Sphere

Starring: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone Director: Barry Levinson Original UK Premiere: 1998 Dvd Release: 26th October, 1998 Number Of Discs: 1 Format: PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen, Region 2 Encoding Subtitled In: Arabic, English

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Sphere is a science fiction movie, released on Friday, February 13, 1998, starring Dustin Hoffman as Dr Norman Johnson, Sharon Stone as Dr Elizabeth Beth Halperin & Samuel L Jackson as Dr Harry Adams. 1000 feet below the ocean, navy divers discover an object half-a-mile long. A crack team of scientists are deployed to the site in Deepsea Habitats. What they find boggles the mind as they discover a perfect metal sphere. What is the secret behind the sphere? Will they survive the mysterious manifestations? Who or what is creating these? They may never live to find out. In the middle of the South Pacific, a thousand feet below the surface of the water, a huge vessel rests on the ocean floor. Rushed to the scene is a group of American scientists who descend to the depths of the sea to investigate this astonishing discovery. What they find defies their imaginations & mocks their attempts at logical explanation. It is a massive spaceship, undamaged from its fall from the sky—and at least three hundred years old.

From yet another derivative science fiction novel by Michael Crichton comes Sphere, an equally derivative & flaccid movie, in which three top Hollywood stars struggle to squeeze tension & excitement out of material that doesnt match their talents. Youre supposed to find awe & mystery in Crichtons story about a team of scientists & scholars who discover a 300-year-old alien spacecraft deep on the ocean floor, but mostly you feel that this is all much ado about nothing. The exploration team consists of a psychologist , mathematician , biochemist , & an astrophysicist , & when they enter the alien ship they discover a mysterious sphere inside. What they dont know is that the sphere has the power to manipulate their thoughts & perceptions, & before long the scientists undersea habitat is a veritable haunted house of frightening visions & creeping paranoia. Who can be trusted? What is the spheres purpose, & why is it on the ocean floor? Sphere makes some attempt to answer these questions, but the film is a mess, & it leads to one of the most anticlimactic endings of any science fiction film ever made. There are moments of high intensity & psychological suspense, & the stellar cast works hard to boost the talky screenplay. But its clear that this was a hurried production , & as a result Sphere looks & feels like a film that wasnt quite ready for the cameras. Though its by no means a waste of time, its undeniably disappointing.

Dustin Lee Hoffman is one of the dominant American film actors of the late twentieth century. Hoffman was born in Los Angeles, California & graduated from Los Angeles High School where he was voted least likely to succeed. His first ambition was to be a concert pianist & he attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. Then, with an interest in medicine, he attended Santa Monica City College for a year before dropping out due to poor grades. In an effort to bolster his grades during that year, he took an acting class because he was told nobody flunks acting. He performed at the Pasadena Playhouse for two years with fellow actor Gene Hackman. The two were also roommates for a while. Hoffman relocated to New York City where he worked a series of odd jobs including an occasional small television role. To support himself, he left acting briefly to teach. In 1960, Hoffman landed a role in an off Broadway production & followed with a walk on role in a Broadway production in 1961. He dropped out of acting again, studied with Lee Strasberg & became a dedicated method actor. Posters Of Dustin Hoffman

Editors Choice: I Heart Huckabees, Moonlight Mile, Joan Of Arc, The Messenger, Mad City, Sphere, Wag The Dog, American Buffalo, View DVDology

Sharon Stone, is an American actress, model & producer. Stone was born in Meadville, Pennsylvania, USA. In 1975, she won the Miss Pennsylvania beauty pageant. She made her film debut in Woody Allen s Stardust Memories & had a speaking part a year later in the horror movie Deadly Blessing. She married Michael Greenburg in 1984, a marriage which lasted just 3 years. In the 1980s she played many parts in B-movies such as King Solomons Mines & Allan Quatermain & the Lost City of Gold. Her appearance in Total Recall with Arnold Schwarzenegger gave her her first wide exposure. She subsequently posed nude for Playboy at the age of 32. Her role in the sexually-charged Basic Instinct brought her to greater notoriety & the film became a popular cult movie. In that year, she was rated by People magazine as one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world. In 1995, Empire magazine chose her as one of the 100 sexiest stars in film history. Posters Of Sharon Stone

Editors Choice: Cold Creek Manor, Beautiful Joe, Gloria, Casino, Sphere, Basic Instinct, Diabolique, Last Dance, View DVDology

Barry Levinson is an American filmmaker, screenwriter, director & producer. After growing up in Baltimore, he attended American University in Washington, D,C. before moving to Los Angeles to work as in actor & writer. His first writing work was for variety shows such as The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, The Lohman & Barkley Show, The Tim Conway Show & The Carol Burnett Show. After some success as a screenwriter, he had his breakthrough as a director with Diner, for which he had also written the script & which earned him a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination. Diner was the first of a series of films that look back to his childhood & adolescence in Baltimore. Other films in this slightly autobiographical vein were Tin Men, starring Richard Dreyfuss & Danny DeVito & the turn-of-the century immigrant family saga Avalon, as well as the more recent Liberty Heights. All three movies were written & directed by Barry Levinson himself; for the last two he also acted as producer. His biggest hit, both critically & financially, was Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman & a young Tom Cruise. Posters Of Rain Man

Editors Choice: Liberty Heights, Bandits, An Everlasting Piece, Sleepers, Sphere, Wag The Dog, Rain Man, Disclosure, View DVDology

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