Contact

Rating:
Summary: 3.14...
Review: i think the movie and book are both excellent.

for those who have seen the movie/read the book, i highly recommend you read brian greene's, "the elegant universe." i say this because greene's first few chapters about einstein's general relativity will easily explain the "contact" ending very well; i'm talking about how jodi foster's character's time perspective was different than the viewers on earth, but BOTH are valid.

Rating:
Summary: FALTERING CONTACT
Review: Considering the subject it tackles, I always felt that Carl Sagan's 'Contact' was a little bit of a let-down. It would be unreasonable to look for something of the order of Childhood's End let alone of Stapledon, but Contact trivialises itself in too many ways. When the author presents us with the undeniable evidence (fictional of course) that a major civilisation is consciously trying to reach us, to base a lot of the story round the issue of trying to obtain funding is sheer bathos. Also, to a European reader the whole issue of science-vs-faith is a complete non-issue seemingly introduced to play to a certain kind of American gallery, and even from that standpoint it is hard not to find ridiculously implausible the status the book gives to vested religious interests, to say nothing of an auto-da-fe being made the qualifying criterion for participation in the project.

The film could have alleviated some of this, but the production elects not to and instead throws in a variety of gratuitous downers of its own. It should be said at this stage that the film abruptly hoists itself on to a higher level towards the end, from the point where the alien machine first appears. Until then the camera-work is dull and average, the situations are void beyond belief of imagination, (the romantic theme in particular seeming a blatant crowd-pleaser), the dialogue is as flat and artificial as could be, and the only remaining hope was that the acting might raise the level a bit. No such luck. McConaughey is downright awful, but Foster and the rest of them are very little better, and it took a machine to rescue the production. The thought crossed my mind that if I had been the alien intelligence I would have hit the off-switch and looked for a more promising culture on Betelgeuse, Algol, Polaris or in another galaxy altogether.

I'm a bit of a sucker for light-shows, and my level of interest and involvement rose sharply when the alien machine started up. The actual alien contact is notoriously vague and inconclusive. There is nothing basically wrong with the idea as far as I am concerned, but it should have been developed in some way. Instead we are brought back to earth with a bump and the focus shifts back to the less-than-gripping topic of congressional hearings, this one featuring some perfectly farcical conduct by the committee chairman.

The story has the basic makings of real greatness, the film has some undoubtedly gripping sequences - so could I honestly manage to award it a third star? Not really. Not with any integrity or fairness to other productions.

Rating:
Summary: Genius adaptation of the novel.
Review: When I tell people this is my favorite film they look at me absolutely perplexed. I find the major complaint is that the alien turned out to be Jodie Foster's Father. I'm pretty sure I don't need to start detailing how it was actually an alien disguised holographically as her Father. It was quite obvious I'm sure to anyone who saw the film.

To those people I ask, what would you rather the alien had been? I mass of prosthetics and make-up? It would have been ridiculous.

Everything about this film is veers close to perfection: Acting, production, set design, sound, special effects - all truly exquisite down to the very last detail. The amount of screen burn ins is astonishing, but they're all done with great percision. The machine itself, when it's finally built is really fantastical.

Rating:
Summary: ALIEN but unalienatic
Review: The topic is not so fresh, but the way they present the whole idea is absolutely fantastic, with the advanced graphic designs and unbiased views on the existence of aliens, this is a movie that all those who are dreaming of extraterrestrial beings should watch. It satisfy every aspects of their expectations.

Jodie Foster plays an excellent role in the movie, projecting the actual facial expression and bringing out the true feelings of how a person who first met an alien would feel. The whole story line is fast paced, decorated with seamless cutting scenes of the president's speech etc. All in all, this movie is good as a family movie and also for those Alien fans out there.

Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Sci-Fi
Review: Adapted with the help of famous astronomer Carl Sagan from his book of the same title, CONTACT brilliantly brings to life the fictional story of astro-physicist Ellie Arroway (Foster) whose passion for the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence is matched only by her resoursefulness. She is instilled with a sense of wonder about the universe by her adoring father, a widower raising her alone until his untimely death when Ellie is only 9. She finds no comfort in the words of the minister who advises that she must accept his death as God's will. As an adult, she chooses to eschew religion and devotes her energies to the pursuit of science. When she meets and is attracted to Palmer Joss (McConaughey), a religious scholar, there is a clash over issues of faith.
The plot revolves around contact with an intelligent civilization many light years away that transmits blueprints for a machine of unknown purpose. But the strength of the story is the very well developed central character and Jody Foster's emotional portrayal of her (and Jena Malone does a wonderful job as the young Ellie). The story's lofty contemplations on faith vs. science and the implications for our planet of the discovery of extra-terrestrial intelligence lift this film above most other sci-fi. It also contains one of my favorite examples of imaginative cinematography. In a scene in which 9 yr. old Ellie discovers her father unconscious on the 1st floor, she races upstairs to get his medicine from the bathroom. In one continuous shot the camera tracks just ahead of and looking back at Ellie, from the 1st floor, up the stairs, turns down a hallway and into the bathroom. When she reaches for the medicine cabinet, you see that you have been looking into the reflection of the cabinet mirror the whole time. But of course, there is no way you could literally see Ellie's reflection in that mirror from the start of the shot, which began at the bottom of the stairs.

Rating:
Summary: A Credo for Our Age
Review: Form the majestic opening of silence to the meditative ending, this is a powerful portrait of human desire for knowledge. The intelligence of this film - especially compared to the garbage shown daily - is just stunning Jodie Foster has said about the heroine that it was the closest any character had gotten in representing her spirit. That is an outstanding compliment considering the main character is based on a real-life scientist and the movie shows her as skeptic, searcher and explorer.

The movie and the book have been compared both favorably and unfavorably but that should not be the case. Both are excellent representations of their particular genre. The best one can say about their relationship is that the movie effectively captured the spirit of the book - if not exactly following the storyline.

CONTACT has been called science-fiction for "thinkers" and it is void of much of what is seen in current films of this type - no action-packed space shootouts, no morphing monsters, no aliens using ESP or advanced technology. No, it is instead a quiet demonstration, as the main character states, that we as a race are so small and so insignificant and so precious when viewed in the background of the Universe. It is continually surprising, the plot consistently logical, the characters always "in character". It is one of the best portrayals of scientists and their work with all the bickering, fighting, jealousy and in the end, awe upon discovering Nature's secrets.

Philosophically, it asks many questions. The book deals more forcefully with the role of superstition and religion as it relates to scientific ventures. Indeed, both the book and movie go to great lengths to explain that science does not demand blind obedience and is constantly challenged and tested in its assumptions and theorems. Whether or not one believes that other alien civilizations exist, this film makes one wish that it were true.

Added kudos to the cinemtography and music.

Rating:
Summary: Contact makes rough contact
Review: Contact was a film that interested me from the get go. I loved the idea, and I guess I still do: a chance to make contact with Alien life and making it come across as real. There is no question that this film provides a realness, an authenticity of plot mixed in with good acting. What Contact lacks however is some contact with originality and general audience appeal and satisfaction. Now what in the world did I just say? Well let's analyze this movie:

Arroway played by the supberb actress Jodie Foster is a scientist who goes out of her way to be the first to make contact with recent Alien life that eventually becomes national, meaning it becomes obvious to the public. Now two good things here that I liked:

1. It pretty much avoided the cliche of the big "government conspiracy" that so many sci-fi films feel they must have (until the end). The government and public are just as surprised by the sudden alien contact as any one else.
2. You don't get to see Aliens, they are left up to the viewers imagination. Another words, you don't know what this out of space life is. This maintains interest and suspense.

Now, here's where it lacks originality. Arroway is not an original character. She's a scientist, a believer in new life out there, explorer, etc. This is the character "we" as the audience would expect to be the main character. Although it may be what we expect, that doesn't make it original. What makes Close Encounters of the Third Kind better is that the main characters were ordinary people, with no expertise, learning and changing and developing as the film progresses. Arroway changes hardly at all, because practically the film is about everything changing for HER. Everything opens up to her from opportunities to beliefs. We don't sympathize with her because she doesn't grow, only the plot grows around her. And it should be the other way around.

Another cliche is Skerritt's death. I'm sorry, you knew that was going to happen. You knew some accident was going to take place to keep him from going up so Arroway could go in his place. This plot is good, but it is at the same time predictable. And because it's predictable, some of suspense goes down the drain.

Now the worst of all worst cliches in the movie is when she makes actual "contact" with a being that's in the shape of her father. How utterly stupid. How many films have I seen now that have this? Visited by an image of her father, a ghost like figure, so many films do this. They have to ruin this film by making the "contact" turning out to be a relative of hers. There is no satisfaction to this, all the suspense during the whole film of wanting to know WHAT is trying to make contact is answered by adaptation of her father?! What a waste.

That costed it one star, the cliches and the wasted suspense of this movie. What costed it another star was that I really did not like the political/religious bias and slams and cliches in this movie. I'm sure Athiests love this movie, because religion is dissed big time in this. Half this movie was not about the contact from another life form, but rather the struggle between theoretical differences (Athiests vs. Religion). This did create drama and friction between characters such as between Arroway and Palmer (Matthew McC.). However, it came across as if this film had another objective in mind. As if it was on a mission to show up religions and make it appear as if "religion is the doorstopper in progression."

I'm not the only one who thinks this, who was a little offended by how someone who believes in God is represented. Sorry, Palmer didn't make a very convincing religious person. He basically shies away from Arroway when the topic comes up, as if "he knows she's right." And naturally for villains, the director has it be these religious wackos. Then when Arroway is being interviewed by world leaders, they make it appear as if she's being persecuted for not having a religious belief.

Again, these are all slams and cliches against religion, and some of us like to see better representation in movies if it's going to be an essential element of the movie. Not that the issue has to be ignored in movies, but create a balance not a bias. Otherwise, leave the subject alone if you can't accurately or fairly represent the other side. Because quite clearly there was an anti-religious agenda in this movie and I felt it uncalled for.

Other than the biasness and the lack of originality in climax and character, this film has a good storyline. It has great acting, it is a very believable film. And if not for these blackmarks, I would've considered among my top favorite sci-fi films. But the director made a classic mistake in dividing the audience by slamming a belief system rather than telling a story without the anti-spiritual agenda.

Grade: C

Rating:
Summary: absolutely outstanding
Review: this will happen someday. i hope i'm around for it.

Rating:
Summary: This Movie Makes "Contact" On Many Levels
Review: "Each of us is bound by a different covenant. Each of us seeks truth in our own way. Each of us, scientist, priest, spiritualist, agnostic, looks for answers that define our existance. It is the quest, the journey, that each of us shares with one another."

Contact is the story of Eleanor Ann Arroway (Ellie, for short) and her individual, life-long quest to seek answers to the questions "Who are we? Why are we here?" She seeks answers as a radio-astronomer, heading up a division of S.E.T.I. ((The)Search (for) Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) at Aracebo, and later at the VLA (Very Large Array) in New Mexico. Her search, which spans many years of her adult, professional life, lead her to the discovery of a radio signal from Vega, a star roughly 4 light-years from Earth.

What unfolds in this epic story, originally written by Carl Sagan, reaches far beyond the realm of an average science fiction film. It is the story of a woman, whose faith in science leaves her with more questions then it answers. It is the story of a man, torn between the love of a woman, and the faith of the religious covenant he has dedicated his life to. It is the story of a government, at once skeptical and manipulative, attempting to dictate the actions of a discovery that really belongs to the world. And, ultimately, it is the story of each of us; of anyone who has ever asked the big questions: "Who are we? Why are we here?"

Directed by Robert Zemeckis, and starring Jodie Forster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skeritt, James Woods, Angela Bassett and John Hurt, and featuring an incredible soundtrack by Alan Silvestri, this movie, which runs a little over 2 hours is absolutely well worth the time. It is a story of contact with extra-terrestrials, but also much more, it is a story of contact with ourselves, and the values, beliefs, and covenants we hold most dear.

Rating:
Summary: a genuine tribute to the wonder of the cosmos
Review: This is a movie for anyone who's spent a night gazing up at the stars in the sky and wondered if there is other intelligent life in the universe. Contact perfectly captures the awe and wonder of realizing just how small and insignificant we are on Earth in comparison to the rest of the universe.

Jodie Foster conveys an infectious enthusiasm for knowledge that is such a refreshing change from the usual scientist-type normally depicted in science fiction films. You can't help but get caught up in her quest for signs of intelligent life in the universe and sympathize with her frustrations from fellow colleagues and government types.

The supporting cast is also excellent -- in particular, William Fichtner as a blind scientist (based on a real person, btw) is a real stand-out. He normally plays psychos or bad guys in movies and so it is really great to see him cast completely against type as a gentle soul who is very loyal to Foster's character.

The DVD is quite good in quality -- although, the extras do tend to lean to the special effects aspects of the film, which gets a little dull after awhile. However, the film's three audio commentaries are all good listens -- especially Jodie Foster who talks about her own personal passion for the project.

Contact makes a great double bill with another film, October Sky, which is also another story about a character in love with gazing up into the stars. Both of these films are based on real stories and are very well made. Definitely worth a look.