#4501604 - 12/26/19 02:14 AM
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NH2112
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I’m watching it for what must be at least the 10th time. What a great movie! While it deviates significantly from the book I think it really captures the message and has the feel of the book. The screenplay writers really did their homework, and Robert Zemeckis really brought it to life. In the scene when Ellie was giving her funding presentation at Hadden Industries, did anyone else think she was wearing a very Cosmos-y Carl Sagan outfit?
Phil
“The biggest problem people have is they don’t think they’re supposed to have problems.” - Hayes Barnard
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#4501615 - 12/26/19 04:08 AM
Re: Contact
[Re: NH2112]
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NH2112
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The problem is, I think, that the book ending required some dialog in the movie that never took place, and just putting it (the book ending) in would have been a huge non sequitur without the background. And would finding a series of numerals that describe a perfect circle in base-11 mathematics a few billion places into pi (or something along those lines) really resonate with many moviegoers? I’d have to guess that most people who saw the movie never read the book, or if they did it was after seeing the movie. I know I didn’t read it before.
Sometimes an ending that puts the ball in your court and makes you think about what you think can be anticlimactic. I think it ended the movie well. Carl Sagan was always about finding your own answers to anything that wasn’t empirical.
I like how Tucker Smallwood’s mission director character wore a vest in what had to have been an homage to Gene Kranz.
Phil
“The biggest problem people have is they don’t think they’re supposed to have problems.” - Hayes Barnard
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#4501618 - 12/26/19 04:46 AM
Re: Contact
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Arthonon
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I really liked the movie until the very end. I was disappointed and found the ending to be quite underwhelming. The movie built up the mystery and journey so well that the ending was by comparison subpar. I think Starlog magazine gave this movie a made-up award called "Best Movie Until The Ending" the year it came out. They would make up awards at the end of the year based on what they thought of different movies.
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#4501619 - 12/26/19 05:37 AM
Re: Contact
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Mr_Blastman
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I really liked the movie until the very end. I was disappointed and found the ending to be quite underwhelming. The movie built up the mystery and journey so well that the ending was by comparison subpar. What was bad about the ending in your opinion?
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#4501628 - 12/26/19 11:28 AM
Re: Contact
[Re: NH2112]
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PanzerMeyer
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I’d have to guess that most people who saw the movie never read the book,
I like how Tucker Smallwood’s mission director character wore a vest in what had to have been an homage to Gene Kranz. I have not read the book yet but it's on my long reading list. I totally forgot that Tucker Smallwood was in Contact. I mostly remember him for his guest role on one of the most famous X-Files episodes of all time and for his role as the carrier captain in "Space, Above & Beyond".
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4501630 - 12/26/19 11:37 AM
Re: Contact
[Re: Mr_Blastman]
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PanzerMeyer
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I really liked the movie until the very end. I was disappointed and found the ending to be quite underwhelming. The movie built up the mystery and journey so well that the ending was by comparison subpar. What was bad about the ending in your opinion? I have not read the book so I'm sure I would have had more of an appreciation for the ending but at the time when I first saw it in the theater, I was expecting an ending that was on the same epic scale as the questions raised earlier in the movie. Where is this strange TV transmission coming from? Is it an alien race? How far are they from us? The last thing I was expecting was for Jodi Foster to find some kind of Jedi-like spirit version of her long dead father.
“Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”
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#4501635 - 12/26/19 11:54 AM
Re: Contact
[Re: NH2112]
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DM
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I enjoyed the book, and enjoyed the movie when it came out. I think the ending works pretty well, as it directly put a scientific experience into the realm of the book's other context, faith.
As an aside, and for the fellow nerds, the movie has the first example of CGI inserted into a free camera movement scene. The helicopter shot that has the teleportation structure on the horizon. It's trivial now, but this was the first successful example.
Last edited by DM; 12/26/19 11:55 AM.
"They might look the same, but they don't taste the same."
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#4501737 - 12/27/19 05:29 PM
Re: Contact
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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NH2112
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The last thing I was expecting was for Jodi Foster to find some kind of Jedi-like spirit version of her long dead father.
That’s what happened to the travelers (there were 5) in the book. IIRC it happened in their sleep, though.
Phil
“The biggest problem people have is they don’t think they’re supposed to have problems.” - Hayes Barnard
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#4501752 - 12/27/19 07:29 PM
Re: Contact
[Re: PanzerMeyer]
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Arthonon
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I really liked the movie until the very end. I was disappointed and found the ending to be quite underwhelming. The movie built up the mystery and journey so well that the ending was by comparison subpar. What was bad about the ending in your opinion? I have not read the book so I'm sure I would have had more of an appreciation for the ending but at the time when I first saw it in the theater, I was expecting an ending that was on the same epic scale as the questions raised earlier in the movie. Where is this strange TV transmission coming from? Is it an alien race? How far are they from us? The last thing I was expecting was for Jodi Foster to find some kind of Jedi-like spirit version of her long dead father. I think this was most people's view as well. Certainly mine. After all the build up, to have contact with an alien race in a way that wasn't really contact was a real let down for me. I think they could have had more of an alien encounter and still had the unrecorded info and faith issues.
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