The book was pretty amazing. It gets very, very science-y in some parts, which I found interesting at first, but later I started skimming those sections.

I honestly didn't think I would like the book because my mind just couldn't figure out how you could realistically have an entire book about a man trapped on Mars. But it really works.

I also read it before I knew Matt Damon was cast as the lead, so I didn't exactly picture him in the role, but as soon as I saw the first trailer, I was like "Oh, of course he's Mark Watney!" Perfect casting!

The casting is all-around fantastic. And yes, read the book! The book is so great!

Good to know! "Read the book after the movie" is my usual MO, but usually it's because the book is better, not because it's essentially a different take on the same story.

We recently watch Mazerunner: The Scorch Trials and Insurgent. I had resisted seeing Insurgent because the trailers made it look like it went completely away from the book while the trailers for Mazerunner: The Scorch Trials didn't ping in that direction.

Boy was I wrong. Mazerunner: The Scorch Trails had K-Bug and I looking at eachother in WTF-ness at just about every scene. I'd be curious of the opinion of someone who hadn't read the Mazerunner series. The changes in Insurgent were much easier for me to handwave away as artistic license while still following the basic story.

All that to say, maybe I shouldn't try to a book before a movie comes out. Without those expectations, maybe I'd like the movies more and then appreciate the detail in the book separately.

So glad to hear that about the casting, because I read the book right after the first trailer came out, and so Matt Damon was my mental image while reading.

The white fonted decisions for the movie make a lot of sense.

OMG I NEED THIS MOVIE IN MY VISUAL CORTEX.

OK, so Roland Emmerlich had asked audiences not to pre-judge Stonewall as whitewashing the events based on the trailer. Now reports from critics seem to indicate the trailer showed the film in a better light than viewing the whole thing, which might has well have been titled Cute White Savior.

Oh, fuck Roland Emmerlich with a stranger's diseased genitals.

But hey, at least Emmerich does let a black character hand Jeremy Irvine's ahistorical twink protagonist a brick so the latter can be the one to spark the riots. I know when I'm boiling over with outrage at an injustice happening before my eyes my first impulse is to look around for the nearest handsome teenage boy so I can pat him on the back and say "go get 'em, Tiger!"

Vanity Fair review

PBS review

I listened to The Martian on audiobook for at least 50% of it and the reader sounds nothing like Damon, so even though I knew he was in it I escaped the image. The book is really amazing, and the audiobook made the sciency parts a bit easier to follow I felt (though I am a math and science teacher and an engineering major so my perspective is not everybody's.) Definitely a worthwhile read. And it was my first experience with buying a kindle book that had the cheapish Audio narration addition that auto magically syncs with your reading spot, which is my new favorite thing.

Just came back from the latest Mission Impossible movie and had a whale of a time. I mean, of course it's all ludicrous nonsense, but it's slick, fast-paced, super-fun nonsense. A+ entertainment, will watch again!

I particularly loved Rebecca Ferguson, the actress who played Ilsa. I heard her name being thrown around as the potential pick for the Captain Marvel movie and gotta say, the lady can kick ass like nobody's business and has charisma to burn.

Among the trailers shown before the movie: Michael Bay apparently made a movie about Benghazi. Good lord.