A potentially enthralling concept; an Earthling gets stranded alone on another planet; is ruined by hackneyed movie-making. The biggest problem is that in a story that relies on tension and suspense, there is little to none.
Nasa astronaut Mark Watney is left for dead on Mars after a botched expedition, but you never get the sense that he’s in any real danger. Even if you did, you probably wouldn’t care. His character is mostly irritating.
my rating : 2 of 5
2015
Interstellar would be better as just a space adventure. Christopher Nolan instead makes the mistake Steven Spielberg made with AI by encompassing the ambiguous theme of “love”. The protagonists intake on journeys to other worlds, but I’m stranded in schmaltz city as Nolan tries to make me care about the relationships between characters.
In a sense, the gist of the plot depends on it. If emotional attachment doesn’t pull you in; it didn’t me; there’s not much else to do the trick. The movie is daring and provocative in its declaration that the Apollo moon landings were faked and some of the action scenes are entertaining, but it’s bloated and pretentious in most other regards.
my rating : 3 of 5
2014