Rating: 
Summary: Good Watch; Entertaining twists
Review: Whilst this film is not exactly the best by any means, it does perform as a film much better than the review in the editorial would suggest.
The twists and turns are fun, scarey, and filled with the edge of your seat paranoia that gives a great popcorn film its enjoyability.
Come to this film with no expectations, and you will enjoy it, I suspect. It's a good claustrophobic carpet-ride, with many twists, and some great mind games on a brilliantly done level.
Rating: 
Summary: WHAT WERE THEY THINKING???
Review: I, like most teenage boys in America, went through a certain stage in my teen years. It is an icky developmental thing that few people like to talk about. It may really be better left behind closed doors.
Still, I find myself oddly compelled to share this shameful part of my youth in a public setting:
Once upon a time, I too read a lot of Michael Crichton.
Of his somewhat vacuous oeuvre, I always thought that Sphere would make the best movie. Unfortunately, most movies come from Hollywood--and we all know where the heads of most Hollywood executives spend most of their time.
Samuel Jackson? Maybe.
But Dustbin Hoffman??? Sharon Stone?????
Oy Vey.
I'd rather watch Congo. At least it had Laura Linney to look at.
This movie is trash--and in this case (as compared to Crichton's novels) I am using that word in a bad sense.
Don't waste your time.
Rating:
Summary: GO GET A DAY JOB
Review: IF YOU READ THE REVIEWS OF THE AMAZON WRITER YOU WOULD MISS 50% OF SOME DAM GOOD MOVIES. WHAT HE SHOUD DO IS STICK TO HIS REAL JOB WHICH IS GARBAGE COLLECTING BECAUSE HIS REVIEWS STINK. THIS THIS IS A ENTERTAINING MOVIE. I DID'NT READ THE BOOK SO I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT WAS LIKE. DUTIN HOFFMAN IS NORMAL, GREAT, AND ANY TIME YOUR LOOKING AT THE STARS TO DECIDE IF THE MOVIE IS FOR YOU. REMEMBER, IF THERE'S NOT ALOT OF REVIEWS THE PEOPLE WHO HATE IT BRING DOWN THE RATINGS. LOOK AND SEE HOW MANY GOOD RATINGS THERE ARE AND IF THER'S ALOT SCREW THE STARS AND YOU MOST LIKELY WILL HAVE A GOOD MOVIE. THERE IS ENOUGH ACTION AND SUSPENSE TO MAKE THIS WORTH WHILE. I'M NOT SAYING IT'S THE BEST. IF YOU LIKE SCI FI GIVE IT A SHOT, OH IT'S OVER TWO HOURS.
Rating:
Summary: Terror Below the Ocean
Review: Academy award winner Dustin Hoffman (Dr. Norman Johnson), Sharon Stone (Dr. Beth Halperin), and Samuel L. Jackson (Dr. Harry Adams) star as an underwater team with the task of discovering the secrets of an alien spacecraft that crashed to earth 300 years ago.
A ship laying fiberoptic cable accidentally hit an obstruction on the bottom of the sea. This obstruction turned out to be the spacecraft, which crashed in the year 1709. An unknown lifeform is presumed to be on board. The fuselage of the craft is over 1/2 mile long and signs are being detected from the craft.
The team is sent to an underwater habitat 1,000 feet below the ocean surface to learn underwater techniques and begin their study of the spacecraft. Soon, the crew leaves the habitat and and makes their first journey to the spacecraft. After exploring for a time, doors begin to open mysteriously and strange footprints are discovered.
The scientists theorize that the ship flew into a black hole, travelled backward through time and crashed into the ocean. Meanwhile, a huge golden sphere is discovered on the spacecraft.
Harry decides to enter the sphere to see if he can find out what it does. Norman decides to investigate and finds Harry lying outside of the sphere. Unconscious but alive, Harry is taken back for observation. In the meantime, the crew discovers that they have become seperated from the submarine, leaving them isolated in the habitat.
The crew discovers a code within their computer system. This code turns out to be the aliens trying to communicate. They communicate in very basic language such as an adult would use with a child, but what happens if the aliens get mad?
Outside the habitat, Beth and Norman barely escape from the aliens. Back inside, the aliens are getting angry and sending messages saying "I will kill you all". Will the crew survive or will the aliens succeed in killing everyone? And what secrets does the sphere hold?
I thought this was a very good film. Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, and Samuel L. Jackson are excellent in their roles, and the visual and special effects are superb. Watch this movie and experience some good underwater terror and suspense.
Rating: 
Summary: Break Out 5 Day Deodorant Pads-We're Here For The Duration!
Review: "Break Out The 5 Day Deodorant Pads-We're Here For The Duration!"
So says Capt. Harold Barnes (Peter Coyote) when things really start to take a turn for the worse and their underwater habitat is abandoned by base due to a typhoon on the surface in Barry Levinson's "Sphere".Four civilian doctors are recruited to assemble a so-called "dream team" to investigate a 300 year old alien spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean that encases a HUGE golden sphere inside. The team consists of: Dr. Norman (Hoffman) - psychologist, Dr.Beth (Stone) - biochemist, Dr. Harry (Jackson) - mathmetician, and Dr Ted (Schreiber) - astrophysicist. Great cast and ensemble acting along with a small part by Queen Latifah as Alice "Teeny" Fletcher and a cameo by Huey Lewis as a helicopter pilot! Why and more importantly, HOW has the spacecraft been underwater for the past 300 years? What is the sphere's purpose? Watch for yourself and find out! If you like your sci-fi mixed with a side of psychology, you will enjoy this film! Happy Watching!
Rating:
Summary: H.G. Wells Lives
Review: Sphere is based on the book of the same name (very loosely, I might add) which is a novel-length science fiction version of H.G. Wells's short fantasy story The Man Who Could Work Miracles. The movie contains a strong cast including Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson and Sharon Stone. A giant spaceship is found on the ocean floor under a thousand feet of water. An old government report about how to deal with alien contact is put into service and a team is sent to investigate. The three-hundred year old ship turns out to be American but it does contain an alien artifact in the form of a golden sphere. The movie then borrows heavily form Forbidden Planet as the team interacts with the device and are set upon by monsters from the id. Eventually three survivors with the power to work miracles and create monsters from the id decide to wish away their powers. Aside from bearing little resemblance to the book this movie has some very major flaws. Possible the largest is the translation program designed for talking to a supposed alien intelligence. It involves a simple substitution cipher based on a spiral overlapping a qwerty keyboard. A mistake is made so when the intelligence says its name is Jerry it should read Larry. For some reason all of the other Ls and Js translate normally and even when the intelligence says to stop calling it Jerry it shows up as Jerry with no incorrect substitutions. I would have preferred the movie to end the same way the book did with two survivors and the female character only pretending to wish away her powers but that was not to be. From the original trailers I knew the movie would vary greatly from the book so this was not a real disappointment. Therefore I was able to actually enjoy the film for what it was (mistakes and all). It is sort of like watching the original film version of The Shining where you had a good book and a decent movie and only superficial resemblances between the two. But I really did enjoy Sphere and you might, too.
Rating:
Summary: Sphere (1998)
Review: Director: Barry Levinson
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Stone, Liev Schrieber.
Running Time: 144 minutes.
Rated PG-13 for violence and language. The success of Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park", "The Lost World", "Congo" (well, not so much), and his "E.R." television series caused Hollywood studio executives to swallow up any undisturbed pieces of his work that had not yet been brought to the big screen. Enter : "Sphere", featuring an all-star cast, a top-notch drama director, and a self-destructing story line that eventually ruins a beautifully made, well-acted science fiction romp. When a three-century old space vessel is found at the bottom of the ocean, the government sends its most intelligent, qualified individuals to study the vessel in order to determine why it is at the bottom of the body of water and what happened to it. Dustin Hoffman (a psychologist), Samuel L. Jackson (a mathematician), and Sharon Stone (a biochemist) star as they individuals who investigate the mysterious ship. They discover a strange, otherworldly Sphere in the center of the craft, not knowing its purpose or what it does. What they later find out is that the Sphere can alter their thoughts, perceptions, and desires, manipulating their every move. The team turns against themselves and the abandoned ship becomes the stage for deception, mystique, and terror. The first half of "Sphere" is superb, as Levinson unravels the plot swiftly and latches onto the audience using his marvelously constructed cast; however, the second half of the film lags and the final payoff is neither powerful or suspenseful. The entire cast gives fine performances, the special effects are quite good, but overall this adaptation of the popular Crichton novel does not live up to the hype. Not a complete disappointment; should have been a much more enchanting, enjoyable suspense sci-fi thriller.
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