"Arrival" actually became one of my favorite "First Contact" movies. Also love "Contact". I'm a big fan of the mystery, build up of tension and discovery in these kind of films.
I really enjoyed the start of Arrival where it was more about exploration, discovery, and trying to decipher the alien language, but then it turned into this weird time travel thing and it instantly became far less interesting for me. Still an enjoyable movie overall, but I was _hoping_ for something different.
Contact has to be my favorite movie. Every time i watch it i feel like im about to be surprised even though i know whats gonna happen. I do wish the contact didnt end up as a kind of cop out. Im not the biggest fan of the "open" endings that can be left up to the viewer, i do feel its a cop out from taking a firm stance and i do find it to be a lazy writing strategy. Still, i love it.
Both are great, but I there are many other first contact movies, that are technically first contact, but not in the sense of world at large knowing about it. 1) Thing, 2) Alien.
Would you consider Arrival to be a first contact story? Because if so, it’s my absolute favorite. It’s introspective, emotional, incredibly good sound design and visual font, and a great cast
Really powerful and smart movie. As a person who makes his living via communication, I was awed by the intelligence of its concepts. As a parent, I was demolished by the revelations and storytelling.
It most certainly is first contact. It is odd that they show it at the beginning but does not make an honorable mention? I had it at number 2. No Signs?
I just wish I'd seen the movie BEFORE reading the book. I made that same mistake with the Shining and several other books/movies. Contact was such an incredible book, it made the movie boring in comparison and that was a huge tragedy. I'd suspect if I were to watch it again, I'd find it more interesting now. I remember swearing under my breath during Contact the movie, almost the entire time, not as badly as I was during the Shining, I was angry beyond reason for that, lol. But still, I got lots of dirty looks as folks were looking back at me, so I tried to keep it to myself. At least they followed the story line, which is why I was so put out during the Shining, Kubrick made a movie that had almost nothing to do with the book. Now, I can watch it for what it is, so I should give Contact another shot.
@@Damaged262 Right, I have a rule, never watch a movie of a book I read, got that after "Dune", which to be fair, would be impossible to duplicate anyway! At least the first one was much better than the re-make which brings me to rule number two: never watch a re-make, it's always disappointing, compared to the original. The Thing2 was ok cuz it was a totally different movie from Thing1, mostly. Planet of the apes may be worst re-make of all time, cuz the original is such a classic. And sucky re-makes of the day the earth stood still, the time machine etc abound. Come on Holly Weird, wake up Rod Serling, or something for some good writing!! And pleeeeeeeez no more f'ing "super hero" movies! JEEEEEEEZZZZZUUUUZZZZ!!!
@@ronschlorff7089 I agree for almost all of what you've said. I didn't mind the remake of War of the Worlds because it wasn't all preachy, even though the first one is still pretty great. The second had some great creepy moments, Tim Robbins brought his A game for that part. It could have been better, but it was at least interesting. I also don't mind the comic book movies, but I certainly won't rush out to see them, HBO or Starz is fine by me. Hell, I have a better picture on my TV than a low light theater trip with sound they can never get right anyhow. I don't know if I gotten old enough that the sound of most TV shows is out of wack too for that matter, where the background music, or sound tracks on many shows is so loud, you can barely figure out what people are saying. I have closed captioning on half the time now. Wow, I am older, look at me bitching, like I'm yelling at people to get off my lawn!
Prior comments explain why "Arrival" did not make the list as the video came out around the time of the opening of the movie. However, the plot of the movie, communicating with the heptapods, as well as the very emotional subplot about Dr. Louise's daughter, HannaH, makes it one of my favorite. Amy Adams' excellent acting is noteworthy.
My favorite first contact movie - bar none. And one of my favorite SciFi movies in general. I had the luck to see this film without any spoilers. So you can imagine how mind-bogling the twist in ... let's just say _perhaps_ the end was.
In my opinion Arrival started as a good film but fell apart to the end. It was like they tried to copy Interstellar with this multi-timeline stuff. But yeah, it'd still worth to mention on such a list.
My major issue with Arrival is that it depends WAY too much on its subplot, even its major twist is in one of the subplots. Very little of the film is actually ABOUT deciphering the language; the episode of Star Trek "Darmok" even had more in its plot about breaking the code. It was also unfortunate that the twist is basically the same "these scenes are actually from the future" twist from Westworld which occurred literally 1-2 weeks before, and another film by the Nolans (Interstellar) also did the "these scenes are actually from the future" twist. It's not the fault of the film that another sci-fi had the same gimmick. Something very similar happened to 007 SPECTRE when Mission Impossible 5 had the same story and same locations but came out about 6-7 months earlier (and kind of did it better than Bond). Also, all those films in 1999-2000 that were literally just about bored middle-aged men that either went into the Matrix, started a fight club, John Malkovich's brain, on a lunatic psychopathic rampage, or tried to **** their daughter's teenage friend.
You are now also persona non grata. This is how society works. Kevin never fucked anyone, he's a born-again non-sexual actor but he commented on a cat video about Osama Bin Laden once so he is now the same as you.
It's not sure K-PAX was about space or aliens. It's never proven he was speaking the truth or was really insane. That is what the movie makes so great tho!
Best one ever...Camping at Devil's Tower and watching Close Encounters at an outdoor theater at the base of the tower at night. A billion stars over our heads. The crowd had a slight freak out and all fingers in our crowd shot skyward when a plane flew over. 😄 Best jump scare ever!
Jodie Foster on the beach in another Dimension was amazing, lots of questions about the tunnel warp ,the sky etc we need a whole 90mins movie about the impressions NDEers encounter in the afterlife that is related by NDE reports.,thank you All is Well.
Contact was my favorite. Unfortunately it received too much criticism only because the ending didn't show what the aliens looked like. That did not bother me; the explanation given was satisfying for me. I also think it was one of Jodie Foster's and John Hurt's best movies.
+alberach I don't think you could really do the whole book as film, it's too detailed and covers too much time. But yeah, I agree, that book is fantastic. Still, I say the movie was not a bad attempt, if only for that opening sequence. I think I have to go and watch that again right now, I loved it so much.
The part that was better in the movie than the book tho was only Jodie took the trip in the movie, and in the book there were, iirc, 6 ppl that took the trip. The movie did a better job of 'personal experience' vs faith and such. Other than that, the book was better.
Even though it's a comedy, Galaxy Quest qualifies. Though we'll probably be long gone before any alien race picks up even the earliest of our radio signals.
Much less till we grow the F up as a society about science and religion. What advanced society would want to deal with our immature bullshit? I live here and I can't barely stand it anymore. We've got idiots screaming about who died on what cross, what it all meant and who wrote it down decades after the dude died and what part of the flat earth it happened on. We can't forget to worship that great big rock or that chubby dude who sits funny, too many fairy tales to get through before we can understand basic science. I can hear the aliens now, "Give them a bit longer to get their shit together, I don't have time to discuss medical treatments when many of them won't even accept a life saving blood transfusion...". It's all so pathetic really.
More than likely we are far too primitive to be worth contact. That would be left to our evolutionary successor...AI... AI will have the processing speed , and physiology capsble to span light years in sone form. we alas are finite beings with no capacity for advanced coding. .
Some really good, stand-the-test-of-time films here. Total classics mostly. Contact should be higher up than 5 more like 1 or 2. Contact portrays the most likely and most realistic of space adventures than the others but I'd also say that aliens coming to us is also high up on the scale of likelihood.
The Abyss is a criminally underrated movie. It’s so beautiful, terrifying and brilliant all at the same time. Edit: It didn’t even get a Blu-Ray release.
Independence day is a great movie but I hate how alot of these movies depict alien civilizations as agressive beings with no respect for other lifeforms and just mindlessly want to take over everything. There probably are aliens like that but where are the peaceful aliens at who are just as interested in finding us as we are about finding out about them? I'd like to believe that there are alien civilizations looking up at the sky wondering if there are others like them somewhere, just like we do on Earth when we look at the stars at night.
I'm inclined to believe mojo is more about ratings than content...Carl Sagans book was the inspiration for the movie and based on his scientific background of what ( in his opinion) a first contact may be like. He was not a proponent of e.t.'s , ancient astronauts and other hoodoo shit.
The ending ruined it. Yeah, sure, if you build a billion dollar machine that costs maybe 50 grands to fire it up (electricity bill and a few single-use booster rockets), and it distorts gravity, creates some flashes of light, makes some metal go transparent, and the pilot claims it works but the evidence that the pilot travelled is less than ideal, you sell it for scrap metal instead of giving it another shot for another 50 grand. It would be more logical for the scientists to revolt, point out that its irrelevant if the pilot actually travelled, and give it another shot just to study the fucking huge gravity distortion and the other shit that happened. The ending was dull, illogical, seemed artificial and forced, introduced the by far biggest plot holes, and, well, knocked it down to rank 5 on trhe watchmojo list. If i could do video editing, i would re-cut the abominable ending.
Not only the gravity distortion, but the fact that there 18 hours of recorded static ( unless that falls in the "other shit that happens category ' :) so 18 hours passed when the ball just dropped thru, she must have gone somewhere
You should read the book, Supergirl Gamer. Anyone with a username as cool as that would love it. He wrote really well, Sagan, women often say men don't always write very realistic or great female characters, but Ellie, in the book, is fantastic, he tells her story from childhood, and the ways she deals with being one of the few woman in the field of astrophysics seem very believable to me, and women in STEM have told me they agree.
The Abyss is also very underrated. Especially the special edition which greatly improves the film and lifts it above just being Close Encounters underwater.
Hold on. The Abyss wasn’t about first contact. Those ‘beings’ weren’t Aliens. They were aquatic beings who lived in secrecy underwater, not from outer space.
How about as an honorable mention, The Last Starfighter? I know it's not popular, and it's VERY tongue-in-cheek, but Alex Rogan is recruited by Centauri to help defend the Star League, of which, Earth is not a member because it's not ready to be contacted yet. It is a first contact movie and not a full on invasion. It's also the only one that qualifies and is funny.
@Randal Slutz - there is another special reason for The Last Starfighter to be remembered. It was the first movie to do large-scale CGI effects as an integral part of the storyline. And yes, it IS a fun film to watch. I believe it is also the last film in which Robert Preston was a cast member. Not to mention the presence of Catherine Mary Stuart, who was definitely a "babe" at the time. A LOT of good reasons to remember this film.
I think the ending is perfect for a Carl Sagan story. It is deep and moving and leaves everything to conjecture. I love how they show Ellie sitting by the canyon all alone deep in thought while the theme by Alan Silvestri plays in the background...then everything fades away and you see the script "for Carl". It is so moving it's almost overwhelming.
'Starman' is much better than you'd expect from a film of its time. You get to 'like' the characters. 'The Man Who Fell To Earth' is not an easy film to follow, but to my mind great to watch. And each viewing is unique.
I think they did arrive in the opening moments of the movie, but still this movie doesn't feel like it belongs in a first contact list. The bulk of the story makes it clear that aliens are a part of our world and will be for a while.
First contact means humanity's first contact with aliens, which District 9 was about. Them being there for a few months or years is irrelevant, they are the first extra terrestrials to visit Earth, hence first contact.
Not really a " hollow husk ". But, yeah...hard to put that whole book into a 2 hour movie. Ya really need to read the book. It was fun seeing the movie though.
The ending ruined it. Yeah, sure, if you build a billion dollar machine that costs maybe 50 grands to fire it up (electricity bill and a few single-use booster rockets), and it distorts gravity, creates some flashes of light, makes some metal go transparent, and the pilot claims it works but the evidence that the pilot travelled is less than ideal, you sell it for scrap metal instead of giving it another shot for another 50 grand. It would be more logical for the scientists to revolt, point out that its irrelevant if the pilot actually travelled, and give it another shot just to study the fucking huge gravity distortion and the other shit that happened. The ending was dull, illogical, seemed artificial and forced, introduced the by far biggest plot holes, and, well, knocked it down to rank 5 on trhe watchmojo list. If i could do video editing, i would re-cut the abominable ending.
Have you read the ending of Contact? Though Ann Druyan denies it, it sure reads like Carl Sagan found God. And if that isn't a kick in the gut I don't know what is. Still, I love the movie.
Agreed. I have watched that movie at least 20+ times on bluray. The disk has some great extras. Would have liked to see a sequel (2nd Contact), but alas...
Did they really make first contact there? Was he really an alien or just crazy? That movie doesn’t answer it so I dunno if you could technically call it a first contact scenario
My interpretation of the ending is they were trying to say an alien *consciousness* came to earth and inhabited his body for a time, and then left. If you look at it from that context, it pretty much removes all the ambiguity in the movie. My favorite scene in the movie was at the observatory. "How... how could you KNOW this?" I think that does a good job of eliminating the "he's just a loon" from the list of possibilities, and from there you have to start looking at your other options. I also like in that scene where they hit on the only other real possibility, that he's some kind of savant, and dismiss it.
It was first contact for the crew, not the company that employs the crew. It shares a universe with Blade runner. First contact had already been established as they knew about the Aliens.
Contact has a special place in my heart, it is such a beautiful film and with so much meaning. But I agree, Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a true masterpiece.
boy most of you must be young, the best is the original, "day the earth stood still", i saw it in 1952, for 25 cents. this movie was really a new direction in for science fiction films after WWII. before we had stuff like "Flash Gordon". remember this was during the cold war so it made a big impression on the public. there were a lot of UFO sightings at that time and people were fearful of them being real. this movie put a positive image out. if you haven't seen try it out. this film guided my choice of career in physics. Sagan's "Contact" is my second favorite film, it is an extremely well done, especially the great way science was presented. i actually met Carl backstage in boulder after he gave a lecture at CU. thrill of a life time!
I agree. People against it just want action. The ending was a build up to Nothing? She went and had a conversation with an alien being......how is that nothing? It was helped made by carl sagan, enough said.
@@WirelessJoeJackson you didnt understand the film did u mate? That was not her father, that was an alien. They downloaded her memories and made themselves appear as her father...... the whole area that she went to was from the photo she had in her bedroom as a child. Did you think her father faked his death?
Yeah, the main focus is the Borg invasion, and they excluded invasions... They couldn't get away with not mentioning it though, so it's an honorable mention :P
Also the federation knows about so many other alien species. It would be a first contact movie, apart from the name, if they make a movie focused on the actual first contact between humans and the vulcans.
Agreed ... Both that, and 'The Abyss' broke the notion that any alien civilization we may encounter maybe so far beyond our imagination, nor what we can imagine, that the chances of the highest one of the same degree of sentiance, or higher, than us, and is also anything close to being humanoid is ... well, I hate to be the guy whom has people placed bets of that happen with ...
I dispute 2001 as the best... I've never been impressed with it (even though I understand it's place in sci-fi cinematic history is important)... It's SOOOOOOO BORING!
@@tomharner83 Whilst I respectfully disagree, I can see that ... so much of the film is just purely visual, with the soundtrack, that the actual amount of dialogue, if you were to compress those scenes down together, would be a film about 1/3rd, or less, of its actual runtime ... Kubrick himself was critical of those who saw it as too long/boring, because, iirc, 'they have gotten into the habit of watching a film with their ears, and not enough time engaging with a film's visuals' ... but those are his words, as I remember them, and not mine ...
@@nigelft I think you've hit on the issue... If I wanted to see an artistic painting or a photo, I'd go to a museum... 2001 is a handful of moments practically frozen in time (at least it's so SOOOOOOO slow that they might as well be frozen) interspersed with a smattering if dialogue. This makes the pacing terribly slow (reminiscent of Star Trek The Movie)... There's nothing driving the story forward MOST of the movie... But we're looking at a well-framed scene... Still looking at that same scene... ... ... ... Same scene (but still... nothing's happened).
Arrival should be number one, as it's probably the best representation of humanity's reaction to first contact, (the fluid temporal things are probably not that realistic :-P )
They are. Not all aliens would look like humans, nor would they need anything or most of the things humans need to survive (one could survive in oil, or that'd be their form of water)
@@fireblade295 not fluid as in liquids, but as in non-linear. Should maybe used "time" in stead of the more pretentious word "temporal". I'm referring to the lead character remembering the future just because thinking linguistically different. It's a fun idea, and a sufficiently powerful and complex brain, could in theory "perceive" the future in terms of statistical probabilities of future events occuring based on a implausibly large amount of knowledge of the current state of something. I am in no doubt that sometime in far future, we will have first contact, but the human urge to explore, I'm betting on we going to them and not the other way around. I wonder if we will ever see a space-dwelling creature? Nothing stopping life from forming in nebulas
No. Arrival is about Amy Adam's character. The way it handles first contact is very cliché. China and Russia bad mkay! Contact does a much better job at how the human civilization would possibly react to first contact.
@@dacruise4439 China misunderstood "weapon" and "tool". Russia and the others (including USA) followed China's idea/plan, until Lousie (Amy Adam) deciphers the language and uses it to stop the planet from attacking. Shows the language part of first contact, while every other first contact shows the military's first instinct when dealing with a new group. Arrival is based on a short story called "Story of Your Life"
Not if you read the book by Carl Sagan. They took removed all the ideas that made the book great, and turned it into proving existence of aliens and God in court. It was a watered down sappy load of gash.
I don't think you could consider Aliens a first contact movie due to references to other colonies and species, hence it was their first contact with the xenomorph but not extraterrestrial life.
In fact there is no such thing like "first contact" globally except in diplomatic way. If a human see something alien and unknown - it's always about first contact since there is no info about contacts in the past and no info about new lifeform.
Egor Chernopazov .. allot of assumptions there .. if something aint official it does not mean "it never happened" ...diplomatic thing is kinda irrelevant so FC does not applies to it specifically as u said ...for example i rember my First "contact" with a girl .. but that was mine first contact not to all others .. so if we look from subjective point of view u are right .. but from objective one then u arent
Wasn't until the second movie Aliens that the Space Marines said "another bug hunt" but that was set 50 years after the first Alien movie encounter. Don't remember any mention of Alien life in the first movie except the fact that the crew has orders to check out the signal coming from the planet. However I believe Prometheus is actually a prequel to Alien so that would mean Alien was not first contact.
Kim Marohn - Good point! I really liked the 1972 version and the book. If I remember correctly, it’s not clear if the planet Solaris is the first alien encountered by humans or not. However, it’s safe to call “Solaris” a first-contact movie. I really enjoyed the idea that aliens could be so different that we might not understand them at all.
@@thetooginator153 The Solaris "ocean" is in fact the first alien encountered by mankind, in the book and in the film. The book is, mainly, about the first contact but the film, despite the superficial similarity with the book, is really about something else.
All movies mentioned would be in my top 10, but I'd honestly have The Arrival at number 1 spot, for there is no film like it. After watching Annihilation, I'd put that in the list as well, again, it is unique and deserves a mention.
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How Contact wasn't number 1 is beyond me. One of the most beautifully made movies ever, with one of the best stories put on film. An amazing movie and a true classic! What most people don't realize is, Arroway never actually leaves Earth. The "device" is a communications platform, and she experiences a "time shift" to see what it's like to travel in space lightyears to the star system Vega. She is essentially using an alien "phone booth"!
No, she leaves Earth. The only (big) flaw in the film is using Bill Clinton footage. I know the filmmakers are big Democrats, but it really dates the film, and robs it of timelessness. Otherwise, great film. Arrival tied with it
Contact was a very excellent movie but they added religious advisors into that mission and that was very cringy party for me...Tried so hard but couldn't not digest it
Close Encounters was so good on so many llevesl - one of the few that combined science, art, humor and wonder. Starman was great for its two main characters. "Contact" was probably the most realistic and the most challenging. Great choices but left out such classics as Man Facing Southeast and Aliens, still one of the best.
12:14 Imagen this you're a government employee witnessing the first contact with alien life. You look over and see a guy in a Carhart jumpsuit recording the UFO's with an HD digital camera on his I phone. You ask " Who the hell are you? " he says " I'm a time traveler here to witness the first contact between humans and alien." Out of disbelief the guy says " Time travel isn't real. " The guy responds with " They use to say that about Aliens."
By far my favorite was the 1951 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Given when it was made and a relative lack of technology. Amazing movie with a great message.
no K-pax no Mac and Me? no Batterys not included, no coneheads, no maximum overdrive, no the faculty, no Superman no Dragonball evolution no supermario the movie no fire in the sky no McPherson alien abduction, no John Carter, no ghost of Mars, no race to witch mountain, no the Tommy knockers no fantastic four, no you get it.........
I don't get why some don't think Contact is a FC film, it was, and not a dream. The dialogue at the end between Woods and Bassett, though alluding to it, has them believing her.Senate hearing of Arroway Senator, I believe that the machine opened up a wormhole, a tunnel through the fabric of space-time. Also known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Now because of the laws of general relativity, what I experienced as 18 hours, passed instantaneously on Earth. Later Constantine and Michael Kitz are video conferencing. KITZ So what now? We give her a medal?CONSTANTINE I say at least a healthy grant. I assume you read the confidential findings report from the investigating committee?KITZ I flipped through it.CONSTANTINE I was especially interested in the section on Arroway’s Video unit. The one that recorded the staticKITZ Continue.CONSTANTINE The fact that it recorded static isn’t what interests me.KITZ Continue.CONSTANTINE What interests me, is that it recorded approximately 18 hours of it.KITZ That is interesting, isn’t it?
I was about to be pissed if Star Trek First Contact didn’t make #1 after not seeing it. But yeah, close encounters is objectively better lol. First contact just has a special place in my heart. And I agree with a lot of the other comments as well: Contact should be higher up.
First Contact was the name of the movie, but the focus of the movie was the Borg vs the Enterprise--the First Contact was just a plot element to get there.
And technically, the real first contact was much earlier... Guinan and those life force sucking aliens in the wild west (or something like that), remember?
You really botched the job with 2001. It was NOT written by Carl Sagan, but by ARTHUR C CLARKE. It was based on one of his short stories from the 40's and had the monoliths there from the start. Also, if you were to read the book, as many people did, you would then know precisely what it is about. The movie could show you the "space child" but simply due to the time constraints could not describe its immense powers, or intentions as the book did. Otherwise a fun clip WatchMojo, thank you.
I thought the same way at first but they did not say Sagan wrote it. Kubrick did consult with many astrophysicists and Sagan who was well known at the time the movie was made was most likely consulted and probably did tell Kubrick to not show the aliens.
In Arthur C. Clarkeś ¨The Sentinel,¨ The monoliths were actually pyramid-shaped objects. Kubrick came up with the idea of the more foreboding, black towers. Not sure that the space child was curtailed due to a lack of time. I think the essential idea comes across -- whoever Dave Bowman once was has been transformed into an entirely new being.
Carl Sagan was an "Author and Astronomer" who was indeed someone that Kubrick asked for advice from when making this film. They never said or even implied that he wrote 2001, it was just a confusing sentence. At this point though, you can look anywhere in the comments and you'll find someone has explained the same thing so my response is pretty much irrelevant haha
How is Star Trek first contact an honorable mention in "top ten first contact movies" first contact is my fav Star Wars movie second only to Star Trek beyond
This list completely overlooked the most plausible and likely direct first contact with extraterrestrial life - that of microbial or viral life forms. “The Andromeda Strain” should therefore be on this list imo at #1 for its very realistic treatment of this scenario.
Fire in the Sky is a truly frightening first contact movie. Though it may be eliminated by the qualifier at the beginning of this video because their intentions are not nice.
FuriousHondaBoy maybe no 2 for believability: only for the scientific stuff. The ending was hard to swallow. Won't give away the ending. 2001 has to be the best.
The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still was utter crap compared to the original. Contact I found to be the most credible of all contact type of films.
Colin Paterson: You are 100% correct. I hate remakes of great movies. The constant stream of remakes shows how limited the imaginations of screenwriters are.
In Explorers it was the child aliens who beamed the knowledge into the kids head during his sleep, of how to generate the movement sphere and atmosphere generator. The aliens made contact with the kids, and the kids went to the aliens as a result.
"The Arrival" is a HIGHLY underrated first contact type movie. If you haven't seen it, I find the communication issues highly credible, and likely to be what happens should we ever encounter another civilization- unless of course we're a lot closer to that civilization- and I don't just mean geographically....!
@@Damaged262 I think he is talking about the film from 2016 and not the one with Charlie Sheen from 1996. But I actually think the one from 1996 is better.
It's not *about* First Contact though... The story takes place during First Contact with the Vulcans, but that's as deep as it goes in terms of the First Contact theme. The story itself is more about Picard's past trauma and how it affects his current judgement (and how he starts to heal from it). All these movies on the list show First Contact *AND* how it affects humanity, whereas ST:FC simply shows First Contact happening as a footnote to the actual movie.
Contact with Foster is an absolute masterpiece...way beyond a mere sci-fi film. Deserves to be #1.
Yeah, it is a masterpiece. "Why makeone when you can make two at twice the price?" LOL. Classic line.
I agree !!! Carl wrote a masterpiece and they did a great job putting it on film !
They need to make another one
Stands up more today than it did then…amazing foresight of how it may happen
is this Kayta? lol
"Arrival" actually became one of my favorite "First Contact" movies. Also love "Contact". I'm a big fan of the mystery, build up of tension and discovery in these kind of films.
I really enjoyed the start of Arrival where it was more about exploration, discovery, and trying to decipher the alien language, but then it turned into this weird time travel thing and it instantly became far less interesting for me. Still an enjoyable movie overall, but I was _hoping_ for something different.
Agreed. Arrival fell off. Worst ending ever.
Contact has to be my favorite movie. Every time i watch it i feel like im about to be surprised even though i know whats gonna happen. I do wish the contact didnt end up as a kind of cop out. Im not the biggest fan of the "open" endings that can be left up to the viewer, i do feel its a cop out from taking a firm stance and i do find it to be a lazy writing strategy. Still, i love it.
Arrival is idiotic
You'll love the book "The three body problem". Best first contact piece of sci-fi!
Arrival is second best on my list.
The Arrival and Contact are the best ones for me.
Contact is great but it has its issues. Arrival is just pure quality
2001 and Close Encounters for me.
Agreed. But I love Close encounters and E.T. and I also love Arrival with Charie Sheen (I don't know why, but I love that movie very much)
@@charliek9394 Arrival has many plotholes...
Both are great, but I there are many other first contact movies, that are technically first contact, but not in the sense of world at large knowing about it. 1) Thing, 2) Alien.
Would you consider Arrival to be a first contact story? Because if so, it’s my absolute favorite. It’s introspective, emotional, incredibly good sound design and visual font, and a great cast
Really powerful and smart movie. As a person who makes his living via communication, I was awed by the intelligence of its concepts. As a parent, I was demolished by the revelations and storytelling.
Definitive!! But it comes exactly to cinema in the States as this video goes online, so I think it was just a fraction to late for this list :)...
Why? Had mankind met aliens before the heptapods?
It most certainly is first contact. It is odd that they show it at the beginning but does not make an honorable mention? I had it at number 2. No Signs?
Arrival was outstanding.
Star Trek First Contact is epic! That and Clouse Encounters Of The Third Kind are my top two.
hell ya
Patrick Tew you told him about the statue? Lol
Agreed
Contact was such a great film
I just wish I'd seen the movie BEFORE reading the book. I made that same mistake with the Shining and several other books/movies. Contact was such an incredible book, it made the movie boring in comparison and that was a huge tragedy. I'd suspect if I were to watch it again, I'd find it more interesting now. I remember swearing under my breath during Contact the movie, almost the entire time, not as badly as I was during the Shining, I was angry beyond reason for that, lol. But still, I got lots of dirty looks as folks were looking back at me, so I tried to keep it to myself. At least they followed the story line, which is why I was so put out during the Shining, Kubrick made a movie that had almost nothing to do with the book. Now, I can watch it for what it is, so I should give Contact another shot.
Best idea I've ever scene. "Thanks Carl" ...
The novel was better.
@@Damaged262 Right, I have a rule, never watch a movie of a book I read, got that after "Dune", which to be fair, would be impossible to duplicate anyway! At least the first one was much better than the re-make which brings me to rule number two: never watch a re-make, it's always disappointing, compared to the original. The Thing2 was ok cuz it was a totally different movie from Thing1, mostly. Planet of the apes may be worst re-make of all time, cuz the original is such a classic. And sucky re-makes of the day the earth stood still, the time machine etc abound. Come on Holly Weird, wake up Rod Serling, or something for some good writing!! And pleeeeeeeez no more f'ing "super hero" movies! JEEEEEEEZZZZZUUUUZZZZ!!!
@@ronschlorff7089 I agree for almost all of what you've said. I didn't mind the remake of War of the Worlds because it wasn't all preachy, even though the first one is still pretty great. The second had some great creepy moments, Tim Robbins brought his A game for that part. It could have been better, but it was at least interesting. I also don't mind the comic book movies, but I certainly won't rush out to see them, HBO or Starz is fine by me. Hell, I have a better picture on my TV than a low light theater trip with sound they can never get right anyhow. I don't know if I gotten old enough that the sound of most TV shows is out of wack too for that matter, where the background music, or sound tracks on many shows is so loud, you can barely figure out what people are saying. I have closed captioning on half the time now. Wow, I am older, look at me bitching, like I'm yelling at people to get off my lawn!
The Contact will always be my favourite of them all. It challenges our thinking on so many levels. Beautiful movie! 😊❤️
Prior comments explain why "Arrival" did not make the list as the video came out around the time of the opening of the movie. However, the plot of the movie, communicating with the heptapods, as well as the very emotional subplot about Dr. Louise's daughter, HannaH, makes it one of my favorite. Amy Adams' excellent acting is noteworthy.
Also Hawkeye ...
My favorite first contact movie - bar none. And one of my favorite SciFi movies in general.
I had the luck to see this film without any spoilers.
So you can imagine how mind-bogling the twist in ... let's just say _perhaps_ the end was.
In my opinion Arrival started as a good film but fell apart to the end. It was like they tried to copy Interstellar with this multi-timeline stuff. But yeah, it'd still worth to mention on such a list.
one could add that footage from Arrival has been used in the beginning of this video.
My major issue with Arrival is that it depends WAY too much on its subplot, even its major twist is in one of the subplots. Very little of the film is actually ABOUT deciphering the language; the episode of Star Trek "Darmok" even had more in its plot about breaking the code. It was also unfortunate that the twist is basically the same "these scenes are actually from the future" twist from Westworld which occurred literally 1-2 weeks before, and another film by the Nolans (Interstellar) also did the "these scenes are actually from the future" twist. It's not the fault of the film that another sci-fi had the same gimmick.
Something very similar happened to 007 SPECTRE when Mission Impossible 5 had the same story and same locations but came out about 6-7 months earlier (and kind of did it better than Bond). Also, all those films in 1999-2000 that were literally just about bored middle-aged men that either went into the Matrix, started a fight club, John Malkovich's brain, on a lunatic psychopathic rampage, or tried to **** their daughter's teenage friend.
Contact is by far one of the best alien movies ever made. I was 14 when I first saw it at like 3 AM. To this day it’s still on my top 10 list.
I know Kevin Spacey is persona non grata now, but K-PAX was good.
Bob McKenzie yeah K-PAX was really good.
You are now also persona non grata. This is how society works. Kevin never fucked anyone, he's a born-again non-sexual actor but he commented on a cat video about Osama Bin Laden once so he is now the same as you.
true but he never abused anyone never proven but ok for others to be pedos etc hollywood is sick kevin is great
It's not sure K-PAX was about space or aliens. It's never proven he was speaking the truth or was really insane. That is what the movie makes so great tho!
Sorry for asking, but why's Mr. Kevin persona non grata? (I'm not from the US)
Although "Close Encounters" ranks high on the list, "Contact" is my all-time favorite because it came from the mind of the late, great Carl Sagan.
Superman was an alien (just sayin)
The 1978 version should be on here
Then don't!
Even 'alien' was an alien
LOOOOL.... idk why this made me laugh so hard
An alien who was raised here.
Best one ever...Camping at Devil's Tower and watching Close Encounters at an outdoor theater at the base of the tower at night. A billion stars over our heads. The crowd had a slight freak out and all fingers in our crowd shot skyward when a plane flew over. 😄 Best jump scare ever!
I am quite jealous actually :) Good stuff.
CONTACT should be #1
Jodie Foster on the beach in another Dimension was amazing, lots of questions about the tunnel warp ,the sky etc we need a whole 90mins movie about the impressions NDEers encounter in the afterlife that is related by NDE reports.,thank you All is Well.
Contact was my favorite. Unfortunately it received too much criticism only because the ending didn't show what the aliens looked like. That did not bother me; the explanation given was satisfying for me. I also think it was one of Jodie Foster's and John Hurt's best movies.
Scwurt I loved the movie, but the ending was totaly anticlimactic
+alberach I don't think you could really do the whole book as film, it's too detailed and covers too much time. But yeah, I agree, that book is fantastic. Still, I say the movie was not a bad attempt, if only for that opening sequence. I think I have to go and watch that again right now, I loved it so much.
One of my favs, too. Especially, "Wanna take a ride?" Epic line!
The part that was better in the movie than the book tho was only Jodie took the trip in the movie, and in the book there were, iirc, 6 ppl that took the trip. The movie did a better job of 'personal experience' vs faith and such. Other than that, the book was better.
Became the tag line for Art Bell's Coast To Coast AM radio show.
Even though it's a comedy, Galaxy Quest qualifies. Though we'll probably be long gone before any alien race picks up even the earliest of our radio signals.
At this rate, we'll be doing well to make it to 2020
Much less till we grow the F up as a society about science and religion. What advanced society would want to deal with our immature bullshit? I live here and I can't barely stand it anymore. We've got idiots screaming about who died on what cross, what it all meant and who wrote it down decades after the dude died and what part of the flat earth it happened on. We can't forget to worship that great big rock or that chubby dude who sits funny, too many fairy tales to get through before we can understand basic science. I can hear the aliens now, "Give them a bit longer to get their shit together, I don't have time to discuss medical treatments when many of them won't even accept a life saving blood transfusion...". It's all so pathetic really.
Galaxy quest was very entertaining!
More than likely we are far too primitive to be worth contact. That would be left to our evolutionary successor...AI... AI will have the processing speed , and physiology capsble to span light years in sone form. we alas are finite beings with no capacity for advanced coding. .
@@Damaged262 Why all the hate? No one forces you to go to church. No one forces you to believe in aliens either.
Some really good, stand-the-test-of-time films here. Total classics mostly. Contact should be higher up than 5 more like 1 or 2. Contact portrays the most likely and most realistic of space adventures than the others but I'd also say that aliens coming to us is also high up on the scale of likelihood.
The Abyss is a criminally underrated movie. It’s so beautiful, terrifying and brilliant all at the same time.
Edit: It didn’t even get a Blu-Ray release.
Where is Independence Day?
Will Smith punches hostile alien: "Now that's what I call a close encounter" ;-)
They did say that they weren't doing invasions, or what not.
Smith not beleivable as a combat pilot . He's a ham .Independance Day was an 8 on a scale of 1-10 .Great effects and fun action film overall
Or the movie "Signs". But agreed- Independence Day should be there.
Independence day is a great movie but I hate how alot of these movies depict alien civilizations as agressive beings with no respect for other lifeforms and just mindlessly want to take over everything. There probably are aliens like that but where are the peaceful aliens at who are just as interested in finding us as we are about finding out about them?
I'd like to believe that there are alien civilizations looking up at the sky wondering if there are others like them somewhere, just like we do on Earth when we look at the stars at night.
Fun film...but by NO means the best.
Contact at number 5?, Katya would be pissed
Mother! WatchMojo is shattering my reality again.
I'm inclined to believe mojo is more about ratings than content...Carl Sagans book was the inspiration for the movie and based on his scientific background of what ( in his opinion) a first contact may be like. He was not a proponent of e.t.'s , ancient astronauts and other hoodoo shit.
I also couldn't believe it. It should have the top spot for crying out loud!!
The ending ruined it. Yeah, sure, if you build a billion dollar machine that costs maybe 50 grands to fire it up (electricity bill and a few single-use booster rockets), and it distorts gravity, creates some flashes of light, makes some metal go transparent, and the pilot claims it works but the evidence that the pilot travelled is less than ideal, you sell it for scrap metal instead of giving it another shot for another 50 grand. It would be more logical for the scientists to revolt, point out that its irrelevant if the pilot actually travelled, and give it another shot just to study the fucking huge gravity distortion and the other shit that happened.
The ending was dull, illogical, seemed artificial and forced, introduced the by far biggest plot holes, and, well, knocked it down to rank 5 on trhe watchmojo list. If i could do video editing, i would re-cut the abominable ending.
Not only the gravity distortion, but the fact that there 18 hours of recorded static ( unless that falls in the "other shit that happens category ' :) so 18 hours passed when the ball just dropped thru, she must have gone somewhere
I'm gonna put Contact on my list. Looks really good for being shot in 1997. It seems like a very deep movie if you read between the lines.
it sucked
You should read the book, Supergirl Gamer. Anyone with a username as cool as that would love it. He wrote really well, Sagan, women often say men don't always write very realistic or great female characters, but Ellie, in the book, is fantastic, he tells her story from childhood, and the ways she deals with being one of the few woman in the field of astrophysics seem very believable to me, and women in STEM have told me they agree.
A Mary Sue mouthpiece for the author's dumb ideas is neither realistic or great.
"Contact" is a great movie. The book even better. A lot of people don't mention the book was also co-written with a woman.
+Krisztián Povázson I don't see Ellie Arroway as a Mary Sue. She's a really deeply thought out and individualistic character.
The Abyss is also very underrated. Especially the special edition which greatly improves the film and lifts it above just being Close Encounters underwater.
***** Well, The Abyss is already on the list. I'm just saying that it's underrated along w/ Contact (since so many people have mentioned it already).
jp3813 Exactly
My dad won the special edition version at a raffle in the 90s, I just can't stop watching
Whats so different in the special edition? I cant remember which version i saw back in the 90s!
The abyss is freaking amazing. One of the most claustrophobic movies I've ever seen
"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" (1977): An All-Time Masterpiece! My Favorite!
Hold on. The Abyss wasn’t about first contact. Those ‘beings’ weren’t Aliens. They were aquatic beings who lived in secrecy underwater, not from outer space.
How about as an honorable mention, The Last Starfighter? I know it's not popular, and it's VERY tongue-in-cheek, but Alex Rogan is recruited by Centauri to help defend the Star League, of which, Earth is not a member because it's not ready to be contacted yet. It is a first contact movie and not a full on invasion. It's also the only one that qualifies and is funny.
Yes, I really liked that one as well
@Randal Slutz - there is another special reason for The Last Starfighter to be remembered. It was the first movie to do large-scale CGI effects as an integral part of the storyline. And yes, it IS a fun film to watch. I believe it is also the last film in which Robert Preston was a cast member. Not to mention the presence of Catherine Mary Stuart, who was definitely a "babe" at the time. A LOT of good reasons to remember this film.
I remember watching that in the theatres when is came out.
How bout no way, José?!
Saw Jodie Fosters Contact and instantly thought of Katya. Those who know what I mean should like. Haha
Alejandro Soto
I have no idea what or who Katya is.. Just searched it here .. And got the Drag Queen instead... Might be a film?
CONTACT should be #1 damn it.
on the list of shittiest sci-fi movies ever made
Aren't people allowed to have their own opinion?
It is underrated.
I think the ending is perfect for a Carl Sagan story. It is deep and moving and leaves everything to conjecture. I love how they show Ellie sitting by the canyon all alone deep in thought while the theme by Alan Silvestri plays in the background...then everything fades away and you see the script "for Carl". It is so moving it's almost overwhelming.
Contact not a great movie .Lesbian feminists know best movie for sure
'Starman' is much better than you'd expect from a film of its time. You get to 'like' the characters.
'The Man Who Fell To Earth' is not an easy film to follow, but to my mind great to watch. And each viewing is unique.
District 9 isn't a first contact film. The aliens have been here for a while when the story happens.
you must be skip first 5 minutes
And it sucked. Got through 5 minutes and tossed it.So bad.
I think they did arrive in the opening moments of the movie, but still this movie doesn't feel like it belongs in a first contact list. The bulk of the story makes it clear that aliens are a part of our world and will be for a while.
First contact means humanity's first contact with aliens, which District 9 was about. Them being there for a few months or years is irrelevant, they are the first extra terrestrials to visit Earth, hence first contact.
Raven Mobile I don't disagree. Was just talking more about the feel of the movie since they were integrated into society for the bulk of the movie.
Contact is one of the best movies of all times...magic!
alberach Aha. Clearly my comment was an expression of taste, it doesn't really bother me that you don't like it as much as I do :)
Not really a " hollow husk ". But, yeah...hard to put that whole book into a 2 hour movie. Ya really need to read the book. It was fun seeing the movie though.
The ending ruined it. Yeah, sure, if you build a billion dollar machine
that costs maybe 50 grands to fire it up (electricity bill and a few
single-use booster rockets), and it distorts gravity, creates some
flashes of light, makes some metal go transparent, and the pilot claims
it works but the evidence that the pilot travelled is less than ideal,
you sell it for scrap metal instead of giving it another shot for
another 50 grand. It would be more logical for the scientists to revolt,
point out that its irrelevant if the pilot actually travelled, and give
it another shot just to study the fucking huge gravity distortion and
the other shit that happened.
The ending was dull, illogical, seemed artificial and forced, introduced
the by far biggest plot holes, and, well, knocked it down to rank 5 on
trhe watchmojo list. If i could do video editing, i would re-cut the
abominable ending.
Have you read the ending of Contact? Though Ann Druyan denies it, it sure reads like Carl Sagan found God. And if that isn't a kick in the gut I don't know what is. Still, I love the movie.
Agreed. I have watched that movie at least 20+ times on bluray. The disk has some great extras. Would have liked to see a sequel (2nd Contact), but alas...
Who else got an "Arrival" trailer before this video?
hey guys! great video :) but what about K-PAX? take care
Al Leyy There were no aliens! :)
Did they really make first contact there? Was he really an alien or just crazy? That movie doesn’t answer it so I dunno if you could technically call it a first contact scenario
My interpretation of the ending is they were trying to say an alien *consciousness* came to earth and inhabited his body for a time, and then left. If you look at it from that context, it pretty much removes all the ambiguity in the movie. My favorite scene in the movie was at the observatory. "How... how could you KNOW this?" I think that does a good job of eliminating the "he's just a loon" from the list of possibilities, and from there you have to start looking at your other options. I also like in that scene where they hit on the only other real possibility, that he's some kind of savant, and dismiss it.
Alien should habe been listed on here. It's most certainly a first contact movie.
literally
It's a horror thriller.
You can add Predator and Superman, and have one idiotic top 10 list
It was first contact for the crew, not the company that employs the crew. It shares a universe with Blade runner. First contact had already been established as they knew about the Aliens.
"we will be drawing the line at all out invasions and conflicts." would you consider that to be a conflict?
@@maltorvolt9694 naw, conflicts have already taken place prior.
Contact has a special place in my heart, it is such a beautiful film and with so much meaning.
But I agree, Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a true masterpiece.
The Last Starfighter?
niteshadesc2 NICE! I was 11 when Space Invaders debuted. Starfighter is corny as hell now, but I still like it, and LOVED it as a kid.
Explorers
Best Theme Song...EVER!!!!🎵😩💞
Fire In The Sky was my favorite, explains the look of the classic 'Grays' aliens in a genius way.
No it doesn’t. Quit lyin
boy most of you must be young, the best is the original, "day the earth stood still", i saw it in 1952, for 25 cents. this movie was really a new direction in for science fiction films after WWII. before we had stuff like "Flash Gordon". remember this was during the cold war so it made a big impression on the public. there were a lot of UFO sightings at that time and people were fearful of them being real. this movie put a positive image out. if you haven't seen try it out. this film guided my choice of career in physics.
Sagan's "Contact" is my second favorite film, it is an extremely well done, especially the great way science was presented. i actually met Carl backstage in boulder after he gave a lecture at CU. thrill of a life time!
Lucky son of a gun. You got to meet one of the strongest brains on the planet. At least part of him is actually a spaceman for real now.
2001 was the most brilliant profound film ever because it's about the ultimate questions of origins, existence and death.
You forgot☝🏼important movie 🎥
Batteries 🔋 not included!!
😂😂👍🏻 That was a classic
#5 is so underrated
Contact is the number 1 for me
you are smoking some pretty strong shit to say that. the movie sucked. all lead up with nothing at the end.
I agree. People against it just want action. The ending was a build up to Nothing? She went and had a conversation with an alien being......how is that nothing? It was helped made by carl sagan, enough said.
She met an alien? YOu mean her father? Oh man.. that ending ruined the movie.
@@WirelessJoeJackson you didnt understand the film did u mate? That was not her father, that was an alien. They downloaded her memories and made themselves appear as her father...... the whole area that she went to was from the photo she had in her bedroom as a child. Did you think her father faked his death?
Except it was not really his father...are you dense?
first contact better be on this list
honourable mention lmao
The best Star Trek movie and all it got was a Honorable mention, it could have at least been #10
It's not really a first contact movie though. At least, it's not the main focus of the movie.
Yeah, the main focus is the Borg invasion, and they excluded invasions... They couldn't get away with not mentioning it though, so it's an honorable mention :P
Also the federation knows about so many other alien species. It would be a first contact movie, apart from the name, if they make a movie focused on the actual first contact between humans and the vulcans.
I disagree with this list, 2001: A space odessey is undisputed no.1 for me. Close encounters with the 3rd kind is good but not that good.
Agreed ...
Both that, and 'The Abyss' broke the notion that any alien civilization we may encounter maybe so far beyond our imagination, nor what we can imagine, that the chances of the highest one of the same degree of sentiance, or higher, than us, and is also anything close to being humanoid is ... well, I hate to be the guy whom has people placed bets of that happen with ...
I dispute 2001 as the best... I've never been impressed with it (even though I understand it's place in sci-fi cinematic history is important)... It's SOOOOOOO BORING!
@@tomharner83
Whilst I respectfully disagree, I can see that ... so much of the film is just purely visual, with the soundtrack, that the actual amount of dialogue, if you were to compress those scenes down together, would be a film about 1/3rd, or less, of its actual runtime ...
Kubrick himself was critical of those who saw it as too long/boring, because, iirc, 'they have gotten into the habit of watching a film with their ears, and not enough time engaging with a film's visuals' ... but those are his words, as I remember them, and not mine ...
@@nigelft I think you've hit on the issue... If I wanted to see an artistic painting or a photo, I'd go to a museum... 2001 is a handful of moments practically frozen in time (at least it's so SOOOOOOO slow that they might as well be frozen) interspersed with a smattering if dialogue. This makes the pacing terribly slow (reminiscent of Star Trek The Movie)... There's nothing driving the story forward MOST of the movie... But we're looking at a well-framed scene... Still looking at that same scene...
...
...
...
Same scene (but still... nothing's happened).
opinions are wonderful.
Arrival should be number one, as it's probably the best representation of humanity's reaction to first contact, (the fluid temporal things are probably not that realistic :-P )
They are. Not all aliens would look like humans, nor would they need anything or most of the things humans need to survive (one could survive in oil, or that'd be their form of water)
@@fireblade295 not fluid as in liquids, but as in non-linear. Should maybe used "time" in stead of the more pretentious word "temporal". I'm referring to the lead character remembering the future just because thinking linguistically different.
It's a fun idea, and a sufficiently powerful and complex brain, could in theory "perceive" the future in terms of statistical probabilities of future events occuring based on a implausibly large amount of knowledge of the current state of something.
I am in no doubt that sometime in far future, we will have first contact, but the human urge to explore, I'm betting on we going to them and not the other way around.
I wonder if we will ever see a space-dwelling creature? Nothing stopping life from forming in nebulas
No. Arrival is about Amy Adam's character. The way it handles first contact is very cliché. China and Russia bad mkay!
Contact does a much better job at how the human civilization would possibly react to first contact.
@@dacruise4439 China misunderstood "weapon" and "tool". Russia and the others (including USA) followed China's idea/plan, until Lousie (Amy Adam) deciphers the language and uses it to stop the planet from attacking. Shows the language part of first contact, while every other first contact shows the military's first instinct when dealing with a new group.
Arrival is based on a short story called "Story of Your Life"
k-pax was pretty good too
Contact should be higher.
No.
Shouldn't even be here.
Not if you read the book by Carl Sagan. They took removed all the ideas that made the book great, and turned it into proving existence of aliens and God in court. It was a watered down sappy load of gash.
Contact sucked major balls
It is definitely underrated.
Would Alien be considered as a first contact movie? I know it's a horror movie but still it's the first time they encounter the Xenomorphs
I don't think you could consider Aliens a first contact movie due to references to other colonies and species, hence it was their first contact with the
xenomorph but not extraterrestrial life.
and predator a? :P
In fact there is no such thing like "first contact" globally except in diplomatic way. If a human see something alien and unknown - it's always about first contact since there is no info about contacts in the past and no info about new lifeform.
Egor Chernopazov .. allot of assumptions there .. if something aint official it does not mean "it never happened" ...diplomatic thing is kinda irrelevant so FC does not applies to it specifically as u said ...for example i rember my First "contact" with a girl .. but that was mine first contact not to all others .. so if we look from subjective point of view u are right .. but from objective one then u arent
Wasn't until the second movie Aliens that the Space Marines said "another bug hunt" but that was set 50 years after the first Alien movie encounter. Don't remember any mention of Alien life in the first movie except the fact that the crew has orders to check out the signal coming from the planet. However I believe Prometheus is actually a prequel to Alien so that would mean Alien was not first contact.
I think Solaris (1972) deserves at least a mention!
Kim Marohn - Good point! I really liked the 1972 version and the book. If I remember correctly, it’s not clear if the planet Solaris is the first alien encountered by humans or not. However, it’s safe to call “Solaris” a first-contact movie.
I really enjoyed the idea that aliens could be so different that we might not understand them at all.
@@thetooginator153 The Solaris "ocean" is in fact the first alien encountered by mankind, in the book and in the film. The book is, mainly, about the first contact but the film, despite the superficial similarity with the book, is really about something else.
Not first contact. Great film though. The original, not the remake.
All movies mentioned would be in my top 10, but I'd honestly have The Arrival at number 1 spot, for there is no film like it.
After watching Annihilation, I'd put that in the list as well, again, it is unique and deserves a mention.
I really did not like Annihilation. Not one bit.
@@scottslotterbeck3796 too scary?
@@TheJunky228 No. Too woke, too incomprehensible. Just not that entertaining. No real payoff at the end.
@@scottslotterbeck3796 yeah I remember not liking the ending, but enjoying it otherwise
"Contact" should have been #1
First Contact only in honorable mentions :[
well honesty even star trek fans don't really love the movie. even tho it is one of the better trek movies
Joe Boranto Can't say I agree. It's my favourite Star Trek movie, actually.
BlackKraya ikr
What? It's by far one of the most loved original trek movies, 2nd only to wrath of khan.
talanock i think wrath of khan is by far the best
Good list, would have liked to see Star Trek first contact earn a spot. Also an honorable mention to Man of Steel.
"2001 : a space odyssey" is my favorite.
Contact has one of the most beautiful endings I’ve ever seen
Am I the only one who hates ET? All that screaming and crap. Hate that movie. And I was a kid when it came out.
I do too!!
Amy Adams in The Arrival is Great!
Also thought that should be in the top ten.
Boring shit
Agree, Arrival should have been on the list.
@@OliStyloMylo I feel sad for you
Gan siong tzer i feel sad for you sir
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How Contact wasn't number 1 is beyond me. One of the most beautifully made movies ever, with one of the best stories put on film. An amazing movie and a true classic!
What most people don't realize is, Arroway never actually leaves Earth. The "device" is a communications platform, and she experiences a "time shift" to see what it's like to travel in space lightyears to the star system Vega. She is essentially using an alien "phone booth"!
No, she leaves Earth.
The only (big) flaw in the film is using Bill Clinton footage. I know the filmmakers are big Democrats, but it really dates the film, and robs it of timelessness. Otherwise, great film. Arrival tied with it
@@scottslotterbeck3796 That was intentional though. The technology in the movie itself dates the film.
Contact was a very excellent movie but they added religious advisors into that mission and that was very cringy party for me...Tried so hard but couldn't not digest it
I agree. Always loved it and its been in my top 5 fav films always.
"Intruders" is very underrated and unknown by many. "Fire in the Sky" is also very good.
Close Encounters was so good on so many llevesl - one of the few that combined science, art, humor and wonder. Starman was great for its two main characters. "Contact" was probably the most realistic and the most challenging. Great choices but left out such classics as Man Facing Southeast and Aliens, still one of the best.
Contact should be #2.
Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind is the real winner indeed
I love that Carl Sagan has multiple stories on this list. The man was incredible.
12:14
Imagen this you're a government employee witnessing the first contact with alien life.
You look over and see a guy in a Carhart jumpsuit recording the UFO's with an HD digital camera
on his I phone. You ask " Who the hell are you? " he says " I'm a time traveler here to witness the first contact between humans and alien."
Out of disbelief the guy says " Time travel isn't real. " The guy responds with " They use to say that about Aliens."
By far my favorite was the 1951 version of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Given when it was made and a relative lack of technology. Amazing movie with a great message.
no K-pax no Mac and Me? no Batterys not included, no coneheads, no maximum overdrive, no the faculty, no Superman no Dragonball evolution no supermario the movie no fire in the sky no McPherson alien abduction, no John Carter, no ghost of Mars, no race to witch mountain, no the Tommy knockers no fantastic four, no you get it.........
While contact didn’t technically take place, I still like Mission to Mars.
I don't get why some don't think Contact is a FC film, it was, and not a dream. The dialogue at the end between Woods and Bassett, though alluding to it, has them believing her.Senate hearing of Arroway
Senator, I believe that the machine opened up a wormhole, a tunnel through the fabric of space-time. Also known as an Einstein-Rosen bridge. Now because of the laws of general relativity, what I experienced as 18 hours, passed instantaneously on Earth. Later Constantine and Michael Kitz are video conferencing. KITZ So what now? We give her a medal?CONSTANTINE I say at least a healthy grant. I assume you read the confidential findings report from the investigating committee?KITZ I flipped through it.CONSTANTINE I was especially interested in the section on Arroway’s Video unit. The one that recorded the staticKITZ Continue.CONSTANTINE The fact that it recorded static isn’t what interests me.KITZ Continue.CONSTANTINE What interests me, is that it recorded approximately 18 hours of it.KITZ That is interesting, isn’t it?
Most moviegoers don’t understand what they’re watching unless things are exploding on the screen or there are fart jokes. “Small steps.”
Star man is one of my fvorite movies of all time
Jenny Hayden: Scott is dead. He was killed in an accident. When someone you love dies - oh, shit, shit.
Starman: Define "shit.
Yes, and I like Dutch apple pie too!!!
Red:stop, green:go, yellow:go fast.
Mine too! I met Karen Allen a few years back, she was lovely.
Same here. Jeff Bridges emotionless face is great acting, and the end music is just awesome
So glad contact made this list it's such a brilliant and smart sci-fi
2001 on a second place, and no Alien, not even in honorable?
Did you watch the intro? Invasions and conflicts excluded.
Comrade Snake alien is t first contact dumbass
You don't know that it never says anywhere in the movie if it's first contact or not.
@@user-vl4gn6hx8j It does actually. Ash says it in the lab.
Number one seems fair...Number 5 is soooo underrated
LaBiod Sam I agree
Have you guys seen the kid´s audition tape for the role of Elliott in E.T.?? Goosebumps, mind fucking blown!!!
More like Overrated.
Amen
Jules F. Melo Borges: I agree. It's one movie where I wish I could get back the time wasted watching it.
1 is close encounters. Calling it.
The original The Day The Earth Stood Still remains topical to this day.
"The Day the 🌎 Stood Still" was so far ahead of its time. BRAVO!!!🙌
Any such list that doesn't have "Contact" at number one is in my opinion automatically disqualified!
Batteries Not Included
Phenomenal film!!!
I'm impressed that WatchMojo is aware of first contact stories as a distinct sub-genre.
How do you not include 1953's THE WAR OF THE WORLDS was maybe the scariest movie I saw as a kid.
"Do you agree with our list?"
No. No one ever agrees with your list. There is always someone who knows better.
I will not Jodie Foster this kind of video
Those movies are so imbedded in my life, that's just my life! CE3K - E.T. - Contact and Arrival are so realistic first contacts masterpieces ever!
good choices - Signs should have been included me thinks...
Nothing connected with Mel Gibson should EVER be included. In anything.
True, it looked at how such things would affect an average Joe going through his own shit.
@@jeffwatkins352 he's made some amazing films.
When a video about First Contact movies doesn’t even mention Star Trek 8
I was about to be pissed if Star Trek First Contact didn’t make #1 after not seeing it. But yeah, close encounters is objectively better lol. First contact just has a special place in my heart. And I agree with a lot of the other comments as well: Contact should be higher up.
Star Trek: First Contact is only a fucking "Honorable Mention"?!
It literally has First Contact in the name
Jason Blonar Exactly.
Highly Overrated. Can't believe so many people liked that mess.
First Contact was the name of the movie, but the focus of the movie was the Borg vs the Enterprise--the First Contact was just a plot element to get there.
And technically, the real first contact was much earlier... Guinan and those life force sucking aliens in the wild west (or something like that), remember?
You really botched the job with 2001. It was NOT written by Carl Sagan, but by ARTHUR C CLARKE. It was based
on one of his short stories from the 40's and had the monoliths there from the start. Also, if you were to read the book, as many people did, you would then know precisely what it is about.
The movie could show you the "space child" but simply due to the time constraints could not describe its immense powers, or intentions as the book did.
Otherwise a fun clip WatchMojo, thank you.
I thought the same way at first but they did not say Sagan wrote it. Kubrick did consult with many astrophysicists and Sagan who was well known at the time the movie was made was most likely consulted and probably did tell Kubrick to not show the aliens.
In Arthur C. Clarkeś ¨The Sentinel,¨ The monoliths were actually pyramid-shaped objects. Kubrick came up with the idea of the more foreboding, black towers.
Not sure that the space child was curtailed due to a lack of time. I think the essential idea comes across -- whoever Dave Bowman once was has been transformed into an entirely new being.
Carl Sagan was an "Author and Astronomer" who was indeed someone that Kubrick asked for advice from when making this film. They never said or even implied that he wrote 2001, it was just a confusing sentence. At this point though, you can look anywhere in the comments and you'll find someone has explained the same thing so my response is pretty much irrelevant haha
How is Star Trek first contact an honorable mention in "top ten first contact movies" first contact is my fav Star Wars movie second only to Star Trek beyond
Beyond isn't a Star Trek movie any more that you like Star Trek movies.
. . and First Contact *isn't* a Star Wars movie!!!
This list completely overlooked the most plausible and likely direct first contact with extraterrestrial life - that of microbial or viral life forms. “The Andromeda Strain” should therefore be on this list imo at #1 for its very realistic treatment of this scenario.
Now that's a blast from the past...good call!
Fire in the Sky is a truly frightening first contact movie. Though it may be eliminated by the qualifier at the beginning of this video because their intentions are not nice.
Contact need to be #1 or 2
FuriousHondaBoy contact sucks
FuriousHondaBoy maybe no 2 for believability: only for the scientific stuff. The ending was hard to swallow. Won't give away the ending. 2001 has to be the best.
The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still was utter crap compared to the original. Contact I found to be the most credible of all contact type of films.
GORT from the original film looked more human than Keanu Reeves
Colin Paterson: You are 100% correct. I hate remakes of great movies. The constant stream of remakes shows how limited the imaginations of screenwriters are.
The book Contact is so, so much better.
I think the firsr third of the remake was good
Agreed! The remake was simply awful!! It did a massive injustice to the original!
Mine was Contact and Star Trek First Contact.
Contact at number 5 and Star Trek only an honorable mention...boo. Do better!!
Mission to Mars is a great memory for me. Too bad it didn't make the list
Where's Explorers? First contact works both ways, you know.
In Explorers it was the child aliens who beamed the knowledge into the kids head during his sleep, of how to generate the movement sphere and atmosphere generator. The aliens made contact with the kids, and the kids went to the aliens as a result.
Explorers was HILARIOUSLY entertaining!!😂👌
"The Arrival" is a HIGHLY underrated first contact type movie. If you haven't seen it, I find the communication issues highly credible, and likely to be what happens should we ever encounter another civilization- unless of course we're a lot closer to that civilization- and I don't just mean geographically....!
Love those knees bending backwards. If my knees could do that, it would have saved me a half dozen injuries.
@@Damaged262 I think he is talking about the film from 2016 and not the one with Charlie Sheen from 1996. But I actually think the one from 1996 is better.
I don't understand why district 9
Is in this list.
It is not a first contact movie.
Yes, it's 1st contact movie
How is Star Trek: First Contact not first on this list? It has "first contact" in the title for crying out loud!
Well the list isn't judged by titles alone. Great film but in no way first contact.
It's not *about* First Contact though... The story takes place during First Contact with the Vulcans, but that's as deep as it goes in terms of the First Contact theme. The story itself is more about Picard's past trauma and how it affects his current judgement (and how he starts to heal from it).
All these movies on the list show First Contact *AND* how it affects humanity, whereas ST:FC simply shows First Contact happening as a footnote to the actual movie.
@@jaanfo3874 How First contact effect humanity? The Enterprise being present shows the effect of this first contact...chicken or the egg.
I TEASE MY KIDS WITH THIS LINE FROM GALAXY QUEST WHEN LAREDO (DARRYL CHILL MITCHELL) TOLD ONE OF HIS COMRADES "YOU ONLY LOOK SMART"