Discussion

inaros: Dont waste your money. Terrible movie. Demeanor oscillates between unfunny jokes at adolescent or bro style like in Deadpool level...or even worst, child level Disney interactions. Directors dont understand SciFi and clearly dont like Scifi.Ryan Gosling is no actor capable of carrying a movie by himself, and visually there is nothing worth of IMAX. You will get more wonders in a regular made for TV Andor or Star Trek episode.Despite 12 posts here in the last few days, (nice try Amazon), one thing continues to be true: Almost anything from Amazon Studios is shite. It is amazing the level of reviews they managed to pull off on IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes.Just download the torrent and you will see there is nothing here...and you will thank me for the time and money saved.

kdaker: OP, who seem like an accomplished astrophotographer is sharing a proud moment involving his work. All you can say is how bad the movie is? You can share this in on a post about the movie itself. Btw beautiful photographs OP.

inaros: Its seems the post is part of a coordinated pump on the movie here by Amazon Studios. As you can see, if you look at the amount of related post coordinated with the release. And never seen for any other movie...

dcminter: Even if promotional (which I doubt even if other posts are), this ticks the 'is interesting and not shallow' box for me.

Sharlin: As another data point, a local well-respected popular astronomy magazine was quite impressed by the movie, relative to Hollywood standards anyway. Translated link: https://www-avaruus-fi.translate.goog/uutiset/tahtiharrastus...

j_bum: Incredible work, OP. What a proud feeling you must have. Congrats!!My wife and I saw the movie this weekend, we thought it was great. I adored the book, yet I recognize a book can’t be perfectly translated to the screen.I thought the directors did a good enough job at translating the sci-fi into something the masses would enjoy.Kudos to you

throw0101d: Somewhat related, nature photographer/youtuber Danni Connor had her recording of a red squirrel used in the movie Dune (Part 1) for the sound of the desert mouse (muad'dib). Her interviewing with (Oscar-winning) sound designer Mark Mangini on it:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtfzjehDg74* transcript: https://otter.ai/u/PA9dbWFA7BgPgLZN9CSo1WFAjXk* https://www.iflscience.com/wildlife-photographers-viral-squi...* https://markmangini.com/Mark_Mangini/Blog/Entries/2021/11/7_...Story of her 'adopting' the squirrels:* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tDlh62AVPoThe name of the squirrel is "Baby Pear"; her viral tweet:* https://twitter.com/DaniConnorWild/status/127534941750838476...

quietbritishjim: I don't see any reason to suggest the HN submitter is the same as the article author, especially considering the high volume of submitted articles by the submitter.

0x38B: Me and my brother just saw the movie tonight and we stayed for the credits. I thought the images were beautiful.I enjoyed the film, but the pace felt rushed, like I never had a minute to breathe. I suppose I wish it was more like Interstellar in its tone - not fair, I know. Missed the bit from the book where Grace figures out he's not on Earth: would have been cool to see on screen. I think it's time to read the book again.

double07zip: This is amazing. Your photos are art!

postalcoder: Wow. Seldom in your life do you look images and feel like you're seeing something unlike anything other. The colors and forms in these images give me an itch – they are electric.

inaros: I dont think people realize how bad this movie is, how there is no actual SciFi on it, and how manipulated the reviews are.You have been warned: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730/reviews/?rating=1&ref_...Its a kids movie with Deadpool level jokes on it...

shubhamjain: Amazing! Kudos to Hollywood, for going to this length to license the work, credit the author, involve him in the project. To respect realism as a goal for its own, even though "no one will notice" and a similar image might be "just a prompt away." I know how common is the latter these days.

kevinsync: I don’t even know what to say here -- you’re entitled to your opinion obviously, and I disagree with it deeply, and the spirit of HN is to avoid personal attacks and reply with curiosity, but you kinda laid it out very plainly above. Where’s your imagination gone? Your connection to child-like wonder? Empathy for your fellow man?Project Hail Mary isn’t Arrival, it’s ET mixed with Castaway. It’s about friendship and loneliness and the fragility of the human experience and the triumph of the human spirit!Normally I’d just say “you didn’t get it, it wasn’t for you” but given the insufferable and total dismissal above, I’d wager it actually IS for you LOL but you chose not to receive the message.Anyways, everybody’s a critic these days, I get that. I’d just encourage people to soften a bit and appreciate things for what they are (not what we want them to be)

superchink: Would you recommend reading the book first?

DorkyPup: This is incredible and wonderful news, huge congratulations! As someone who works at the intersection of design and engineering, the detail about delivering "starless versions" so the credit typography doesn't compete with the bright stars is exactly the kind of invisible technical problem-solving I love reading about on here.On a personal note, I find it very refreshing to hear that a major studio opted for real captured photography. Love that they specifically wanted the authenticity of real narrowband data and that speaks to the production team's vision. Enjoy the premiere night, feel incredibly proud. I was already planning on watching the movie this weekend (it releases here on the 26th) and now I'm doubly excited because I know this neat little tidbit.I'm pretty sure this "Dad did something crazy" moment is going to be a core memory for your kids. Congrats!

vintagedave: I'm curious how the starless versions are created. From the steps at the end, I couldn't see a 'this is how stars are removed' step. Maybe it's part of stacking (but most stars would remain present?) or the calibration process treating stars as noise?

zyberzero: Not the parent, but I've seen the movie and read the book. I think there are a few gaps in the movie that's explained by the book, but there are some artistic freedom as well between the book and the film.I would recommend reading the book first at least.

jebarker: > Its seems the post is part of a coordinated pump on the movie here by Amazon StudiosIs there any evidence for this?

roblh: I feel like the stars are probably pretty easy to mask out since they’re very bright relative to the rest of the image. Once you have the mask, each one is small enough that you could probably fill it with the values from adjacent pixels. Kinda like sensor mapping to hide dead pixels. That’s just a guess though, I’m sure there’s more to it than that.

gwbennett: Great, great work! Congratulations and Bravo Zulu! Looking forward to seeing the movie this weekend.

austinthetaco: This is hn not reddit. This feels like a wildly out of place and inappropriate comment for this kind of discussion.

johnbarron: The movie got 12 posts here on HN, pumped by Amazon Studios within the day of release but suddenly it cant be discussed?

austinthetaco: If you have some proof of astroturfing you should write a blog and then share on hn, it might make for a very good post here. otherwise it feels wildly inappropriate (not to mention incredibly unlikely that they would spend marketing money on astroturfing here of all places). Andy Weir has written some books that are incredibly successful in the tech industry circles with Hail Mary being the current most popular if not slightly under The Martian, chances are there's just going to be a lot of talk about it. But even if there is astroturfing, telling people to not watch the movie in a thread where someone is showing off their space photography is inappropriate and misplaced.

inaros: The author of the great Astrophotography is not the OP of the HN post.And that is already one starting and possible isolated indicator of astroturfing, ....when the movie related posts got no traction, they went looking for related subjects...

dahart: That proves nothing. You are making assumptions. Did you look at the submission history of the poster?HN runs on user-submitted posts. People submit things they find interesting, and things they believe others will find interesting.

aczerepinski: Book is better but they’re both good. I don’t think order matters.

johnbarron: >> It’s about friendship and loneliness and the fragility of the human experience and the triumph of the human spirit!So is every Disney movie and that is what this but with the crappy Amazon Studios take on it.>> Anyways, everybody’s a critic these days,Do you believe a movie can objectively be considered good or bad? If you do you then believe some are better critics than others, the same some way some are better Coders than others or better Basketball players than others?

kevinsync: You're asking the wrong person lol. I can give you a list of "objectively bad" movies that I think are incredible for a variety of defensible reasons.Just off the top of my head as I briefly scan shit sitting on the shelves of my office:- Joe Dirt- Death Wish 3- Thrashin- Hackers- Mortal Kombat- Uncle Buck- The Incredible Burt Wonderstone- Tapeheads- Prayer of the Rollerboys- Weekend at Bernie'sNot exactly Fellini, and some are barely even Andy Sidaris if we're being honest, but every movie in that list is amazing for different reasons. An objective critique of any of them (especially in context with "film", as a shapeless, vague concept) misses the point and the spirit of each and every one. But I am an uncultured heathen, so ...

Tommix11: I loved that they changed the ending. I did not like the ending in the book.

hectdev: As an amateur astrophotographer, I am both so envious and so happy for you. What a wonderful recognition of your talent and dedication to the craft. Kudos!

gukov: The audiobook version is amazing, if that’s your thing.

minitech: What changed about the ending?

geerlingguy: I agree; the movie is more of a relationship/self-reflection/friendship story, with some pop science and space stuff mixed in to keep it interesting.The book is more of a true sci-fi novel, with the relationship stuff keeping it interesting.I liked both a lot, and think both could be enjoyed fully with or without the other, in either order.

funkychicken: Uncle Buck is on your list of objectively bad movies?!?!?

ceejayoz: I enjoyed the hell out of it.Consider the possibility that your opinions are not universal.

throw0101d: > Consider the possibility that your opinions are not universal.Critic and audience reactions are generally positive:> On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 326 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "A visually dazzling space odyssey that's carried along effortlessly by the gravitational pull of Ryan Gosling at his most winning, Project Hail Mary is a near-miraculous fusion of smarts and heart."[47] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 77 out of 100, based on 55 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[48] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[49]* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Hail_Mary_(film)#Criti...

inaros: Did you watch the movie? Those reviews are manipulated...Do you believe in the concept of objectivity? Meaning some movies are Objectively better than others, some Reviews are Objectively better than other?If I bring a bunch of kids and teens to the movie, and at the end they all cant stop talking about how much they loved the rock, should I give an Oscar to Ryan Gosling?

ceejayoz: > Do you believe in the concept of objectivity? Meaning some movies are Objectively better than others, some Reviews are Objectively better than other?In this context? Absolutely not. One person's favorite movie is another's least.> If I bring a bunch of kids and teens to the movie, and at the end they all cant stop talking about how much they loved the rock, should I give an Oscar to Ryan Gosling?It's OK for a movie to not be an Oscar contender.

inaros: IMDB has it at a 8.5/10I am happy we can agree those metrics mean nothing...

ggambetta: That's just, like, your opinion, man. I loved the book and I loved the movie.

inaros: I do not deny that people enjoy it. I am saying that the film humor, dialogue, and emotional treatment strike me as pitched at a comparatively childish level.... ;-)

dahart: Those handful of 1-star reviews seem the same as the 1-star reviews on all movies, including all of the good movies you probably liked: “boring”, “overhyped”, “doesn’t live up to the book”, etc.. Are they manipulated? Go ahead and name a movie you like without looking at the reviews first, if you dare, and then let’s check the reviews.I liked the movie and loved the book. Did you read the book? You seeing to be ignoring opinions from real people in this thread. What if the good reviews are as genuine as the bad ones? All I can conclude from bad reviews is that some people have different taste than me, and occasionally some people are in a bad mood when they watch something and it spoils the experience.What is an example of actual SciFi? What do you mean about there not being any?

inaros: My problem with the movie is not that it is humorous or accessible. Scifi does not have to be solemn like 2001 or mythic like Dune. The probleme is that reduces a huge premise to a childish emotional register...The premise is an interstellar mission, species level extinction risk, first contact, scientific problem solving. The film frames this through cute banter, soft sentiment, and quips that shrinks the movie scale.So it treats a genuinely huge science fiction premise in a disney type emotional level. The humor feels adolescent and tonally deflates the stakes. Instead of using first contact, isolation, and extinction level danger to create awe or intellectual depth, it turns them into a cute, reassuring buddy experience.Bust fit Deadpool level jokes, with the first Alien humanity ever encountered? Really?Plus the direction is bad, the pace is bad and Ryan Gosling I am sorry is no great actor who can talk to a rock for 2 hours and carry on a movie....Also it is not just a bad movie it is also bad Scifi, because it wastes the genre central strength meaning using speculative ideas to confront us with something bigger, stranger or more unsettling than ourselves.You had everything....extinction of the stars of the universe, first contact, humanity in danger, a regular human trust into the most important project... but instead we ignore the scientific challenges, and logical problem solving who are by the way are a major part of the book.And this is what I mean by Good Scifi vs Bad Scifi...They even managed to squeeze some kind of half baked love relationship almost unrelated to the core plot for Ryan Gosling, that is so badly delivered and is so ambiguous... you almost wonder who is partner was, and what any of that had to do with the movie delivery...They managed to turn an alien into a lovable emotional device. No wonder kids love it...

dahart: Is your problem with the movie or the book? It sounds like you didn’t read the book…? It is a buddy story and the author Andy Weir has stated he wanted the story to be different from the typical scary first encounter and send a positive hopeful message.Again, name any movie you like and go look at the 1-star reviews. You will see the very same rants you’re making here. You can trash any SciFi movie this way because it’s fiction.So when you said “no actual SciFi” you just meant you thought it was bad sci-fi? The book spends a lot more time on the scientific challenges, so if that’s what you want, maybe you should read it before commenting on this story any further. I can see why they chose to skip that stuff for the movie.You’re entitled to your opinion. I, and others here and online, disagree with it, and we’re not being paid by Amazon. I don’t know why you keep saying Disney and Deadpool over and over again, especially since those two are very different and this film is very different from either, but some people actually like the film, and it appears to be more people like than dislike. Is that why you’re coming on so strong, because you expected pushback?

inaros: This is why the bad reviews are important and support my argument: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47518428

dahart: That’s not a compelling argument. Sometimes bad reviews can be useful when there are a lot of them, but you’re taking them out of context and ignoring the mountain of good reviews, and furthermore making unsupportable claims about why there are good reviews. Some 1-star reviews are also people who were in a bad mood, or had a rare/unique experience. Occasionally bad reviews are competitors and occasionally trolls who like saying mean things.You’re not going to take me up on the challenge to name the ‘good’ movies you like and then look at the 1-star reviews? Do the same for products that you like and paid for. I’m certain that an honest application of that test will demonstrate that you’re cherry-picking, made up your mind here for some reason and are unswayed by facts.

j_bum: That’s a tough one. I’d recommend the book first, but I can see arguments for both orders.By reading the book first, you’ll have a better background and understanding of the context of the plot, the science, and the overall objectives of the mission. There are also several “twists” in the book that were cut from the movie for runtime.I enjoyed the movie after reading because I got to see the story “come to life”.But I could also understand the perspective of enjoying the movie first, and then having the story/world expanded 8x with a 16hr book.You’d could equate “movie -> book” order to watching the LoTR standard editions first, and then watching the extended editions.I listened to the audiobook narrated by Ray Porter (on Audible) and would recommend that production if you enjoy audio.I don’t think you can go wrong either way :)

touisteur: Bright stars are so bright they literally mask areas of the sky. You'll probably need deconvolution algorithms (CLEAN being the standard some time ago, don't know whether some AI/deep-inv approach works nowadays...) to remove them.

joshumax: There are several “AI” deconvolution tools to remove stars which work exceptionally well: two of the most popular ones being StarNet and RC-Astro’s StarXTerminator. I’m willing to bet that the author used the latter for star removal as it’s become something of a standard in the astrophotography world.

TyrunDemeg101: Both are wonderful. I thought the movie was an excellent adaptation of the book.But I am glad I read the book first, I got much more out of it - it goes a lot more in depth into the science and engineering challenges that occur throughout. Which I appreciated. I'm not sure I would have read the book in the same way if I had seen the movie first.

throw0101d: > Do you believe in the concept of objectivity?When it comes to the concept of entertainment? No.Is the 2003 movie The Room (written/directed/produced by Tommy Wiseau) "objectively" good or bad?* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Room

inaros: I heard children loved the rock...Now go to IMDB:https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12042730/reviews/?rating=1&ref_...sort by worst review and you will see the comments and reviews make a lot of sense...If you believe like some of commentators this is a 10/10 movie, you also probably believe these reviews are not manipulated...

ceejayoz: > sort by worst reviewThis is about the worst methodology you could possibly use here.> If you believe like some of commentators this is a 10/10 movie, you also probably believe these reviews are not manipulated…100% of online reviews should be treated as manipulated.

inaros: >> This is about the worst methodology you could possibly use here.By the contrary. It is the absolutely best methodology. I am surprised you cant see why.You should do the same for hotel reviews or amazon products. Its about the CONTENT and nature of the bad review. The best way to judge a movie, hotel, or product is often to read the negative reviews first, because negative reviews reveal the failure modes. A positive review just usually tells you what worked for someone. A negative review tells you what can go wrong, and whether that problem matters to you.You should always start with the worst reviews because they reveal the real weaknesses. Then you judge whether the criticism comes from an unreasonable person or from somebody thoughtful and fair. If the negative reviewer is intelligent, specific, and or balanced, that review is often more valuable than ten positive ones, because it shows the actual risks and not just the hype.Use it for movies, books, hotels and amazon products...

ceejayoz: > A negative review tells you what can go wrong, and whether that problem matters to you.You accidentally made my point here."Whether that problem matters to you" is a matter of opinion. You apparently find the smattering of negative reviews to match your opinion; that's fine! But they don't match mine, or everyone's.Opinion-wise, the movie seems to be doing just fine. This weekend we'll get the actual metric that tends to matter, the % drop-off after the first week. That tends to be a pretty good indicator of actual public opinion and word of mouth.(And frankly, at this point, I tend to assume the negative reviews on Amazon are competitors review bombing. They're no more immune than the positive ones.)

stogot: This post makes me want to go see the movie now. Is it in imax? I didn’t enjoy the book (Martian was his best) but maybe I will enjoy this