to communicate with scientists on Earth, NASA and the team of worldwide scientists work day and night to bring him back. The movie was Interstellar, Christopher Nolan’s space-time-continuum epic, and the actor – uncredited, but pivotal – was abandoned on a galactic orb, desperately plotting to get himself back to Earth.

Damon and Affleck faced questions together when they announced their intention to make a movie about James “Whitey” Bulger. If it gets a flat tire, the vehicle simply lifts the bad wheel off the ground and keeps on rolling. Another shared aspect: It took master directors to pull those films off. He has a reputation – one that took something of a hit this month when comments he made about diversity in Hollywood stirred controversy – as one of the most likable and thoughtful actors around.

The film begins with Scott’s camera sweeping over the red landscapes of Mars, providing a glimpse at the barrenness that will challenge future hero and astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon).

No, I’d never met him, which was odd because we’ve both been kicking around here for a while.

Everyone in the film is excellent, in fact, including Kristen Wiig as a NASA PR woman with an impossible story to spin and Sean Bean as the boss who puts his people ahead of the budget. “It’s happening. It’s happening sooner than we think”.

Styled by Elizabeth Stewart, Jessica Chastain may have caused us to gasp for a sec when we saw her in the sparkly Elie Saab Couture gown.

That angle is covered nicely in a viral video released to promote The Martian, where the crew is interviewed by a psychologist. There are numerous relationships explored throughout the film – that of family, friends, work colleagues, etc. – but these are secondary to the goal at hand: get Mark Watney home. In what might have been a deliberate barb, Weir gave his Mars missions names like Ares I, Ares II and so on, like the Apollos of old. One fan asked Weir if such withering storms were possible on Mars.

When I was in high school, my calculus teacher used to tell us to use “brute force mathematics” in a pinch. And, look, I was in ‘The Departed, ‘ so I’m not knocking anybody. But less than the adventurous notion of exploring “space, the final frontier”, this new movie remains very familiar.

This was not the case with Drew Goddard and “The Martian“. He wrote that. There’s nothing in the book that comments on her being a woman. “So I’m hoping we’re heading towards a positive place“.

The film has not convinced all the cast to immediately sign up to a commercial flight into space.

Did it make you think about whether you could’ve been an astronaut? “I’ve worked with him twice now and for some reason I’ve had about 10 minutes of screen time with him”.