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Contact

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Contact (1997)

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Reviews Counted:53

Fresh:35

Rotten:18

Average Rating:6.7/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 33 mins

Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy

Synopsis: Devoted astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway undertakes an emotional and spiritual journey after receiving the message she's waited for all her life--a mysterious signal beamed in from alien beings, who... Devoted astronomer Dr. Ellie Arroway undertakes an emotional and spiritual journey after receiving the message she's waited for all her life--a mysterious signal beamed in from alien beings, who pass along instructions for building and piloting a craft that will presumably survive the passage from Earth to their home. While struggling to fund her mission, Arroway also struggles with her feelings about the nature of things, particularly after meeting a charismatic New Age believer who questions her disbelief in God. A deliberately-paced, meditative adaptation of the eponymous novel by Ann Druyan and "pop" astronomer Carl Sagan, who died during production. [More]

Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, John Hurt

Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, James Woods, John Hurt, Tom Skerritt, Angela Bassett, Rob Lowe, William Fichtner, Geoffrey Blake, Jena Malone, Sami Chester, Timothy McNeil, Laura Elena Surillo, Henry Strozier, Michael Chaban, Max Martini, Larry King, Thomas Garner, Conroy Chino, Dan Gifford, Vance Valencia

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Director: Robert Zemeckis
Composer: Alan Silvestri
Producer: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, Joan Bradshaw, Lynda Obst
Story: Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan
Screenwriter: James V. Hart, Michael Goldenberg
Producer: Robert Zemeckis, Steve Starkey

[See More Credits]

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Release:

Sep 8, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Widescreen

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo - English, French
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 - English, French
  • Subtitles - English, French, Spanish
 
 
 
 

Reviews for Contact

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41 - 56 (sorted by date)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

There is so much that is right with this film and so much that is wrong, it is hard to know where to begin to evaluate the ideas.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Mark R. Leeper
Mark R. Leeper
rec.arts.movies.reviews

Jodie Foster is great, and Zemeckis knows how to use film technology without compromising a story’s humanity, but the real star of Contact is its author, Carl Sagan.

Full Review Source: Movie Habit | comment Comment
01/01/00
Marty Mapes
Marty Mapes
Movie Habit

While it's hardly a perfect movie, Robert Zemeckis's Contact is one of the most 'religious' science fiction movies ever made.

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/01/00
MaryAnn Johanson
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Matt Easterbrook
Matt Easterbrook
Matt's Movie Reviews

For an aspiring ultimate trip, Contact has a flimsy dramatic grip.

comment Comment
01/01/00
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Less sci-fi blockbuster, more spiritual thinkpiece, this is a Close Encounters Of The Third Kind for the X-Files generation.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
01/01/00
Neil Jeffries
Neil Jeffries
Empire Magazine

If [Sagan] does a better job of asking them than answering them, that is at least consistent with the scientists creed that the only sin is to be afraid to ask the right questions -- and to be open-minded about the answers.

Full Review Source: Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies | comment Comment
01/01/00
Nell Minow
Nell Minow
Movie Mom at Yahoo! Movies

An intellectually and theologically challenging, $100 million summer blockbuster? Who'd have imagined?

Full Review Source: SPLICEDWire | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Blackwelder
Rob Blackwelder
SPLICEDWire

Well-mounted but self-important sci-fi.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Rob Gonsalves
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com

As is the Sagan way -- it lets science hold its own against religion without reducing either to mush.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
01/01/00
Robin Dougherty
Robin Dougherty
Salon.com

Zemeckis uses special effects to suggest the climactic events without upstaging them.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

After almost two-and-a-half hours of tantalizing buildup, the closing scenes' meager payoff of banal, Jack Handeyish hoo-haw creates a frustrating sense of intellectual coitus interruptus.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
01/01/00
Russell Smith
Russell Smith
Austin Chronicle

Contact is at its most relaxed when it sheds its intellectual pretensions and reveals its media-wise sense of humor.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
01/01/00
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Few films glorify the unknown and relish ambiguity to the extent that Contact does.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
01/01/00
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
01/01/00
Susan Stark
Susan Stark
Detroit News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film balances characterisation with the adventure of space discovery, and harnesses advanced filmmaking techniques for the best possible result in entertainment with meaning.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
01/01/00
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
 
 
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