Rating: 
Summary: Loved it!
Review: What a beautiful book! Until recently, I had never read any of Sagan's work but this book was spectacular. There is so much heart and emotion and feeling here that I felt like immediately reading it over again once I'd finished. I'm also ashamed to say I hadn't seen the movie until after reading the book, but I guess that was the best way to go at it. The character of Ellie is completely real and made me miss the relationship I had with my own father as a child (and also question by believe in God). Anyway, a great read! Also, for anyone who really enjoyed this book, I recently read a book called The Space Between by Ronald Damien Malfi and I felt the book had a similar feel, if you're looking for a good next read. I also recently read Islands in the Stream by Ernest Hemingway, but I guess that's a bit different than these other two.
Rating: 
Summary: Skip The Movie -- Read The Book
Review: This is one of the many books that never survived the transition to film. The director concentrated on special effects (which are impressive) but completely ignored the more important elements of character and message. Jodie Foster does a respectable job, given the script, as Ellie Arroway. The rest of the cast is entirely forgettable. In the novel, the character S.I. Hadden is terribly important to the philosophical debate. He is reduced in the film to a bit part, and a kook. Sagan's novel is an elegant debate between Science and Religion. Both are given the respect and skepticism the righly deserve. The novel is brilliant in its observations about the orthodoxy of both. The novel's characters are rich and fully developed. The film fails miserably. The novel is less a sci-fi story than a rich debate of philosophy. The film is nothing more than sci-fi special effects. Several important characters from the novel are "rolled into" a single, rather pathetic, character of the film. Perhaps the most egregious sin the film makes is creating a sexual relationship between Arroway (Jodie Foster) and Palmer Joss (Matthew MacChaughay). This NEVER HAPPENED in the novel, and it completely destroys the intellectual content of the novel. The film was originally supposed to be made by Franscis Coppola. In the year or two prior to Sagan's death, there were some legal problems, and Coppola lost the rights to the film. Instead, it was made by Robert Zemenkis. Zemenkis destroyed the novel, and create a most mediocre film. We can only wish that Coppola had the chance to make it. Skip the film. Read the book. The book is an elegant dialog between Science and Religion. The film is just a movie. The only thing worse they could have done in the movie is cast Tom Hanks.
Rating:
Summary: One of my all-time favorite movies
Review: As one of those people who could never bring myself to buy videos (thinking a person really only needed to see a movie once--and to buy it would be an extravagance)--this is one of only two movies I have ever bought. I don't know if it would touch everyone the way it touched me, but it's one of those rare movies my science-fiction-loving husband and I BOTH love (and I don't normally have any use for science fiction). Jodie Foster is perfect as the heroine--some phenomenal, moving acting. It's a unique story--and, for the second time, I sat and watched some of the scenes with tears in my eyes (I even have them writing this).
Rating: 
Summary: A Solid Piece of Sci-Fi
Review: You could buy worse films than this one. Its very entertaining but it does lag in spots. The acting is very good and the storyline is about something that everyone thinks about at one time or another. And there are the right amount of special effects to keep everyone happy.
Rating:
Summary: Breath-taking Space Scene and Special Effects! Philosophical
Review: An Astounding Journey into Space...or The Astral Realm ? Discoveries Beyond your Dreams.... A Very Well-Made Film, with lots of Great Special-Effects. When I first saw this movie, it Captivated my Attention, from beginning to end. I cannot say enough good things about the way this movie was produced! The Scenes are Beautiful, the story is Great, the Actors are perfect for their roles, the scenes roll smoothly and fluidly together....did I mention the Special Effects? If I write any more about this film, today, I am going to Coerce myself into watching it again! Just writing about it brings the powerful imagery flowing back into my conscious memory.... The philosophical, religious and scientific aspects of this movie are wonderful and only accentuated by the action and well-presented effects. They are not "tacked-on," the way they are in many movies. CONTACT is definately on my "Top-Ten" List !
Rating:
Summary: Compellingly told, spiritually uplifting sci-fi drama!
Review: "Contact" is one of those few movies in Hollywood that takes two sides of a conflict and portrays them both equally without favoring one over the other. It does this so delicately with the contrasting viewpoints of what the origin of our universe and our lives actually is. It raises the imaginations of so many inquiring minds, leaving us with more questions than answers in its final, impacting ending. Jodie Foster plays Dr. Ellie Arroway, who, from the time she was a small child, dreamt of one day making contact with someone or something in outer space. Her favorite activity: talking on the ham radio with her father until his untimely death, which further impacts Ellie's decision to one day achieve her dream of discovering new life in outer space. In her adult years, when all looks glum for her project, her array of radio telescopes receive a mysterious signal coming from the vicinity of the star Vega, and there is no scientific explanation for it. Further tracking of the signal leads to the discovery that the "message" contains blueprints of a costly yet collosal machine, which everyone wants to be a part of. Hypothesizing that the machine has been sent to them as a transportation device, Arroway wishes to be the one to commandeer the vessel, and gets her chance after a deadly explosion caused by a religious fanatic that sabatoges the first machine. But, the Americans always have a backup plan, and once Arroway is cast out into space, she will encounter something she never thought possible. But upon return, will they believe her? The main contrasting viewpoints that the story conveys are the difference between how religious people view the creation of the universe and the way scientists interpret the origins of life and space. Once the signal is discovered, it does not take long before religious fanatics are crowding the entrances to galas and scientific laboratories, shouting verses from the Bible and slogans like "God created man, not monekys." Then there are the scientific opinions, all embodied within the character of Ellie Arroway, who firmly believes that she is correct in wanting facts to prove that there is such an entity as God. Like all scientists, she relies on fact-based data and equations to relate certain truths to herself as well as the world, so it is no surprise that her position regarding religion will keep her from being the first chosen candidate to embark on the journey. The scene in which the first transport machine is given a test run is the centerpiece for how far religion will take some people when they feel a need to express their opinions. Throughout the movie, Ellie comes into eye contact with a man who is always surrounded by shouters and "Bible thumpers," his eyes piercing into her in a way that forces her to look away. It is his actions that cause the catastrophe: disguising himself as a machine technician, he carries on his bodice powerful explosives that will destroy the machine and send his "message" to the world that he is only doing this "for the sake of mankind." Perhaps the most empowering scene that will captivate those of us who have mixed feelings about the existence of God and the creation of all that surrounds us is the scene in which Ellie is transported to another world, a place she cannot put a name to with a person whom she has missed all her life. Her rendevous with this person is the embodiment of the one question that the movie leaves us with: did she really become transported to another world, or was it her imagination? Forced with the harsh facts of the second machine's operation, she is forced to look inside of herself, realizing that she, along with the religious folk, all base their ideas and beliefs on one thing alone: faith. The entire movie is a movie about the beliefs of people who feel differently than others, while also keeping one thing very clear: faith is the basis for anyone's opinion, whether religion-based or scientific. What makes this movie so clear and understandable to me is that it is able to handle both sides of the argument without ever really taking a side. Even when we take that final trip with Ellie, because of what happens to her after returning, we as the audience do not know what to believe, and like the movie, confusion reigns. But once we hear her final arguments to the world, the realization is made clear for us, that we must look to our own beliefs in order to come to an understanding of what has happened to this woman. Did she really see her father? Was it all a delusion? You make the choice. The story, which is based on the highly acclaimed novel by Carl Sagan, is a spectacular mirror to the novel. While the fact that the book and the movie do have a lot of differences in plot and structure (in the book, Ellie and Palmer Joss never get involved romantically), they work as two separate stories, really. The movie does a very credible job of bringing the social issues and emotion of the characters to life, keeping the important elements of the book while revamping others in order to make the script more impactful and exciting, which is not a bad thing in this case. The fact that Carl Sagan was also a producer for the movie before his death is an added plus, as he knew more about the material than others on the crew. Acting and performance employed is superb, maintaining the highest standards of believability and emotion. Jodie Foster gives her best performance since that of Clarice Starling in "The Silence of the Lambs," and is able to keep the movie going through her character's passion and will for scientific truths and discoveries. We share this journey with her, and from the very beginning, we find ourselves totally willing to take it. Matthew McConaughey portrays Palmer Joss, the "man of the cloth, without the cloth," who has his own viewpoints and opinions about religion and science. His character is the side of society that is able to come to an understanding of both arguments and combine them together in his hypothesis. His part in intrical to this movie, as he will be the bridge between Ellie and religion, which she later turns to. Visually stunning, emotionally captivating and relentlessly impacting, "Contact" is a movie for the ages, a film that leaves us with theories rather than facts and data. In a manner of speaking, the ending of the movie is a bit of a summary of the entire film as a whole: the search for facts and where it leads us to. Right from the beginning, we suspect the presence of alien life with the arrival of th signal, yet director Zemeckis and writer Sagan are able to dodge this avenue of storytelling and give us something that is altogether more magical, emotional and warming.
Rating: 
Summary: Jodie's Second Best
Review: The exciting adventure of the day we make contact with life beyond Earth comes to the screen with a profound sense of wonder and a dazzling visual sweep that extends to the outer reaches of space and the imagination. Jodie Foster is a astronomer Ellie Arroway, a woman of Science. Matthew McConaughey is religious scholar Palmer Joss, a man of faith. They're opposite ends of a spectrum - and sudden players on the world stage as the countdown to humanity's greatest journey begins. Powerfully, thrillingly and emotionally Contact connects.
Rating:
Summary: Science Fiction
Review: No, I don't know the movie. But the movie cannot be much better than the book. This is Science Fiction at its best: demonstrating the impact of technology and research on our societies. Astronomer Ellie is participating in the search for extraterrestial intelligence and discovers a message sent to earth from the stars. The decoding of the message reveals the plans for building a machine of unknown purpose. And after the construction is finished, Ellie finds herself as part of a crew going boldly to unknown worlds where nobody has gone before (sorry about the comparison). Of course, the entire project encounters several difficulties: Ellie's education as an astronomer (hey, she's a girl), some problems getting the research grants, diplomatic difficulties (the book was written in the early 1980s - before Glasnost and Perestroika), religious fundamentalism, political issues, the power of big industrial companies etc. One might argue that Sagan drags the story's flow a bit when he describes the problems decoding the message and building the machine, but he probably knows far too well that scientific progress is slow, tedious, and not always a straight path. I am amazed that none of my fellow reviewers complained about the scientific content. Here Sagan is the good old educator again, fighting for popularizing science: Several technical details are described and explained; and the funny thing is, of course, that most of the stuff is at least scientifically possible. (If you are more interested how it works, try Jim Al-Khalili's "Black Holes, Wormholes, and Time Machines". I have also a review on that...) Sagan's book has a strong emphasis on the relation between religion and science which still seems to be of particular importance in the United States. The novel suggests (especially the ending) that science and religion are not opposites but complement each other and that there are signs of the divine (the numinous, as Ellie calls it) in science as well as scientific moments in religion. Read the book.
Rating:
Summary: This is the best movie ever made!
Review: From the first time I saw this movie I loved it. Since then I've seen it every chance I get. It really makes you think. Are we alone? What are we doing here? Even if you don't like science fiction, you'll love this movie. There are so many religious and creational themes here. I love this movie! It's so great! Also, if you like the movie, you'll LOVE the book. Buy it too!
Rating:
Summary: Contacto in Mexico
Review: Although is rated as science fiction, Sagan used very interesting science concepts that make this book real
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