Contact

Rating:
Summary: Bought this for my daughter..
Review: Although the science fact here is lacking, the science fantasy is wonderful. But what was important to me was the rare character of the woman scientist. It was for that reason that I wanted my 10 year old daughter to see this, and own this film. It is not often that girls can see themselves in the characters of science fiction.

Rating:
Summary: Great movie almost ruined by a ridiculous ending.
Review: This movie would have rated an easy 5 stars if it had not been for the horrible ending. Great performance by Jodie Foster. Jodie plays Ellie, the astronomer who is obsessed with listening for signals in outer space. I really got caught up in this movie and I expected a great ending. What I got instead left me scratching my head. All that effort and trouble for what? They figure out the alien message and build the huge machine that will propel one person to another planet. Ok, fine so far. Ellie gets propelled through space and sees things that no other human being has ever seen. Still good, and the exictement is building. She gets to this incredible looking planet and gets greeted by one alien who transforms into her dad. Huh???? He basically tells her that they don't know who designed the machine, but they send out messages to other races and "invite" them to their planet. They send her back to Earth where she finds out that only a second or so of earth time has passed while she was away. Huh???? Her camera recorded only static and there is no evidence that she ever went anywhere.
So, my question is, what was the point??? Why did this sophisticated intelligence go to all that trouble to talk to one person on the planet and then remove all proof that the trip ever took place? Gee, couldn't they guess that this individual would be considered a crazy person back on their planet? So what was Ellie supposed to do with this information?? This was such a let down that it left me angry with this film.
Now I understand that the producers were probably making this film more about faith than astronomy, but they could have made a better ending. Even with that, where does the faith aspect come in. The preacher was trying to convince Ellie about faith in something that can bee seen. Well, she did see these events unfold. So what lesson did she learn from all this??
The producers could have done a much better job with this ending. There is just no logic to it.

Rating:
Summary: Contact
Review: Contact must be the worst movie ever made. I couldn't have finished it if not for the beautiful Jodie Foster. It's about listening for contacts from outer space. Foster's efforts are financed by an impossibly weathy person who must have been cracked. Billions of dollars are wasted on an impossible scheme. I thought I would throw up.

Rating:
Summary: One of my favorite movies of all time
Review: This is just a great movie, that completely describes the dilemma between believing in religion, and atheism. You need to see this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Further contact - a correlation with events in the year 2001
Review: For those who expect aliens to make contact with humans in the manner of "The Day the Earth Stood Still" or "Independence Day", (that is, simply landing spaceships on the White House lawn and announcing, "we are here"), "Contact" will be a disappointment. However, for those that can imagine our first contact could possibly come in a more subtle form, this film is fascinating. In reading the numerous reviews, it is evident that one's personal opinion of extraterrestrials (aliens) and spirituality (religion) will factor heavily into how much enjoyment one derives from this film. It is a subject that probes a very sensitive aspect of our belief systems - I think it is safe to say that nearly everyone believes in either angels or aliens (or both) - and as such can provoke strong emotional responses as it affects the core of our personal cosmologies.

The other reviewers have done a more than adequate job of exploring all the cinematic aspects of this film - I will here chime in with my vote of '5 stars', and 'one of my favorite movies of all time'.

If you are one who feels ETs can and will only make contact with daylight landings (or attacks) of spaceships - you may stop reading here.

Now, if you are of the ilk that feels ET contact could be of the more subtle variety (or if you have seen the film and enjoyed / appreciated the ending) I would like to let you know of a monumental development in 'real life' that has to do with this film. In 1974, a digital message was sent from a radio telescope in Arecibo, Puerto Rico that was designed by astronomers at Cornell University, including Carl Sagan. The signal is a matrix of two prime numbers, that when laid out visually form a pictogram that reveals the most fundamental aspects of human life. The message contains the binary numbers from 1 -10 then goes on to use binary to describe the atomic building blocks of life, DNA, human size and population, etc.

On August 20th, 2001, we received an answer.

Near a radio telescope in Chilbolton, England, a pictogram emerged in a wheat field (crop circle) in nearly identical formation as the Arecibo message. This 'contact' was completely missed by the media (however, not by Art Bell) - but is available for all to see. The ETs apparently are even subtler than the film suggests. ...The site has some brilliant aerial photographs of the formation (along with a crop circle that formed a year ago at the same site and an amazing 'pixel face' that has to be seen to be understood). There are a number of websites that feature this extraordinary event; the one I listed is simply easy to read. It gives a detailed description of both the information contained in the 1974 Arecibo message, and the 2001 'response' - noting the again subtle differences.

Enjoy your contact. If you like, you may also contact me....

Rating:
Summary: More than just Sci-fi
Review: This movie is one of the best ever created. I haven't read the book yet, so I can't make a comparison.

However, I have to say that this is literature for the movie screen. While the obvious science vs. religion plot is very well done (and very well wrapped up at the end), "Contact" is more than just another "is there life out there" movie. It also goes into how to "contact" other humans to understand thier motives, beliefs, and feelings.

If I were still in college writing English papers, I could write dozens just on this one movie, especially about man v. nature, man v. man, and man v. himself. Every time I watch it, I find something else to show how well plotted the movie is.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Great Ones!
Review: This is one of the few films that absolutely HAS IT ALL! Jodie Foster, one of our finest actresses, is at her best here. She captures all the subtleties of a highly complex and engaging character. The emotions she expreses are staggeringly on target and moving. John Hurt is perfectly delightful and effective in an unusual role - completely believable. Matthew McConaughey portrays another quite subtle character and he also never misses a note as "a man of the cloth" who transcends the usual limits of such a character. To fully appreciate the direction and photography, be sure to watch the extra commentaries included in the DVD. Robert Zemeckis convinces us of his genius (without trying). Finally, the subject matter is on a level of ambition that compares very well with predecessors like "2001: A Space Odyssey" and "2010." If one unfortunately fails to grasp the philosophical-spiritual significance of the film, it would then be easy to be dismissive (see the June 1968 Playboy review of "2001" for a perfect example of this type of sad review). This film will absolutely be on the "short list" for many, many people.

Rating:
Summary: One of the all-time great science fiction movies
Review: A film very much in the league of such sci-fi giants as 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, and E.T., director Robert Zemeckis' 1997 film CONNTACT is one of the genre's most stunningly intelligent films of all time. Clearly having learned much about displaying a sense of cinematic wonder from his mentor Steven Spielberg, Zemeckis has fashioned a film that, like "2001", has elements of spiritualism, mysticism, and child-like awe.

Jodie Foster is Dr. Eleanor Arroway, an ambitious radio astronomer who, ever since she was a young girl, has been dreaming of making contact with other beings from outer space. As her ambitions grow, there is, of course, plenty of resistance from other corners of the scientific community to her search--especially from her mentor (Tom Skerritt), who sees this as wasteful, pie-in-the-sky stuff. But when Foster and her team at New Mexico's Very Large Array radio telescope field in New Mexico detect an actual alien signal (represented in prime numbers) eminating from the star Vega, some twenty-six light years away, all bets are off. Despite the somewhat ominous beginning to this (the signal is eventually found to have been in response to the first-ever TV transmission on Earth, which were the opening ceremonies to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, presided over by Adolf Hitler), further research, funded by an eccentric engineer (John Hurt) reveals the desire on the part of the aliens for the human race to build a space pod that will hurl itself towards Vega at or near the speed of light.

Immediately, of course, there is a worldwide firestorm of controversy, and not just from the scientific community. The religious community, particularly America's religious right-wing, comes to attack Foster and her fellow scientists for wanting to contact aliens who might not believe in God (or their version of Him). Foster does, however, have one sympathetic friend in that community--Reverend Palmer Joss (Matthew McConaughey). When, during a test of the new pod, Skerritt is killed by a fanatic religious bomber, it is up to Foster to make that ultra-perilous journey to Vega.

When she does, she stunningly meets up with her father (David Morse), whom she lost at an early age. Her return to Earth and her story is met with unbridled incredulity and iron skepticism. But McConaughey chooses to take the high road in this case, stating that although the two of them operate under different covenants of thought, their goals are one and the same--the pursuit of truth.

Based on the only fictional novel written by the late Carl Sagan, creator of the legendary PBS-TV series "Cosmos", CONTACT is a very lengthy and extremely ambitious film that succeeds far more often than it slips (which is extremely rare here). As with any of the great science fiction movies, the special effects and the hardware are incredibly spectacular; but going hand in hand with all this are a highly credible story and some fine acting, particularly by Foster, whose performance here is as good as anything she has given us since THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS.

With newsreel references to the religious cult murders that occurred in San Diego shortly before the film's release, as well as video cameos by Geraldo Rivera, Geraldine Ferraro, and president Bill Clinton (some of them admittedly resembling humorous asides more than they do advancements in the story), CONTACT is also topical. By having McConaughey's character display a genuine sympathy towards Foster's approach to things, the film does not balance science over religion; but it also does not fail to condemn certain segments of the religious community for trying to force their values onto others. In essence, CONTACT is a plea for understanding among all the world's people, and bravely suceeds in telling us that ours is not the only intelligence that God may have bought forth.

For anyone interested in the science fiction genre, CONTACT is a must-have for your video or DVD collection.

Rating:
Summary: Cages
Review: A nearly subliminal image of the "cages" was even managed to be slipped into the movie. And that is only one of the several very fascinating details of Contact, and the methods in which Sagan's incredible book was translated to film.

There is really so much to rave about, suffice to say the movie is perfect in my perception. The inclusion of the cages, in such a fantastic glimpse (when she is in space en route to Vega and pausing, looking up), is merely evidence of the profundity of the entire film, and a very edgy creativeness, which surfaces just barely in these glimpses, to expose that the film's perfection is far more than air tight. It is, in a way, not finished. There are certain scenes, which move on, logically, naturally, but leave an open page. And all of this done in such a subtle way.

But of course, I recommend this movie, as well as a reading of the book. After, or before the movie viewing. I really do not think, in this case, it matters.

Rating:
Summary: If you liked the movie, it's nice to have on DVD...
Review: I really enjoy this movie... I wish there were more special features though. I would have liked to see if there were any deleted scenes...