{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Born To Watch - A Movie Podcast","title":"The Martian (2015)","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":6235,"description":"The Martian (2015) review lands on Born to Watch this week as Whitey, Gow and Will blast off to Mars for Ridley Scott's hugely entertaining tale of survival, science, potatoes and one very unlucky astronaut. The Movie Review Podcast, where we do not take the movies or ourselves too seriously, is tackling one of the most rewatchable science-fiction films of the last decade, starring Matt Damon as Mark Watney, a man forced to do what none of us could possibly manage: stay alive on Mars using his brains, determination and an alarming amount of human fertiliser.\nDirected by Ridley Scott and adapted from Andy Weir's novel, The Martian starts with a simple but brutal premise. During a mission to Mars, astronaut Mark Watney is struck during a violent storm, presumed dead and left behind as the rest of his crew evacuates the planet. One problem: Watney isn't dead.\nNow stranded millions of kilometres from Earth, he has limited food, no immediate way to communicate with NASA and years to wait before another mission could possibly reach him.\nEasy.\nThe boys dive into why The Martian works so well despite essentially being Cast Away on Mars. Matt Damon has to carry huge sections of the film alone, yet Watney never becomes boring. He is smart, vulnerable, funny and constantly solving problems, usually just before another problem arrives and threatens to kill him.\nThat's one of the things Whitey loves most about the movie. Watney doesn't magically get everything right. Things go wrong. Calculations fail. Equipment breaks. Plans collapse. Every solution seems to create another problem, giving the film an authenticity that keeps the tension alive.\nWill has recently read Andy Weir's novel, so we also get into the differences between page and screen. The book dives much deeper into the science behind Watney's survival and adds context for how qualified he is to handle the mechanical and botanical challenges thrown his way.\nThen there is that cast.\nJessica Chastain, Chiwetel...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/UW701-GqukZr-1D14eBt8sR44lYKfmwl9ME2kRN8CZI/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9zaG93/LzI5NzkzLzE2NTQ0/ODExODMtYXJ0d29y/ay5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}