Ridley Scott directs Matt Damon, Jeff Daniels and Kristen Wiig in this sci-fi adventure about a stranded astronaut who has to survive Mars with limited life support while NASA mounts an unplanned rescue mission.

“I’m gonna science this shit outta this.” Only a decade old and they genuinely don’t make them like this anymore. A classy ensemble wittily negotiating the impossible around a charismatic and bubbly turn from Matt Damon’s smart alec Robinson Crusoe. This is a problem solving movie. And a good format for how we should all live our lives. Prioritise one emergency at a time until the solutions cascade into each other. Very few modern blockbusters celebrate decency and intelligence like this. And because Ridders was the gun-for-hire, it looks the utter tits. Massive uninhabitable alien expanses, A-listers looking glamorous (unless in peril) and sheen-y shiny believable tech. It is constantly entertaining over 150 minutes and leaves you with a series of massive smiles on your big dumb stupid face.

10

Perfect Double Bill: Ad Astra (2019)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin