- Joined
- Jun 10, 2003
- Messages
- 26,916
- Real Name
- Josh Steinberg
I'd really like to read the book!
Some mild spoilers in my next paragraph:
The first time I saw the movie, I was a little disappointed because I didn't find it very suspenseful. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot, but with an A-list actor in the lead, that alone was enough that I never doubted the outcome. But the second time around, I saw it much differently, not as a suspense move per se, but as a story of survival and how we, as a space program, as countries united, as people, can achieve big things and rise to meet impossible challenges. And I had forgotten enough between my first and second viewing that the fun really came not from "there's no way anyone could survive this" but "I can't wait to see how he does find a way to survive this". After my second viewing I really appreciated the movie so much more. It's one of the most positive, hopeful pieces of big budget filmmaking I've seen in a long time. I'd love to live in a future where NASA is attempting missions like this!
And I love that for three years in a row, we've gotten (semi-)realistic space travel movies in October, movies that take the concept seriously and do a great job with it. I love Star Wars and Star Trek and Guardians Of The Galaxy and all of those, but those aren't really movies about what space travel would be like for humans living in this time period. Wouldn't it be great if movies like The Martian and Interstellar and Gravity became the new westerns of the 21st century?
Some mild spoilers in my next paragraph:
The first time I saw the movie, I was a little disappointed because I didn't find it very suspenseful. I really enjoyed the characters and the plot, but with an A-list actor in the lead, that alone was enough that I never doubted the outcome. But the second time around, I saw it much differently, not as a suspense move per se, but as a story of survival and how we, as a space program, as countries united, as people, can achieve big things and rise to meet impossible challenges. And I had forgotten enough between my first and second viewing that the fun really came not from "there's no way anyone could survive this" but "I can't wait to see how he does find a way to survive this". After my second viewing I really appreciated the movie so much more. It's one of the most positive, hopeful pieces of big budget filmmaking I've seen in a long time. I'd love to live in a future where NASA is attempting missions like this!
And I love that for three years in a row, we've gotten (semi-)realistic space travel movies in October, movies that take the concept seriously and do a great job with it. I love Star Wars and Star Trek and Guardians Of The Galaxy and all of those, but those aren't really movies about what space travel would be like for humans living in this time period. Wouldn't it be great if movies like The Martian and Interstellar and Gravity became the new westerns of the 21st century?
The book also has more humor.
