Contact [Region 2]

Contact [Region 2]
by Robert Zemeckis

Contact [Region 2]
Category: DVD
See more DVD details

Buy Contact [Region 2] at Amazon.com
(Click here)
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada

DVD details

Actor: David Morse, Geoffrey Blake, Jena Malone, Jodie Foster, William Fichtner
Director: Robert Zemeckis
DVD: Region Code 2
Audio: German (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitles For The Hearing Impaired), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; German (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; Spanish (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; German (Subtitled); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Dutch (Subtitled); Norwegian (Subtitled); Danish (Subtitled); Finnish (Subtitled); Portuguese (Subtitled); Hebrew (Subtitled); Italian (Subtitled); Turkish (Subtitled); Hungarian (Subtitled); Polish (Subtitled); Swedish (Subtitled); Icelandic (Subtitled); Croatian (Subtitled); Greek (Subtitled); Czech (Subtitled)
Format: PAL
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

DVD Reviews of Contact [Region 2]

DVD Review: Great story......awful production.
Summary: 3 Stars

One of the outstanding movies of modern times, both good and bad, Contact is a production of the Carl Sagan novel of the same name.
What makes it one of the most irritating productions of all time (only Twister surpasses it), is Zemeckis' idea that the major players, James Woods, Angela Bassett, and Tom Skerritt all have to act like nannies to properly convey the script.

In one the worst performances of his career, James Woods is downright ridiculous from beginning to end. His obnoxious portrayal of a babbling and blabbering government agent about US national security interests and agendas not in line with his own has no depth and totally lacks personality. One of THE WORST scenes in the movie is when he notices a nazi swastika beginning to appear in the alien video transmission discovered by Dr. Arroway (Jodie Foster). He then motions for AK-47 armed guards to enter the room from which Dr. Arroway had asked them to leave not 5 minutes before. Does Zemeckis really expect us to believe that such stupid nonsense as AK-47-wielding personnel are going to correct, or secure a video transmission of a swastika?? The scene is revoltingly, insultingly stupid. Hollyweird at its worst.

And Angela Bassett was thinking what? A striking actress of incredible talent, Ms. Bassett looks like a fool in this film. She hardly ever communicates her official position with any more clarity and professionalism than that of a kindergarten teacher talking to a bunch of 5 year olds. Sad performance. Again, blame Zemeckis.

Tom Skerritt has some interesting things to say, especially when he acknowledges that Dr. Arroway got a raw deal throughout the discovery process, but it's wasted on his pathetic facial gestures and teenaged competitiveness. Hello? Are you there Zemeckis?

Rob Lowe's performance? If this is the actual personification of America's moral majority, then our present day inability to stop waging war, enacting capital punishment, and refusing stem cell research shouldn't be that difficult to understand. Lowe made his character's credibility look like swiss cheese, full of holes.

The only events that save this movie are the work of Jodie Foster, David Morse (Dr. Arroway's father), and John Hurt (Mr. Haddon) and how the scene with the Vegan (disguised as Arroway's father) transpires.

Morse envelopes the dying father notion with exquisite care, never acting more than he needs to, but making certain that we know how deeply he cares for his daughter and her intellect. (This is something Zemeckis communicates effectively, strangely, because he makes the religious zealots in this movie look like total morons because of their undying contempt for anything scientific). Plus, Morse's reappearance as the "Contact" is to say the least touching. The scene on the beach is astonishing.

John Hurt provides excellent work as an eccentric business mogul who is also a mechanical engineer. (I enjoy this admission because it gives weight to his character). He respects Dr. Arroway and gambles on the notion that her attempts at alien contact may prove fruitful (he grants her money to lease a satellite array in New Mexico), and he certainly makes sure he's there for her when he needs to be.

Jodie Foster is incredible in this film. Her unflagging determination to follow her dream of contact over vast distances is something we get to experience WITH her. She takes us to the heart of her frustration with the government and the pathogen of religious zealotry; she also shares with us the incredible excitement of discovering the newest contact with alien intelligence. I'm guessing Zemeckis either had nothing, or everything to do with Foster's performance. If not, then Foster must have known a great deal about Carl Sagan's passion for science. It suits her very well.

The alien transport that is built to communicate with the Vegans is extremely well done (especially in the scenes with Dr. Arroway) and the story itself is incredible. While I didn't comment on McConaughey's performance or Arroway's colleagues, they do well enough to provide the tension required and help to make this fiction somewhat believable.

Zemeckis had quite an undertaking with this film and while some of the twists he included were needed to breath life into Sagan's novel, the personae in conflict with Dr. Arroway were completely off the mark overacting and at best making the human race at the highest echelons of government and religion look like complete jerks.

If contact with aliens was ever made, it would be interesting to compare what might actually happen to the preposterous suppositions made by this film. A good film with some enjoyable moments but also a bizarre film because of some terrible over acting.

DVD Review: Unspeakably terrible movie
Summary: 1 Stars

I am shocked and disgusted that this movie has received such a high rating. Hands down, this is the worst movie that I've ever had the displeasure of sitting through.

DVD Review: Could have been so much better
Summary: 2 Stars

First, the very opening of the movie is fantastic - almost worth the discounted purchase price by itself.

The special effects are really quite good.

The acting ranges from good to poor but, is generally passable.

The story development and character interactions are OK if one hasn't read the book.

However, if one has read the book there is such a distortion of both characters and their interactions and loss of sophistication and nuance as to be quite maddening.

Ah, for what might have been!

DVD Review: I Love This Movie!!!
Summary: 5 Stars

I have always been a science buff and a science fiction fan. This movie was wonderful. I think it is not far off to what our reaction would be if we were contacted by others in the galaxy. Jodie Foster was wonderful as Ellie Arraway and the spirit of the book was carried over into the film. The film does take some liberties with characters and what occured in the book but that was only to make it fit into a 2 hour movie.

DVD Review: Very enjoyable
Summary: 4 Stars

I thought this was a very interesting movie and that it was made believable by the great perormance of Jodi Foster. If another actress had tried to pull this off, it might not have worked. This is not your usual "contact with extraterrestrails" movie and that makes it refreshing too. Also, we get some real science tossed in. Cosmos fans will undoubtedly recognize some of Sagan's lessons scattered here and there.

Description of Contact [Region 2]

The opening and closing moments of Robert (Forrest Gump) Zemeckis's Contact astonish viewers with the sort of breathtaking conceptual imagery one hardly ever sees in movies these day--each is an expression of the heroine's lifelong quest (both spiritual and scientific) to explore the meaning of human existence through contact with extraterrestrial life. The movie begins by soaring far out into space, then returns dizzyingly to earth until all the stars in the heavens condense into the sparkle in one little girl's eye. It ends with that same girl as an adult (Jodie Foster)--her search having taken her to places beyond her imagination--turning her gaze inward and seeing the universe in a handful of sand. Contact traces the journey between those two visual epiphanies. Based on Carl Sagan's novel, Contact is exceptionally thoughtful and provocative for a big-budget Hollywood science fiction picture, with elements that recall everything from 2001 to The Right Stuff. Foster's solid performance (and some really incredible alien hardware) keep viewers interested, even when the story skips and meanders, or when the halo around the golden locks of rising-star-of-a-different-kind Matthew McConaughey (as the pure-Hollywood-hokum love interest) reaches Milky Way-level wattage. Ambitious, ambiguous, pretentious, unpredictable--Contact is all of these things and more. Much of it remains open to speculation and interpretation, but whatever conclusions one eventually draws, Contact deserves recognition as a rare piece of big-budget studio filmmaking on a personal scale. --Jim Emerson

General DVDs

DVD Video
Bestsellers in General DVDs
Poltergeist (25th Anniversary Edition) ImagePoltergeist (25th Anniversary Edition)
Release date: 2007-10-09; DVD
Best price: $5.00
Price in other shops: $14.98
Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition [Limited Edition] ImageMystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition [Limited Edition]
Release date: 2008-10-28; DVD
Best price: $48.99
Price in other shops: $69.99
Icons of Horror: Hammer Films (2-disc) (The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb / The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll / Scream of Fear / The Gorgon) ImageIcons of Horror: Hammer Films (2-disc) (The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb / The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll / Scream of Fear / The Gorgon)
Release date: 2008-10-14; DVD
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops: $24.96
Torchwood - The Complete Second Season ImageTorchwood - The Complete Second Season
Release date: 2008-09-16; DVD
Best price: $47.95
Price in other shops: $79.98
Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series ImageDoctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series
Release date: 2008-11-18; DVD
Best price: $64.99
Price in other shops: $99.98
Stargate: Continuum ImageStargate: Continuum
STARGATE: CONTINUUM (DVD MOVIE); Release date: 2008-07-29; DVD
Best price: $13.95
Price in other shops: $26.98
Supernatural - The Complete Third Season ImageSupernatural - The Complete Third Season
Release date: 2008-09-02; DVD
Best price: $35.98
Price in other shops: $59.98
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (3 Disc Special Edition) ImageHellboy II: The Golden Army (3 Disc Special Edition)
Release date: 2008-11-11; DVD
Best price: $22.99
Price in other shops: $34.98
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Limited-Edition 2-D and 3-D with Glasses) ImageJourney to the Center of the Earth (Limited-Edition 2-D and 3-D with Glasses)
Release date: 2008-10-28; DVD
Best price: $16.99
Price in other shops: $28.98
The Nightmare on Elm Street Collection ImageThe Nightmare on Elm Street Collection
ENGLUND,ROBERT; Release date: 1999-09-21; DVD
Best price: $22.99
Price in other shops: $60.98
Similar DVDs, VHS Video, Audio CDs
Sphere ImageSphere
Release date: 1998-07-14; DVD
Best price: $3.33
Price in other shops: $12.98
The Pelican Brief ImageThe Pelican Brief
Release date: 1997-06-25; DVD
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops: $14.98
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) ImageClose Encounters of the Third Kind (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Sony; Release date: 2001-05-29; DVD
Best price: $18.70
Price in other shops: $27.95
Armageddon ImageArmageddon
WILLIS,BRUCE; Release date: 1999-01-05; DVD
Best price: $4.57
Price in other shops: $14.99
Nell ImageNell
Release date: 2004-02-03; DVD
Best price: $4.36
Price in other shops: $9.98
Contact ImageContact
by Carl Sagan
Pocket; Published: 1997-07-01; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.38
Price in other shops: $7.99
Mission To Mars ImageMission To Mars
Release date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $3.97
Price in other shops: $14.99
Deep Impact (Special Collector's Edition) ImageDeep Impact (Special Collector's Edition)
Release date: 2004-10-05; DVD
Best price: $5.15
Price in other shops: $12.98
2010: The Year We Make Contact Image2010: The Year We Make Contact
Release date: 2000-09-19; DVD
Best price: $3.63
Price in other shops: $9.98
The Abyss (Special Edition) ImageThe Abyss (Special Edition)
HARRIS,ED; Release date: 2003-02-11; DVD
Best price: $5.95
Price in other shops: $14.98
Compare prices and read customer reviews for more than one million DVD titles.
Oscar 2005 Winners