Sphere

Rating:
Summary: Loved the book and the movie
Review: I think it can be pointless to compare the movie to the book, in all cases, because they're two different pieces of work. The movie is "based' off the book almost always; it isn't an exact representation, and how could it be? Reading a book is an entirely different experience than watching a movie. The book is amazing. So is the movie, in my opinion. I thought the cast and the acting was stellar, and I was always enthralled and caught in suspense. I think the ending is beautiful, not anticlimactic. Why does the ending of a science fiction thriller always have to be a huge climax? This is a unique ending that wraps everything up in a very simple way. This will always be one of my favorite movies.

Rating:
Summary: Sphere
Review: What the Amazon professional review is saying is eminently correct -- the film is derivative. Like "Event Horizon" that came out almost at the same time, the movie borrows its basic premise from the Russian "Solaris," where a moral tale is told through supernatural phenomena enabled by the presence of a spaceship. The twist here is that the spaceship is 300 years old and lies on the bottom of the ocean.

Perhaps the ocean is a metaphor that represents our layered thinking and the "sphere" on the bottom of it is our deepest desires and the realization that we CAN make them real. The cast is indeed very talented and, along with special effects and a pricey set design, it rescues this movie from a total catastrophe. Our deepest emotions, our fantasies, our true nature are made of fear, suspicion, and violence. It's best to leave them repressed -- at the bottom of the ocean -- if we want to continue to live.

Rating:
Summary: DREARY DUSTIN CAN'T EVEN SAVE THIS ONE
Review: SPHERE is one of those movies that you watch, thinking, how can such a talented actor as Dustin Hoffman find himself in this quixotic, eccentric and ill-conceived movie. Dustin tries, but cannot pull off this role, as the script offers nowhere to go. Crichton's novel was equally confusing, but not as blatantly as the film version. Samuel L. Jackson sleepwalks (again) through a role that could have been pivotal; Sharon Stone does well considering she's not given the opportunity to explore her mental imbalance, and there's no chemistry whatsoever in her scenes with Hoffman. Peter Coyote needs to stick to voice-overs in commercials; he portrays all his character's emotions on one level--flat. Director Barry Levinson has crafted some beautiful scenes; the sphere is gorgeous; and some of the action scenes are riveting. Too bad there's nothing to support this. With one of Crichton's best novels (Timeline) coming to the screens later this month, I hope Richard Donner and crew breathe a little more life than that deoxygenated in SPHERE.

Rating:
Summary: Quite Bad ...
Review: It's horrible that they pumped so much effort into the budget of this movie, hired a terrific cast, promoted it like crazy, and never thought to do something as little as write the script.

I've never seen a cast with so much talent be wasted so completely just because there was nothing for them to do. I remember watching a scene where Samuel L. Jackson was reading, I was so bored I was actually envious that he had something to flip through ...

Don't waste your time with this. If you really want to see it that bad, make sure you at least rent it first; and if you do, don't forget a magazine to keep you busy with.

Rating:
Summary: WONDERFULS IDEAS FOR THIS........... MASTERPIECE
Review: A LIAR PSICHIATRIC, TWO PRODIGYS MATHEMATICIANS AND A BIOCHIMIST AND ALSO THE CHIEF !!!
A Good team surely but only initialy morely formed with FIVE MEMBERS an som others outside the weird VESSEL BY 1,86 MILLES OF DEEPNESS PROFUNDITY ABYSS whitch it WAIT EVER SINCE MANY CENTURIES AGO THAT EVENTUALLY AT LAST AN OR SEVERAL ENTITY WANT FINALLY COMME SEE IT AND IT !!! THIS IS HE !, A VERY STRANGE THING NOT HUMAN WHO ALIVE, WHO IS ABLE TO GIVE IN REALITY ANY DREAM OF ANY HUMAN OR OTHER ENTITY, THEN, THE TEAM COME EASILY IN THIS VERY STRANGE "ALIEN" SPACECRAFT ??? WHOLE IT'S SHOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE BECAUSE THE OTHER ALSO STRANGE METAL SHOULD BE INDESTRUCTIBLE !!! BUT HE IS ALIVE, HE CAN THINK ! THEN, AFTER THAT WHEN THEY ARE (THE CREW) (THE EQUIPAGE) WITHIN THE THING, THEY FINDS A PERFECT SPHERE WITCH IS ABLE TO BRING ABOUT MANY DISASTERS WHEN ALL OF THE EQUIPAGE COME INSIDE TIME AFTER TIME THIS SPHERE WITH A VERY STRANGE PROCESS WITCH GIVE OR MAKE BE BORN ANY DREAM WITH VERY BADS AFTERMATH FOR THEM WHO HAVE VENTURED TAKE THE ADVENTURIOUS PERILS INHERENTS AT THIS PRODIGIOUS ENTITY !!! A VERY GOOD MOVIE !!! YES !!! WHEN THE THING SPEAK WITH THE COMPUTER THIS IS THE BEST FOR ME BUT SHARON STONE DUSTIN HOFFMAN AN SAMUEL L. JACKSON ARE SPLENDIDS ACTORS !!! A STORY WHITCH GIVE AN IDEA OF 20 000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA AS MUCH AS THE FAMOUS BOOK WHO take in his hand and read SAMUEL !!! NO ????

Rating:
Summary: A shameful Crichton adaptation...
Review: The first half of "Sphere" is top notch. The second half is weak, bland, and unexciting. The film stays true to the book, but abandons all the qualities that made is such a page-turner. Gone are the ever reaching tentacles of the squid monster; they've been replaced by a sonar blip in the shape of a squid. This is incredibly not scary. Also, the dialogue consists of our characters blandly saying things that progressively make little sense, to the point where the end is just a bunch of jumbled words. "Sphere" is a film that makes you feel mad at everyone involved for turning in such a weak film. It starts out so promising, then gives us very little. What a darn shame.

Rating:
Summary: Sphere is cool
Review: book was better but the movie was alot better than the "Abyss"

Rating:
Summary: Do I really Care about these characters?
Review: This movie was impressively bland. What started out as an interesting premise - an alien spacecraft trapped on the ocean floor, becomes rapidly tedious. If there is no action in the movie, then there needs to be character development so that I will care when the characters start getting knocked off. No luck here.

I hoped that the movie commentary from Hoffman and Jackson would at least be enlightening, but it was of little value as well.

You would be better off renting "Forbidden Planet" - same premise, better movie. Plus it had Ann Francis in a much better costume than Sharon Stone, and RObbie the Robot getting drunk.

Rating:
Summary: this a review
Review: excellent movie. i know some people don't like it, but maybe i like it cause i read the flawless book. or would that make me not like the movie? who knows. i own this movie cause it rocks.

Rating:
Summary: Very good, and well planned
Review: I've always prefered the well planned movies, and the creative type, and this one suits me quite well.
A lot of things fell into plan perfectly, like Star Wars, where he had to have 1, 2, and 3, match 4, 5, and 6. This story, some parts of it, had to match other parts of the movie, and they did a good job at it.
I recommend this.
Some other great movies are Spanish Prisoner and The Game