Everest and The Martian
The Martian is set in an apparently not-that-distant future, where everything is exactly the same as right now, except people have set foot on Mars. This is an extremely nuts-and-bolts movie, and would be in danger of falling off the edge if not for Damon's winning performance and Drew Goddard's excellent script. It is peppered with humor and human touches, like Damon's hatred of disco, and the extremely serious problem of lots of potatoes, not enough ketchup. This is Damon's movie, all the way.
Between "Everest," and the "The Martian," the movie-plex this fall seems to be full of films about places where the tiniest mistake can result in almost certain death. If Hollywood is trying to convince me to never leave my couch again, they're doing a pretty solid job. The two films also give us an opportunity to meditate on the human spirit, and our place in the vast universe where we live.
"The Martian" is set in an apparently not-that-distant future, where everything is exactly the same as right now, except people have set foot on Mars. When a team of astronauts are surprised by a storm on...
