Sphere (1998)

[webshark 2]

This movie is "How Did This Get Made" gold. Starring a slew of A-list actors including Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Stone, Liev Schreiber and even Queen Latifah. It cost over $75 million to make and only brought in around $37 million. Between the crew's complete lack of emotion to Queen Latifah being killed by giant jellyfish and their conversations with a child-like sphere named "Jerry", this movie has plenty WTF moments. With only 12% on Rotten Tomatoes you know it's a stinker.

The best thing is that it's on Netflix Streaming, so everyone can easily see it.

What do you think?

[Dirtyeagles 0]

Yes, I second this.

[TimThompson 22]

I love the metrics on this one...sounds really promising.

[sillstaw 414]

Doesn't this end with the 2nd most annoying of endings*, the "goes-back-and-undoes-everything-that-happened-making-the-whole-movie-a-complete-waste-of-time" ending? Because if so, heck yes.

 

* The first, of course, being the identical-in-everything-but-method "all just a dream" ending.

[Nasher 29]

Michael Crichton novels are a mixed bag.. sometimes the best stuff remains unfilmed and sometimes the idea just doesn't look as good on film as it did in your head.

 

But yes Sphere is particularly annoying.. you can almost feel in that end scene, when the actors are discussing the proposal, they are thinking just how pissed the audience will be when they see this.

[SlidePocket 707]

We need another Barry Levinson-directed/Michael Crichton-adapted film on this program, stat! Dustin Hoffman himself admitted that he wasn't satisfied with how the movie turned out, citing its rushed production as a result.

[ShrimpFingerz 1]

This is my first clear recollection of what a bad movie was. I was young, in love with sci-fi and thought everything in the genre was a masterpiece. This film left me confused and upset because it was something I should have enjoyed, and it was awful. This movie made 10 year old me feel broken...and that never went away.

[RyanSz 3140]

I saw this as a kid and just remember being confused by at this whole movie. At one point the element of claustrophobia is really well done and scary, but then you have things like the jellyfish massacre and giant squid and launching the sphere into space and you have to wonder what they were smoking when they made this.

[nthurkettle 148]

SPOILERS and all, but the climax is the main characters agreeing to use their Sphere powers to forget that they have Sphere powers.

 

I got mugged after seeing this movie and that ending still makes me feel more assaulted.

[Soapstef 36]

I'm so on board for this one. I don't know what they had to do to get all these stars to sign on for this shit!

[ElieB 238]

I loooooove this movie and no one will ever convince that it's crap. Go ahead and try.

 

For one thing, how many well-produced movies do we get that take place deep under water?? It gives me that suspenseful feeling that June gets from watching movies that take place on planes. ANYthing could happen! And in fact, anything literally happens in this movie.

 

[spoilerS] + am a sucker for alien contact, space and time travel. [/spoilerS]

[mwn 5470]

I read the book for this when I was a teenager and LOVED the first two thirds, particularly the sequence where they first gradually decode the messages from the sphere. I sincerely couldn't put it down, to a degree that I haven't really experienced since. The movie... is fucking boring.

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

This would be a solid episode.

[GrahamS. 803]

Let’s go for the Barry Levinson trifecta! Toys, Disclosure and Sphere! 

It tries to do the head trippy Jacob’s Ladder Thing and fails miserably. Additionally, Dustin Hoffman’s character is a moron who is not remotely plausible as an expert.

Plus, wowsers, if there’s an award for the worst, least compelling trailer ever, this one is in the running. It highlights all of the film’s faults. Take a look!

 

[GrahamS. 803]

The line that is supposed to provoke chills and makes me laugh every time I hear it:

“what happens if Jerry gets mad?”

[Ofcoursemyhorse 1043]

They have to do this at some point. Its just such a weird fucking movie, and its filled with otherwise talented actors being forced to say and do some really dumb shit.