"Get busy living or get busy dying."

It's the mantra that motivates wrongly imprisoned Andy Dufresne throughout his brutal 20-year stretch in Shawshank State Prison, and it's safe to assume that "The Martian"'s marooned astronaut had "The Shawshank Redemption" on his pre-flight watchlist. After all, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) lives by exactly the same credo when his Ares III crewmates accidentally leave him behind on Mars, even though he faces even more insurmountable odds.

Both films are built on a knock 'em down/pick 'em up structure that ultimately makes their respective — SPOILER ALERT! — escapes from confinement all the sweeter. It's also worth noting that the survival of both men is dependent on close encounters of the turd kind, with human excrement playing pivotal roles in both of

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