https://www.imdb.com/title/tt27557289/? … e%20boroug

Although fun fact: Jodie Sweetin was one of my first ever celebrity crushes

Andy Weir's stories make me feel optimistic about the future.  There's a scene in the Martian book (I don't know if it's in the movie or not, I can't remember) where the international community gets together and works to get supplies to save Watney.  I can't remember exactly, but I'm pretty sure the Chinese Space Agency donates a bunch of stuff, including a rocket mission they were doing for themselves.  It's basically said "all of us are smart and even though we might have political differences, this is more important than any of that."

There's also the scene from the trailer, which may be from the book, where Watney says "Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out. If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do."

I think we need more of that to "flood the zone."

Ironically, Sliders was about teamwork.

Yes, he is quite optimistic, and we've lost some of that shared sense of humanity.  And I think even if people are in idealogical wars, they still crave for that.

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This fathom event looks interesting
https://www.fathomentertainment.com/rel … verything/

The Story of Everything is a cinematic exploration of the cosmos that reveals the hidden hand behind our universe. From the precise laws that govern the stars to the intricate patterns found in every living cell, the film traces evidence of intentional design throughout nature. Whether examining distant star-forming clouds or the spiral structure of DNA, we discover a consistent signature woven into the fabric of existence.

There's also the scene from the trailer, which may be from the book, where Watney says "Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out. If a hiker gets lost in the mountains, people will coordinate a search. If a train crashes, people will line up to give blood. If an earthquake levels a city, people all over the world will send emergency supplies. This is so fundamentally human that it's found in every culture without exception. Yes, there are assholes who just don't care, but they're massively outnumbered by the people who do."

I think we need more of that to "flood the zone."

Well, I can see how it cost so much.  The Rocky puppet probably wasn't super expensive (I can see why you might not have liked it but I found it charming), but there's some breathtaking CGI stuff.  The Adrian planet was so beautiful that I've heard people insulting the Supergirl movie for looking so boring.  I didn't think it looked like a generic blockbuster like Fast and the Furious or whatever.

One thing I like about Andy Weir is the emphasis on trusting smart people and figuring out solutions to problems that seem impossible.  I think we need that right now so I'm also glad a lot of people are seeing this movie and thinking about those things.

It's been great to see the continued comments from folks who genuinely loved the film.  And the awesome box office performance.  It will hit $600m and be profitable comfortably.   Obviously, I did not really enjoy the film but the general genre is something we need more of.  Most stuff is so dark, or not grounded, or not really trying to speak to humanity. This does.

One thing I like about Andy Weir is the emphasis on trusting smart people and figuring out solutions to problems that seem impossible.  I think we need that right now so I'm also glad a lot of people are seeing this movie and thinking about those things.

I think that's totally fair.  Not everyone loves everything, and you don't have to like something because other people like it.  I loved it, but I can totally see where there might be leaps of logic to people who haven't read the book.  The story is also a bit samey to The Martian.  I started reading Artemis, Andy Weir's second and less successful book, and it's very different.  So I do feel like he went back to the well with a very capable and sarcastic protagonist.

But I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.

Yea, it definitely felt like the Martian all over again, with some Intersteller thrown in. 

I'm actually elated though it has done as well at the box office as it has and that audiences are happy with the film.  I hope it doesn't teter out though.  Mario Bros dethroaned it and I think 500m is the break even point globally.  I hope it gets to $600m.  It's amazing to me it cost as much as it did.  Movies are getting so expensive now.

But I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff.

People love Project Hail Mary and I don't understand it.  I have no doubt, I am the one who is wrong though.

Genuinely curious what you didn't like about it and especially if it was what I just talked about.

I found the entire thing weird.  Rocky was such a bad alien, it was hard to watch how bad it was.  None of the banter was funny to me.  Gosling was really leaning into the shtick way too much as well.  I didn't feel any suspense as to the fate of the world. 

A lot of the stuff was cookie cutter, like oh we need this one dude to save us. 

I feel asleep in the middle of it.  The first hour was a tough watch.

I had such high hopes. 

Obviously, something is wrong with me, because it's been loved by the general public, as well as smart and sophisticated audiences.  I found it super weird, and quite disappointing.

(no familarity with the book, btw. but that is gonna be most audiences).

The issue I could see if you're someone who didn't read the book is that Grace seems to get so much done so easily, it seems.  He generates a communication device for Rocky in what seems like a couple of hours.  He hands Rocky a clock and then suddenly they can have a normal conversation.

But in the book, that process takes forever and is a million steps.  The clock is an introduction to mathematics.  Grace learns that Rocky's numbers aren't base ten.  Through a lot of trial and error, they are able to create a mechanism to talk to each other.

The book is a ton of trial and error.  The movie just shows him getting it right.  Which makes sense - the movie is already pretty long with him jumping straight to the right answer.  At the end, Grace figures out that the Taumeba has leaked out into his fuel supply, but that takes pages and pages in the book.  He has to figure out what is going on, why its happening, and then he makes a decision.  The movie jumps straight to what is happening because it's already been 2:15 of movie and they gotta wrap it up.

Nothing is really removed but they do gloss over a lot in the interest of time.  But if you don't know that Grace actually does the work off screen, I could see how people might be turned off by how easily Grace seems to do a lot of fantastical stuff.

Genuinely curious what you didn't like about it and especially if it was what I just talked about.

I saw Project Hail Mary last week, and it's really stuck with me.  Great adaptation of a really great book.  I don't think they could've done a better job adapting it.

Agreed. It's been a while since I read the book, but it was faithful to my memory, anyway. Well, other than the final scene, but that's just a matter when the scene takes place, not how. I had questions while watching that maybe the book addressed, but they didn't want to spend time on answering in the film, but nothing that bothered me to the point that it took me out of the experience.

But do you get to actually see the movie rendered in some way?

actually technically possible if the game developers want to be more ambitious!