Watching *CONTACT (1997)* for the FIRST TIME!!

[@cinemappendix1389]

I don't understand why this movie is not more widely loved. It's a great film with a stellar cast and, while it has a wide scope and long runtime for a film, it's pace never feels slow or disjointed. I love the interplay with McConaughey's character's faith and Jodie Foster's character arc.

[@FimbongBass]

I remember when this movie first came out, it got a lot of flack because of the ending, a lot of people didn't like the alien reveal and how it was her dad, the audience felt like it was a cheap way out, I personally love this movie but I do remember hearing these critiques back then

[@CribNotes]

@@FimbongBass A lot of people didn't understand "Contact". Meeting her father across the galaxy was not a "cheap way out' - it was fundamental to the paradox Ellie Arrroway's quest. Her stubborn career destroying mission to "find something out there" to justify or at least explain the emotional pain she suffered in her youth. Aside from her work, her life was empty and meaningless....but she never gave up on searching for meaning. I thought the movie was way better than the book.

[@BatmanTC]

Agreed, great movie!

[@egoranonymous3223]

It's because they advertised this as Jodie Foster alien movie. People expected Alien, so it got bad reviews from people who wanted Independance Day for the most part.

[@distantraveller9876]

It's underpreciated for sure but also dated and the ending is a bit goofy ngl. The fact they sent out Jodie Foster's character on her own in a spaceship makes absolutely NO sense whatsoever and the whole beach scene with her dad, although touching, is extremely cliche and generic, very 90s Hollywood. Still a good movie though, especially the first half.

[@gunmetal2890]

Ash, tell me you saw the end where the bureaucrats discover and admit that she had hours of static recorded. Not just a few seconds/minutes where the pod dropped through. A form of validation.

[@dlweiss]

Exactly. Just enough to hint that what she experienced was real.

[@chefskiss6179]

Lol, SO agreed. It was a bit anticlimactic, I mean I was really looking forward to Ash's trademarked ballistic reaction to them withholding that info.

[@echoesofmalachor3700]

Beat me to it. That short scene reframes the entire 3rd act of the movie

[@mnomadvfx]

@@echoesofmalachor3700 and yet the actions of the committee in obscuring it make complete sense - not just because it allows them to retake control of the situation, but also because the events that destroyed the first machine show that ambiguity and faith can create a powerful and dangerous follwoing.
You can bet they were keeping tabs on Ellie and those around her from them on.

[@s2moneyy]

Came here for this! Don’t know how he totally missed one of the most important parts of the movie 😂

[@KokoandFooFoo]

"First rule of 'Government Spending': why build one, when you can build two for twice the price?" LOL great line from this movie.

[@LeethLee1]

Contact for me is the perfect movie to watch every 10 years and see where I stand on the philosophies 😁

[@lordmarega]

Real

[@michaelvickery7390]

For what it's worth the opening sequence flying through space depicts the extent of our radio signals. As you get further away the older the radio broadcasts get until complete silence depicting the time before radio and just how little our universal imprint is so far

[@davidpalmer7175]

i took my oldest daughter when she was 11 to see this. It was a magical experience for us, which I will never forget. She's 36 now... and her name is Ash.

[@Nimbus1701]

Just for reference, I believe that image of Hitler was the first radio signal ever broadcast into space. So, it was essentially the aliens saying they received the message and sent it back to us as a point of reference and so we would understand.

[@lordradam5409]

It was the first, strongest signal able to leave earth. But the signal is to weak to reach other stars, its hidden in the background noise of the universe. Good to see, that Hitler is not our ambassador for other species 🙂

[@massakastuono7870]

Thank you for reacting to this movie Ash..I usually don t comment on reactions but this movie was the start of my own personal journey in my life..it didn t change my life, it gave me the affirmation of my direction on life and I still follow the path. Carl Sagan had a tv series called COSMOS in the 80s and that was my initiation. I was 12 years old at that time. We are not alone and had never being alone.

[@justtrustash]

It’s an honour to have shared this movie with you mate ❤️

[@Helion_Prime]

@@justtrustash Did you miss the scene where they talked about the camera noise recording?
I fear you may have talked over it, and you missed the detail.

[@Lannisen]

When I was a kid, my dad would put me in front of Cosmos whenever I was home from school sick. He'd also read Ray Bradbury short stories for me as goodnight stories.

[@bruhnorton8306]

No were not alone. We're them and Thier here and we're together and all that...ya know.....hey how ya doin 🗡️😇⚖️

[@massakastuono7870]

@@Lannisen I ve watched this movie in the theater years later and when I saw Carl Sagan name on screen it gaves me goosebumps.

[@michiganjfrog366]

I love this movie. Seen it about a hundred times. I can't believe you did not leave the part in your reaction that the government says they recorded 18 hours of static during her free fall.

[@redemption44]

I love this movie because it brings together the rift between atheists and believers.
In the beginning Jodie fosters character doesn't believe in God at all, while at the end, after her experience, she understands how believers feel, and understands our faith. Its quiet a beautiful movie.

[@DannyCosmos]

yeah but she had proof bro... not the same. thats my biggest problem with the movie. at the end it acts like faith and science are on equal footing and they are not. it feels they just added that so they dont piss of religious folks in the book four people go not just her and its obvious to everyone they took the trip. ... science and faith are complete opposites.

[@redemption44]

@@DannyCosmos Really? So you have actual proof that the big bang theory is real? Or do you just believe it's real?

[@RushISVarietyB]

@@redemption44 there's slight scientific fact that explain how it would happen and physical evidence (elements) of why it's there in the first place. But if you're asking for video evidence, of course not. Nor will there be. But I think faith in science is based on proof that things happen that can be calculated. Things can be explained. But stories that have been passed down by generations since they've been able, are more often than not, completely false or drastically altered. Look at the kids game "telephone" for a base test run. Sit in a group circle with 10+ people and whisper into the next person's ear a short descriptive story and once the story comes back around, it's different. Now multiply that by thousands of years, and unreliable narrators, what do you get?
With all that being said, if proof can come to light about religion, I would 100,000% be on board to look at it with an open mind. Ignoring evidence based on proof and fact goes against the very nature of science. Hope all have a great day!

[@DragonIsNotASlave]

@@redemption44 Big Bang is evidenced by background radiation waves detected throughout the universe. Furthest reaches of space, the radiation is dimmer, closer to the center, it’s louder. It proves the universe is still expanding from the Big Bang. This only happens with massive explosions.
Now what’s conjecture is whether or not we will experience a Big Crunch where the universe expands fully then retracts slowly back into a singularity and then explodes into a Big Bang again. This fits in line with E=MC2. That energy cannot be created nor destroyed, just changed. It fits. It also means if the Big Crunch is true, then the universe never had a beginning nor an end, it just constantly exists, explodes and contracts then explodes again. It’s true infinity. It’s beautiful really.

[@artemis2569]

@@redemption44 are you kidding? The whole concept of faith is explained in this movie. You believe something is real( religion) without proof, you could very well be delusional or have a psychotic moment to believe in imaginary friends, but yes, that is faith explained right there. At least she had proof when there is absolutely zero proof of god, of any god.

[@chanceneck8072]

29:03 Yep, that was THE moment for me back when I first saw the movie. We didn't have any cell phones, we didn't even have a pc. Just the good old vhs and the tv.
So I took our photo camera and just took a picture of the tv screen from this moment, so that I could look at this phenomenal picture whenever I wanted.😅
So magical... 🥰

[@BloodMonkeysUnited]

I'm glad you said it like this movie spoke to you like the dad. Carl Sagan wrote the original novel Contact and is one of the most influential scientific voices ever. Something I really loved about his books was how well he could communicate, inspire and teach without ever being patronizing

[@CaesiusX]

21:15 _"You don't know sh!t about science."_ The character of Dr. Drumlin is a scientist. He just knows how to play the political game too.
21:39 _"The person who discovered the alien should be the person who goes."_
I know we're rooting for Ellie, but what if the person who made the discovery was just a complete ass. . .A right son-of-a-b!tch?🤷🏼‍♂️
9:03 IMO after spending your life listening for aliens and not finding anything is not all that different from sitting in a cubicle in front of a computer working for some corporation (or whatever job) all your life. As not everyone can have a job in the field that they love. So they work in order to make their downtime better. Making sure that they fulfill as many of their dreams on their off hours as they can. . . Because whether they're in a cubicle or listening to aliens, there will always be _off hours._
27:54 _"Why is she trying to explain these things. . . Just enjoy the ride, bro."_ 😄
She's a scientist. She's going there alone, and needs to report back everything that she seeing. She can't rely on only the camcorder picking up what she sees. And I imagine she's also hoping they can still hear her on the radio. And if they can't see, then all they'd have is her attempts at describing what's going on.👩🏼‍🚀
34:32 Ellie's testimony at this point is not unlike that of someone who had a religious experience. So the way the movie flips things at the end is so fantastic. She desperately wants people to take her on _faith_ that she is telling the truth, while conversely she understands what it's like to be those doubting. I love it!
So glad you enjoyed the movie!

[@mnomadvfx]

The film was adapted from a Carl Sagan novel - Sagan was the previous generations equivalent to Brian Cox today, but smarter.
The director is Robert Zemeckis who directed Forrest Gump, Back to the Future, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Beowulf, Polar Express and others.
Edit: The film also ends with a note to the audience:
"For Carl"
Unfortunately Carl Sagan died the year before Contact was released in cinemas.
It could be said that Ellie's father represents Carl Sagan to the crew and their generation as a whole - especially how they were brought to appreciate the universe through his efforts to educate the public about it.

[@brandonhill2183]

The beginning was genius, to show how far our radio and TV transmissions have traveled through space, and foreshadowing the discovery of the message

[@noelienoelie8425]

Hey bro dig this, the first TV transmission was of Hitlers speach at the Berlin Olympics. Hitler is literally the first picture of humanity an alien will see.
Can't make that shit up 😂

[@brandonhill2183]

@@noelienoelie8425 yeah I know

[@Kim-hc5si]

In this same vein and a bit more sophisticated is ‘Arrival’. The musical score in that one is a character in itself. HIGHLY recommend!

[@dlweiss]

Oo, yeah, Arrival is brilliant - another "emotional sci-fi" like Contact and Interstellar.

[@Kim-hc5si]

@@dlweiss YES! 👏👏👏

[@codymoe4986]

A bit more sophisticated? They both deal with first contact and man's reaction, that's about it...
"Special K" is an apt avatar...

[@jarl2567]

Same genre. Different kind of execution, also in terms of emotions. I think Contact operates in deeper territories. I personally found Arrival way too sophisticated - hence less moving or powerful

[@Drew1701D]

Awesome reaction to an underrated misunderstood film. In the US when it debuted people viewed it as an attack on organized religion, don't know how it was received in the rest of the world. My jaw dropping moment in this was one not shown in your youtube reaction, where after she left the hearings, they stated her personal flight recorder had over 18 hours of static recorded in what should have been only 3 seconds....so it's proof she went there and came back and it was no hallucination.

[@mike09271974]

Think of her work this way... If she lives her entire life and doesn't find anything, she spent her life telling the next generation where not to look... Her legacy lives on...

[@alexflorea4879]

Exactly my friend!!!

[@tfpp1]

I'm surprised you didn't include that little scene where they "give you something" as proof...where James Wood's character video conferences with that black chick about how the headcam recorded 18 hours of static. How did THAT happen, hmm? Also, I believe in the book they talk about how there were sand specs discovered inside the pod afterwards. But it's all classified and they didn't let those little tidbits of information go public.

[@lurategh]

You know James Woods' name but not THE Angela Bassett? 🤨

[@jschrauwen]

Take a close look at the palm trees at the end of the beach when she first arrives. Two trees are straight up and a 3rd is twisted hanging over the water.
Now go back to where she just finished talking to Florida on the ham radio and the picture she drew hanging on the wall of her perception of what Florida looks like. They're the same.

[@jasongutierrez5249]

"The Silence of the Lambs". Academy Award for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Screen Play.

[@ZenSponge]

The 13th Warrior, please.
“Lo, there do I see my father.
Lo, there do I see my mother,
and my sisters, and my brothers.
Lo, there do I see the line of my people,
Back to the beginning!
Lo, they do call to me.
They bid me take my place among them,
In the halls of Valhalla!
Where the brave may live forever!”

[@lucianaromulus1408]

The 13th Warrior is a fantastic film 🐻🗡⚔️

[@kitkompo]

i love that Ellie is based off of two real women that Carl Sagan knew in real life. people with this much passion about science exist and i’m happy to be one of them. :D

[@Garryck-1]

I did not know that.. thank you!

[@Trifler500]

lol I've imagined that aliens received our television broadcasts, including Star Trek. Then, hearing about the Prime Directive, they decided we didn't want to be contacted until we achieved warp drive, and so they've just been avoiding us. ;)

[@Garryck-1]

I love that idea!

[@Codametal]

That Legolas looking dude is Jake Busey, he was in Starship Troopers. I believe his name was Ace, one of the main supporting characters.

[@Codametal]

@@eddietucker7005 Yup, stereotyped just like his Dad, Gary Busey. I don't think I've ever ever seen him play a good guy. But man, he has a look that's really intimidating.

[@marshallprince2583]

When she's in the pod, the reason she's giving a play-by-play is because she's not sure if mission control can see what she's seeing or if they can even hear her anymore, but as a scientist, you would want to record each and every detail of your experience (and there's an audio recorder in the pod) so that it can be analyzed in the future, and we can learn more about it.
The beautiful thing about this movie, I think, is that throughout most of the movie, Jodie Foster's character is pretty much "othered" because she's an atheist. But in the end of the movie, she finally knows what it's like to know something with all your heart and not be able to prove it to anyone else. She learns the value of faith, in whatever form it takes.

[@kalh4907]

One of my ALL Time favourite Science Fiction movies. 💛
Thank you for watching it Ash ♥️.
Critically acclaimed and beautifully directed & acted movie - heartfelt and yes makes one question faith and what is out there.
That quote has stayed with me since I watched Contact:
“I don't know, Sparks. But I guess I'd say if it is just us... seems like an awful waste of space.”
🌍🌌💙

[@Mangolite]

Contact is based on the novel of the same name by American scientist Carl Sagan as noted by the end credit “For Carl” as he passed away before the film finished.

[@jpicard81]

Did u miss the end when James woods is talking to the chick about how there was 18hrs of static recorded in the classified report? Also the beach scene she goes to is what she made a drawing of in the beginning Pensacola scene. Misses that too on my first watch

[@Curraghmore]

Cool, I always thought this was an underrated film.

[@marshallprince2583]

Her soul wasn't coming out of her body, she was phasing between the present and a few seconds into the future.

[@yohanespaskal9352]

Next the arrival (Amy Adams)

[@stoneyp3748]

Awesome movie

[@shainewhite2781]

They poked fun at the movie on South Park in an episode called Tom's Rhinoplasty, as Mr. Garrison wants to get a nose job, but ends up looking like David Hasslehoff. Following the surgery, Tom asks Garrison if he would like to watch a movie while the stitches heal.
Garrison asks what they have, and Tom tells him they have CONTACT on VHS.
Garrison vomits violently, saying the movie was awful, especially the ending.
Tom then runs to the video store for Disney movies.
Garrison tells himself that he sat through 2 hours of the movie to see the alien, but turned it to her father. Lol!

[@SydTheGray]

When that one guy said at the end that their equipment recorded for 8min, it made them think twice about not believing her

[@nilocblue]

Wait, Ash, did you just skip the most important scene? The one where they admit there was static for more than just a couple seconds?? I wanted to see your reaction to that!!

[@coreyd5659]

Not sure if this is true but I heard the significance of the Hitler image is because the 1936 Berlin Olympics was basically one of the first ever things shown live on television, so it's like the 'Aliens' intercepted that broadcast and responded!

[@user-uh5ex3qh4n]

Look up the "Wow!" signal. It was a signal received from space that still hasn't been explained.

[@bamzilla.]

This movie is the adaptation of "Contact" by one of the greatest minds in human history, Carl Sagan. If you liked the movie, you HAVE to read the book. And then you're going to want to read Dr. Hawking's "A Brief History of Time". And then get more recent with some Neil Degrasse Tyson who has basically taken up the mantel from an education perspective. NDT actually rebooted Sagan's show "Cosmos". I used to watch the original when I was a kid.

[@carlosestruga4322]

They left the aliens motivation out of the movie, they though it would be too hard to understand by the public. If i remember well, in the novel they want to find the secret message in the number pi (3,1416...), invented by some ancient civilization, and they need the help of other civilizations. I remember the dialogue (not exactly quoted):
Alien - PI it's in decimal base, invented by beigns that counted with ten fingers in their hands
Ellie - And you don't have ten fingers, right?

[@roddo1955]

I read the book once but I must say that they explained it pretty well in the movie if not more simplified.

[@chrisbadgrampacarpenter8052]

Was also gonna say when you doing the rest of band of brothers been so long since we've seen you react to that show 🙏🏼

[@yubyub335]

The radio telescope in the Island is in Puerto Rico and it was once the biggest in the world, sadly it got destroyed by huracane Maria in 2018 after years of no maintainance and it fell recently.

[@ScreamingYellowMach]

The Carl Sagan quote her father says on the beach is such an amazing quote.

[@remyazharyyosef1811]

The music montage at the beginning was a way to illustrate the distance to transmit signal from Earth to the outer reaches of the Solar System and into interstellar space.
Another way of looking at it is the Golden Record that NASA put on the Voyager spacecraft that was launched in 1977. On that record they included information like Earth cultures, populations, amongst other things.
The idea was that IN CASE any "intelligent forms" were to discover the Golden Record, it was a way to show them life on Earth.
Now both Voyager 1 and 2 have entered Interstellar space.

[@matthew6427]

I love this movie. Carl Sagan did a really good job showing the faith vs. science problems we deal with every day. He had an almost childlike wonder that was infectious and makes you think. Great movie!

[@willcool713]

Gotta be a ton of new tech from that machine. And that Primer they discovered, the way they phrase the natural laws, that's gotta be a treasure trove of insights. Very little direct contact, but tons of info.

[@aklein7864]

For all your questions, there is a lot to learn from Ellie's "pure" scientist. But in the end, she learns you can't ignore the wrapper around your brain. We won't be ready as a species until the least of us is ready, and violence, poverty, and hopelessness bring us down as a species, not just as individuals. Faith of any sort is a personal decision, but when that faith mingles with violence, poverty, or hopelessness, some of our greatest failures have resulted.
I dream of a Star Trek universe, but we'll never get there until we take a page out of Battlestar Galactica - we only move as fast as our slowest ship.

[@rbrtck]

Ellie didn't leave the galaxy, she just went to the Vega star system, which is only 25 light years from Earth, which is rather close to Earth, as stars go. That's why Vega is one of the brightest stars in the sky. Leaving the galaxy is a whole other level of travel. I could be done with a wormhole, but the distances involved would be immense--many orders of magnitude larger.

[@awilywolf]

Super underrated gem! Loved it when I saw it, loved your reaction. I think I remember being pretty drunk one night and watching this. I literally had the tears streaming at the beach scene, lol. It was like a clarifying existential realization of how truly transient and insignificant we all are and the frustrating limitatation of our own mortality. Still sticks with me.

[@nammis77]

You need to watch Silence of the Lambs with Jody Foster and Anthony Hopkins. Awesome movie. It will def. creep you and your girl straight out.

[@carlosliwang2518]

Is it me or does ash miss the scene where the bureaucrats see hours of static footage instead of just minutes? Which implies see really experienced what she told the court.

[@Pharmerlynda]

Favorite movie of all time. Thanks for watching!!! Jodie Foster is a two time academy award winning actress. I wouldn’t watch the first one (The Accused-its too disturbing a subject) BUT Silence of the Lambs (my second favorite movie) is where she truly shinned. She was a huge role model for me as an actress growing up…

[@Bunke09]

The guy you said looks like an Alien is pictured on the wall behind you. He's John Hurt from the movie Alien and was the one who got face hugged in the egg nest that that picture behind you is referencing.

[@spiekertt]

That movie got a flaw in that drop scene, where everyone could argue for Alleys story: 1. The portal closed (light off) right when the pod fall through. 2. How did she manage to rip of the seat while falling. 3. Just start it again and send someone else.

[@kingscorpion7346]

Contact was written by Carl Sagan, world renouned scientist. this was his only novel.

[@hephner78]

ahh, novel, yes it was his only Fictional novel, he wrote dozens of nonfiction books though

[@rbrtck]

Yes, that is a portal or wormhole, just like in _Interstellar_ . For that matter, hyperdrives in _Star Wars_ also create wormholes to travel through "hyperspace". That's why the graphics look like they do--like a tunnel of light.

[@thekatekane]

The beach scene when she meets the alien is the same beach in pensacola the one she was drawing at the beginning the movie. This movie is amazing. Thank you for the reaction.

[@Mantikal]

The reason she invites Matthew to come along with her (to get out of here) is not because of his looks. It's because he just did something that she's been dying to do for a long time - smack down her boss in an argument - the asshole. So, she figures the enemy of my enemy is now my friend.

[@vashdstampede416]

i remember seeing this movie as a kid; you should've seen "The Arrival", with charlie sheen; it was made one year earlier and from what i remember, it was pretty awesome!!!!!! (saw it as a kid also)

[@jarl2567]

Thanks for this review… what can I say about this film. Back in sep 1997 when I saw it in cinemas with zero expectations (I was - am a film buff, truly passionate about Zemeckis´s pre-Contact filmography (especially after he dropped Forrest Gump)… but for some reason, I had no expectations, I had not watched any trailer, any teaser. I knew it was one of the Summer blockbuster releases for WB… and I think being so unaware of the film laid the ground for a wholesome, impactful experience. On the one hand it´s a film with multiple strokes of filmmaking masterful. Transitions, editing, and a few signature scenes (like the unforgettable mirror shot - which at the same time is an incredible powerful moment). And a script which flows throughout 150 mins. A story full of incredibly powerful themes, values, fears. I was so blown away and moved that I still remember what I felt during the flashback scenes (feeling the fear of losing my father - he cherished the film as much as I did when it was aired on TV), the discovery of the message embedded in the signal, the Hitler reveal, the machine, the test run, Hadden´s final reveals, end of Ellie´s journey scene and (spoilers ahead) the reunion. I found myself weeping and sobbing. I couldn´t really understand who was that figure. Dad, God, a dream, aliens? I just saw the film today, again, in the big screen (in London), in 35mm (not DCP crap!) and I recalled the emotions and feelings I´ve felt about this unforgettable film for 27 years! Bob Zemeckis wouldn´t have been able to pull off (and nail) Cast Away (or Flight) without having filmed Contact.

[@isaiahpavia-cruz678]

Such a grounded movie that tackles very deep stuff.

[@sunnybee2439]

One of my first movies I bought on DVD. Thanks @Just trust Ash for this nice reaction

[@kalzyoung]

If you want to watch a great film watch James Cameron’s “The Abyss”

[@chaserz4201]

Always look out for Matthew Mahoney's Spatula 🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@edwardmartin9263]

The fact that you believe in god, and she didn't and you still support her gives me hope in humanity. You're the reason humanity deserves to live.

[@jsmrh1496]

This movie is so well balanced of Science vs Spritual ; Fact VS Faith.

[@HalkerVeil]

The funny thing is for religion, the bible covers aliens to.
It's somewhere on how god created angels and how they're all different. Each made for a different purpose.
And then there is the 'monsters of the sea below and the sea above'. Some think 'the sea above' means space.

[@rbrtck]

Ellie is not near a black hole, so there is no time dilation due to strong gravity like in _Interstellar_ . That was quite a different scenario.

[@warrenpowers108]

"She dresses like a fisherman" 😂😭😂

[@bout350]

Not sure how many of these you have seen but please consider The Equalizer, Four Brothers, Lucky Number Slevin, Law Abiding Citizen. All great and are perfect to react to.

[@thorc4167]

Law Abiding Citizen is amazing.

[@echoesofmalachor3700]

Wow, never seen a Slevin request but it’s a good one. I’d add Reign of Fire to that list but those are all good movies

[@MarkusAxunIllianus]

If she just fell through, than why would the recording be so many hours of nothing. Sure, she could not deliver one picture. But 18 hours of white noise after falling for a few seconds is impressive.

[@bhar1jack]

Zemeckis
Back to the Future 86%
Who framed Roger Rabbit 84%
Back to the Future II. 81%
Back to the Future III. 79%
Forrest Gump 89%
Cast Away 77%
The Polar Express 59%
Beowulf 80%
A Christmas Carol 77%
Flight 68%
Allied 71%

[@cheetos1231000]

i love your reactions, man. i'm always looking forward to the next episode

[@MZ-bl6wg]

Did u catch at the end , they said there was 18 hours of static recorded in those 2 seconds. It proves her right.

[@jowbloe3673]

Pensacola, Hawaii has the most beautiful beaches.

[@Zralock79]

One of the best sci-fi movies is Arrival (2016), if you haven't seen it I highly recommend to do it.

[@auntvesuvi3872]

This is one of my all-time favorites, Ashkan! Thanks so much for your reaction. 📡 #JustTrustAsh #RobertZemeckis #Contact #Contact1997

[@calidude82]

I love you are watching this movie. It’s powerful and makes you think

[@rbrtck]

In _Interstellar_ it was a deep gravity well that caused the time dilation, though, not the wormhole. Traveling near the speed of light can cause the same effect, and this was apparently what Palmer was assuming, but it turned out that the machine created a wormhole, so time dilation did not happen. There was some discrepancy in time, but it happened according to the parameters of the wormhole, which is was not related to what happened in _Interstellar_ . Sure, the idea does remind one of what happened in that movie, but it doesn't happen in this one, as Palmer's assumption is incorrect.

[@michaelvincent8208]

The streaking in the sky just before she returned were........other pods from......everywhere.

[@williambranch4283]

This is Carl Sagan's take on the 1967 discover of the first pulsar, by Brit Jocelyn Bell. They were afraid at the time, that it might be alien. Taking credit for another's work? Happened to a friend of mine, his supervisor wanted his name on the published paper, my friend refused. The mad billionaire is like Howard Hughes. Since then, from Earth, we have detected over 5000 planets in other solar systems.

[@heterophony2]

This is an action movie, to me. It’s the adventure of discovering knowledge. Only ideas can really inspire awe and a sense of the sublime. The genius of Carl Sagan is that he found a way of conveying the emotional excitement of intellectual discovery in a narrative form. But he never lets you forget that it’s not the people, or the story, or the lights, or the explosions that are essential-it’s the glory of mathematics and physics. Those of us who are neither scientists nor mathematicians are to be pitied for being forever on the outside of true beauty. But this movie is Sagan’s gift to us, a glimpse into the ineffable through the magic of the aesthetic, whose function is to bring universal truth into concrete experience. In other words, we the viewers are like Ellie on the planet being shown reality in a form that won’t destroy our minds. And that reality, the only reality, is pure math.

[@warfare73]

wow, how did you missed the part that the recording was hours long? that was the most important thing of the movie...

[@j255173]

I watched this movie when I was in 5h grade back in 1999. It has always stuck with me because fosters character was so compelling and sincere in her wanting to find answers. There were two movies as a kid that made me shed tears and that was Beauty and the Beast and Contact lol

[@drivingiscommercefuckgoogl1397]

CONSPIRACY is Latin for BREATH TOGETHER. However it's typically used within a pejorative or negative context. A negotiation meets that definition. You and your lady CONSPIRED to be together. Good job!

[@floriangrogoll5206]

I've been looking for aliens for 12 years...then I found your channel...since then I know we are not alone...something is out there with more abs than a human can ever have...🤣🤣🤣😉

[@itt23r]

A great movie. My only issue is that they chose to take the low road, portraying Christians (and theists in general) stereotypically as either cynical backstabbing hypocrites or as the polar opposite of thinking humans. And while it is certainly true that there are many that fall into those two categories, I would wager that the vast majority (myself included) have no problem with modern science and welcome the enlightenment it can provide. I'd further wager that the main reason the makers of this movie (and many others) apparently don't know about them is because the only ones who are making the headlines are the nincompoops.
As to great science fiction, you might want to consider the recent Stephen Spielberg remake of the HG Wells classic "The War of the Worlds". Or for a more humorous example from this genre, Kurt Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse Five" from 1972 is absolute masterpiece. And as a bonus there are very few reactors out there that have discovered it.

[@lucianaromulus1408]

As a Pagan ...I have respect for some Christians and even other groups but let's be for real ...there are a LOT of ignorant people out there and I would NOT be surprised if they act like done In this movie. It's not just the religious aspect...just ignorance in general.

[@Kuessemir]

This was based on Carl Sagan's book, Contact. For more with this theme, read Cosmos by Carl Sagan. You'll feel like you are at home in the universe...a voyage through the Human condition and the magic of our brief, and limited perspective.

[@chrisbadgrampacarpenter8052]

Absolutely great movie Ash 🙏🏼

[@Ross__A]

It's been a long time since I've seen this, but it's such an incredible story. Before going anything further, I 100% believe we are not alone and also would love nothing more than to have proof in my lifetime. The amazing thing about this movie is aside from the reveal of her contact itself, it does an amazing job highlighting the reaction of society with regards to challenging longstanding beliefs from those who are open minded and those who aren't. I also really enjoyed the additional comparisons you made, Ash. Thanks so much for sharing.

[@rbrtck]

Ellie did carry a camera, but it apparently recorded 18 hours of static. This proves that something weird happened, just not exactly what happened, so it's still not proof of her story and discovery.

[@captainsplifford]

The Carl Sagan novel this was based on is fucking fantastic. He was an incredible person.

[@decusq]

I've come to the conclusion in my life regarding life in space that, if there are aliens out there, I imagine they're watching us to see if we'll ever be ready for the galactic stage. I imagine were still too underdeveloped and too divided as a species to even comprehend the galactic stage, much less our own section of the galaxy. We still need time to find common ground with one another, we still need time to finally realize how delicate and fragile we are as a species and how much we truly rely on each other to survive.

[@DavidHunter]

There is no question. The film spells it out, the facts prove she is right. Or at the very least she was away for 18 hours when they said she never left.

[@vovindequasahi]

Dude I've been out in space on a craft with them. The little brown ones we made fun of which is kind of cruel. Tall white humanoids with white hair and blue eyes, the greys with the black almond eyes (visors) which you already know from indoctrination, and smaller brown ones that are similar to the greys. Do you know the feeling of looking out and seeing space right in front of you? No windows... It is more like the craft itself opens up and you can see through it. The walls of the craft itself becomes invisible so you can see around you from every direction. It is fantastic. They communicate telepathically, but not like spoken words like in movies. You grasp perfect concepts. Like if you are sitting in the sun on vacation with a beer and your kids are swimming in the pool, right? Well say you are sitting in winter by yourself, and you suddenly have the perfect vision of you sitting in the sun on vacation with a beer and your kids are swimming in the pool. Like a switch. They communicate like that. There is no fear at all... No pressure. They communicate with you in perfect sentences. You feel like a kid and your parents are tutoring you.

[@sirjohnmara]

Get ready to have your mind blown: "Astronomers estimate there are about 100 thousand million stars in the Milky Way alone." That is just in our own Galaxy. In 2021, data from NASA's New Horizons space probe was used to estimate roughly 200 billion galaxies. So imagine how many stars that is....

[@vovindequasahi]

Why did you skip the most important part of this, where they said there was hours recorded?

[@rbrtck]

"This is going to kill her, bro." Yes, it did, but just not quite as literally as how it killed Drumlin. 😉

[@brweeks881]

Just looked up Contact on imdb and found out that young Ellie is played by Jena Malone

[@hettbeans]

The best scifi there is is that which uses the genre as a means to explore not only technology and space but the human condition, the human experience, and what it means to be human in a very rapidly changing world.
It helps that this movie is based on a book written by Carl Sagan, who is probably one of the greatest humanism and science education advocate to have ever lived. In his book Cosmos, Sagan wrote "For small creatures such as we, the vastness is made bearable only through love."
Side note: the big radio telescope from the beginning, Arecibo, collapsed in 2020 :(

[@rbrtck]

Actually, that compass still might work if that alien planet has a magnetic field like Earth does, which is not unlikely.