Contact/Sphere

"[Sphere] ...a solid thriller with showy scientific overtones.  Janet Maslin, The New York Times
"[Contact] ...superior popular filmmaking, both polished and effective  Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"[Sphere] ...the writing and direction carry Sphere most of the way, the actors manage to bring it home.  Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle
"[Contact] ...delivers on more than a pure visual level...  Neil Jeffries, Empire
"[Contact] ...the kind of movie that we imagine Carl Sagan would have wanted made.  Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
"[Sphere] Levinson is terrific at claustrophobia.  Sarah Kerr, The New Yorker

Editor's Note CONTACT: 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. SPHERE: When psychologist Norman Goodman (Dustin Hoffman) wrote a report for the government on how to deal with extraterrestrial life forces, he didn't expect his recommendations to be used. Now that a secret government agency is investigating what may be an alien spaceship that has been discovered partially buried on the floor of the Pacific Ocean, Norman finds that the plan he outlined is being put into effect and that the team he named in his report has been assembled. In addition to Norman, there is Harry Adams (Samuel L. Jackson), a mathematician; Ted Fielding (Liev Schreiber), a physicist; and Beth Halperin (Sharon Stone), a biochemist and Norman's old flame. Led by the secretive Barnes (Peter Coyote), the foursome undergoes a crash course in diving and living under the sea in a naval habitat and begins investigating the mysterious vessel, discovering a huge glowing sphere made of an unidentifiable substance with a shimmering, almost liquid surface. As the investigation continues, a series of strange, horrific events leads the team of scientists to doubt each other's sanity and motives. The film is based on the best-selling novel by Michael Crichton.

	David Morse
	Dustin Hoffman
	James Woods
	Jodie Foster
	Matthew McConaughey
	Queen Latifah
	Samuel L. Jackson
	Sharon Stone
	Barry Levinson - [Sphere] Director
	Robert Zemeckis - [Contact] Director

Box Office Magazine 7 of 10
[Sphere] Directed by the gifted Barry Levinson, featuring a cast of stars who can actually act, "Sphere" is bidding for a cinematic space closer to the Big Idea territory of "Contact" than to the popcorn carnage of "The Lost World"..."Sphere" is not trashy, or silly, or exploitative; a lot of talent has been used to good effect here. But in the final analysis, fine filmmaking cannot overcome mediocre material. - Cathy Thompson-Georges

Salon.com 6 of 10
[Sphere] In this adaptation of Michael Crichton's thriller, every one of the opening scenes is devoted to pumping information at the reader. But the director, Barry Levinson, tears through the exposition with the impatient recklessness of a man on the freeway who's 30 minutes late for his own wedding. Barely anyone in the cast -- Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Liev Schreiber and Peter Coyote -- gets what could be described as an entrance; they're halfway through their first scene before we've even been told who they are or what they're doing. - Charles Taylor

ReelViews 10 of 10
[Contact] The cast is strong. Tom Skerritt and James Woods take what could have been one-dimensional characters and develop them into something more. We don't exactly sympathize with them, but we understand their viewpoints. Matthew McConaughey's performance is nicely-understated; it's easy to accept him as a charismatic, sincere, New Age religious leader. But the star of the film is Jodie Foster, who brings all of her considerable ability to the part of Ellie, and infuses the character with passion, intelligence, and courage. Foster deserves another Oscar nomination for her work here. - James Berardinelli

Chicago Sun-Times 9 of 10
[Contact] Sagan's novel "Contact" provides the inspiration for Robert Zemeckis' new film, which tells the smartest and most absorbing story about extraterrestrial intelligence since "Close Encounters of the Third Kind"...The movie is about Ellie's search, but it is also about her mind and personality. It's surprising to find a science fiction film exploring issues like love, death and the existence of God; science fiction as a literary form has of course explored those subjects for years, but sci-fi movies generally tend toward titles such as "Independence Day", and are about actors being attacked by gooey special effects. - Roger Ebert