I am going to write about watching the movie "Sphere" as I watch it.
I am sleep deprived and not sure what drove me to watch "Sphere". I saw it as a kid and remember thinking it had some cool stuff in it, and the basic idea is pretty appealing. I apologize in advance for this entry's writing, which I'm not being careful with.
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Plot - When a 300 yearold spacecraft is found at the bottom of the ocean, Dustin Hoffman and his rag-tag team of scientists are called upon to investigate. They find a big sphere and it's spooky.
Impression of the first 40 minutes-
It starts off with a credit sequence that uses a shitload of effects on the credit text, as well as old drawings of spooky sea creatures. The sequence feels overblown. Elliot Goldenthal's score is pretty effective at setting things off spooky.
Opens to Dustin Hoffman in helicopter flying over the ocean to what he thinks is a plane crash. He is a psychologist and apparently gets called into plane crash sites to help people cope, but the helicopter pilot spooks him by implying there is no plane. He arrives to a naval fleet and learns that one of his old reports (a report he faked his way through in order to further his career) is being used as a guide on how to handle potential first contact with an alien race. Because his report was based on his favorite sci-fi books, Dustin Hoffman is joined by his brilliant goofy scientist friends, each a master of their field. Sharon Stone plays the life expert, Samuel L Jackson plays a math expert, and Liev Schrieber plays a physics expert. They all have a past together and seem more interested in their history than the world changing mission they are about to go on.
I don't feel like trying to explain more of the plot, because I have to move on. All the actors do a pretty good job, though Sharon Stone tries way too hard to come off as a brilliant scientist, though her lines don't help much. The biggest problem is the dialogue between the team... they don't seem like brilliant scientists at all... lines like "so you're saying this ship took a wrong turn?" coming out of characters that supposedly earned their first PHD at 18 sounds real stupid. The characters are all pretty cheesy and lame already, but it's all fun enough to drive a pretty compelling idea.
Sharon Stone really stuck out as being the one who seemed the least like a scientist. Her lines all come out sounding so lame. Liev Schrieber is pretty annoying too. Samuel L Jackson and Dustin Hoffman get off easier because they are the most naturally charismatic of the 4 of them. There is some govt officer hanging with them too, but he seems like a throwaway. Oh yeah, Queen Latifah is there too, hanging out at home base and not terribly involved.
There's an annoying sequence where, after discovering the space ship is American and from the future, Sharon Stone finds the last log. Of course when she touches it, a ridiculously detailed hologram explodes around them and makes them ooo and ahhh at the majesty of the future technology, and they see that the ship was swallowed by a black hole. The sequence reminded me a lot of the last sequence in Mission To Mars, where the alien is showing the M2M team how Mars died in ridiculous hologram fashion. Sequences like these are so fucking stupid.
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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I DONT CARE ANYMORE ABOUT THIS ANYMORE
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