The Martian *** 1/2
Dir: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jeff Daniels, Jessica Chastain, Michael Pena, Sean Bean, Kristen Wiig, Donald Glover, Kate Mara, Sebastien Stan

Ridley Scott’s last few movies (Exodus: Gods And Kings, Prometheus, The Counselor, Robin Hood) have been disappointing coming as they did from the director of Alien, Blade Runner, The Gladiator, and Black Hawk Down). But with The Martian Scott appears to have hit his stride again. Based on the cult novel by computer programmer Andy Weir, The Martian has a stranded astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) on the red planet trying to survive purely on his wits and scientific knowledge. Back on Earth, NASA and a global village of scientists pool their resources to mount a rescue operation before it is too late. Meanwhile,Watney’s fellow astronauts - who had presumed him dead - also want to get in on the act once they discover that Watney is actually alive.

Scott and Damon keep the audience engaged in what could have been easily a turgid exercise in scientific exposition, the rest of the cast (at one point it seems a quarter of Hollywood is acting in this movie) keep pace and it all comes to a breath-holding - though credulity stretching - climax. The movie’s depiction of Mars may not exactly tally with our latest discoveries about the planet but Scott, screenwriter Drew Goddard, cinematographer DariuszWolski and production designer Arthur Max bring a certain verisimilitude to the whole enterprise. Recommended.

Cut to chase: Intelligent science-fiction and a welcome return to form for Ridley Scott.

Skyfall **
Dir:Sam Mendes
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem,Naomie Harris, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes

With the latest James Bond movie, Spectre, about to hit our cinema screens, I thought it was an appropriate time to take a look back at the last Bond film – 2012’s Skyfall. The 23rd Bond film turned out to be the most successful in franchise history in terms of box-office, raking in over a billion dollars globally. But it also just may be the worst Bond movie of all time (it certainly is the stupidest). Moonraker and Octopussy are also contenders for that title but for different reasons altogether while Quantum Of Solace is a Bond movie in name only with a depressed superspy stumbling around in a near stupor - it was more Jason-Bourne-meets-Thomas-Hardy than James Bond.

Initially, Skyfall appeared a step up from Quantum - at least it looked like a Bond movie, with lots of action and an outsized villain with a dastardly scheme up his sleeve, as our hero’s nemesis, all ending in a tense, climactic shootout. But the thing with Bond movies is that we expect our guy to win - every time. And he should win every time. That may make the movies predictable but that’s the nature of the beast. And remaining true to a formula doesn’t mean that you can’t have layers, nuances or pockets of grey. The best Bond movies - From Russia With Love, The Spy Who Loved Me, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Goldeneye – all managed it perfectly well. But in Skyfall you get a Bond who fails at almost every level. Sure (spoilers alert!) he offs the baddie at the end but not till Silva (Javier Bardem) achieves everything that he wants to achieve. He seeks revenge on the British intelligence services and destroys the MI6 headquarters. He wants revenge on the British government and he bombs the British Houses of Parliament. He wants to assassinate M (Judi Dench) and he succeeds. Even Bond killing him is a kind of victory for him because he has a death wish. So exactly what did Bond achieve in the whole movie?

The only positive takeaway from Skyfall was that it left Bond in a place more familiar to us from earlier movie iterations of the character. Let’s just hope that Spectre uses that launch pad well.

Cut to chase: Possibly the worst Bond movie ever.

Kmumtaz1@hotmail.com; Twitter: @KhusroMumtaz