Seeing the movie Project Hail Mary at our little movie theater
For the first time in forever, when I woke up in the middle of the night, I immediately had happy thoughts. My mind went to Rocky and Grace and their kindness and connection which is the heart and soul of the story Project Hail Mary.
The title is both a whispered prayer and a last-second long shot. When fragile planet Earth is in jeopardy of becoming extinct because the sun is dying, scientist worldwide come together to problem solve – why is the sun dying and what can be done about it. Theirs is a collaboration over ego and shared data over secrecy in an understanding they must work together for their mutual survival. Three NASA astronauts are on this space mission.
Seeing the movie, Project Hail Mary on April 24th, reminded me of my husband and I going on our first date after our son was born. We went to see E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which is a story about the connection between a space alien and a human and so is Project Hail Mary about the connection between a space alien and a human. Because anything NASA makes me think of my NASA engineer son, and because he worked on Artemis II, my NASA engineer son has been on my mind more than usual lately. Rocket ship Artemis II, on a 10-day mission, was launched on April 1, 2026. It was the first crewed flight to the Moon in over 50 years, serving as a critical test of NASA’s Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket with astronauts aboard. It verifies life-support systems in deep space and prepares for future sustained lunar exploration and Mars missions.
Sending astronauts on increasingly difficult missions is a task in real life and the movie. In real life the reason is to explore more of the Moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build on the foundation for the first crewed missions to Mars. In Project Hail Mary, a character mentions that his spacecraft will “await instructions from the Deep Space Network,” and that they could be as far away as the orbit of Saturn. In real life, the DSN routinely sends and receives messages to spacecraft at the Moon, the outer planets, and even the farthest spacecraft in history, Voyager 1, which is at this time, about 16 billion miles beyond Saturn (26 billion kilometers).
Ultimately, this is the universal story of hope and there is no better place to enjoy the experience than, as theater owner Phillip Virden calls it, Lake City’s living room – The Mountaineer.
Phillip’s smile and laughter meets us before we are through the door. Last night there were maybe 40 of us gathered in the 104-seat theater, which I heard was full last week when Project Hail Mary opened. Yesterday evening Phillip said that he knew every person present.
Who gives door prizes for coming to see a movie? That would be Phillip at the Mountaineer. Last night Waverly Pearson from Freemon’s Ranch in the nearby little town of Creed won the door prize which included: a Mountaineer Theater tin with mints, a concession gift card, a movie pass, world famous Mountaineer lip balm and the Mountaineer pen, stylus and flashlight. Some of our little town’s businesses included gifts such as the soda shop and breakfast hang out.
Since Waverly’s family donated a gift certificate for one of their famous cheeseburgers, Phillip gave that away separately. He called out the number on my movie ticket for the cheeseburger but I told him to try again since I am a vegetarian. On the third try local Max Milski won the cheeseburger. Phillip asked both Max and Waverly what were their favorite snack at the concession stand, popcorn for Waverly and Junior Mints for Max and he added those treats to their gifts!
Ever the crowd pleaser, Phillip told us to make noise when the coming attractions interested us. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is coming for sure!
Though Project Hail Mary is a good movie, the experience of seeing it at The Mountaineer Theater is just so much fun! Thanks Phillip!
It is our connections that make life fun.
I had fun going to the movies at The Mountaineer with my husband last night. Our connection is at the heart of our fun.
Have you seen Project Hail Mary?
Thoughts?
“Walks in nature are hugs for my soul.” Julie A R Stephens
julie@handsbestrong.com