The Martian

    "I'm Mark Watney and I'm still alive...obviously"

The red sands of Mars have settled following a forceful storm, the sky is a healthy red, the Sun bearing down on the rocky mesa's of the Martian landscape. One certain mound of sand is disturbed by the twitching movements of a man laying prone, waking from unconsciousness. His orange-and-white space-suit is both punctured and sealed by a small piece of debris shallowly embedded in his stomach. The debris, leftover from a destroyed long-range communications satellite, is not the only problem the astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) now has to face as he scans the nearby arid landscape. Close by is the habitat Mark and his team have occupied on the planet for the eighteen days preceding the storm and the remains of the launch pad of the team's only rocket back home, which has long since departed with Mark's colleagues believing him dead. Alone on Mars with no communications and limited food, Watney resolves to sustain himself, to communicate, to survive, or as he puts it to "science the shit outta this."

The Martian, Ridley Scott's latest, distances itself from the last decade of epics from the prolific director (Robin Hood, Prometheus, Exodus: Gods and Kings and Kingdom of Heaven) and also, perhaps especially so, from the recent survival dramas of Everest, All Is Lost, Interstellar and the powerhouse Gravity, most notably through the solid writing from Drew Goddard (Cabin in the Woods, World War Z, Cloverfield, Daredevil). Goddard's writing of the characters in the Martian is a blend of Aaron Sorkin's jargon-fuelled relentlessness and Joss Whedon's comical perfection and wit, which has a wonderful effect on the film's tone. Unlike Gravity's direct minimalism, Everest's biopic cliches and Interstellar's cold, Doctor-Who-eyness, The Martian thankfully manages to keep a keen sense of humour to balance out the drama and despair. And this is sold by an ensemble cast of both dramatic actors and practiced comedians including Damon and Jessica Chastain of Interstellar, Benedict Wong of Prometheus, and Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Sebastian Stan, Jeff Daniels, Donald Glover, Kirsten Wiig and Sean Bean (who delivers a silly and charming Lord of the Rings gag).

                        "Every human being has a basic instinct: to help each other out."

Visually, The Martian is pretty, even with it's occasionally questionable computer effects and over-use of Go-Pro footage. The production design is obviously (and smartly) adapted from Prometheus and at times the score the soaring French horns of that score threaten to burst onto the soundscape here. The obligatory Chinese pandering scenes of The Martian are perhaps even more contrived than those in Trans4mers, and even the Chinese Space Agency exterior is the same as the Chinese corporate headquarters in Age of Extinction. But in summation, The Martian is a sci-fi survival story that is slightly more fun than it is tense, but with a strong ensemble, capable lead, balanced writing and solid production. It all comes together to make NASA's perfectl, pretty and impeccably fashioned geek army and the film's two-and-a-half-hour run-time downright fun.

Harrison Ford to return for the Blade Runner sequel

Whether or not you are fan of the 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner (I personally don't see what all the fuss is about), you may be interested to know that Harrison Ford is reprising his role of Rick Deckard in a sequel.

The sequel will be set several decades after the original and is directed Denis Villeneuve, who also directed the Hugh Jackman/Jake Gyllenhaal collaboration Prisoners. Ridley Scott will be serving as executive producer on this film and has said that Ford is very excited about the script.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Ridley Scott's take on the story of Moses is suitably epic and it would be hard to compare it to his last two movies. But if we go back and look at other historical epics he's done, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven, we know there's precedent for him to be better.

Exodus tells the story of Moses (Christian Bale) and how he gathered the Hebrews to escape the Egyptians. We see his exile from Egypt by the Pharaoh Ramesses II (Joel Edgerton), the plagues of Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea. Depending on your background, this is probably a familiar tale and will be easy to follow, even guess what is going to happen next.

As stated above, Scott is fairly adept at making an epic film and this movie certainly does tick all the boxes. While it doesn't necessarily push the envelope in the storytelling department, it makes up for it with some amazing visuals and action set pieces. The sets of Memphis, the capital of Ancient Egypt are amazing and are backed up with some wonderful CGI images of the pyramids under construction. The deserts of Spain make a fantastic substitute for Egypt and match all the rocky crags that one might imagine from biblical myths. There are some amazing battles scattered throughout that display the amazing numbers that the armies of the time would have had.

In terms of acting, this really is a two-horse show for both Bale and Edgerton. Their performances aren't great, but that has to do with limited character development and that's alarming given the amount of supporting characters in the film. The stars playing the minor characters (Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro and Sir Ben Kingsley) are all given remarkably little to do but display a seemingly talented backdrop. The only person who I thought tried with his character a little was Ben Mendelsohn, who plays a slightly effete Egyptian viceroy.

Verdict: An overall good and suitably epic tale, but doesn't push the boundaries or throw you anything that you wouldn't have expected.

The Counselor

The works of Cormac McCarthy have always served as interesting fodder for film adaptations. Indeed both No Country for Old Men and The Road translated his vision perfectly to the screen. However, The Counselor is an entirely original script from him and when you couple that with an immensely visual director, such as Ridley Scott, you get a beautiful film that also has extreme depth and meaning just underneath the surface.

The film is set in the southern United States and it follows The Counselor (Michael Fassbender) as he descends into the drug fuelled world of the Mexican cartels. After a shipment that he had a stake in is stolen, he ends up going on the run, as the cartel behind the other half of the investment believes he is responsible.

The film has many themes and they all seem to be complementary of one another. The largest ones are those of greed and actions and consequences. The Counselor is driven to do many of the things that he wants, primarily by greed. What he wants most is to please his girlfriend Laura (Penelope Cruz) and we can only assume that she is the reason he has driven himself toward this path. That greed also goes hand in hand with the consequences that are a direct result of the actions that he has taken.

All this depth and meaning stems from a superb script from McCarthy. Unlike the other adaptations that I mentioned earlier, whose screenplays had been written by other writers, The Counselor has the unique voice of McCarthy, who has written some wonderfully cryptic dialogue scenes that also appear in his literature.

This film is also spectacular to look at as well and that is largely due to Ridley Scott's amazing vision as a director. The landscapes in the film are amazing, showcasing Mexico and Texas on an intimate scale that I really appreciated.

Finally, the cast of this film is not be forgotten. I know looking at the poster, all you see are the big names and just think it's going to be an empty film. But all the actors are fantastic. I especially want to give praise to Cameron Diaz, as I have not seen her reach a level such as this since Being John Malkovich in 1999. There is also a scene that has cameos from Dean Norris (Hank in Breaking Bad) and John Leguizamo (Luigi in Super Mario Bros., and a ton of other stuff) that I found humourous for some reason.

Verdict: An intense and compelling crime drama that is sure to make you scared of cheetahs and girls on Ferraris.