Rating: 
Summary: A Summer Movie that Actually Makes You Think!!
Review: For those who actually like to be ENGAGED when we watch movies, summertime is usually the nadir of the year. Lavish special effects complemented by treacly dialogue make me usually stay home when the latest "blockbuster" is released. However, in the summer of 1997, this baby came along and was a breath of fresh air. Actually having a movie get people to think about the meaning of life and their own existence is a fairly daunting task for a movie, but this one succeeds smashingly. Having used it in my classes, I can attest that these questions can cut across ages and get down to the heart of us all. It was also nice that this movie was fairly successful, making close to 100 million. Like the best movies, repeated viewings just strengthen the message within.
Rating: 
Summary: A science fiction "Field of Dreams".
Review: If you saw FIELD OF DREAMS, well, this is the sci-fi version of it, with a woman building a spaceship instead of a man building a baseball diamond. Like so many movies in all genres in recent years, it is overblown and pretentious, actually fantasy with the trappings of science fiction. It is technically excellent, of course. Movies with multi-million dollar budgets generally are. If you are looking for a movie that is really Serious with a capital S, don't miss this one. It is serious, all right, but it is not much fun.
Rating: 
Summary: A RELIGIOUS PIECE OF PREACHY PHYSCO-BABBLE!
Review: How dare anyone even utter the word 'Science Fiction', This is NOT science fiction. This is an advert for GOD! 'Aliens' is science fiction, '2001: A Space Odessey' is science fiction, this is certainly NOT NOT NOT Science Fiction!!!I happen to LOVE Jodie Foster, she is a skilled actress as proven by films like 'The Accused' or 'Slience of the Lambs' films which she has both won acadamy awards for; Howver i am pressed to ask the question, Why on earth could such an intelligent woman participate in what is one of the most appauling pieces of transparent religious nonsense? It makes me angry to think that in the first half hour a girl is told that her father died because God 'Willed It' Well what kind of a God or Person is prepared to tell a nine year old child that God wanted her parents to die! If you are religious by all means watch it, it will teach you a lesson, as at one point a reliogous figure KILLS hundreds of people! show it to your kids too, it will show them how dangerous religion is! Why oh why as a Science fiction and Jodie Foster Fan i am asking couldnt they have ended the film with a scientific explanation like of the one in the book 'Choccy' written by John Wyndam, instead of some brainwashing piece of sentimental rubbish?
Rating:
Summary: One of the best movies ever...
Review: This movie is tremendous, visually, aesthetically, conceptually. It blends the whole spirituality/science thing with amazing dexterity. Both fields seek meaning in this life and both ultimately end in a mystery. So too this movie. Jodie Foster is brilliant as a scientist who longs for meaning even in the midst of her scientific endeavors. This movie is big all the way around. Rather than highbrow entertainment we are drawn to the characters and really feel the character Jodie Foster portrays. My only criticism is the pseudo-religious character played by Matthew McConaughey which is a more sterilized version of presenting the religious element. But the religious element is necessary to make the whole thing work or it becomes just another sci-fi flick. Perhaps in places the movie is a bit over the top but in the end it works. Visually the film is remarkable. It is not overladen with special effect but the special effects that are present are dynamite. The best thing about the movie is that the observer is not a bystander but is required to engage the film and enter in. This isn't mystical hocus pocus but the signs of a really good movie. Well worth watching. Even more than once.
Rating:
Summary: People are ...
Review: It seems to me that the only people who didn't like this movie either have short attention spans, were expecting Star Wars, or are offended by the very idea of atheism. If you want more than the usual Hollywood [stuff], watch this movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Incredible sense of discovery and wonder.
Review: This movie kept me glued to my seat and filled with a great sense of wonder, until the explorer reaches her destination. That part was disappointing. I was left unfulfilled at that point. Curiously, I did like the ending quite a bit. Still, the movie was excellent and is well worth seeing.
Rating:
Summary: Sagan's Last Stand
Review: /Contact/ is a great film based on an excellent book. Never before has the relation between science and religion been portrayed accurately in a major movie, and I'll bet never again will it be portrayed so well. The plotline is easy to understand and yet provokes emotion and thought on many levels. The movie is even /more/ relevant in the light of the September 11 attacks-- you'll have to see it yourself to learn why. Five stars for an outstanding attempt by Carl Sagan to popularize science for the superstitious masses. I'm not saying this movie's perfect, though. The Machine seemed far too Euclidean, and the images of space could have been thought through better-- it looks like Jodie Foster's character is getting all weepy over nothing. Foster herself is a rather bad actor. She has a sort of nasal hoarseness that comes out when she's trying to act upset, and I suppose she was hired as a main character simply so that her fans would see the movie. However, even all these problems combined can't bring my rating down to four stars. :) I would recommend this movie to a Christian evangelist who also happens to be a Jodie Foster fan.
Rating:
Summary: Cracker Jack?
Review: One of the best movies of the late 90's, this movie pretty much has it all. This movie doesn't rely on CGI to tell the story, it relies on a good story and great acting from all the big name talent. This movie leaves a lot to the imagination and a lot to interpretation, and that's probably the best thing about it. The DVD features crystal clear video and an amazing thunderous 5.1 mix. There's some decent extras too, it is definitely worth checking out.
Rating:
Summary: Against boredom, the gods themselves struggle in vain
Review: I too have seen the movie N many times and have even read the
book, and as a result, I too appreciate how much better the movie is than
the book, and here is why: Here is Why the Movie 'Contact' improves on Sagan's original book IMHO: 1. it is not clear why there is no explanation in the SETI message of what the
object of the trip is to be, i.e. why go? In the book the aliens evidently
cant resist showing us the equivalent of their hobby room, just like a nerdy
earthling, 'hey come on over and look at my widgets' (see pg 364 "that's
what we mainly do - engineering") But in the movie, there is zero technical
presentation from the alien contact, only a spiritual connection, so
evidently the purely technical nature of the original message was a trick or
lure to fool a techie-obsessed culture into being directly shown by an
'incredibly technologically advanced' civilisation that, 'hey, that's not
where it's at, loving one another is where it's at'. 2. Removing the technical content from the actual contact experience was a
stroke of genius and greatly increased the power of the movie, and gave it a
subtlety missing in Sagan's book. 3. Sagan's vision of the alien's interests are just extrapolations on his
own. He evidently would like to design galaxies.
Also, the aliens are not motivated by a quest for knowledge, but out
of boredom. (pg 364: "no new galaxies .. just the same old crowd.
Everything's getting run down. It'll be boring.") ("Against boredom, the gods themselves struggle in vain." - Nietzsche) In the movie, the aliens are evidently motivated out of love, there is
no hint that they are bored. "See, in all our searching, the only thing we've found that makes the
emptiness bearable, is each other."
-Dad-prime 4. Sagan tries to make the case that a scientist's experience of the
'numinous' in calculating pi to N-billion digits is on a par with the
religious experience of the numinous. He misses the point that one
person's calculation makes another's irrelevant and redundant, whereas
one person's religious experience of the numinous, does not make
another's redundant. This the message of Ellie after the return:
'I wish everyone could have this experience'. She is cast in the
classic position of every earth mystic in history, rendered incapable
of conveying the numinosity but yearning for everyone to participate.
Yet both the book and movie fail in making the leap to the religious
experience of the numinous as being valuable precisely because it is
available to all and not dependent on a BIG EXPENSIVE MACHINE. All this is not to denigrate Sagan's book which I enjoyed. And I think he
might agree the movie improved on his original concept in ways he hadnt
thought of, and I am sure he would have delighted in the unforeseen
improvements, like a real scientist. Rest In Bliss, Carl, we love ya :) ------------------------
"They said that's the way it's been done for billions of years."
-Ellie
Rating:
Summary: Personally, my favorite sci-fi film.
Review: A message from outer space is received by a radio astronomer (Jodie Foster). Once deciphered, it reveals the blueprints of how to build a mechanism that can transport one person. The question now is who will go on this journey and where will this transport take them? With unyielding confidence and intelligence, Contact takes an intriguing premise and develops it to near perfection, mixing equal parts character drama, suspense, romance, adventure, along with excellent special effects into a deft blend. This is thought-provoking material delivered with a sure hand from Spielberg protege, Robert Zemeckis, who's become every bit as fine a director as his teacher was. Great performances from Jodie Foster, William Fichtner, and David Morse (the latter two of which are the best character actors working today).
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