Film Junk Podcast Episode #534: The Martian

Posted by on October 6th, 2015   Filed under: Featured, Film Junk Podcast

podcast534

0:00 – Intro / Reed’s Addiction
15:15 – Review: The Martian
1:04:25 – Headlines: Back to the Future Celebration + Viral Marketing
1:12:55 – Project Greenlight Recap: Episode 3
1:29:30 – Feature: Reed’s Top 10 Movies of the Past 10 Years
1:55:10 – Other Stuff We Watched: The Great Outdoors, Graduation Day, Marooned, Waiting for Guffman, Leviathan, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, The Overnight
2:19:50 – Junk Mail: Best Mars Movies, Casting the Next James Bond, Jake Gyllenhaal, Cannibal Movies + Eli Roth, Best Scenes of Total Destruction, Why the 6/5 Rating is Problematic, 6/5 Rollovers, How a 6/5 Could Mess with Frank’s Top 10 List
2:52:10 – This Week on DVD and Blu-ray
2:59:50 – Outro
3:08:30 – Spoiler Discussion: The Martian

Film Junk Podcast Episode #534: The Martian by Filmjunk on Mixcloud

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  • Sean

    Yeah, it’s just unfortunate timing. Both shows air on Sunday nights and we usually record on Monday night. Jay and I don’t have cable TV so we aren’t able to watch it in time.

  • Bill

    It’s been so long since Reed has been on the show that i forgot how much i hated him talking. The first sentence out of his mouth brought it all back.
    My excitement for the Force Awakens episode dropped the more he spoke.

  • Mrespony

    I had a similar reaction to The Martian as Frank. This film is just one toke over the line after a stream of Hollywood and indie space movies that all feature life or death “problem-solving” to some extent. And while I know Scott didn’t write the dust storm into The Martian, but that felt like a retread since a storm on LV-223 drives some story elements in Prometheus. Maybe if I go on a sci-fi diet and stop watching Prometheus once a month I’ll have a better watch when The Martian hits baby Blu.

  • Reed Farrington

    Maybe my microphone should be fed through Auto Tune.

  • Bill

    Or unplugged.

  • Rob

    I gladly accept Frank’s cacophonous defeated laughter at Jay’s sadistically detached arguing as payment. Or beer. Actually I’d rather have beer.

    If I had time at home I’d ideally cut audio clips together, it’d be nice to capture all that juicy inflection / intonation. Maybe throw in a slide whistle and a laugh track too.

  • Bob

    Reed returning to Filmjunk is a glorious thing. This episode will certainly be worth a re-listen.

    Reed, I greatly enjoyed the top ten list but actually think you could’ve spent more time on a few of them. For example, you could’ve provided data on the Korean superstar actress Jun Ji-Hyun from Daisy and My Sassy Girl. And no Marion Cotillard movies made the list?

  • devolutionary

    Unless I skimmed it, no Ziyi Zhang either.

  • Reed Farrington

    Ouch. Consider me effectively wounded, Bill. Maybe I’ll just yell from the background during The Force Awakens podcast.

  • Reed Farrington

    I don’t know much about Jun Ji-Hyun. Her Hollywood film, “Blood: The Last Vampire,” didn’t do anything for her. I last saw her in “Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.” I want to see “The Thieves.” I read she was good in that. The other guys haven’t expressed interest in Asian women.

    I want to see Marion Cotillard’s “The Immigrant” and “Two Days, One Night.” (This is why I wanted to specify that it was a Top 10 list of movies I’ve seen in the past decade.)

  • Reed Farrington

    I was disappointed by “The Grand Master.” I haven’t seen it with English subtitles though. I haven’t seen “The Crossing,” yet.

  • devolutionary

    Have you already seen Rust and Bone? I highly recommend Marion Cotillard’s performance in that one.

  • Eric B

    lol Reed you are an acquired taste. Nice to hear you on the show.

  • Maybe the best post-show stinger of all time. Well done Reed, you were dynamite this episode. Come back soon.

  • Jameson

    Lots of (a)tension in this episode. Great as always!

  • Reed Farrington

    No, I’m not familiar with Rust and Bone. Thx for the recommendation.

  • Bob

    Yeah, “Rust and Bone” should be a must-see (if only they played Taylor Swift at a certain part…) “Thieves” is pretty fun, with Jun cast as the sexy female member of a large ensemble. I’m assuming you’ve already seen “Windstruck.”

  • Matt Thephotoman

    i have searched high and indeed low but wheres the new teaser for how to build a time machine reed was on about good buddies?

  • Reed Farrington

    Yes, I managed to find and watch “Windstruck” after watching “My Sassy Girl.” Are there any newer Korean romances you would recommend?

  • Reed Farrington

    It was a junk mailer praising the teaser. I assume he/she was praising the teaser on Jay’s Vimeo from last year.

  • Jasper

    Dont let this get to you, Reed, you hear me?! You’re a beautiful person. You’re a credit to your species.

  • Reed Farrington

    Thx, Jasper. I have a pretty healthy ego. I actually need the negativity to keep me literally down to Earth. And I really mean literally.

  • Matt Thephotoman

    Ah, so it was, seen that one. Good job this week buddy, entertaining as ever, top stuff.

  • Bob

    I’m sure there are some good ones out there, but I’m out of the loop. Last one I saw was “A Werewolf Boy,” which didn’t do much for me and wasn’t really a strict romance anyways. In case you haven’t heard of it, “Christmas in August” is from the ’90s, but it’s definitely among the best Korean romances/melodramas I’ve seen.

  • milan

    Btw sean, will you talk about project almanac on the next episode? Interested in your thoughts on a michael bay produced time travel sci-fi (after seeing your rating on letterboxd)…

  • Matt Thephotoman
  • Matt Thephotoman

    Although I’m sure Craig’s contracted for another so maybe his comments were taken out of context

  • JC

    Frank is right, all 6/5’s should clearly be top of the end of year lists. Jay’s argument doesn’t wash, I dont see the point of including it otherwise. And whats with that weird cackle Jay keeps doing ? It sounds like Sid James from the Carry On films.

  • Sean

    Yes, I should get to it on the next show.

  • JC

    I love time travel movies. Almanac was one of the more average ones though, but worth a look.

  • Lior

    I managed to watch about 20 minutes of The Thieves before turning it off. Nice-looking women but it was derivative and stale and noisy, seemed like nothing more than a Korean Ocean’s 11 (I remember when South Korean Cinema was original). Maybe it gets better, I don’t know, I just didn’t have the patience to slog through it (it’s a two-hour film).
    I agree with my fellow commentator about your list, Reed. Less IMDB ratings and genres (who cares) and more your opinions about the movies. That’s the whole point, dude. You were rushing through it like someone was chasing ya!

  • Matt the Kiwi

    I watched it last night and just assumed that they used what they do on the space station which is electrolysis (splitting water into H and O) but this means needing water. Given that it showed Matt Damon having a couple of showers (one quite late in the film) I figured that water was somehow plentiful…but then I remembered he just about blew him making water so now I’m totally confused.

  • Matt the Kiwi

    Saw The Martian last night and there’s no way in hell this is a better movie than Apollo 13. I thoroughly enjoyed it but all the flaws that Frank, Sean and Reed brought up were valid – no character development, no raising tension, too much goofy dialogue with some average performances (that first press conference felt like a scene from dumb and dumber) and too many Hollywood cliches (the one whiz kid who solves the problem by plugging his notebook DIRECTLY into a server farm and then explaining a very simple idea to scientists by using a stapler and a pen…pleeeaase!). I will see anything Ridley Scott makes as he’s still a top 5 director in my books but this was not anything special or groundbreaking like most of his films are…it was just “good”.

  • It’s explained in the book. For the space suits they have filters to remove the co2 from outwards breath to avoid suffocation. To produce more o2 they use the oxygenators:

    “It heats CO2 to 900°C, then passes it over a zirconia electrolysis cell to yank the carbon atoms off. “

  • Reed Farrington

    Ridley Scott is at 43 in my list of top directors. :-)

  • Reed Farrington

    I recall someone posted wondering why people were talking about a replacement for Craig when he was so popular and still capable to play the role. Now he knows why.

    Craig is pulling a Connery for more money. The producers will just replace him and then Craig will do a remake of “Never Say Never Again” a decade from now.

  • Reed Farrington

    I never feel the other guys are interested in the movies I like. I knew the show was already going to be long, and I didn’t want to bore people or spoil the movies by giving too much info. I wanted to provide the IMDb rating as a point of comparison of my taste to the general public. People might only want to check out the movies with a high enough IMDb rating.

  • Sean

    I think that was me asking the question on the podcast. I know Craig’s contract is calling for at least one more movie. But prior to shooting Spectre it sounded like he would be playing Bond for at least another decade. I guess Spectre was not a great experience for him.

  • Lior

    That’s a lot of assumptions. If the guys weren’t interested in the movies you like they wouldn’t ask you to talk about them, no? And really, who cares about the general public… celebrate your own taste. How high do you think Graduation Day rates on IMDB?

  • Reed Farrington

    During the podcast, did you hear anyone tell me to slow down and explain my selections?

    Paraphrasing Dr. McCoy from “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home,” I trust my assumptions more than other people’s facts. :-)

    (Graduation Day has a 4.3 IMDb rating. Would have been embarrassing if it had a higher rating than any of my Top 10 choices.)

  • Sean

    You didn’t give us much time to interject Reed. I wanted to know more but didn’t want it to feel like we were criticizing your choices.

  • Samb

    I can definitely be talked out of my position here. Perhaps the focus on mechanics, chemistry, biology, etc in an alternate universe is sufficient to mark it as sci-fi. I shall go forth and spread the gospel!

  • Reed Farrington

    Now I’m wondering how the CO2 gets heated to 900C. I need to find out how much energy is generated from the solar panels.

    I wonder how many science errors are in the book. I did read that the author took artistic licence with the strength of the sand storm.

  • RockJoker

    Oh my god i lost it at Jay’s representation of R-rating in Martian. xDD

  • Matt the Kiwi

    That surprises me! I always pictured you and Jay doing a ‘Thelma and Louise’ styled, crime funded road trip across Canada in honour of the great man. Plus his beard is in my top 5 directors beards.

  • Reed, don’t worry about Bill’s opinions, he’s just ashamed that every time he hears your voice he gets a raging hard-on… A Force will Awaken in Bill’s sweats this December.

  • Re: Premium Casts… Any thoughts on doing a Billy Wilder Special? I know you lean towards topical ones, as related new releases are coming up, etc, so maybe around Oscar time in March, since he was an Academy favorite?

    My picks would be Double Indemnity, The Apartment, Witness for the Prosecution, Sunset Boulevard, and The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes.

    Eventually the well will run dry on franchises so you can always focus more on directors as you did with Hitchcock, Dante, Carpenter, etc, already…

  • Jameson

    I actually think Idris Elba would be a great Bond villain. His performance in The Wire showed he can be suave and menacing.

  • Kenneth Serenyi

    Jay has a narrative of really liking the third films in a film trilogy or series. I have a feeling ‘Nightmare’ will continue that trend.

  • Bob

    Even if the others had absolutely zero interest in your movie picks but you decided to spend time discussing them anyways, the show would likely just be even more entertaining.

    100 comments

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