The Martian Movie Review

[Harcourt Ordonez]

The story hops into gear quickly when the Aries III Mars mission is hit by a brutal storm. They are forced to prematurely leave the surface and in the process astronaut and team botanist Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed killed and left behind. Actually though, Mark miraculously survived and wakes up to find himself alone and stranded on the red planet. Armed with more scientific knowledge than a stack of college textbooks, Mark determines to use his science knowhow to survive. That starts by figuring out a way to communicate back to Earth.

Big fan of the Weir novel and I have read it twice, lol. Glad that this is a proper return to form for Scott. I also enjoy some films of his that the majority may find slow, flawed or even unmemorable (I am also in the camp that feel Prometheus is way over-maligned). But this project, from the source material to the performances, FX and execution, just exudes that Ridley Scott greatness. I knew Scott had it in him to deliver the goods with The Martian along with Damon. I cannot wait to catch it next week! Fantastic review, man!

Nice post Keith. I enjoyed this, but for some of the same reasons you stated better than I did, I did not love. I never really felt any tension or mystery if Watney would fail or not survive. That kind of did me in, plot-wise.

Hard not to compare with somethings like Interstellar and Gravity, even though I hate comparisons, generally. Though the former was much longer than it needed to be, and could have benefitted from some clarity in its story, I loved the drama and the general mystery in not knowing how it would end. I did find myself much more invested in The Martian in comparison to Gravity.

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I am so glad you liked it!! There is lots of good science fiction out there. I am planning to watch the movie too. Really liked your review. My 14 year old grand daughter is reading The Martian now. I share your dislike of gore and zombies. I think that is a guy thing.

Martian Fluxx shares a lot in common with the other Fluxx games, and thus the Gameplay and Design sections of this review will largely depend upon the similar description that I wrote for previous iterations of the game.

Martian Fluxx comes in a double-width cardb ox with a divider and a lift-off top. It's pretty much my favorite design for card games, because it's very compact, yet the cards are easy to access.

The original Fluxx used to be printed as a two-color game, and you can still see that in some of the design, such as the black-and-white card backs and the one-color side bars which identify a card's type. However, increasingly Fluxx has moved to full-color art in recent editions. Here not only are all the pictures on keepers and goals in full-color (and to my eye, larger and more prominent than ever), but in addition the artwork for the rules cards has been colorized. It's increasingly difficult to see Fluxx's small-press beginning.

When I talk about Style, I always include theming in the equation, and once more Andrew Looney has done a great job in producing this new thematic Fluxx game. Between cows, abduction chambers, tinfoil hats, men-in-black, and lots of Martian tech, it's obvious that Looney has plumbed the depths of the alien genre (and it comes across well).

Just based on the components I'd probably give Martian Fluxx a "4" out of "5" for Style, but when you add in the great theming--and the chuckles that will result from it--Martian Fluxx earns a full "5" out of "5" from me.

Martian Fluxx follows upon the gameplay of the original Fluxx, as expanded in Zombie Fluxx to include creepers and an ungoal. The object of the game is to play keepers to accomplish the current goal.

Standard Play: A game of Martian Fluxx starts with each player being dealt a hand of three cards. Then on his turn a player draws one card, then plays one card. There are five different types of cards that can be played:

Rules. These are cards that change the basic rules of the game. The simplest ones change how many cards you draw, how many cards you play, and your hand limit. Martian Fluxx also introduces a special "meta rule", which can be put into play (and stays in play) before the game begins. There's only one, which puts a time limit on the game.

Keepers. These are cards that you play and keep in front of you. They're things like The Mind Control Transmitter, The Tentacle, and The Pyramid. Keepers are what you ultimately need to win the game. Several of the Keepers are marked with special "Martian Technology" icons (which are required for certain goals). Many of these Keepers also have special powers, such as the Abduction Chamber which hides humans.

Creepers. These are a sort of anti-keeper. They're mostly humans, some of which are female, one of which is a leader. There are also a few other Creepers, such as The Army and Germs. When you draw a creeper you must immediately play it, then must draw to replace that card. You can remove Creepers by various means, such as the aforementioned Alien Abduction card. You might want to keep Creepers because certain goals require them. You might want to get rid of Creepers because you can't win the game if you have Creepers out--unless they're specifically required.

Goals. There's only one goal out at a time (unless a specific rule is in effect, which allows there to be two); when a new one is played, the old one is replaced. These goals describe a list of keepers and/or creepers that you must have out to win. For example "Mars Needs Women!" requires "Mars" and at least 2 female Human Creepers. "To Serve Cows" requires the Instructions and at least one Cow. In Martian Fluxx there's also one ungoal: if it gets played and the Army and the Germs creepers are in play, everyone loses. (It's a Martian retreat!)

Winning the Game: A game of Martian Fluxx goes until someone meets the goal currently face-up. This usually happens when they play it after meeting the criteria, but with the ever-varying rules, sometimes a player is forced to play a goal that lets someone else win.

Fluxx was a card game designed by Andrew Looney and originally published by I.C.E. in its waning days. After the original I.C.E.'s destruction the game came over to Andrew's own publishing house, Looney Labs, where it's since become a cornerstone of their business. The game has gone through multiple editions and multiple foreign translations, but still maintains its core ideas of playing keepers to accomplish goals.

After producing small expansion packs and variant Fluxx games for a while, Looney Labs put out Zombie Fluxx, with its slightly expanded rules for Creepers and Ungoals in 2007. This new game follows in Zombie Fluxx's footsteps. (Grrr! Argh!)

The core ideas of Fluxx (that you play keepers to accomplish goals and that you can change the rules) are both simple and interesting and they result in a game that keeps changing enough to keep it interesting. In fact, that's probably the best praise that one can give Fluxx: it's just plain fun--and funny; Andrew Looney has a good sense of humor.

This newest game, Martian Fluxx, doesn't change any of that. The new game is light, fun, funny, and clever, just like its predecessors. My only minor complaint is that, at points I don't think it makes quite as good of a game, largely because the goals tend to be less immediately obvious (though more funny). That's a relatively minor complaint, however. Beyond that, Martian Fluxx does a great job of adapting the Fluxx mechanics to the genre, allowing them to complement each other well.

Disclaimer: UM distributor MusicTeck, sent me the Martian on loan for this review. I would like to thank them for their helpful approach. There will be some comparisons with the UM Maverick in the text, so if you want to check that review first click here.

The square package is a classic UM package with the full black color. Absolutely the same with the Maverick including the carrying case, tips and other stuff like cleaning cloth and cleaning tool. Everything you need is supplied here basically.

A keen audiophile and hobby photographer, Berkhan is after absolute perfection. Whether it is a full-frame camera or a custom in-ear, his standpoint persists. He tries to keep his photography enthusiasm at the same level as audio. Sometimes photography wins, sometimes his love for music takes over and he puts that camera aside. Simplistic expressions of sound in his reviews are the way to go for him. He enjoys a fine single malt along with his favourite Jazz recordings.

In the not so distant future, a spaceship crew explores Mars. One of the explorers, Jarvis, is left stranded far from the camp, when his rocket experiences an engine malfunction. He resolves to walk back across Mars. Along the way, he rescues a bird-like intelligent creature, Tweel, who joins him on the journey. As they pass from one region to the next, they discover three other samples of large animalistic life on mars. One is a creature that mindlessly builds an endless array of pyramids. The second is a being that can read minds and mimic the appearance of the most desirable object, to lure others within its grasp. The last one is a civilization, which builds city-like structures, but otherwise appears mindless. That is, until Jarvis steals one of their technologies. Then they attack, and only the timely arrival of a rescue ship whisks Jarvis back to his crewmates.

Finally, Weinbaum is rather advanced in his use of technology. He describes a plausible atomic propulsion system, a decade before the first controlled nuclear explosion, and several decades until other science fiction authors ceased to write nonsense about atomic power. He makes very few futuristic predictions, but the one that stands out for me is the description and use of a Ziplock bag, more than 30 years before one was actually invented.

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