Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

I was pleasantly surprised by this. Unlike Prometheus, Scott's previous space movie, it never loses its way in the story it's trying to tell. I think a lot of this is thanks to the original source material that grounds the overall movie. I was also surprised by the amount of humor. It's not exactly laugh out loud stuff, and there are obviously tense moments, but it has a very crowd-pleasing quality to it. The theme of people working together to get stuff done is very engaging and rewarding.

I hope some of this solid filmmaking rubs off on Alien: Paradise Lost (Prometheus 2).

This movie was absolutely spectacular. I honestly think the last time I enjoyed a movie as THOROUGHLY from beginning to end for nearly 100% of the running time on my first watch was The Dark Knight. I was on-board and enjoying from almost the absolute beginning and if not for one thing in the climax that felt a bit like it jumped the shark just a tad too much, I would have had no complaints throughout the length of the film.

I love how positive it is. Not just in terms of being funny (which it is...it's HILARIOUS), but that every single person in the movie is a "good guy." Nobody's trying to serve their own ends, nobody's not trying what they think is the right thing to do. Even the one character who pushes back against what everyone else wants to do only does so because he wants to go with what he believes is the safer option. When's the last time a movie had so much unbridled positivity about what humanity can do when they come together?

This movie manages to be funny, intense, inspirational, emotional, and basically (somehow) EVERYTHING a movie like this should be. So many "triumph of the human spirit" movies take cheap shots to make the "darkest hour" seem far too dark so that we get a "nice" feeling when things turn out okay (which, for me, just winds up making "It's all A-OKAY!!!" seem silly after just HOW far things sink), or add in villains who throw up obstacles just to be dicks, or get way too sappy. The Martian manages to play with all the emotions you have perfectly.

It's obviously early, and I never really like to say stuff like this on a first viewing, but this is my favorite movie of the year right now, hands-down (and I thought NOTHING would touch Mad Max). I loved this movie.

Wow. Quite a recommendation! I'll make it one of my first post-Halloween viewings.

At first I thought that Jeff Daniels was going to be sort of the bad guy. But your right he's not a bad guy but his reasoning for some of his decisions are good from a different stand point.

Agreed, I thought this movie was fantastic.

I don't think it is my favorite movie of the year though (it's still kind of hard to top Ex Machina and Inside Out), but it is definitely up there. However, I'm not going to bother coming up with a true ranking for the year until after I see Star Wars, The Good Dinosaur, Mocking Jay, Spectre, and Hateful 8. Oh, and hopefully I can add Krampus and Bridge of Spies to that list.

Put me in as someone who thought it was one of the best of the year. Mad Max is still my favorite, but The Martian was a lot of fun.

The 40-year-old explains why his plans to direct fell through and his first reaction to being asked to tackle the space novel: "You're asking me if I want to write and direct a blog?


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