THE MARTIAN

20th Century Fox

Rated PG-13

Running time: 144 Minutes

Click below to watch a movie trailer of The Martian from YouTube.
 

In Twentieth Century Fox's The Martian, on a manned mission to Mars - astronaut/biologist Matt Damon is accidentally left behind on Mars when his crew thinks he is dead.

In a cross between Gravity, Interstellar, and Robinson Crusoe on Mars - but actually more upbeat than the others - The Martian, Produced and Directed by Ridley Scott and based on the Novel The Martian Written by Andy Weir, has Damon trying to survive all by himself after a Martian storm makes the manned Mars expedition crew believe that Damon has been lost and presumed dead after debris strikes him during the storm. Due to the limited resources that would last him thirty-one days, Damon has to science himself to survive with food and water for the next four years. Damon's sense of humor, as he is determined to use his relevant skills to survive, makes this film much more enjoyable to watch than the serious Gravity and Interstellar movies - although the movie does feel like Interstellar with the movie having both actors Damon and Jessica Chastain in both movies.

Damon's medical treatment of himself for his wounds were pretty graphic for me to see and I could barely watch them. I personally think I would have screamed a lot more than Damon did while digging into my own wounds.

The Ares III crew, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, represent NASA astronauts at it's best - while Kristen Wiig, Sean Bean, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Donald Glover, Benedict Wong, Mackenzie Davis, and Jeff Daniels represent NASA Mission Control and JPL. Daniels as the head of NASA was too much of a bureaucrat for me, while the others represented the true space proponents to me as they try to problem solve Damon's rescue and bring him home - similar to Apollo 13 - once they are able to communicate with Damon. The lack of communication with NASA and Damon's crew mates was most frustrating for me as someone who is used to using various methods of instantaneous communications.

This movie is also the most dramatic role I have seen Michael Pena play, even though he still has a comedic characterization. I also loved the astronauts flying through the spacecraft Hermes in zero gravity. Having the news media like CNN  and CNN reporter Frederick Pleitgen and the world routing for Damon made for a connection for me that Gravity and Interstellar did not have.

In scenes similar to the movie Apollo 13, NASA does what it can on the ground in order to help Damon survive and come home. NASA had scientific advisers for the movie, including James L. Green, the Director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA, helping to make the movie more scientifically accurate. Fifty pages of the script is NASA material  - although there are some inaccuracies done for dramatic effect. Perhaps the mostly scientific accuracy of the movie is why some people believe that the events of this fictional movie actually did happen The movie does show how dangerous living and traveling in space can be. As Damon says, at some point - everything is going to go south on you.

I think it is cool that The Martian has been screened on the International Space Station - and that four days before the US release, NASA announced that they had found evidence that water flows on the surface of Mars. For more on NASA's planned missions to Mars, click here.

There was a lot of disco music from the collection of Commander Chastain's collection of music, which Damon played while he was alone on Mars. Surprisingly, none of the other astronauts seemed to have had their own collections of music to play as entertainment during their long mission - especially since Damon had access to their personal effects left behind when the astronauts suddenly had to abort the Mars mission.

There are scenes as the end credits start to play at the end of the movie, even though Damon's end scenes are not in the book. I thought Gloria Gaynor's I Will Survive was a great song to use for the end of the movie.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of The Martian from YouTube.

 

Click below to watch a special documentary feature clip of the crew of The Martian from YouTube.

 

Rated PG-13 for language and nudity. Running time: 144 Minutes.

Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.

Follow us on Facebook; Pancho's Movie Reviews

DESPICABLE ME 2

Universal Pictures

Rated PG

Running time: 98 Minutes



Click below to watch the Despicable Me 2 movie trailer.



In Universal Pictures and Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me 2, Gru, Steve Carell, and the girls Miranda Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Elsie Fisher, return to save the world.

This sequel to Despicable Me is Illumination Entertainment's first sequel and it's longest film as of 2013. After his daughter's birthday party, Gru/Carell is dragged in to the Anti-Villain League by Kristen Wiig to find out who stole a secret laboratory and to stop the villain from using the secret monstrous mutagen the laboratory was developing to take over the world. Steve Carell, Russell Brand, and Miranda Cosgrove reprise their roles - while Kristen Wiig returns, this time portraying agent Lucy Wilde, as well as Ken Jeong returning portraying Floyd Eagle-san.

I like this film better than the original Despicable Me - probably because Gru/Carell is a real single father this time now, as well as being brought into the game to become a hero out to save the world by the Anti-Villain League with cool cars, gadgets, and weapons. Gru is much more lovable to me, despite his women problems with his neighbor Nasim Pedrad trying to fix him up. The girls obviously love and idolize Gru/Carell, although young Fisher also wants a mother. The opening shot if Illumination Entertainment's logo and the minion Pierre Coffin prepared me to be in the just the right silly mood for watching Despicable Me 2. This is an animated James Bond film - as opposed to Monster's University's animated Revenge of the Nerds and much more enjoyable to me, probably because the story is more of a Hero's Journey. I also liked Gru's/Carrell's over protectiveness of his daughter Cosgrove from a boy, Moises Arias and his father's Benjamin Bratt's zealousness at the local mall.

As much as I love the minions in both this film and the last Despicable Me, the minions would have been better if there were only three or four minions where you can actually get to know them, instead of an army of minions. When you see the two or three minions at once, you are not sure if these are the same minions that you had seen before or are completely different minions. While the hundreds of minions, or maybe thousands of minions, are a major plot point - I would have preferred three or four main leader minions and an entire sub race of other minions that look different from them that the main minions managed. I am not sure if I like the one-eyed minion or not, but I am looking forward to the new Minions movie.

There were lots of musical numbers in the movie - including music from the Village People's YMCA, as well as Pharrell Williams Happy.

During the end credits, the minions audition for new minions for the new Minions movie. I am sure this sequence would have looked great in 3D. Unfortunately I saw the movie in 2D, but the animation still looked great.

Rated PG for mild violence. Running time: 98 Minutes.

Click below to watch another movie trailer of Despicable Me 2.



Pancho 
All people smile in the same language.
 Pancho's Movie Reviews

 

PAUL

Universal

Rated R

Running time: 104 minutes
















Click below to watch the Paul trailer.



Universal Pictures Paul has two English science fiction geeks, Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, on an American road trip to Area 51 - when they come across an extra-terrestrial alien from space, Paul -  voiced by comedian Seth Rogen - who escaped and is on the run from the government.

As a fanboy, I appreciated all the science fiction movie references. A cross between Men in Black meets E.T.: The Extra-Terrerestrial and Due Date, I was expecting more biting humor from the movie after all the fanboy reviews I heard - especially with the geeks going to the San Diego Comic-Con. With science fiction writer Jeffrey Tambor as a sarcastic writer, I almost expected him to be a major part of the movie like a bad guy or an unlucky road companion. Fortunately his sarcasm was kept to a minimum and kept the movie from being mean, and the film really was rather cute with Kristen Wiig as the religious girl road companion who wants to kiss someone for the first time. Although Wiig and her religious father could turn off those with religious views because of their attitude, it was interesting to see their development as the film went on. With the science fiction references, it makes me wonder how the fanboys at the real San Diego Comic-Con reacted to the movie Paul.

The film is rated R and does not seem to deserve it. To me an R film is supposed to be very graphic. It is mostly because of the language that the film is rated R and even then it seems mostly like a PG-13 film to me, even a PG film. This is a shame as I think the film would have had more of an audience as a PG-13 family type film. Paul very easily could have related to children.

The computer generated motion capture animation for Paul is very good and realistic, especially the animation of the eyes. This is better than the animation of the similar grey Roswell aliens of Stargate SG-1. It makes you wish you could care more for Paul just as people cared for E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Paul is just a little too funny and rude for that kind of audience identification, even if he does want to go home - however it was cute to see how he was the fictional inspiration for E.T. along with a cameo voice-over by Steven Spielberg.

Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver are good as the intimidating government Men in Black who are after Paul, including the rookie Men in Black assigned to assist with their search - who realize the U.S. Air Force's investigation of UFO's in Project BLUE BOOK was real. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Paul, the rookies do not know how to shoot. Jane Lynch as a truck stop woman and Blythe Danner as the adult version of the kid who found Paul - who came to Earth and crash-landed on her dog 60 years ago - were also good.

Rated R for language, violence, and casual drug use. Running time: 104 minutes.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.