Ad Astra (2019)

I am definitely not a fan of the life in space movie genre.  They represent a lot of technical accomplishments that I do not fully understand (the movie was nominated in the category of sound editing only, but visual effects is another frequent nomination category).  I typically find the plot very thin and the long periods of time focused on the big wide emptiness of space bore me.
So when i watched this, because it had been short listed for an Oscar and it was available, I was pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable it is.  I know Brad Pitt won a long awaited Oscar for his performance in Once Upon a time in Hollywood but this was my favorite 2019 performance of his.

Set in the near future, Roy McBride (Pitt) is  a legend in a spacesuit. The opening has him in a dive from a tower that reaches from the ground into space is a power surge that devastates the entire planet, killing thousands of people. The source of the surge back to an anti-matter device stationed near Neptune, which just happens to be the last place anyone heard from a famous mission called The Lima Project, headed by Roy's father (played by Tommy Lee Jones).  For years, Roy believed his father was dead, but now he may not only be alive but behind an attack on Earth. Roy is sent to Mars to attempt to communicate with a father he has thought dead for years, in the hope that a reply will allow them to pinpoint his interstellar location.