Skye Soon
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • Contact


WHAT'S IT ABOUT: Mark Watney, an astronaut, is accidentally left on Mars after a fierce storm. He tries to survive the best he can, tackling problems like air, food, water supply, as well as fixing damaged spacecraft. He also does lots of math, grows potatoes on Martian soil (guess where the fertiliser comes from), and blows up shizz in the lab.

Can he survive on Mars alone, and is he gonna come back home to Earth? (Rhetoric question, obviously.)

Shitstorm.
P.S. Contrary to what the title suggests, there are no aliens in this flick. D'awwww.

WHO'S ACTING



Matt Damon plays Mark Watney, a creative and resourceful astronaut/botanist. In both the book and the film, he demonstrates humour even in high pressure, intense situations.



Many people have loved book Watney's ability to stay cool under pressure, and the director brings this to the film. I found Watney funnier in the book though. More on that later.

Matt Damon has acted in loads of films, including the Bourne Series, Interstellar etc. His performance in The Martian has also garnered some funny memes.



Matt Damon is cool as Watney, but I think Chris Pratt would have been very lovable too. Hehe.

*sneaks chris pratt gifs into post*

Chris Pratt in Guardians of the Galaxy
Chris Pratt in Jurassic World
Not such a bad idea, right? Who's with me? ;)

Sean Bean aka Ned Stark from Game of Thrones
He also plays Boromir in LOTR. I'm sure you recognise him.


Lolol.
Sebastian Stan aka "Bucky" from Captain America


Couldn't find a decent Martian pic, so here's one from Captain Am.
Stan also plays Carter from Gossip Girl. He doesn't get much air time here, but oh well? I'm looking forward to the next Marvel installment too!

Michael Peña as Martinez




You may recognise him from Ant-Man! He was so funny. (Click to read my post on Ant-Man)



Some of the Crew:



LIKE:

I'm loving the positive messages sent by the movie. Actually, it's thanks to Andy Weir who wrote the story, casting a female astronaut, Commander Lewis, to be the commander of the Ares 3 mission.


Stuff like that is very important. This is what they mean by sending positive encouragement to women through the media.

This issue also reminds me of how Star Trek made TV history by having what's known as the TV's first interracial kiss.

Media has such a big, pervasive influence on society, whether directors know the true impact/scale of it or not. Seemingly harmless decisions about casting, colour, gender, and basically portrayals of certain groups of people can change, or reinforce existing prejudices in society etc. (Sociology mode: activated). Film/books/media can be said to be just a reflection of what society is thinking, I would say.

On that note, I love that The Martian is getting people excited about outer space, about NASA, about science. It's great. I think public interest has waned significantly over the decades, especially if you compare the enthusiasm from the Star Wars, Star Trek era. Space was such a big thing then. (Which is also why I liked Tomorrowland so much as well.)

I also liked the design of the astronaut suit. I didn't expect it to look so sleek. Guess we're all used to imagining them as bulky ones. I've just been to the Hong Kong Science Museum this June so the nerd in me really enjoys this movie and book too. I also loved the scenes where they float around in Hermes.

Easier to walk in, eh?

The humour. Not everything from the book was brought over, but I guess it was sufficient?
"Eat that, Neil Armstrong!"

The beautiful red scapes of Mars! I also love how the missions/NASA stuff are always named after Greek/Roman gods.

Lastly, I loved the idea/scenes of rival countries putting their heads and hands together to save a human. It's a truly a story of the human spirit.

I mean, it sounds absolutely ridiculous. Spending tons of money, politics, science, just to save ONE GUY stuck in outer space? Rationally, it makes no sense. It's a waste of resources no matter how you look at it, but... yes. the endurance of the human spirit. Always makes a good story.

(Yeah, guess who teared at the moving parts where they shot 'live screenings' around the world?  The whole world is rooting for you indeed. I think The Martian is a lot about having hope and never giving up too.)


HMM? What I didn't dig so much:

I have always thought that Mindy Park was a Korean in the book?

Okay, someone has pointed out this 'white-washing' issue in this film as well: Asian-American group accuses The Martian of “white-washing” key roles

I'm waiting for groups to start criticising the recent Peter Pan movie, Pan, because Tiger Lily is so incredibly white in there. Whut.

Oh. It already started: Mara on 'Pan' casting: 'I felt really bad'

Also, some important-ish details that I thought were not very obvious if you did not read the book; 

1. In exchange for the Taiyang Shen probe, the Chinese get to send a man to Mars.

2. Mindy Park does not appreciate being demoted to a Watney stalker all the time. She has a masters degree in mechanical engineering, y'all. Watney also gets a CNN segment all to himself. LOL.

3.Watney doesn't bathe for a veryyyyy long time in the book. The issue is dealt with differently in the film, but I thought it was great (and useful) that they let him shower in the Hab, and how they eventually used the scene to show how skinny and gaunt he was getting.

4. Watney creates a very comfortable 'bedroom' for himself while travelling on the rover. It's a funny scene in the book.

5. He doesn't complain about the lack of caffeine pills? Haha. I think Watney complains a lot about the disco issue in the book a lot, but in (book) reality, he also complains about ten thousand other things. By only focusing on the disco matter so much, there's a risk that audiences may get tired of the same running joke easily.

6. Where's the mini tantrum he throws? Though Watney is quite composed in the book, he also shows natural, nuanced emotions. In the movie, the only time he's visibly freaking out is probably the last few scenes. Mmm. Most of the time he just seems very detached.

7. The book is largely composed of Watney's log, and he is very self-deprecating in it. Most of the humour derives from this, and in the movie he doesn't seem to talk/explain enough about what's he is doing. In other words, Watney on screen isn't as geeky and lovable, nor does he feel as genius/resourceful as in the book. In the book we get that Watney is truly on his own on the planet, and that he really needs to work shit out so that he can live. The movie, although spanning 2 hours, couldn't preserve this essence or bring this across so well, in my opinion.

9. More Vogel, please. I liked how international the team was.

Yeah yeah, so this kinda became a 'the book did this better' kind of review. Can't help it *shrug* Must complain because the book was wait for it...better.

I only need two shirts in my judgy life: The Book Was Better, and the IDGAF shirt. Both in black, please.

(You know, people do this because they want to protect the integrity of the original character from the book. Look what happened to Movie Ginny vs Book Ginny in Harry Potter. Things like that can piss people off a lot. Watney is very funny and talks to himself a lot in the book. He cracks a joke whenever he can. Maybe it keeps him sane. He even had a That's What She Said joke while communicating with the people on Earth. He chooses 'Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees as his theme song. I felt that the movie did not capture his ingenuity, nor his 'aha!' moments enough.) tl;dr:  read the damn book please.

I think I'm just mostly upset that that many aspects of Watney did not translate well on screen. But everything else was pretty great.

MORE ABOUT THE MARTIAN
A conversation with Andy Weir, the author of The Martian (taken from the book).

Q: Explain how the science in The Martian is true to life.

A. The basic structure of the Mars program in the book is very similar to a plan called Mars Direct (though I made changes here and there.) It's the most likely way that we will have our first Mars mission in real life. All the facts about Mars are accurate, as well as the physics of space travel the story presents. I even calculated the various orbital paths involved in the story, which required me to write my own software to track constant-thrust trajectories.

Q: Your original, self-published version of The Martian became a phenomenon online. Were you expecting the overwhelming positive reception the book received?

A: I had no idea it was going to do so well. The story had been available for free on my website for months, and I assumed anyone who wanted to read it had already read it. Someone requested for a Kindle version because it was easier to download, so I went ahead and did it, setting the price to the minimum Amazon would allow. As it sold more and more copies I just watched in awe.

Q: Film rights to The Martian were were sold to writer-producer Simon Kinberg (Mr. & Mrs Smth, Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: First Class). What was your first reaction?

A: Of course I'm thrilled to have a movie in the works. The movie deal and print publishing deal came within a week of each other, so I was a little shell-shocked. I actually worried that it could be an elaborate scam.

Q: Star Wars of Star Trek?

A: Doctor Who.

Excerpt from "An Essay from Andy Weir: How Science Made Me a Writer"

In those months since I first started putting chapters up online, I’ve received fan emails from astronauts, people in Mission Control, nuclear submarine technicians, chemists, physicists, geologists and folks in pretty much every other scientific discipline. All of them had nice things to say about the book’s technical accuracy, though some of them also sent formal proofs detailing where I’d gone wrong. I corrected those problems (mostly) in the final edition that went to print.

And a funny tweet from Andy's twitter:



SO? TL;DR
I thought the movie was a great adaption of the book. Props for beautiful scenes of Mars, but I think we could have spent more screen time with Watney, explore his loneliness and incredible smarts, rather than on politics and drama back on Earth. The funny parts... didn't across extremely well. Kind of a waste. 

I felt that the sciencey/geeky parts that really made The Martian book what it was, so by cutting it out or watering it down for mass audiences may have diluted the original awesomeness of the plot. Oh well, then.

I thought that the director and crew were mostly thoughtful and careful about what to include or exclude in the film. Sadly this means a little less development for Watney but it's okay, nothing too huge or drastic enough for people for gripe about.

As another reviewer said, The Martian (film) is enjoyable, but even more so if you read the book first. I definitely recommend that! I hope you enjoy this piece of science fiction, it's funny and enjoyable.

For those of you who already caught the movie, here's an extra deleted scene!

DELETED SCENE: Ares 3 Archive: Chem Cam : https://youtu.be/bTRy9etXnfs

What did you like/dislike about the film? Leave yo comments down below:



What's it about:
 About The Fit (ATF), a booming online clothes website, hires senior intern, Ben Whitaker. He becomes the personal assistant of self-made entrepreneur-mom, Jules Ostin, who struggles with her expanding online empire and family life.

WHO'S WHO!



Ben Whitaker is played by Robert Di Niro.
He plays a very lovable old man, brimming with wisdom and all. I found the opening scenes rather heart-breaking though. When you're kinda lonely, even though you try very hard to fill up the days. *fear*



Jules Ostin is played by Anne Hathaway.
She wears really trendy stuff and runs a cool, chillax start-up. She's a mum too, wow. Go working mums!

I loved the white coat that she paired with this pair of sunglasses, it really reminded me of Vogue's Anna Wintour. 



I've found Anne Hathaway super memorable in The Devil Wears Prada, and remember her fondly in The Princess Diaries. I definitely enjoyed her performance in this. I kinda think she could act even more stressed though (I think I'm too used to seeing super stressed people in Asian dramas/movies.)

She's a very familiar, beautiful actress that fit the screen role. Young, spirited, with a lot of heart.

We also have the dude whom you may recognise from the Pitch Perfect movie series. 
Adam DeVine plays the funny guy Jason who gets advice from Ben to jio a girl in the office. He's mostly there for the laughs.



THE MOVIE:

What I liked:
The front part of the movie seemed to have tighter editing and more humour (mostly dick/sex references).



The second half the movie was more drama driven. I liked when the 'too good to be true' parts started to crack. Perfect is very flat and boring to me. It's more interesting when movies shows flaws in characters- it makes them infinitely more interesting to me.

Plot wise, I loved the idea of the online start-up, it's something people can definitely relate to. Though it's kinda hard to believe that Jules has a kid, an intense job, and still looks so glamorous every day. Haha ok give chance movie life, yeah? If anything I hope the movie inspires and encourages women everywhere to keep going at it. YOU GO GIRLS!

I liked the CEO plot, mainly because I've been reading some 'business-y' books that talks about the insider world of luxury goods (Jimmy Choo), Coca Cola, or Pixar.

I also liked how the movie tackles aging, experience, and the treatment/stereotyping of old people in society, as well as in the workplace. Agism (like sexism) is very real.

Hmmm:
Movie was about 2 hours long. I was okay with the pacing, but I'm not very convinced by the development of Ben's character. 

After a while it seemed like he could do no wrong, and everyone was treating him as some kinda saintly Aunt Agony. I felt that Ben's character ended up being flat and felt more like a device for the other character's stories to be told. In other words he gradually felt like a filter to me. 

That said though I would love to have someone like Ben in my life to mentor me.

The ending was like... what. 

Wut.

I guess they're trying to say that we should all really take a chill pill and just roll with the times. But I don't think it was a good way to wrap up the 2h movie. The movie explored many themes: working mum, seniors, work life balance, etc. I thought some themes were shown well though.

Eg 1: I felt that bar scene was botched with poor dialogue. Jule's tirade was not particularly enlightening nor entertaining here.
Eg 2: Ben just smiles and takes all the shit he's given. o_o For a while he felt a little like a doormat.

Not sure if these could have been dealt with better?

I also disliked the non-resolution of Jules' relationship with her mother... I think that worsening relationships with parents are quite common occurences that people can relate to... and to have the whole thing just peter off quietly seemed a little anti-climax, especially with the big heist scene in the middle. So that's definitely one thing I would have loved to see being dealt properly with in the film. 

SO?:
Like I said, there are many movies vying for our attention and money in the cinemas now, such as The Martian and Pan, which I have yet to catch.

Honestly I went into the cinema fully expecting to cry. But I didn't. Tear ducts were all healthy last time I checked for Royston's 3688, so uhm. Also the trailer also depicted some of the best parts and humour, so.... don't expect too much I guess?

TL;DR 
Not touching enough for me. Encouraging for female entrepreneurs maybe. Some laughs here and there, OK pacing. Expected more from this. 


How about you? If you watched the film, what do you think?


3688: Heartland life. fun songs, and an earnest, touching storyline.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT: Feifei is a humble and kind carpark auntie who loves to sing. Meet her fellow snarky auntie colleagues, kopitiam life, and how she copes with life when her father gets dementia.

Feifei is played by Joi Chua (蔡淳佳), best known for singing the song "陪我看日出” ie. (雨下了走好路/ 这句话我记住). Her voice is clear and beautiful, and her screen performance is believable. The only thing that was not so believable was her movie age (38 years old auntie? Oh come on! She looks like she's in her early thirties,)



WOW! What I liked:

The fun musical like sequences. Hahaha. A hallmark of Royston films! John Lui describes the movie as 'campy'. I never knew the meaning of this word, haha. Read his professional review here (click!), it's interesting!

I think everyone liked Lady KaKa aka Liu Ling Ling's creative costumes. They're so fun and quirky!



SHIGGA SHAY! Haha. I didn't expect him to have so many scenes, and I thought that he was pretty natural on screen. Go listen to his song, aka the 3688 soundtrack, Tapau (click here).  (还有一个bandung!)



Friendzoning parts were funny yet sad, as all friendzoning stories go. Sob?

(I lie. I was evil and laughed when it happened.)

Dakota~~~!!!!

Rahima Rahim's boss life as lead carpark auntie. Hahaha.

Old folks, parents, family love and aging. Dementia, and other mental illnesses: lots to think about here.

This movie reminded me of what I learnt in my sociology aging course. What's going to happen  when our parents age, or contract illnesses? What's going to happen to us when we get old? Assisted living, old folks homes, toilets outfitted with railings....and changing family dynamics. In truth I think the aging issue is actually very real and painful...it's something I know I might not be able to cope with if life suddenly threw me into the deep end.


Didn't like:
Weird, underdeveloped character of Fei Xiang. Felt he was introduced into the film for not much reason?! Felt like this could be improved on, felt that the story for this was just dangling there uncomfortably. Angmoh-asian hipster barista eyecandy though. Hahaha.

Is the ending ambiguous or am I reading too much into it? Haha (after effects of listening to the analysis of 雨季 by Xun).

CUTE:
The cinema was full of aunties and uncles! It was actually very surprising and heartwarming for me, I have never seen such a big group of the older demographic fill the entire hall of a cinema before. (No, they didn't mass buy tickets. They all came with their friends/families).

They also cried, talked on the phone, giggled, whispered loudly to each other, brought market trolleys with them, and sang along with Fong Fei Fei songs. It doesn't get more fun and authentic than this. An eye-opener for me! I'm impressed by how a film like that can bring together a very different kind of audience, and more curious to find out how they found out about the movie and what made them come catch it! :D

Also, one thing why I like cinemas more than watching flicks at home is the communal feels (there are pros & cons, of course, but it's fun to watch something and react together. (see: cinemas as a liminal space, lol).  It's also why I prefer watching anime on sites with comment feeds, because it's so fun when someone feels the same thing as you do, or point out something interesting. Watching something can be solitary, yet...you can still feel like a part of something bigger simultaneously (if you choose to)? (Extrovert or introvert? God knows. Haha.)

My personal goal this year is to watch more films, and watch more widely. I want to break away from just watching blockbusters (though I will still catch them) and my usual rom-com fare. Wanna be exposed to be more cool things :)

Watch? 
Currently there's a lot of movies to catch: The Intern, The Martian, The Scorch Trials etc etc. These will all jostle for your attention, time and most importantly, perhaps, your hard-earned $$$.

I'm glad I got to catch 3688 though! Tears were rolling down my face and I wasn't the only one sniffling away at the end. It's not extremely moving, and can even be termed as cliche, but hey, I dig it. I enjoyed the movie! It made me smile, laugh, and cry.

Visually I felt that the mise en scene was largely beautiful and vibrantly designed. I would love to photograph the place where Shigga puts up fliers, for example. The tones and lines are pretty, and not to mention all the antique/retro things in Feifei's home. Treasure trove.

So... yeah! Hope you will enjoy the film as much as I do :)


Newer Posts Older Posts Home

ABOUT ME

Skye Soon : lifestyle blogger in Singapore, street busker and enthusiast of chocolates and books

Socials

POPULAR POSTS

  • These SG short films will impress you...
  • Checking out Yakiniku-GO and how it compares to Yakiniku Like
  • Morinaga Pancake Mix from Donki
  • CHOCO PIE SHOW DOWN: Lotte VS Orion
  • 📖 Last Tango In Cyberspace - New ways to think about animals
  • slice of life
  • Old school cakes perfect for tea time!
  • Movie: Turning Red
  • Shin Ramen + Milk?
  • 📖 Ikigai

Advertisement

Blog Archive

  • ►  2023 (9)
    • ►  March 2023 (5)
    • ►  February 2023 (4)
  • ►  2022 (68)
    • ►  October 2022 (6)
    • ►  September 2022 (5)
    • ►  August 2022 (6)
    • ►  July 2022 (8)
    • ►  June 2022 (6)
    • ►  May 2022 (4)
    • ►  April 2022 (7)
    • ►  March 2022 (9)
    • ►  February 2022 (8)
    • ►  January 2022 (9)
  • ►  2021 (41)
    • ►  December 2021 (3)
    • ►  November 2021 (1)
    • ►  September 2021 (2)
    • ►  August 2021 (4)
    • ►  July 2021 (5)
    • ►  June 2021 (4)
    • ►  May 2021 (4)
    • ►  April 2021 (4)
    • ►  March 2021 (6)
    • ►  February 2021 (1)
    • ►  January 2021 (7)
  • ►  2020 (106)
    • ►  December 2020 (3)
    • ►  November 2020 (11)
    • ►  October 2020 (15)
    • ►  September 2020 (14)
    • ►  August 2020 (12)
    • ►  July 2020 (8)
    • ►  June 2020 (11)
    • ►  May 2020 (6)
    • ►  April 2020 (9)
    • ►  March 2020 (4)
    • ►  February 2020 (9)
    • ►  January 2020 (4)
  • ►  2019 (133)
    • ►  December 2019 (1)
    • ►  November 2019 (15)
    • ►  October 2019 (18)
    • ►  September 2019 (11)
    • ►  August 2019 (8)
    • ►  July 2019 (11)
    • ►  June 2019 (19)
    • ►  May 2019 (17)
    • ►  April 2019 (11)
    • ►  March 2019 (11)
    • ►  February 2019 (5)
    • ►  January 2019 (6)
  • ►  2018 (12)
    • ►  December 2018 (2)
    • ►  June 2018 (1)
    • ►  May 2018 (1)
    • ►  April 2018 (4)
    • ►  March 2018 (2)
    • ►  February 2018 (1)
    • ►  January 2018 (1)
  • ►  2017 (2)
    • ►  September 2017 (1)
    • ►  July 2017 (1)
  • ►  2016 (14)
    • ►  December 2016 (1)
    • ►  August 2016 (1)
    • ►  July 2016 (1)
    • ►  June 2016 (1)
    • ►  May 2016 (1)
    • ►  April 2016 (1)
    • ►  March 2016 (3)
    • ►  February 2016 (3)
    • ►  January 2016 (2)
  • ▼  2015 (39)
    • ►  December 2015 (1)
    • ►  November 2015 (1)
    • ▼  October 2015 (3)
      • Movie: The Martian
      • Movie: The Intern
      • Movie: 3688 by Royston Tan
    • ►  September 2015 (9)
    • ►  August 2015 (4)
    • ►  July 2015 (8)
    • ►  June 2015 (10)
    • ►  May 2015 (3)
Skye Soon 2022

Distributed By Gooyaabi | Designed by OddThemes