Mastodawn

I love #movies. I love #scifi. I love scifi movies.

I like hard scifi, but I'm aware of the compromises that must be made when bringing technical material to a broad audience on the big screen. I can make allowances for that. So I don't have a problem suspending my disbelief when a technical or scientific clunker is required by #story mechanics.

But suspension of disbelief only goes so far. If @pzmyers is right about "Project Hail Mary" (2026), I strongly suspect I'm not going to enjoy it. So I'll wait for it to come out for home viewing, I think. Easier to "walk out" when it's just pressing the "stop" button and you didn't fork out $40 for tickets and a bucket of #popcorn.

His take - not really a review as such:

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/22/the-last-andy-weir-movie-i-will-ever-waste-money-on/

#SciFiMovie #AndyWeir #ProjectHailMary #SuspensionOfDisbelief #film #BadMovie

The last Andy Weir movie I will ever waste money on

The commenters here are persuasive. I dissed Andy Weir and his new movie, and I was told that it was entertaining and I should give it a chance. So I did. I went to the theater to see Project Hail …

Pharyngula

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Joel

@cazabon half the complaints are decently addressed in the book, the other half just sound like nitpicking to me...

I care more about the premise itself (even if it's unrealistic) and the experience, over the hard science. The director of Spiderverse, the most incredible visual spectacle of animation in years, working on a space sci-fi? sign me up.

I will probably read the novel some day. Scifi is virtually always better in written form; there's just so much you have to leave out to fit a story into a 2-hour movie. I think that's why many of the best scifi movies are based on short stories or perhaps novellas, rather than full-length novels.

On the subject of nitpicking: if the spaceship has magical engines to get it to near lightspeed, why would the crew have to travel in suspended animation/induced coma state? Time dilation would mean the trip was subjectively short, maybe just days or even hours, for everyone on board. Obviously I haven't seen it yet, so maybe that's addressed.

#nit #pick #nitpicking

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Joel

4h ago

@cazabon Villeneuve though! Can't wait for his next Dune, and his upcoming adaptation of Rama...

I can't quite recall if the ship actually goes at near light speed or if the fuel is just super efficient and able to last for the
whole trip

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C.4h ago

@joel

I do really like Villeneuve's work - Arrival (2016) was the best scifi film in years (and from a short story...) in my opinion.

I wasn't aware he was doing Rendezvous with Rama, but that should be interesting. I'm always surprised by how few of Clarke's works have been adapted for the big screen.

The new Dune movies are (again, IMHO) not a good example. 1 and 2 were terrible - I posted about those when they came out.

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Joel

4h ago

@cazabon I am yet to read that one, but something that I've found in the one novel I read (Childhood's End which I absolutely loved) and what I can gather from 2001, is that they have incredible ideas and end with some crazy cosmical event that would never ever happen in real life but why would I complain if it was an awesome experience anyway?

So like, yeah I liked Project Hail Mary and I look forward to the movie :P

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C.54m ago

@joel

Agreed, Childhood's End was great (and interesting). The miniseries was a decent adaptation, and Charles Dance could read the phonebook and be gripping.

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Chris L 3h ago

@joel @cazabon wow, Rama! That is such a scary book. (Re Hail Mary, I loved the book and going to see movie with spouse, adult yet at home kids and one partner in a few hours; glad to have some of my internal hype slowed down, more likely to enjoy it that way; I would go see Artemis as well if it were a movie.) Star Trek long ago acculturated me to hand wavy physics things. IMO even more implausible than the energy capture is a common mitochondrial, protein based life from other solar systems.

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sezduck 3h ago

@joel @cazabon @pzmyers I saw the movie and thought it was fantastic.

Most sci-fi can be nitpicked to death.

Project Hail Mary is heartfelt, funny, and captivating.