Let's anticipate PROJECT HAIL MARY, with a cute-ass Ryan Gosling in a space suit

https://i.ibb.co/rGnCht2t/AKAMLJABWRAB5-EDEFJ55-WMWMIA.jpg

Good fun. Despite the man-creature relationship reminding me of Johnny 5 and Ally Sheedy's in Short Circuit, this thing manages awe + laffs. Ryan Gosling, in every frame, gives a full star performance. If you like him as a performer, you get everything that makes him pop as a screen presence. Sandra Huller is his match. Included: the Meryl Streep gag in a film, and a callback to a key Huller moment in Toni Erdmann.

callback to a key Huller moment in Toni Erdmann.

Naked brunch?

The trailer didn't sell me on this, but if you liked it, I'm curious.

The reviews have been all, "Gosling yay, movie meh," but I was surprisingly in for much of it.

Been considering seeing this. I knocked through the book a while back, and thought it was compellingly page-turny despite being fairly annoying. It felt like reading The Swiss Family Robinson, where every chapter has a title like "In Which Father Defeats a Shark" --- start with some new mission-critical problem, walk through the clever little science puzzle to solve it, finish on cliffhanger setting up the next problem, but no real sense that he'll actually fail. The hyper-competent "set em up, knock em down" thing. At a certain point it's like, jeez, this guy single-handedly solves real-time communication with a space alien, and then does twenty *more* equally staggering things?

I also grew to resent the amnesia gimmick, which transparently served to let the story begin at the fun part and dripfeed exposition. A hoary old device, relied upon by man a 90s PC adventure game... I just got impatient with the flashbacks and very ready for him to get on the damn spaceship.

But all of that seems like it could play much better in a movie than on the page, especially if they condense some of that stuff through montage. And Gosling IS a pleasant presence on the screen.

Most of the tech lingo's been excised, and Grace gets over his amnesia rather quickly -- both criticisms, according to a friend.

I've heard interviews with that author and he comes across more as a technical writer than a storyteller

keep confusing this in my head with project runway

thank you moon

My feeling on the book was compelling story, cringy writing. But I did enjoy it overall and will probably see the movie, which I think may fix some of the book's flaws. I thought the Martian was an enjoyable movie, though that one I didn't read the book

This movie was sappy but sweet, basically a live action Pixar film.

i dont care if this is pvmic

i fucking loved this movie

it made me cry loads and it made me happy

(sidebar i tried to read the book last year but gave up bc the science early on was waaaay too much for me, an actual dummy )

the puppetry of rocky was so expressive and lovely and excellent & Gosling is the best

10 thumbs down <up>

I went in knowing next to nothing about it, and I was not expecting it to be what is in essence a family film, in the best possible way. It's inspiring and has a really positive disposition. It's also just a liiiiiitle too long, but that's movies in 2026 for you. Fingers crossed people keep seeing it, it's nice to watch a movie that makes you cry *and* leaves you hopeful.

YUP. I didn't expect to have my emotions coaxed out so well.

100%!

and I want Gosling on my couch now, wearing wire-rimmed glasses.

cosign

We loved it. Gosling was great. And they did an excellent job streamlining the book and upgrading the dialogue. Rocky could have been cringe but was fantastic. And Ryan Gosling. So, net net, movie >>> book.

I actually left my house and went to a cinema to watch this, that's how much I love Ryan Gosling. Thought it was great. Maybe a little bit too long, but overall it was a proper Night at the Movies. Beautiful design, beautiful visual effects, funny jokes, heartwarming intergalactic buddying, really top notch. Well done everyone, thumbs down.

The only thing that annoyed me was it took me too long to figure out where I knew Carl from. I of course know him from The Bear.

wow this was a GREAT time at the movies. an old-fashioned, big-hearted crowd pleaser. like five minutes in it was clear i was going to enjoy it, and i did.

same

ironically, given my comments above, i actually think it could have survived a little MORE fun science problem-solving. it's also a little long, but it moved. also, like, a movie where the world collaborates on a big problem and people are willing to sacrifice themselves for a real cause just kinda hits right now.

best single deletion from the book, off the top of my head: long sequence where, following Rocky's injury, Grace tries to help him by cleaning gunk out of his respiratory system, only to learn after Rocky recovers that the gunk was part of the healing process and so that entire chapter was a pointless digression.

I ... did not like this. I was mostly fine with it until Rocky showed up, but the cutesy anthropomorphism bugged me, and I also struggled to care during the dragged-out ending. Feel like there are some interesting ideas inherent in the premise that could have been explored had the movie not focused so much on the quippy buddy comedy element. Gosling innocent, tho; he's very charming, as usual.

It’s nice to see that Hollywood can still make a big-budget, hard sci-fi, crowd-pleaser that’s not a sequel or based on a comic book. Would probably have to go back pretty far to find another example.

We saw this on Sunday (me + wife). We both liked it as a fun movie that was not afraid to be corny at times. As for the science-y aspects, a few were interesting, but most were simply window dressing around a very basic plot. This was a conscious exercise in 'making entertainment', but with the cast and crew taking real pleasure in doing it well. It had very good visual design. Sadly too much of the music was off the shelf, not very imaginative, and I kept noticing that.

I thought it was pretty good, enjoyable enough. Unchallenging for Sci-Fi, thats for sure. Needledrops felt very much trying to just do what Guardians did.

It seemed a bit novel to have a movie about encountering an alien intelligence that is different but not necessarily more advanced.

I guess, but Rocky almost immediately assumed a cozily familiar sidekick role, with the eager energy of a younger sibling or cartoon pet, that erased whatever sense of wonder I had about the alien species.

yeah, the tired trope of them adopting snark takes me out of it

I enjoyed this

Pretty much everyone has told me to check this out, so I will!

I never got around to watching The Martian, although the consensus among people I've talked to is that the movie didn't have a lot of the problems I had with the book. There are a handful of authors where I'd rather watch a film adaptation than the books and I'm going to assume that's the case and not investigate too much further, although Doctor Casino's comment rang true for me re: The Martian. The narrative flow was really clunky with a hard stop between chapters, and the few concerns that were obvious Checkov guns were insanely obvious to the point I was groaning.

If the major draw of a sci-fi book or movie is the process of applying imagination about the possibilities of the universe, where the ideas have been disciplined by the rigors of scientific thinking, you'll be disappointed. This ain't that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vR4sgPQdqo

God, why did anyone have to ask him anything? We were all doing fine without knowing what Andy Weir's actual politics are.