The Martian

I watched the DVD of 'The Martian' today and as both an astronomy and science buff I was quite impressed with the attention to detail on the science part. However the plot was rather lacking but the acting skills of Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain made up for it. In summary it is about NASA astronaut Mark Watney (Damon) being marooned on Mars after the rest of his crew mates had presumed him dead and had to make an emergency departure from the red planet.  Reminiscent of other solo survival stories such as Robinson Crusoe and Castaway, he had to survive physically and mentally.  Yes he does grow his own spuds using Mars dust and human excrement for fertilizer.  However things go awry when he somehow blows up his Mars "house" which doubles as accommodation and potato greenhouse.  The rest of the story just drifts on from that. One scientific anomaly is Watney walking normally in a non-weighted spacesuit on a planet with 38% of Earth's gravity.  I think some scientific liberties were taken there.  All in all a reasonable film for the science buffs but don't expect a great storyline.