When did Matt Damon get typecast as the guy stranded on an alien planet? (see also Interstellar)

One of the biggest instances of fudging the science in order to make this film’s plot possible is the storm that separates Watney from his crewmates, injuring him, and causes them to think him dead. According to what I’ve read,
Mars’ atmosphere is about 1% as dense as Earth’s, and its mean surface atmospheric pressure of Mars is only 0.6% of that of Earth, and thus no storm could be created in that atmosphere that exhibits the dangers seen in the one in this film. A 100 mph storm on Mars would feel the same as an 11 mph storm on Earth.

A recurring (and not very funny, in part due to its relentless repetition) gag in both the novel and the film is that Watney is relegated to using Commander Lewis’ personal entertainment database for recreation, and can therefore only listen to disco music, which is apparently all Lewis listens to. Why in the world does Watney have to use her database? What happened to his own? For that matter, what happened to those of his crewmates? The odd thing is, this is not only never explained in the film, it’s never explained in the novel either.

When Watney digs up Pathfinder, the Sojourner rover’s camera apparatus is shown sticking out of the hole, but far above the surface line, suggesting that either it was sticking out the entire time (which it was not), or that Watney dug up all the dirt and sand for miles around in every visible direction in order to expose it.

Also, when Watney uncovers the rover, it appears to be on its landing station (renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station after the rover landed on Mars), as if it was there when it lost power in 1997. I believe the last known command that the Sojourner followed was to circle the station, not park itself on it.

Question: When the JPL guys reactive Sojourner’s camera, causing it to telescope, Watney, who was sitting on the edge of the Sagan Station facing away from it, hears the sound and turns around to see it telescoping upward. First of all, given the crucial nature of this endeavor, why in the world would he be sitting facing away from it? Second—and this is just a question—given that Mars’ atmosphere is about 1% as dense as Earth’s, would that be enough to transmit the sound of its movement to him?

Two scenes before the one in which Watney shaves off his beard, crowds are shown gathering around the world to watch the rescue attempt, and an American newscaster, explaining the time element involved in what the world will be watching, gets it wrong, stating the exact opposite of the case: He says that the world will be watching the events as they unfold. Um, no, there is a 12 minute delay, which means that Earth will be getting the info in question about 24 minutes after they unfolded, which Vincent Kapoor tells Annie Montrose in the very next scene.

Weir admits that the storm is not scientific, but couldn't really think of any other way to isolate Watney.

An earthquake (or marsquake) with accompanying landslide could have done the job nicely.

Nice realist look at Mars.