The Martian

2015, US, directed by Ridley Scott

While Ridley Scott's output seems to me uneven in the extreme, I rather liked this, not least because it does something I like a lot, setting up its premise with quite wonderful brevity, quickly moving the viewer to the meat of the story. To my mind, it also had some interesting solutions to some of the technical problems a story like this poses -- like whether or not to have the character speak or remain silent when alone -- while it also does a fine job of avoiding blocky exposition in favour of smooth narrative flow. That's a little harder in the second half, where more elements crowd together, but by then you've either bought in to the story or not. Plus, there's a nice seam of humour, something I don't always associate with the director.