Contact

Right now you can watch Contact in Australia on HBO Max, and in the US on The Roku Channel — and it goes further with its ideas than most genre entertainment bothers to. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. With 5,049 viewer ratings on TMDB, this is not a title flying under the radar. Jodie Foster's performance is the anchor the more ambitious scenes need. Put it on tonight on HBO Max and see for yourself.

Part of the current wave of titles people are actually watching, Contact earns its spot. Contact treats its concept seriously enough to follow it all the way through. A radio astronomer receives the first extraterrestrial radio signal ever picked up on Earth. As the world powers scramble to decipher the message and decide upon a course of action, she must make some difficult decisions between her beliefs, the truth, and reality. Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey lead a cast that makes the ambitious moments land. It hit screens in 1997. Contact resists the temptation to explain everything, trusting the audience to sit with ambiguity. There is real craft here, even in the moments that do not fully land.

Viewers burned by ambitious sci-fi that could not sustain its premise should give Contact a chance. It does not lean on comparisons to make its case. The complete film is available and best experienced without too much prior knowledge of where it goes. Watch for Jodie Foster in particular — the performance elevates the material. Satisfying on multiple levels.