Contact

Rating:
Summary: Excelent
Review: This movie raises questions about God, the universe, and just about everything that is, or isn't out there. Jodie Foster gives a great (as usual) performance as Ellie Arroway, an ambitious scientist who will do anything, even give her own life, to answer the big question: Is there other life out there? For all of the believers this is a fun film. This is based on the book by the late Carl Sagan, who the character Ellie is loosely based on. Ellie is a female in a dominantly male perfession trying to make it. When she finds a code hidden in the radio waves from outer space, she has to decode it. Everyone else tries to take credit for her work, which just plain [made me mad]. The viewer is right along with Ellie trying to fit together the pieces of the puzzle. Palmer Joss, played by Mathew McConaughey tries to teach Ellie about God, even though she doesn't believe in Him. The movie is mostly about science v.s. religion, ultimately saying they have the same goal: the search for truth.

Rating:
Summary: A great tale of first contact
Review: This book is about the human race's first contact with extra terrestrials, in the form of a radio waves from space. If you have seen the movie, let it be known: it simply does not do the book justice. The book is above and beyond the movie in almost every way, although the movie itself wasn't too shabby. The story provokes a lot of thinking in the reader by making them wonder what would happen if something like this occurred, and by also having conflict between the characters and between their religious views. If you are at all interested in science fiction or SETI, then I suggest you read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Simply Fantastic!
Review: In my opinion, Dr. Sagan is undoubtably one of the most talented science-fiction writers of our time. Contact is yet another example to renew that belief. After receiving and decoding a message sent from space, Dr. Ellie Arroway's marvellous journey with her four colleagues to an unknown corner of the universe is an immediate classic. The rich characters with their political and moral undertones make for a believable cast that anyone can identify with. See the movie first, otherwise compared to the book, it will be disappointing. The book elaborates and expands many of the plots that the movie simply could not explore. You will not regret reading this book!.

Rating:
Summary: Why Jodie...?
Review: This movie has just about everything right about it - apart from the usual ending which is totally ridiculous. If you were about to send someone into a machine which you didn't understand, to somewhere you had no idea about etc etc (aka Stargate experience) - why send Jodie? She spends the entire end of the movie crying - I can't really see a marine getting too affected by all that.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies I have seen
Review: Contact -- based on the best-selling novel by Carl Sagan -- is one of the best movies that I have ever seen. The story has many different levels which mean so much more than what it appears to mean on the surface. Jodie Foster plays Eleanor Arroway, a scientist who listens for signals from civilizations in other galaxies while struggling with the prejudices against women and her career, which is considered silly. But what this story is really about is the way religion and the government control science today. This movie is one that needs to be watched several times to really get the true meaning.

In Contact, you get profound acting along with a brilliant story plot that gives you a deep message that can be interpretted on different levels. Along with this, you get stunning visual effects unlike any other.

Part of what makes this such a good movie is the all-star cast of Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, and James Woods, plus the directing of Robert Zemeckis.

The only thing that I didn't like about Contact was the way they used Bill Clinton as the president, not an actor. They used his images from video clips of him in real life which never seemed to fit in correctly.

Contact is truly a movie for all ages and I hope that they re-release it in the theaters again, I would be the first to see it.

Rating:
Summary: consider the good this movie has done to our society...
Review: Acting skills and screenplay quality aside (which were the best I've ever seen), this film had accomplished what very few others had not, which is to provide the viewers with ideas that would change their lives. Just think about how many brilliant school kids made up their mind to pursue (good) science, and for this matter, to help make Earth a better habitat after they were shown the splendid magic of Carl Sagan, Robert Zemekis, and many others committed to educate the mass.

Just consider the good this movie has done to our society(and what many others had done the exact opposite), _Contact_ is unambiguously the best film ever made by our species.

Rating:
Summary: Question: God or No God? "Contact" Answers.
Review: Definitely the most thought-provoking science-fiction novel I can remember. No, the movie was OK, but don't read this book because of the movie.

Sure, if you like Matrix or Star Trek, just the sci-fi aspect of the story would blow you away. But here is more:

If you want to know how to reconcile between Religion and Science, Carl Sagan offers such a good view on this ever-controversial topic, I can't help but feeling a subtle shift in my own fundamental philosophy after reading this book.

Why are there so many Christians, Catholics, Islamics, Buddhists, or even athiests? You would find such distinction a bit ironic once you read "Contact."

Bravo, Carl Sagan!

Rating:
Summary: Good and bad
Review: I've never read a fiction novel so thought-provoking and based on actual science than Contact. It is extemely well-written and interesting. It satires nationalism, sexism, religious fanaticism, and government in a funny way we can all relate to from personal experience. The plot itself is original, a big "what if?". Few works of fiction are on such an epic scale, few are as intelligent, and few inspire such a sense of awe and wonder. It goes very deep into the issues of religious philosophy, faith versus skepticism, and the possiblity of extraterrestrial life. These are the many good qualities of Contact.

There are some bad qualities, too. The basic theme of the book, that you can have faith in something even when there is only evidence to the contrary and when everyone else ridicules the idea, seems to be pretty stupid. A Christian fundamentalist-scientist-preacher who rejects evolution and the age of the universe, and rants about messages from God and Satan and the immorality of scientists is made into a hero. And the thing about Pi (as in 3.14....) at the very end is absolutely ridiculous.

Conclusion: a well-written, interesting read that has a stupid theme and is sometimes ridiculous.

Rating:
Summary: Believe the Editors! A top five SF pick!
Review: This was my first DVD purchase, and I couldn't be happier. This is definitely one of the top five SF films of all time. I personally would place it third after 2001 and 2010, but ahead of any Star Trek or Star Wars film, as much as I enjoy them. Its strong points are its evocation of "sense of wonder" and intelligent treatment of a core SF theme; if you prefer action and special effects you would rank it lower. There are a lot of nice special effects here but they don't dominate the movie as in Star Wars.

I don't know of any other film that gives such a balanced presentation of the conflict between science and religion. My only problem was the claim that "95% of the world's people believe in some sort of God", a figure which is preposterously high but goes unchallenged in the movie. Ellie (the protagonist) should have laughed at this claim rather than being cowed by it.

Things you should know:

-- This release is lean in extra features; there is no extra video included. The only substantial extras are annotated reconstruction of some special effects and three alternate audio-commentary sound tracks, one by Jodie Foster herself. For someone like me who would be entertained listening to her read a phone book, her audio commentary is a real bonus, like having her sitting there next to me explaining the movie(!)

-- On a standard TV the video shows in a relatively narrow band; it's in 2.35:1 format, which is as far as I know the narrowest presentation used for DVDs; it uses just slightly more than half your screen. You should not let this prevent you from buying the DVD; like me, you will *someday* get a widescreen TV, and it's still quite enjoyable on a standard TV.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie.
Review: Contact is one of those movies you have to buy. The plot and story are very deep and something everyone can relate to. Religion vs. Science, Space, Love all major parts of this movie. The special effects are terrific! All star cast including former President Bill Clinton, Jodie Foster and others. Watch it and then buy it...