| Wow. Cool. Smart. How did they do that shot? (open mouthed silent gaping) |
| The opening sequence begins as interesting but as your mind starts to wrap around it, it just becomes...ahhhh open mouthed silent gaping. As Kevin says, the best use of silence in a film in years. Jodie Foster is genetically engineered for the role of Ellie Arroway - reading the book it was an inescapable comparison. The movie does diverge significantly from the book on both major and minor points, but it is completely devoted to the central theme in the novel. |
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| My only complaint is the distracting use of footage of our real president in scenes that could very well have been set in a future administration with an actor as our future unknown president. OK, and a certain blazing hypocrisy is not pointed out in a key scene. |
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But besides that, Contact left me feeling viscerally tugged and with an intense desire to reflect and be alone.
I don't want to give away too much, but essentially we get a little wakeup call from the stars and start re-examining everything - science, theology, our place in the universe...the ideas are not new to me as I was raised in a similar environment to Ellie, but to have them executed so eloquently on screen is a rarity. |
| The start of the film has the most "mundane" action, but to compensate, director Robert Zemeckis (Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the agonizingly overrated Forrest Gump) does some totally amazing camera things - it never stops moving, like the curious eyes of a child. |
| Most people would not notice so just watch for a scene when young Ellie runs upstairs. Wow! How did they do that! It was almost distracting it was so neat. But the story hooks you and the sophistication of the novel is hinted at. Naturally they have to get through a lot to get to the end, so many plot elements came off a bit pat and contrived, but only because they didn't take the time to explain why it is not contrived. |
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Just go see it, but read it as well. It's more visceral than I can explain in a short little review like this - but you can feel your breath in your throat at the most unexpected times. Matthew McConaughey is Palmer Joss, a flip side of Ellie's coin, and frankly I don't understand the point of much of the parts of their relationship (especially since it was created for the film), but he does provide some valuable debate points. |
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Pay full price and I don't think you will be disappointed.
karina |
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