The Martian - LaF 128

The review du jour is Ridley Scott’s sci-fi drama The Martian. Matt Damon has been nominated as Best Actor for his role as Mark Watney, an astronaut stranded on Mars after accidentally being assumed dead. The rest of the film’s cast is a who’s who of Hollywood elite featuring Jessica Chastain, Kate Mara, and Michael Pena as the astronauts racing to save Mark, and Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Sean Bean, and Kristen Wiig comprising the NASA staff coordinating the rescue. This box office juggernaut has a legitimate chance to chance to collect a lot of Oscar gold. The film has been a smash hit with audiences and critics alike, so it is no surprise the film has garnered 7 Academy Award nominates, including Adapted Screenplay, Production Design, and Visual Effects. 

Join LaF as they strap in for an intergalactic voyage to the fourth planet to review The Martian.

Wee LaF for the September 18 Weekend - LaF 79

Episode 79 features the L-Train and Mr. Two-Frames previewing a packed box office of new releases coming out for the September 18th weekend. First, Johnny Depp stars in the gangster biopic Black Mass. Depp's performance as Whitey Bulger is generating him early Oscar buzz for Best Actor award consideration. Another based on true events film opens this weekend, as Kate Mara and David Oyelowo both star in Captive. Oyelow plays escaped convict Brian Nichols who back in 2005 broke into a single mother's apartment and held her hostage after murdering the judge in his criminal case. Teenagers will be flocking to theaters to see Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials, the latest adapted young adult novel set in a dystopian future(basically another rip-off of Hunger Games). This film picks up directly after the last film, as a group of teenagers have finally escaped the dreaded Maze only to find a new set of even greater obstacles now stand in the way of their freedom. Lastly, opening only on IMAX screens, is Everest starring Jake Gyllenhall, Keira Knightley, and Josh Brolin as mountain climbers in for the worst day of their lives. The film dramatizes the deadliest day in Everest's history after it was hit by a surprise snow storm in 1996.

Are you going to the movies this week? If you do, then send in a review to the show. Email us at theLaFpodcast@gmail, tweeting @theLaFpodcast, or messaging us on Facebook.com/theLaFpodcast. The best comments will get read on a future show.