Project Hail Mary

GomezAddams

GomezAddams

Wandering and wondering
Staff member
OK, I know a bunch of you are fellow nerds. Anybody else seen this yet? What did you think?

I had very high expectations considering how good a job Hollywood did with The Martian, so I was a bit disappointed. But my expectations were probably unrealistic. All in all, I thought it was pretty good. It did follow the book very well.

I feel sorry for people who see the movie without reading the book because a LOT of information for the plot is barely touched on or quickly glazed over in the movie. On the other hand, at 2 1/2 hours the movie is already seriously overweight and I understand why they had to cut out some details.

I'm going to wrap the next bit in a spoiler tag, but I'm not giving anything away that isn't in the trailers.

I hate that they dumbed Rocky down into a goofy alien sidekick. I assume they were trying to make the movie attractive to kids? Merchandising possibilities maybe? Are we going to see Grace and Rocky action figures? I should have known when I saw Project Hail Mary cups and popcorn tubs for sale in the theater something bad was happening.

I also hate the design of Rocky's ship - pretty silly.
 
While we were invited to an early screening a week ago, I wasn't able to see it until Saturday.... I really loved it.

I accepted the pacing and glazing over some of the nerd factor (and the passage of time to figure out so many pieces as the story went on) to make it palatable for mainstream audiences. I kind of figured that would happen, so again I purposefully waited to read it until afterwards (and fill in the cracks). Did this with the Martian even though I had the book on my desk for a month before I saw the movie.

I appreciated the design of the alien ship in the way the "orb weaving" tech of Rocky's planet connects with movie goers and the public's understanding of 3D printing to make accepting the visual components faster and required less exposition.

Likewise... I saw Rocky as equal or in some cases more intelligent than Grace... just the limited vocabulary of the translator made so many of the interactions sound dumbed down to match the translation. Happens any time there is a language barrier and we... talk... caveman... to make... answer... sense...

Fist my bump. :helper:
 
I'll probably end up watching it at some point. Doubt I'll catch it in the theater though. And yeah, the books are always better than the movie, but it's understandable that corners need to be cut to make the film manageable. Some are better than others at that.
 
Really enjoyed the book. Will see the movie when it hits streaming.
 
My local theater is showing it in 70mm. I was thinking about seeing it but haven't read the book but it sounds like that may not be a great choice?
 
I downloaded the book. I'll watch the movie at some point after I finish reading it.
 
I have not read the book. I have not seen the movie. I don’t plan to see it in a theater, but I will definitely watch it when it’s available to stream.
 
Lerxst said:
My local theater is showing it in 70mm. I was thinking about seeing it but haven't read the book but it sounds like that may not be a great choice?
Click to expand...

I'm in the "watch the movie first... then fill in details and back story with the book" camp of thought. :baimun:
 
I read the book a couple(?) of years ago and thought it was a fabulous book so I'm stoked to see the movie come out. I plan to go to see it but since I rarely go to movies (honestly I cannot remember the last time I did so it is certainly pre Covid) I may never get around to it and will end up watching it if it ever shows up on a free streaming service in a decade's time :Wave:
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tig
nuke_diver said:
I plan to go to see it but since I rarely go to movies (honestly I cannot remember the last time I did so it is certainly pre Covid)
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know I'm in the extreme minority... we used to typically see 20-30 movies a year in the theatre. We're part of a movie club for cheaper tickets and how we get pre-release screenings.

BTW... When I first started buying our tickets, the first screen that popped up were for Screen-X... which I guess is a panoramic screen thing.... $38 per seat. What in the actual fuck? We went to our normal seats (leather recliners in the handicap accessible row so my wife and I are in a pair of seats with zero people next to us on either side) for the usual $9 per seat (club price).

Yeah, just checked and we've only been to 3 movies so far this year... so well off our typical pace.
 
Just got back, the movie was pretty good. I’ll enjoy it more after another viewing, so I hope it’s streaming soon.

One bummer is how they pronounce “astrophage” with a long a in the second syllable. In my head reading the book it was astro fahzh. Which is much cooler. Now it’s ruined for me. :flamemad:
 
baimun said:
Yeah, I know I'm in the extreme minority... we used to typically see 20-30 movies a year in the theatre. We're part of a movie club for cheaper tickets and how we get pre-release screenings.

BTW... When I first started buying our tickets, the first screen that popped up were for Screen-X... which I guess is a panoramic screen thing.... $38 per seat. What in the actual fuck? We went to our normal seats (leather recliners in the handicap accessible row so my wife and I are in a pair of seats with zero people next to us on either side) for the usual $9 per seat (club price).

Yeah, just checked and we've only been to 3 movies so far this year... so well off our typical pace.
Click to expand...
3 per year is probably about where I've been at for a few years now. There's just not much coming out of Hollywood that appeals to me enough to go to a theater. Not sure if it's me or Hollywood that changed. I miss the dumb/fun comedy movies from the 70s and 80s. They don't make funny movies anymore, change my mind. :lol:
 
shoeless said:
3 per year is probably about where I've been at for a few years now. There's just not much coming out of Hollywood that appeals to me enough to go to a theater. Not sure if it's me or Hollywood that changed. I miss the dumb/fun comedy movies from the 70s and 80s. They don't make funny movies anymore, change my mind. :lol:
Click to expand...

Part of the problem is braindead marketing.

The last couple comedies that I enjoyed... Hit Man, Poor Things, Everything Everywhere All at Once... I didn't see until they weren't in theatres anymore and would have enjoyed them during their run.

Also fucking trailers that give away the entire fucking movie.... I had an interest in Disclosure Day... until the trailer they showed before Hail Mary showed the entire fucking movie. :mad:
 
I actually
baimun said:
Yeah, I know I'm in the extreme minority... we used to typically see 20-30 movies a year in the theatre. We're part of a movie club for cheaper tickets and how we get pre-release screenings.

BTW... When I first started buying our tickets, the first screen that popped up were for Screen-X... which I guess is a panoramic screen thing.... $38 per seat. What in the actual fuck? We went to our normal seats (leather recliners in the handicap accessible row so my wife and I are in a pair of seats with zero people next to us on either side) for the usual $9 per seat (club price).

Yeah, just checked and we've only been to 3 movies so far this year... so well off our typical pace.
Click to expand...
I did look at the AMC site to see what time the movies were playing at. It looked to me that you had to reserve a seat, WTF you can't just show up on a whim nowadays???

:old:
 
nuke_diver said:
I actually

I did look at the AMC site to see what time the movies were playing at. It looked to me that you had to reserve a seat, WTF you can't just show up on a whim nowadays???

:old:
Click to expand...

We like it that way… if we can’t get seats in the middle of the theatre, then we go on a different day/time. I’m super picky about not sitting too far right or left… or in the back row.
 
I looked it up, you can go to the theatre and not order online but you still make a seat selection. Next up TSA before entering :shrug: :lol:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top