Siskel & Ebert (1997): Contact, A Simple Wish, 4 Little Girls, The Big Sleep & Shall We Dance?

[@ac9559]

I saw Contact in the theatre and enjoyed it very much.

[@scottfrenz]

Me too. It was fantastic

[@Jbaxter85]

Terrific 👌

[@Locadel2003]

Contact was one of the best performances of Jodie Foster. Also James woods & matthew mcconaughey were great

[@Jbaxter85]

Contact - 👍🌟🌟🌟🌟 Shall we dance? - 👍🌟🌟🌟 The big sleep - 👍🌟🌟🌟

[@sleuthentertainment5872]

Almost nobody out of Asia know Shall we Dance was originally japanese, one of the most entertaining and beautiful comedies ever made, and with a great performance of Koji Yakusho. Forget about Richard Gere and watch the original version

[@malichitte]

I felt Jodie Foster really traveled through time and space to Vega.

[@erakfishfishfish]

Sisley: “Why, necessarily, do aliens have to be evil” Oh man, does the Three Body Problem trilogy answer that one.

[@greatamericansongboo]

🎥👽 contact 👍👍👍👍👍

[@reneperez7903]

Contact 👍⭐️⭐️⭐️

[@ct6852]

Contact worked on a lot of levels. Classic movie. Love how the aliens found the core of Jodie Foster's character's hopes and dreams and fears and spoke to that. Unexpectedly beautiful for sci-fi.

[@TuxedAaron]

I remember seeing the original Japanese version of "Shall We Dance?" during a random showing on television one night and I appreciated it on multiple levels. Unlike the 2004 American remake, where the main character is a man who's simply going through a midlife crisis, allowing certain elements to be dumbed-down and made cheesy, the Japanese version has some light social commentary woven into it. In the original, we have a main character who's essentially become everything his culture has prescribed him to be. He's honest, he's well-educated. He has a wife, a family, a nice home, a good job. He's responsible and hard-working. He's a positive role model to his colleagues, to his community, to society in general. By all Japanese standards, his life is PERFECT... ...but he's not happy. Now, why is he not happy? Well, because in order to attain this so-called "perfect" life, he's essentially become a mindless drone. And he KNOWS he's become a mindless drone. But it's become so ingrained in his personality, that he can't find any way to break out of it. There's a revealing scene early in the film where a group of his co-workers invite him out to go drinking with them (your typical Japanese wage-slave pastime) and truthfully, he wants to go. But instead, he replies, "No, I can't. I have to be at work tomorrow". He knows this is a flimsy answer on the face of it. After all, his co-workers have to be at work tomorrow, too. It's not stopping them. But he's become so locked in this holding pattern his life is in (get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed...get up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, go to bed...), that he just can't bring himself to deviate. So, back home he goes. The subplot with his co-worker, who takes the same classes and wears a wig to disguise himself while he performs his wild antics on the dance floor, is also very telling, from a cultural standpoint. He feels he can only lose his inhibitions and truly be himself when he dances, but is afraid to let his identity be known, since he feels he'll be made into an object of ridicule at the office, should his secret be brought to light. Of course, this is exactly what happens when he is outed later on in the movie, revealing how Japanese society tends to look down its nose at anyone who goes against the grain. Bottom line, if you like those kind of "slice-of-life" Japanese stories, I think you should seek this movie out. I truly believe you'll like what you see.

[@danorthsidemang3834]

"WRRUHNNG" --AHNULD

[@TuxedAaron]

@@danorthsidemang3834 Riiiiiiiight. Okay.

[@crakatoot5480]

Does this new version of the Big Sleep include more of the Martha Vickers scenes?

[@twstf8905]

Intelligent life in outer space?! We still haven't confirmed there's any life right here lol on Earth! 🤣

[@hamupinhere]

I don't know, that movie "A Simple Wish" definitely looked like major shit, but that rabbit/Rabbi mix-up joke is actually pretty funny.

[@citygirl5705]

Yeah, Siskel sounds like a whiney liberal.

[@commanderkeen3787]

Contact is a good film with story depth, which is extremely lacking in Hollywood films. The biggest weak link is the romance subplot between Foster and McConnaughey, and the fact that Foster is miscast - there are several other actresses who would have pulled it off better

[@pluckyduck11y]

Jodie Foster should have gotten an Oscar for Contact. Unforgettable and brilliant.

[@ilovebrandnewcarpets]

Ebert is making arguably the most poignant and important point that he's ever made when he's speaking about how awful an attack on anyone's beliefs/religion/church is....and Gene feels the need to interrupt to say "well of course...but let's get back to the filmmaking". C'mon, Gene. Let Roger's point breath.

[@losttribe3001]

I think they have limited time and want to make their points before moving on. Ebert made his point and it was Siskel’s turn. And the topic is a very, very long and complicated one in which they can’t duke out in 60 seconds. Before the rest of my response, I have to say violence based on ignorance is wrong, wrong, wrong. I sort of disagree that it is awful to have your beliefs/religion/church challenged. I was raised in the Mormon church, but thankfully for my dad’s job, we moved around a lot, and was exposed to many, many churches, religions, and epistemologies. I spent many decades being attacked and challenged. But as I got older, I started to think on my own beliefs and if Mormonism is actually true. Well...it really doesn’t take much to disprove Mormonism and I left the Church. I didn’t stop there...I examined other’s claims and started to move towards the conclusion that either 1) God (the Christian God) was ineffectual at telling people of his message...or, 2) there is no god or gods and we all have our beliefs based on MANY complicated factors such as community, familia ties, confirmation biases, psychological reasons and a lack of being taught proper critical, self examination skills. Guess which one I went with...I’m now an atheist. BUT I won’t be here is I hadn’t been for others questioning for my Mormon beliefs. And we also need to make a distinction between religion and race. I think Islam is a horrible religion, but that doesn’t make me a racist. (Once again, complicated issue...) But I do think the bombing may have been more about skin color and class than religion. Stay safe my friend.

[@jeffcd3559]

that was a disappointing take on "Contact".

[@pluckyduck11y]

How?

[@jeffcd3559]

It's been a while since I saw the review so I'd have to watch it again. I was also disappointed in the movie. mainly because in order to make the story work they had to make the Foster's character stupid when talking to any of the foils she addressed.

[@jeffcd3559]

I wish they'd kept more to the book too. That had 5 astronauts going through the wormhole and so the issue of just one reporting would have changed the situation.

[@crakatoot5480]

Contact is one of the most dissapointing films ever made.

[@pluckyduck11y]

lmao

[@sonnyblack0870]

I know right? I waited 2hrs to see that f*cking alien and it turned out to be her Father! 🤬