Review: Project Hail Mary

Hey guys, Raphael here, the Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles. Did you say podcast? Dudes! Doodads!

You're listening to a podcast on the Gatecast

Radio Network. Cowabunga! Hello and welcome to

episode 238 of... the cinema geeks i am one of

your cinema geeks optimus solo and joining me

as usual is the comic concierge dan hello hello

how are you i am good uh we are back at it again

there's a brief delay in some of the episodes

being put out i had to my aunt my mom staying

with me for about a month and it kind of threw

me off my schedule on top of some work things

on top of that but we did have some episodes

already recorded we just released one of those

uh last week and we'll have another one this

week and it should be almost on a weekly pattern

here i think going forward here so i'm not going

to tell you which one's going to be released

when because behold to anything that doesn't

happen if we release them in a different order

i don't know how it's going to happen hopefully

they go in number order i guess um so dan how

have you been doing good been doing good keeping

actually been watching a good amount of movies

so that's good i saw that I saw your letterbox

recently. I had been away for a while. So I went

to log in a few movies and I always, whether

you know this or not, I always click on your

feed to see what you've been up to specifically.

Like I do, I click on like activity from like

all of my followers, but then there's a few that

just post like either super long reviews or do

so much that it's like, that's all I would see.

So occasionally there's a few folks that I'll

just click on and be like, well, what does Dan

seem late? And you've definitely been busy. i

was jealous i've fallen behind in the movie watching

so far for the year yeah well i watched a bunch

of like 1930 films which was helpful because

they're like all an hour long so you know that

does help so and then you've been watching some

foreign or foreign films as well correct yeah

i've been going through uh a few um goodness

what is his name um miyazaki kobayashi's filmography

i just on my own accord uh because there's uh

so i've been watching a lot of his movies and

i've watched like 14 of his films so i still

have a few uh i've watched like all the ones

that are easy to get to now it's like the ones

that are a bit a bit out there so yeah and and

and to counteract that i've also been just watching

some jackie chan films you know because you know

you gotta balance things out man yeah yeah but

good Yeah, so it's been interesting seeing your

journey through all those. If people are interested,

you can always follow Dan on Letterboxd. We'll

give information on all that stuff probably later.

But we're going to flip the script a little bit

today. We've been starting our Western Retrospective

series. We heard a couple of episodes out of

us so far in that series, talking about some

John Ford and John Wayne films. Today, we're

actually going to pause that for a second. The

planets and the sun and the stars and everything

in space lined up for us. Pun intended, I guess.

Not really, but it happened. And Dan and I both

were able to see a film in the theater this last

week. In fact, Dan, you even saw two films in

the theater in the last week. So I don't know

how you pulled that off. Yeah. It's been, I mean,

the last time I saw a film in theaters, I think,

was Fantastic Four? I want to say so, but then

I guess I made up for lost time with two this

week. So there you go. Yeah. I give credit to

all of those folks that have children under the

age of like six that somehow still find a way

to go see movies because we just could not pull

that off very much. Like it's always either I'm

with a seer show or my wife is. So unless it's

a movie suitable for the five -year -old, we're

probably not going to the theater. And she does

not like to go. She does not like movies in general.

So that makes it even harder. she's much more

of a tv series person she does not like villains

um so it's hard to get her but she will sit through

all of the jurassic parks no matter how many

times those play so it's it's a weird thing we're

working through so we think she wants to go see

the mario galaxy movie but then if you ask her

the next day then she does not want to see it

because bowser's is scary um but we'll see what

happens so we both were able to see project hail

mary and i think we're the last two on on the

planet earth that got to see it um because it

is just going bananas at the box office so here's

i'm going to set the stage just real quickly

here if dan and i have both been able to go see

a film at the theater then we are going to assume

that everybody else has as well so this review

will contain spoilers yeah so I don't think there's

that many people that have not seen Project Hail

Mary yet. But if you haven't and somehow you

stumbled upon us, you may want to pause this

or come back to it after you watch the movie.

But Dana, tell me about your return to the theater.

What was your theater experience like? Did you

see it with a lot of people or just a few people?

Give me the lowdown. Sure, yeah. So I went with

my wife. She was actually a fan of the book.

So it was one of those movies we both had an

interest in. It was nice because I took the day

off. She was off for spring break. It's weird

because my wife teaches in one district. My kids

go to school in another. So their spring breaks

weirdly don't line up this year. So we were just

like, all right, well, the kids are at school.

So let's take a day -day and check out the movie.

It was like the first showing on a Tuesday. I

think maybe one other person or two other people.

It was hard to say because we were up on the

balcony, so I couldn't see. beneath us. But there

was like at least a couple other people in the

theater. So it was good experience, you know,

so it was basically almost a private showing.

You know, it was been a bit last time we saw

a movie together was actually Bad Boys three,

right before COVID shut down everything. Oh,

my goodness. Yeah. And we didn't even get to

finish it because we got a call because our kid

got sick. So yeah, so it's been a while. I've

been obviously we've been to the theaters with

like our kids and stuff, but not like yeah not

yeah so it was it was fun and it was nice to

have a movie we both were interested in in checking

out so it was interesting getting her perspective

because you know like i said she was someone

who really enjoyed the book um so that but the

theory experience itself was good it was solid

the only thing that was kind of annoying was

of course like the 35 -minute commercials before

the actual movie began. And commercials slash

trailers. But I did some good trailers. I saw

the Supergirl trailer. I saw the He -Man trailer.

I'm actually thinking my kids might like that.

So I actually think this summer is looking pretty

solid. I'm excited to see what's coming out.

But I'm definitely enjoying my time. How about

yourself? um yeah so i we took advantage of the

fact that my mom and my aunt were staying with

us basically and uh the last weekend they were

here we convinced them to it took very little

convincing um to have them watch the my daughter

and we went to see the film that was the opening

saturday we were gonna go see on the friday but

when we checked uh this one you buy like you're

in the theater we go to you buy your individual

seats you don't have to like wait or figure it

out you just pick a seat so we looked at the

friday and it was like sold out almost we're

like no that's not gonna work So we got the Saturday

one, which no tickets had been sold to at that

point. So we got our preferred seats, which are

the middle two all the way to the back. And so

it's also a special time for me because I stopped

drinking soda back in like September of last

year, basically. for some medical reasons and

whatnot my my sugar stuff was too high so i cut

soda out of my my diet and like instantly fixed

all my issues and uh but going to the movie theater

is like the one time i allow myself to cheat

yeah and so i don't know if i was looking forward

to the movie more or if i was looking forward

to the dr pepper more um but it was a good combination

so we ended up just getting one between the two

of us so we could share it so i didn't drink

too much but uh that was a part of the experience

i guess but this one obviously was also one of

my most anticipated films of the year both last

year and this year so whenever that's happening

you're worried that you're uh setting the bar

too high possibly like you're hyping yourself

out too much like for two years you've been waiting

for this thing to come out and and sometimes

that's a tough task for a movie to do so i was

intrigued um about this one there was basically

two films that i knew this year i wanted to see

like the first week that they were out I don't

know how many films I'll get to see in total,

but I knew there was two of them that for sure

I want to go see right away. And this was one

of them. And the other one was the aforementioned

Masters of the Universe trailer, which or movie,

which, by the way, I think we both screwed up

by not having that in our box office team. Yeah.

And also regret not getting Dune because that's

clearly coming out. If I could have slid in that

Masters of the Universe with my 10th pick, I

think I would feel pretty darn good about myself.

But I do feel good that I had Project Hail Mary

on my team. It seems to have captured that spring,

early of the year spring type of thing that we

sometimes see from the non -IP, etc. I think

it set a record for... non -ip non -franchise

uh opening or something or it was the highest

one since oppenheimer or something i know there

were some different things involved with like

how well it did at the box office um so that

was interesting and good to see like we need

more movies like this that do well in the theater

right like if you're a movie fan so i think it's

it's always good to see a non -ip film that that

does good um at the box office i know you had

known about this one ahead of time and you were

a fan of the Martian. So I'm assuming that you

were kind of looking forward to this one as well.

Right. It definitely was. And I completely missed

that. This was written by Andy. The book I should

say was written by Andy where, who did the Martian,

which was like my favorite movie that year that

came out, which probably would have ranked it

even higher if I realized that. But as I was

watching this, I'm like, this is a lot like the

Martian. He's like, I was like, yeah, it's written,

but I'm like, Oh, I just, i completely missed

that i think he has another space one too i i

heard somebody saying something about it i mean

i'm sure he has more than three books i don't

know how many books andy weir has written but

i know that they were like already trying to

like um guess as to which his next book would

be that would be turned into a film but that

was part of it like for me when we do those most

anticipated of the list of the year lists there's

lots of stuff you look at right and this one

had like all of them going for me like it's the

right genre for me in the right kind of setting

It had Andy Weir, which I was a big fan of the

Martians. So I'm like, okay, he wrote that. He

wrote this. That's going to be good. It had Ryan

Gosling as a star who I'm a big fan of. It had,

you know, Lord and Miller as the directors who

have done some pretty good stuff with like the

Lego movie and everybody knows their filmography.

And then Drew Goddard kind of helped take Andy

Weir's book and turn it into a screenplay has

been involved with some films that I. have enjoyed

including the martian right uh world wars world

war z cabin in the woods cloverfield those were

all good at different levels um so i for me it

was like the whole package i'm like everybody

involved in this has done something i've liked

so i don't know how it's not going to be something

that i like so if it is it's going to be a letdown

so i guess we can just like jump right into it

like what was your initial thoughts uh after

watching project hill mary So yeah, obviously

going into it, we saw it much later than you.

You saw it opening weekend. I just saw it about

a week ago. So I obviously had some high expectations

going in, because like you mentioned, I was interested

in the trailer. From what little bit I saw, it

was Lord and Miller. So I was curious. What exactly

this was about. Because I honestly didn't know.

I knew about the alien piece. And I honestly

thought the story going in was going to be like.

Roger Kilmery was him trying to find life on

another planet. I didn't even. Because I didn't

see the trailer. I guess the original trailer

that gave you that piece. I didn't see the part

where it's like actually the earth is dying.

And that's where this is coming from. So that

actually I thought was helpful. Because it allowed

me to kind of discover it along the way. But

I generally really enjoyed this. I thought. If

this was the borderline, the tentpole, or the

bar that blockbuster films were set by, we would

be living in a much better world. Because to

me, it has that feel. You mentioned, I know...

your daughter wants a film without a villain

and like that's that's this it really isn't a

villain there isn't really a villain here there

it has a lot of what i liked about the martian

really smart people in this case a really smart

person and a rock person and an alien trying

to solve a complex problem and kind of and going

through that process do you think with this we

don't get as much you know breakdown of like

what exactly they're doing it's a little bit

more abstract in some ways but i still had that

that general feeling and there's also like an

earnestness to this that like we don't see very

often it's interesting because one of the trailers

we saw before this was you know the disclosure

day with spielberg and it does to me have a lot

of like that type of spielbergian um like uplifting

moments you know that within it and it could

easily i know it's pg -13 but i think this definitely

you know there's not a lot it's not like there's

a lot of cursing or anything like that but i

do this like this i think does kind of work as

like a family film and i could see if like people

that are maybe a bit more cynical or something

like that maybe having you know not enjoying

it as much because It almost does feel like it

could be a Disney movie, and I don't say that

in a negative term. Much of this is a guy and

a puppet talking with one another, but it works,

I thought. I thought it was an intriguing way

of... approaching an idea like this like a world

ending event uh the world you know seeing actual

world come together and trying to solve it certainly

maybe not the most realistic thing in the world

but that's okay and i gotta give props to ryan

gosling like it's not easy being the only person

on screen for what 75 percent of the movie for

the most part outside of obviously the um his

little rock friend and the person who puppeted

it and voiced that as well but still like He's

got that type of presence, similar to Matt Damon

with The Martian. He can be comedic, he can be

funny, he can be vulnerable, and also just the

way he is not your typical type of hero as well,

and the reasoning behind it. I thought there

was a lot to really enjoy here, and I also thought

it was a beautiful film as well. Definitely enjoyed

my time. I thought it was deserving. of the praise

it's receiving and definitely excited to see

it again. And like I said, I think it is one

that it could, it is a crowd pleaser in the best

of ways. And like that type of life affirming

film that you, we don't get very often, but it's

also one that I think doesn't try to dumb things

down or try to. I don't know, simplify things

in that manner. So it's, I don't know. I thought

it was really solid and it was very happy with

what we got. How about yourself? I know you said

you, this was really high on your anticipation

list. So what were your thoughts of it? Yeah.

Obviously, like I said, two, two years in a row,

it's been on my top 10 for most anticipated films.

The bar is really high. I just got to say like,

typically that doesn't work out, but it's so

nice when it does. It's so nice when you have

something up there and like, it pays off and

you're enjoying every, like, I don't know when

the last time I've. enjoyed like every minute

of my movie going experience as much as i did

with this one like there's movies that you enjoy

and there's movies that you maybe are a slow

start and you end up enjoying at the end or you

really like how it starts or you know like you

like different parts of it along the way and

other parts you're waiting to see what happens

like i don't know how many times i've just like

literally from the opening to the closing been

like totally like I don't know, like a kid in

a candy store, like, just like, give me more

of all of this, please. Like, I would like to

see, see this and just like live in this space

for a while. Like, I don't know if like what

you talked about, like, especially given the

backdrop of the reality of that we live in, like,

can I just escape into this for a second where

people are working together? Like, yes, there

is some commentary, I guess, on some things from

the politics side, as far as like what they're

willing to do in this. movie and things of that

nature that you could i guess get grossed out

into or like delve into further but like to me

it did flip the script a little bit like i i

was under the impression that from the little

bit that i had seen like we know this is in space

we know ryan gosling's up there first i thought

he was going to be on a one -man mission or something

like that i didn't realize that there was going

to be other folks involved uh and then the other

thing i it made it seem to me or maybe i just

wasn't trying to read too much into it that He

was basically going to a planet or going to do

something and interact with a different life

form, an alien life form, or something of that

nature. I'd never realized or thought about the

fact, and I don't know how many times I've seen

this in a movie, where instead it's two different,

I guess, aliens to each other, two different

races or species that are running into each other

as they seek a common purpose on a... in a setting

that's not home to either of them like yeah that

that to me was kind of some of the genius and

and how this whole story sets up because it makes

it something that's unique compared to a lot

of what we've seen in the science fiction genre

so i was i was here for that for sure i am a

big ryan gosling fan and i think he was perfect

for this part i think matt damon is perfect for

the martian because i think matt damon pulls

off more of the quote -unquote sciencey part

of it Like we're, we're doing, we're delving

more deep into the science. And I think Ryan

Gosling can pull off that he's intelligent and

that he's the person that they're portraying

him as. But I think he also fits really well

in the fact that this one's a little bit more

relies a little bit more on the humor, right.

And a little bit more on the personality of,

of Ryan Gosling to kind of have that comedic

timing and, and have that aspect of him with

this film. So I feel like they both were like,

the films are so similar but like in the ways

that they're different the casting works perfectly

for them i thought um another thing i really

enjoyed and i know you talked about it a couple

times here is that this is yes there's some cg

involved in different aspects or whatever but

the amount of time that they took into making

this as real as possible i think paid off exponentially

in this film whether it be to have an actual

puppet being puppeteered and being voiced on

stage versus a CGI character, first and foremost.

Second, to have the set that they made for this

spaceship where it was realistic. All of the

stuff that we see in space, that's actually him

in a place that looks exactly like that. That's

not him acting against a green screen and doing

a lot of that where it could have been so easily

heavily green screen or ai or different effect

you know pizzazz and magic that we have available

to us and i just like that they went so much

more for the practical sets and the practical

effects and the the puppeteering and stuff like

that i think that just paid off in spades um

i think it's interesting like if if this movie

comes out in the 80s which i know it couldn't

have probably but if if it had like i feel like

this is like et this is like back to the future

this is the blockbusters that we got in the you

know 80s to early 90s like this is like going

and seeing jurassic park for the first time you

know what i mean like it's just like a fun blockbuster

that like delivers and shows that you don't just

have to like throw away expectation just because

it's a big blockbuster you know we don't have

to settle for you know some of the slop that

we get in in blockbusters it can be done intelligently

And when it's done and done right like this,

it just pays off so much. Yeah. That's a good

point. I think it, like you said, it not being

a franchise, anything like that, it being a standalone

film, obviously having a book, having some sort

of foundation, fan base, but even that, it's

not like... if you look at how many books are

sold, it's not like if you had every single person

that read the book, go to the movie, that's still

not, it's not making the money that it did. It's

a lot of those different factors, which is great.

You know, I, hopefully this is, you know, shows

that studios can get behind a movie like this,

both in the sense of the originality of it. And,

and also just the style and tone that maybe this

is what people want right now. And maybe it's

time to, cause we've had a lot of, You know,

more of the cynical, more of the downtrodden

type of ultra -serious. Obviously, we've had

the comic book movies and things like that. But

also, on the flip side, the Christopher Nolan

type of blockbusters as well. Maybe something

like this. We don't get movies like this as much.

Like I said, there's no villain in here. That's

one thing. I love The Martian, but if there's

any major issue with that, you do have some of

the forced... drama they could try to create

with like conflict with NASA on earth and things

like that. And I was kind of waiting for that

to happen here. And obviously this is different

in how it's structured, where it opens up, he

doesn't have his memory and then, and then he

doesn't know what he's doing and why he's doing

it. And then through flashbacks, which is also

how we're seeing it and then how he's experiencing

it. as well. It starts filling in the blanks.

It's not linear with how the story is told. And

I thought, not only does it help film in general,

but often that makes that ending make a lot more

sense in what it's going for. I thought that

was the structure of it. I really appreciated

it, too. But yeah, I think there's... Go ahead.

I think you touched on a good point. It doesn't

rely on a villain. it doesn't rely on even like

yes like there's some shady things that happen

i guess with how they get him there or whatever

i don't know if i would consider that like as

villainous i guess as you see in other situations

where it's like a more concerted effort and you

can kind of also understand why i guess in a

way they're doing what they're doing not saying

it justifies that or that you're okay with it

but you can kind of see so like it avoids doing

the villain thing it avoids doing the like against

like a conglomerate or you know political side

or big corporation even it doesn't even do like

that generic villain and also like resist the

need to like throw in some sort of love story

or you know all of those things that a lot of

other movies would be like well we gotta have

this in there or we gotta you know they're not

gonna watch something that you know doesn't have

this or doesn't have that like I feel like it's

like you know what we're gonna be an intelligently

written film that deals with human nature and

the human condition and how we interact with

things or people or species we don't understand

and i'm like like that's gonna be enough like

we're gonna throw some humor in there we're gonna

throw a kick kick butt like score and soundtrack

in there and we're gonna make things you know

work on on another level and i think they do

it in a in a interesting way too like taking

for example like how they balance the humor and

the drama and like the sadness i guess of the

situation that he finds himself in the beginning

like really brings like they do a good job of

creating him as a believable human being like

you believe that this person could exist right

like he's had some things not go his way necessarily

you know he's not necessarily living the life

that he probably envisioned at one point but

then he finds himself in a situation where he

just like pours himself into this you know being

a teacher and he it shows that like in the film

in some of those flashbacks that he's really

enjoying like what he's doing like yes he probably

views some of the kids as like a little annoying

or this that and the other but that's all teachers

do that so um you know he gets this way of just

pouring himself into that profession gets a chance

to like go see this thing but it doesn't just

portray him as like this i'm i don't know like

like i feel like they could have done this whole

thing where he just didn't have a soul and didn't

have emotions and didn't have feelings and stuff

like that because he doesn't you know he's the

perfect individual he doesn't have the family

yeah separation he doesn't have this good infinite

other so they could just like portray him completely

kind of cold when it comes to that but for example

like when they're doing the the funeral sequence

i guess you could call it or the whatever the

eulogy that he's given to his crew members that

he at that point doesn't even know like he can't

remember them yet he remembers more about them

later but he's literally like the humanity that

they put into that scene where he's viewing a

picture and trying to do his best to say something

that could be relevant to these folks before

he's basically shipping them off into space.

I just thought that they chose ways where they

could really show the human side, they could

show his soul and his emotions, yet not go so

far that it just feels like they're trying to

just draw tears out of the audiences. I just

liked how they balanced that. And there's a couple

other moments that they do that. Obviously there's

some moments where he thinks it's going to go

one way and it might not go another way. And,

you know, he, he's envisioning this to be a one

-way trip. You know, Rocky gives him another

option. You know, the fact that it immediately

draws like a tear out of him and like his reaction,

his reaction, when Rocky is trying to figure

out like the brave word and like how he would

be described. Like, I thought there were just

some very, Nice touches not necessarily like

Like subtle but like not heavy -handed and I

like that I felt like they never were heavy -handed

in this Yeah, despite the fact that he you know,

he ironically despite the fact that he played

Neil Armstrong This is not a type of character

that is like, you know, the right stuff type

of person, you know who was like the embodiment

of What like a hero trying to be the hero he

isn't you know, the, the guy that breaks his

hand to do it, he's reluctant and how it kind

of unveils that obviously the reluctancy and

he's trying to figure out like, why exactly did

he make this choice? You know, he doesn't have,

doesn't seem like he has any immediate family

that we can see. He doesn't have any kids. He's

not married. So maybe that's why. And then he

seems to have made peace with it, or at least

that's what he tells himself. And there was that

great scene where he finds out, no, Rocky's going

to be able to help him get home. And he's like,

well, you just say that. I didn't actually think

that. But then he played it as a joke at first.

But then as we later find out, not only did he

not actually feel that way, he had no desire

to go on this trip in the first place. And even

though... him not doing it could mean the end

of the world still the idea of like going on

a suicide mission that's like he couldn't muster

up the courage to do it um which you know that's

that's a hard thing to do you know that's that's

certainly choice where you're making your protagonist

basically you know uh i want i wouldn't say it's

cowardly i think it's understandable because

it's making that choice is i don't think any

it's easy to think about or do but i think it's

a good look at like what is it you know what

does masculinity actually mean without like you

said being overly heavy -handed with it and i

also find it interesting when you look at because

like i said i didn't know going into this like

it was going to be the end of the world like

they're trying to fix it but how um it was an

ending of the world or like this catastrophe

that i really haven't seen before i mean we've

seen like ideas of like the sun dimming with

like sunshine but this wasn't you know this wasn't

trying to be a take on like global warming or

something like that. Not that it would be bad

if it was, but this was something that humans

had no control over. It was something that was

not just impacting Earth, but the entire, you

know, all planets from what they could tell.

So that was, I think, made it a bit different,

too, that it didn't have a political angle in

that side. Not that it would be bad if it did,

but it just, it was... different type of end

of the world movie where it wasn't like i said

it wasn't like the 2012 or something like that

where just like the world is ending but it was

it's also allowed it to separate itself from

a lot of some say something like interstellar

which clearly was more of like you know certainly

had a lot of commentary on the way humans were

interacting with earth this i think was not necessarily

a criticism of humanity i think it was more so

of a hope of what it could be like the thing

that actually came to my mind was star trek right

because star trek is the ideal of what we could

possibly become you know where the world comes

together has a star fleet or whatever you know

you know we you know star trek much better than

i do right but like this could be a prequel to

star trek in some ways because it's they're all

you know this is the ideal of all these people

putting things aside and coming together to try

to solve this problem. And maybe because of that,

you know, that's where they build upon that and

become like this utopia in some ways. So I thought

it was just, I thought that was an intriguing

way of handling it. And honestly, when we, when

we get, when we, when we first interact with

the alien chip, my thought was going to be like,

oh, okay, they're protecting the star. They figured

this all out. and it's going to be like um contact

what is the movie arrival where next step is

trying to figure out how to communicate with

the species to learn what they're doing and then

use that information and bring it back to earth

i wasn't expecting it to be actually they don't

know either they are trying to figure out just

like we are and then or work together to solve

the problem like that i was like oh wow that's

that's actually a much better way of doing it

than what i had in my mind so right um and i

know we haven't talked go ahead no go ahead go

ahead i know we haven't talked much about you

know obviously rocky and uh frank gosling's but

like obviously like that's the movie and like

i never thought i could care this much about

uh a rock before but certainly do now i thought

that like that character in itself was great

like their the voice they chose clearly a lot

of um you know it's almost reminding me almost

like a star wars character or something like

that i don't know but it just there was a lot

of their relationship became so believable and

seeing this guy who clearly had no way of connecting

with humanity on earth finding a way to find

connection you know literally light years away

was i don't know again it goes back to that earnest

feeling that has really worked with me yeah i

think that's interesting too like there's so

many different movies that people are bringing

up when talking about project tail mary like

we we know the obvious one's going to be martian

right like that comes without saying because

it's done by a lot of the same people i have

heard a lot of like some more other modern ones

that i don't necessarily see as much of a connection

to this one but i think one that does come to

mind that kind of goes back to like you're talking

about ryan gosling puppet like having this amount

of emotion and stuff behind him it's like the

opposite of what we get with something like armageddon

like let me throw something crazy in like right

because armageddon like we we are you know this

sci -fi and that's one that's not as subtle like

they're literally trying to pull on the emotions

every every second thing get right like they're

trying to and i like armageddon for what it was

i think it was one of the first films i ever

saw twice in the theater for i don't even remember

why but uh that one is like it's trying to get

you to cry it's trying to get you to do this

but it also is doing it because it has a whole

cast of characters right like we have a father

-daughter dynamic we have you know co -workers

or friends we have like saying goodbye to this

person or that person which makes all of that

so much easier like we're getting an emotional

roller coaster with one character and a puppet

and it doesn't make sense that that works as

well as it does in this one like it's like take

the flashbacks out of it you know the flashbacks

do show his students and it does show the other

scientists and the astronauts that are involved

with this it does show the i don't know what

her title is the head of whatever this task force

is that's kind of putting all this together but

if you remove all that you know 75 of the movie

or whatever it ends up being is ryan gosling

and this puppet and it's amazing how much of

a emotional roller coaster we get just with those

two characters right like how many different

things can you do with these two characters that's

going to pull on your emotional like heartstrings

like you know you have the instance where he

thinks it's a one -way trip and then it turns

out not being and then then he's gonna find a

way to save rocky and then rocky's gonna find

a way to save him and then he has to go back

and like it seems like this could very easily

be almost like repetitive or redundant if done

not skilled like in an unskilled fashion like

we we could be like well how many times are we

gonna go back and forth with like who's gonna

die and who's not gonna die um and i felt like

they did that in an expert way that It was just

enough where it didn't necessarily feel that.

I didn't get any redundancy out of it. I didn't

get like, oh, now we're just going to go yo -yo

back and forth. It just felt like, okay, here's

this twist. Well, that's a natural progression

to this twist. I don't know. I just felt like

it's amazing what they were able to do with these

two. Hats off to James Ortiz, who does the puppeteering

of Rocky. He's the one that leads it. There's

a team of people like there is in most situations.

you know the fact that he somehow ended up getting

to do the voice even though he didn't realize

that that was going to be what happened you know

just from naturally dubbing his voice over and

being able to like have the official voice but

it's also fun like when they go through adds

to the comedy obviously when they go through

the different uh options for who the voice of

rocky is going to be yeah um you know obviously

the the rocky and adrian stuff to the actual

movie rocky like there's lots of these like just

little clever things like obviously the thumbs

down which i don't know like i get like a lot

of people on social media are we're reviewing

the film and giving it a thumbs down i understand

why yes it's somewhat clever because that's what

rocky does i don't know if i was involved in

the marketing of project hail mary if i would

be pushing for that to be a thing like if anybody

doesn't understand it they're gonna think you're

giving this a bad review yeah i mean if cisco

and ebert were around still you know they'd be

like wait that's that doesn't that's exactly

they'd be in a conundrum yeah um as far as the

the stuff that happens outside of rocky and rylan

grace the the stuff that does happen in the flashbacks

his interactions with sandra huller's character

uh ava strat is that her name i don't know if

i'm pronouncing it right but and carl the security

personnel who i thought was phenomenal but but

what was your take on all of the more human interaction

stuff that we see through the flashbacks. Do

you think, you know, Carl was, I mean, you can

think about it. Carl did help save the world.

Cause it was his idea that really about, you

know, that led to the discovery of how the, what

is it called? Astrophage. Astrophage. I think

like, I liked their interactions. I thought it

was, that was kind of the beginning of seeing

them figure out what exactly. He saw the curiosity

of Ryan Gosling's character, what drives him,

his ingenuity as well. And as you said, what

is her name again? I'm sorry, I can't think of

her. Yeah, and Ava, great. That's a hard role

to play, right? Because like you mentioned, she's

kind of no -nonsense in a way. It could be very

much a thinkless role. It's like the sergeant

in a cop movie where they're always telling the

person what they can't do. But I thought they

actually had a good dynamic and the faith that

she actually had in him and was actually pushing

him forward. Also, there's times where you saw

a bit of a comedic side to her, as well as the

random sequence of karaoke, which, again, is

one of those scenes that doesn't really necessarily

add anything to the plot, but it gives us insight

to that character. It shows you that she's not

just this, like... I don't know if she is in

the military or what her actual role was beforehand,

but at least you could see that there was a lot.

She actually does enjoy fun. She's human, but

also she understands the weight of what is on

her shoulders and what she has to do, and she

has to make the hard decisions sometimes that

are morally gray, and she's willing to do them

because... that's what has to be done. So, and

I also thought too, like we mentioned with the

ending, like the fact that she's obviously the

one that made the decision to force him into

the situation that he's in. So he's on there,

even though it was against his choice. Like I

thought there would be, again, talking about

conflict, like there would be more anger or like,

I don't know, like maybe he would even think,

okay, well, you know, they, they forced me to

do this. So I even bought, you know, as a way

of like retribution. Or something like that.

Or being angry or coming back to Earth. Being

like, you did this to me. Or I don't know, something

like that. Something cheesy. But it definitely

avoided that. And actually preferred where it

ended up. Where he ends up back at the alien

planet. And I do wish we got a little bit more

of that alien ship. I feel like we get a little

bit small glimpses of it. And I feel like I didn't

fully... i understand the functionality of it

still right so maybe like on a rewatch or something

like that but i still didn't really like we didn't

get enough but you know i understand what did

you think about the fact that like basically

when we're doing those flashbacks i feel like

that's the heavy science part of it right like

that's when he is trying to learn you know how

the astrophage works and that's when they're

trying to come up with all the different things

once we move to the rocky and rylan part of that

which i know it happens intermittently but when

we're dealing with that aspect of the story yes

there's science but those bits of science are

much quicker and a little less deep than i mean

i'm not saying there's not science involved but

it's not quite going i don't think to the length

that we get with the the earth science that's

going on you know when they're trying to figure

out the plan and they're trying to like get this

whole thing off the ground when They're more

complex, probably, like the stuff that Rocky

and him are doing. But I feel like it's also

done in a way that is a little more surface level,

I guess, is the best way I can think of saying

it. Coming up with how he's going to learn how

to speak and communicate with Rocky, right? You

get the seeds of what they're doing. It doesn't

feel the need, which I think is fine, of really

going into it super in -depth to shore that up.

It's like, this is kind of the science behind

it. we're going to jump ahead and like, we have

to move on with the movie. So then, you know,

they're going to understand each other. And there's,

you know, a lot of that part, obviously we don't

get like, we don't get a lot of what's happening

inside Rocky's. brain or head or whatever because

he's like on another level genius when it comes

to like engineering and creating and like building

and and all the stuff he can do um do you think

like they played that dynamic okay with like

the amount of science that's involved i i know

we said it's less than what we get in the martian

but do you feel like there's enough of it where

you're able to like go along for the journey

or did you find yourself saying well that's just

like that's hollywood or that's movie magic that

just forcing us to go from step a to step b i

was fine with it like it never felt like anything

was out of the realm of possibility where like,

oh, I don't believe that that could happen. Certainly

there are like leaps and you think you have to

kind of buy in for certain things. Like you said,

with the language, you go back to Arrival and

we had an entire movie where they just tried

to have, you know, a basic understanding of communication

and how, you know, and that could have been this

movie, but it's not. That wasn't what this movie

was. So it was a bit more, like you said, fast

-tracked. But at least I thought you got it.

it gave you that initial foundation of, okay,

we're going to figure this out here and we'll

build upon it. Certainly it, their advancement

was very quick. And, you know, but I think, I

think I prefer that within this because it's

not what the movie necessarily is about. Like

knowing, I haven't read the book talking to my

wife and her explanation of the book. That is

much more technical. It is, like, that's what

Andy Weir does. He gets really into the deep

science of everything, gets into the huge, like,

that's, like, he struggles with more of the human

part of it. Like, he's more of, you know, kind

of like, you know, Christopher Nolan with his

director where the characters are a bit cold.

But he's, when it comes to more of the procedural

aspects, getting into the nitty gritty there.

So I feel like if you want that, you have the

book, but where the movie is like, okay, let's,

we'll give you enough. and i could see some people

taking issue with that because i do think there

are things that it kind of just glosses over

or things some things are really easy fixes but

i think it's i'm okay making that sacrifice to

get to where it gets to it gets to the the core

of what this movie is which again is about all

the about you know human connection or connection

and some what does that mean and just the camaraderie

of what they're able to bring through that relationship

to me was worth it in the end and i think we're

already dealing with a two and a half hour run

time so like how much longer do you folks want

it i know some people like the marathon films

but uh the last thing i kind of wanted to ask

you about i've read and heard in different reviews

and podcasts a lot of commentary on the cynical

nature of rylan grace's character potentially

and if he cared about humanity or if he cared

about life on earth or you know the fact that

he wasn't willing to make this sacrifice the

fact that he's gonna choose to stay on this alien

planet and not go back to earth because he doesn't

really care about earth anyways and like a lot

of this like cynicism and and and negative view

on on the human race i guess i didn't pick up

on any of that like that's not how i read the

film like i was wondering what level of cynicism

do you feel like is involved here and like how

much Do you think it mattered as far as your

viewing of the movie and his decision on whether

he goes back to Earth or stays on Rocky's planet

for however long that's going to end up being?

Yeah, I don't think he was cynical towards the

human race. Because me, seeing those classroom

scenes, he seemed to be enjoying what he was

doing. He seemed to find and get something out

of it. And I don't think he's in that role if

he has no faith in humanity or faith within...

the importance of, you know, especially middle

school, you don't teach middle school for as

long as he was teaching middle school, unless

you enjoy it or something like that. You clearly

has other options. So I, I didn't take that.

I took it more. So like, like I mentioned is

that he didn't have a connection beyond that.

Like he, like he didn't, he wasn't able to connect

with people for whatever reason. He didn't have

a relationship or a long -term relationship from

what we know of. There wasn't even like, you

mentioned the eulogy scene. Even those people,

he didn't know much about them because he didn't

have much of a memory, but even the scenes that

we see with them together, he struggled with

trying to come up with a way of connecting with

them. He's in the bar, but he's not with them.

You know what I mean? They're doing karaoke.

He's there. He's there. It's not like he's anti

them, but he's also not in the middle of them.

It's just like he hasn't learned how to get along

with people in that way. Well, it could be, too.

Sorry, I keep cutting you off. Oh, you're fine.

Somebody that is that level of intelligence,

what did he have? He had a PhD in molecular biology

or some form of field within science. There's

times when you're at that level of the IQ spectrum.

like it may be hard for you to have those connections

with people like you know what i mean like he

there's a difference when you're dealing with

kids right because they're not adults yet like

you're you could be like trying to like teach

them and do different stuff that's a different

dynamic but i think when it comes to people of

his own age or whatnot there could be a situation

where it's just harder for him to connect where

when it's when he's able to fully put himself

into the science of it which is what his passion

is like it's i think it's a little bit easier

for him to get lost in that so i always viewed

it as he's that's what gets him involved in this

project right like it's his love and his passion

for discovery and science and everything that

goes in in that right and i think that's also

why he makes the decision to to kind of do some

of the things he does towards the end of the

movie is because he's who else has this chance

right like if you're that it's different like

if you're the astronaut and you've ended up on

a distant planet and you have a chance to come

back home you're probably coming back home like

you don't have as much pulling you there but

for him he's probably thinking of it like what

other person in my field gets the chance to hang

out on an alien planet for a him as a person

not being cynical about life on earth or human

nature or whatever else you could you could throw

in there it's more about somebody that like is

passionate about certain things and pours himself

into that when he has the option and you know

if there's not it's easier to do that also like

we said when there's nobody necessarily at home

so it's not like an abandonment of the human

race but it's like i know i don't have a wife

waiting for me i know i don't have a child waiting

for me So I can do this and I can like delve

into the sciency part of, of learning about this

alien race. And, you know, he does have a connection

with Rocky. So yeah, it all made sense. Yeah.

I thought his apprehension to go on the mission

was often wasn't because like he didn't have,

he didn't care what happened to me. And he won.

I think it was also, also just a fear because

of the, just knowing that you're making a decision

that is going to, and your life is not an easy

thing to do. Like, it's hard to get yourself

to do it. Like, it's like, you know, it's when

you're, there's a burning building and you need

to jump out of the building. Still, like, there's

that fear of like, okay, but will I survive this?

You know, it's, I don't know. And I don't care

how smart you are in whatever field it is that

you're in. That's not the same as somebody being

like, hey, we want to use this, but we need you

to get on the spaceship. Yeah. Go to another

planet real quick. And not to mention that you

might just be worried he can't do it. So much

of that movie up to that point was him being

reassured that he belonged within that conversation.

Because up to that point, before this began,

he's been a failure. So he's a person who's never

succeeded in this life. Now you're going to put

the weight of the world on him. And he's also

not coming back. So, and I took the decision

of him staying with the aliens, at least for

a brief period of time. It's because, like I

mentioned, like at home, he hasn't for whatever

reason. And I don't know if the book gets into

it more, but for what we see, he just, you know,

he's able to connect with his kids maybe because,

like you mentioned, he's really smart and he

can use his curiosity and his... knowledge to,

you know, they're excited about it too, where

if he sat down and tried to have a conversation

and just talk about, you know, his science for

an hour and a half with like somebody else, they

might be, their eyes might gloss over. But with

Rocky, he found that connection. So I think that's

kind of like, oh, this is something I couldn't,

not just because of being able to be on an alien

planet and what it can mean knowledge -wise,

but certainly that's part of it because he's

certainly a person that it's all about learning.

and in knowing things, but also because for once

there was the thing that he cannot do it on his

home planet. He was able to do. So I thought

that all kind of made sense. And at first when

like that ending was happening, I'm like, do

we really, it's like, is this Lord of the Rings?

We're getting, we're getting like 8 ,000 different

endings, but as it kept going and we got into

that final spot, I'm like, okay, this is actually,

this is actually better. This, this makes sense.

This is a better spot than him just returning

home, like I said, and going up to that person

and be like, see, now I'm here, and trying to

confront them. This is a far more satisfying

and, I think, complete journey for him as a character.

Last question for you. On a scale of 1 to 100%,

I was 100 % sure that Rocky was dead at that

one point. i thought he was dead too i could

i i thought i would 100 until um until he made

the comment regarding like you need to wake up

because i don't know how to get it back to your

own planet like okay well then now now he's you

know the way they made him look though like the

the effect that they used and like how how that

affected him when he left his little uh biodome

yeah personal biodome was like oh like they made

that so convincing I was like, oh, that is rough.

I think my wife is ready to lose it at that point

for sure. But any final thoughts on Project Hail

Mary? Was it kind of a wrap -up? No, no. I definitely

enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to seeing it

again. It's 2 hours and 20 minutes, so it's a

tough watch to think, will my 6 -year -old and

10 -year -olds enjoy it? But maybe in a few years,

maybe my oldest would probably like it. Yeah,

definitely go and check it out. I know, like

I said, it's PG -13, but I do think... I don't

know why. I think it's... Well, there's a drug

reference in it. And the dead bodies? Probably

would be my guess. But, yeah, I think that's

probably why. And I think, too, you might be

scared of a PG rating because people make up

such a huge... I know when they were the... when

the predator movie was big PG 13 and people like

freaking out or whatever. So if it like, like,

Oh, that's PG. But I don't know. It's, it's also

like why the MPA is really weird. Cause I've,

I've seen like other, you know, PG 13 films that

like that are far worse in the sense of like

with violence and things like that. This is on

the tamest side of PG 13. Yeah. Yeah. i would

have like no issue i think showing i think that

like you said that the dead body scene might

be a little bit challenging but even that is

i think handled handled pretty tamely so but

man if this is like a if this could be a sign

of like what 2026 has in store for us i am all

here for it like if if somehow all the other

science like there's so many science fiction

movies coming out this year like if three or

four more of them could like deliver like project

hail mary like a disclosure day and like uh you

know I know that it's not sci -fi, but the Odyssey,

some of these other directors could deliver like

this one does. We could be in store for a great

year. Have you seen any other 2026 films besides

this one? I've only seen three so far. I've seen

R .I .P. and I've seen... Last night I watched

the movie Mercy, which is a science fiction film

with the guy that's from... Chris Pratt, right?

Chris Pratt, yes. I've seen The Wrecking Crew

with Jason Momoa and Dave Bautista. It was a

good movie to watch while you're on the treadmill.

RIP was good just to see Ben Affleck and Matt

Damon together. I know Mercy got absolutely annihilated

by critics and whatnot, but I don't think it's

nothing that I'm going to probably have on my

top 10 or 20 list at the end of the year. it

was fine for a late night watch i thought i mean

project hill mary is easily sitting in the number

one spot for now we'll have to wait and see what

happens and like you mentioned i went to the

movies earlier and i saw super mario i saw the

mario galaxy movie with my kids and it was it's

fine like they liked it but they didn't love

it like you know there's movies you see and then

They're all about it, and they want to watch

it again. And this was kind of one of those.

It was very similar to Dog Man last year. They

watched it once, and they never talked about

it ever again. And that's been the case. And

then today, I also watched Crime 101, which just

became on Prime. I just saw that. We added it

to our queue. I liked it. The title is exactly

what it is. So if that interests you, especially

if you like Michael Mann movies, it's like, OK,

let's just do that. kind of um but i enjoy but

this but of the four or whatever five films i've

seen of 2026 like you said by far my favorite

um but you know still early in the year but if

this i could see this making my top 10 like certainly

it's hard to say we're we're very early early

on um but i mean the martian definitely made

my top 10 you made your number one it was my

number one i think i still like the martian a

little bit more um But to see both of them again,

I think, yeah, I think it just, yeah, it's, I

don't know. Maybe, maybe if I watched them also,

like maybe I watched it again, it would be different,

but I, I didn't think they're very comparable.

I think if you like the Martian, you're going

to like how to kill Mary. And I, I'd also feel

like, I don't know, like how you would dislike

this movie. I could see you not loving it. Or

again, maybe if you're really cynical. And like

I said, it is very, it does have this Disney

quality to it in a way, like with the puppet.

So maybe if it's, you might find that a bit,

I don't know. If you want something deeper and

serious, if you're looking for Solaris or something

of that nature or Interstellar 2, it's not that.

But like I said, if you like The Martian, I think

this is going to work with you as well. I feel

like if you can't like this film, I don't know

if I want to be at any type of party with you

or anything else. I feel like you're just a Debbie

Downer at that point. I don't know. I definitely

would recommend anybody that hasn't seen it.

You shouldn't have listened to this first, but,

but go watch it for sure. And it's an easy one

to recommend to like just about anybody, right?

Like you can, you can recommend this to your

parents. You can recommend this to your coworkers.

You can recommend this to your friends. Yeah.

It's, it's certainly a crowd pleaser. Like I

said, it's not, it's not surprising in terms

of quality that it's doing as well as it is.

It's just surprising because it's, we haven't,

we. We had Sinners last year, of course. That

did great. It's good to see that we're seeing

more and more films like this do well. So I think

that's hopefully something that they'll build

upon for the future. Alright. Before we completely

close out, Dan, I thought I'd give a really super

fast update because I feel like now that we're

in April, the box office for last year is done.

So you did get the number one film right last

year. Zootopia by 4 million took over. minecraft

movie so there you go copia 2 is in first then

minecraft movie then lilo and stitch and avatar

settled in and four i was surprised by that unless

it's still out in theater somewhere and i just

don't know but it's got it would have 20 million

behind lilo and stitch so the rest didn't really

change for us superman wicked for good jurassic

world sinners fantastic foreign how to train

your dragon so you do get the number one and

the number seven right so good job on that one.

And I'll let you have last year and I'll start

on a positive note with project Hail Mary for

this year. So yeah, we'll see how it goes from

there. So Dan, let everybody know how they can

follow you on letterbox or social media or any

of that type of stuff. I'm on comic concierge

on most social media platforms and on letterbox.

I think my, my name is movie revolt on there.

So yeah. And you can find me at optimist solo

on most things, letterbox. I'm at Kevin Thompson.

You can search out the Cinema Geeks by searching

Cinema Geeks or Cinema Geek Cast. And you can

also visit the website we're hosted on at geekcastradio

.com. So we will be back with more Western talk

on our next episode. So it was just a brief stop

in the modern days. And we'll try to go back,

you know, 60 years like we normally do for our

next episode. So that does it for this episode.

Tune in next time for another chance to listen

to more of the Cinema Geeks.