The Martian (2015)

My Review

Matt Damon plays an astronaut who is part of a mission to Mars, and is struck by debris in a severe dust storm, and accidentally gets left behind when the crew leaves for home in “The Martian.” Much of the credit for the success of this film is the talent and likability of Damon, the star of the show who is in most scenes by himself. Director Ridley Scott (“Alien” 1979) was focused at the helm of the project with an excellent script by Drew Goddard. It was adapted from the 2011 scifi novel of the same name by Andy Weir.

The cast includes Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Pena, Kate Mara, Sean Bean, Sebastian Stan, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Aksel Hennie, Benedict Wong, Donald Glover, and Nick Mohammed as a JPL engineer. “The Martian” was the tenth highest grossing film of 2015 for Scott Free Productions, Kinberg Genre, Mid Atlantic Films, and 20th Century Fox. It was filmed in Jordan and Hungary, and received seven Oscar nods for Best Picture and Best Actor (Damon), as well as for screenplay, production design, sound editing, sound mixing, and visual effects.