“The Astronaut” (*** out of four) was a skillfully done sci/fi melodrama about a space explorer (Kate Mara) who crashlands back to Earth and is then placed in quarantine by an imposing general (Laurence Fishburne) and she begins to unravel and suspect that something otherworldly has followed her home. Writer/director Jess Varley builds the tension gradually and eerily in a way that harks back to Ridley Scott’s “Alien” in style and themes and is anchored by Mara and Fishburne’s strong performances. Remake of a 2020 Russian art hit “Sputnik.”