  No one wants to be left alone…but it’s even worse when your friends leave you for dead on Mars with limited water and food. However, Matt Damon makes the best of it in The Martian. I’m giving it an A-. During a trip to Mars, a sudden storm forces the team to leave…and one of their crew is left behind. Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, a biologist who must learn to grow food and create water on a planet that isn’t known for either.   The Martian features an ensemble cast with many wonderful actors like Jessica Chastain and Sebastian Stan and Michael Pena who’s been everywhere…in Antman and Paul Blart- Mall Cop 2 this year. However, Matt Damon is forced to carry the movie as he records his thoughts and actions for posterity, just in case someone finds him in the future. Not only is he a botanist but also has a working knowledge of programming and basic mechanics, as well a surgical knowledge. He’s the guy I’d want to be stuck with on a desert island. I’m sure we’d be able to MacGyver our way off there!  It’s the snarky comments that made this movie wonderful. Mark Watney is left with Happy Days reruns and disco to keep him company so it’s no wonder that he resorts to sarcasm to keep his sanity. It’s through his video journals that we learn of his successes and failures as NASA sets out to try to figure out how to keep him alive until they can rescue him.  The Martian should be nominated for best Lord of the Rings reference by an actor in Lord of the Rings as well as best use of duct tape. It is known as a guy’s favorite tool!
 The only detractor in this movie is the casting of comedy actors in such a serious movie. Jeff Daniels plays the head of NASA and I expected him to crack into a joke like in Dumb and Dumber. But Kristen Wiig as the public mouthpiece for NASA was a real stretch. I couldn’t see such a known comedic actress in such a serious role. But even these two couldn’t dim the overall exciting storyline.
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Melissa KeirIt's all about the movies... Archives
January 2020
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