Rating: 
Summary: An Amazing Story From An Amazing Filmmaker
Review: Strange things are happening around the world; things that challenge the imagination and open the mind to possibilities almost beyond imagining. Things that only director Steven Spielberg can explain, which he does in his monumental epic of man's encounter with alien life, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind." Planes lost in WWII suddenly appear in a Mexican desert; a long lost ship turns up in the middle of the Gobi Desert; and in Dharmsala, Northern India, hundreds of people are gathered together, singing--a short "tune" that consists of a mere five notes, over and over, repeatedly. When they are asked where they heard this tune, the throng, as one, dramatically thrust their hands into the air and point to the sky. And, indeed, in the skies all around the world, strange things are happening. And even as these events are transpiring, one evening in Muncie, Indiana, the city is suddenly blacked out by an inexplicable power outage. Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) is at home when it hits, and he is called in by the power company for which he works, then sent out in the darkness to an unfamiliar location. Lost, he sits in his pick-up truck at a railroad crossing, studying a map, when all at once he notices a "disturbance" around him. Mailboxes along the side of the road are clanging open and shut by themselves; then things inside his truck begin to move, subtly at first, then erupting and flying about as if caught up in a tornado--and then just as suddenly his truck is engulfed in a blinding light. He leans out the window for a look, but it's too bright and he has to pull back. Then just as abruptly, it all stops-- the disturbance, the light-- everything. And he looks out the window again; but this time he sees something. And though he doesn't realize it at the time, at that moment, his life changed forever. In this wonderfully realized, highly imaginative film that is extremely well crafted and presented by Spielberg, he takes you along with Roy in the days that follow that strange occurrence in Muncie. Roy becomes lost in thought, drifting, unable to focus on anything, much to the consternation of his wife, Ronnie (Teri Garr). But he can't help himself; something-- an image-- has begun to form in his mind. He has no idea what it is or what it means, but it becomes an obsession, and slowly it begins to take shape: First in a handful of shaving cream, then in a plate of mashed potatoes, which he piles up and begins to sculpt with his fork, while Ronnie and his kids look on in bewilderment. But he can see it in his mind, and it's like a mountain-- a mountain shaped like a "tower." And Roy isn't the only one. Around the world, others are being drawn to the same image in their minds, and it's a force that compels them, pushing them on to find whatever it is, a power so strong in cannot be denied or refused. They know only one thing: Whatever it is, it's important, and they have no choice but to follow where it may lead. And it becomes a great adventure, one in which they discover what Man has long suspected: We are not alone. Richard Dreyfuss is perfectly cast as Neary, a regular guy-- he could be your neighbor or the man who comes to install your phone-- and gives a thoroughly convincing, introspective performance while creating a character with whom it is easy to relate and through whom you are able to share this unique adventure. Garr does a good job, as well, as Ronnie, the wife concerned with her husband's sudden and seemingly bizarre behavior, someone with whom you can certainly sympathize. Dillon delivers, too, as the single mother who suddenly finds herself caught up in these inexplicable and extraordinary events, and also turning in a memorable performance is the young Cary Guffey, as Barry, Jillian's son, who makes his own connection with the other-worldly visitors. The supporting cast includes Francois Truffaut (Lacombe), Bob Balaban (Laughlin) and Lance Henriksen (Robert). An uplifting, positive motion picture, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" is thoroughly entertaining, as well as thought provoking. Spielberg draws you in as few filmmakers can, with a great story and with characters who are readily accessible and with whom it is easy to identify-- all of which adds up to an absorbing, memorable and enjoyable experience, and a perfect example of the real magic of the movies.
Rating:
Summary: "Are we the first?"
Review: "Are we the first to arrive here?" those first words shouted above the strong dust storm in the desert combined with John Williams unique musical scoring, begins the most innovative and tension building plot exposition I've ever seen. From there wunderkind Steven Spielberg thrusts us into an alien sighting report (or denial) as told to an active air traffic control center. Unseen, aliens are now part of the viewers psyche. Spielberg found earlier success with this approach with movie JAWS, keeping the shark out of sight for more than half the movie... With CLOSE ENCOUNTERS, Aliens are represented by flashing lights and an occasional spaceship. But, its true brilliance is not in seeing the story through someone's eyes, but rather, by looking at someone's eyes. That someone is Richard Dreyfuss in a career making performance. With this type of filmmaking, Spielberg is worth his hype. He would again return to aliens with another master work E.T. and alien-like robots in A.I. The DVD set is great with a wonderful documentary including interviews with the dirctor while on the set for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN. "When You Wish Upon a Star..."
Rating: 
Summary: Close encounters of the COOLEST kind
Review: I am sorry. Sorry that not everyone, including me, owns this DVD. For reasons you have to see the movie to believe, this one is a modern masterpiece of cinematography. The story is freaky and cool at the same time, and it leads up nicely to the unbelievable ending. One one little fly in the soup though, at the beginning, there are subtitles, and with the wide screen version, they are about one micron in height, so you literally have to be 2 feet from the screen to see them.
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Summary: Close Encounters with CLOSE ENCOUNTERS
Review: This is a great 2-disk set of one of my favorite Spielberg films. Actually, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is one of my all-time favorite films. The "extras" disk features some cut scenes that I've never seen! There is an excellent scene at the Neary's neighborhood barbeque where Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) must explain his half-suntanned face. Teri Garr does a wonderful job. Also, the documentary on this disk is incredible. It is much more thorough (and seems to be a longer version) than the one that was included on the recent VHS release. The film remains a classic. Some of the night scenes (especially on the country road set) look like they didn't transfer well (i.e. grainy and faded blacks). And I'm not a fan of the 1980's "inside the mothership" ending. I'm glad it is gone on this version.
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Summary: Triumph of the imagination or first "new-ager"?
Review: Admittedly, an engaging, enchanting film. 25 years later the performance of French film director Francois Truffaut as a foreign scientist, Richard Dreyfuss's obsession with mashed potatoes, and the sonic exploration of the octave and its overtones remain nestled in the viewer's subconscious, if not conscious, memory. But in retrospect this film followed an era in which an idealistic generation, once devoted to social change and the immortalization of its own youth culture, had to settle for the latter of the two possibilities. The "story" represents not just an escape from the banality of middle-class values but from responsibilities, conflicts, risky human relationships, and life itself. Another capitalistic commodity pretending to renounce a way of life it in fact promotes and is inextricably bound to, "Close Encounters" is the first of many blockbuster "Third Kind" epics to achieve success on the big screen. Play it with a good sound system.
Rating: 
Summary: Spielberg's films are all the same...
Review: I've seen almost every Steven Spielberg film imaginable, from Jaws to Schindler's List, but Close Encounter's Of The Third Kind was a really poor effort I felt. Sure, there's big special effects and stuff...but the story is pretty lame. A man makes stuff out of mashed potatoes and is pretty much obsessed with Devil's Tower. That's all this films about...a man's obsession with mashed potatoes and a mountain...groovy, but boring.
Rating: 
Summary: The worst kind.
Review: Derivative remake of 1950's B-grade alien pictures, bloated with A-grade 1970's special effects and New Age hooey every bit as mushy as the pile of mashed potatoes that Richard Dreyfuss sculpts early in the movie. The movie looks fantastic: no less than 6 world-class cinematographers tinkered with the look of the thing, and the results were groundbreaking for the period. But that's the only thing going for *Close Encounters*. Everything else about it reveals the work of an amateur, starting with the incidentals of the plot: almost every scene is too obviously maneuvering the characters into, well, the next scene. (An example is when Dreyfuss and his two friends are on Devil's Tower hiding from the Government's helicopters. The sequence, mostly taking place in an afternoon, is merely a delay -- Spielberg must wait for nighttime for his climax. There are many "padded" scenes like this.) Most egregious, however, is the way Spielberg manipulates the audience with nearly 2 hours of noisy menace, only to end the whole thing with an "Awww!" trance-out a la *The Wizard of Oz*. Childish, indeed.
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Summary: A true science fiction classic!
Review: Director Steven Spielberg scored his second spectacular success with this 1978 blockbuster (his breakthrough film being "Jaws" in 1975). The film's title comes from a book entitled "The UFO Experience" by Dr. J. Allen Hynek (1910-1986). Hynek, whom Spielberg greatly admired (he gave him a cameo role in the film), was an astronomer at Northwestern University who spent 20 years (1949-1969) as the chief scientific analyst for the US Air Force's Project Blue Book. Blue Book was the US government's official investigation of the UFO Phenomenon. Although Hynek started out as a skeptic and helped the Air Force to ridicule and explain away most sightings, he eventually became convinced that some UFO sightings could not be explained away as hoaxes or some other "normal" phenomenon and that they might represent something extraordinary - even ET visitation from other planets. He eventually broke with the skeptics and Air Force and formed his own group to investigate UFO reports in a serious and scientific way. In "The UFO Experience" (published in 1972), Hynek created his now-famous "Close Encounter" system to evaluate UFO reports. A "Close Encounter of the First Kind" was a UFO seen within 500 feet, which allowed the witness to see some details. A "Close Encounter of the Second Kind" happened when the UFO left some physical trace of its visit - the witnesses's car shuts off, the UFO leaves burn marks on the ground, etc. And a "Close Encounter of the Third Kind" was when the witness actually sees "UFOnauts" (aliens) either inside or outside the UFO. The UFOs seen in the first part of the film are based on actual eyewitness accounts provided by Hynek's group. I won't give away the film's plot, but suffice it to say that it covers profound religious, social and cultural themes in a unique way. The special effects are still marvelous (they're often better than the highly-touted CGI effects used in many of today's films), and "Close Encounters" contains several of Spielberg's most famous scenes: when power company lineman Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss), lost in the Indiana countryside at night, has his truck shut off at a railroad crossing, and a brilliant UFO wreaks havoc with his truck and the "Railroad Crossing" sign outside; when a fleet of UFO's arrives at an Indiana farmhouse to abduct a young boy who, delighted, opens the front door to reveal nothing but bright orange lights outside, which petrifies his mother and leads to her frantically trying to keep the UFO's "lights" from coming inside their house; and the famous climax at Wyoming's Devil's Tower, in which the huge, brightly colored UFO "Mothership" arrives for the first meeting between humans and aliens. It's all beautifully done, and features everything from creepy scenes akin to the X-Files, to an almost childlike wonder and delight. And, unlike the dark X-Files, the aliens are friendly in "Close Encounters". In my opinion, this remains one of Spielberg's greatest films and easily one of the most overlooked classics in sci-fi history.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent present
Review: I experienced this film as a young lad and am pleased to own this very good DVD reproduction. Aside from all the obvious DVD advantages, I really enjoyed the extra features on this two-disc DVD. The interviews with Spielberg and others involved in the film are pretty facinating and insightful. Of course it is the film itself that is or isn't worth owning and for the excellent performances and the interesting concepts and questions presented here, this is a film worthy of repeat viewings and a fine addition to any DVD library.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful MOVIE
Review: This is a truly great movie, a fairy tale, an allegory of religion, and the quest for meaning in the life of the average Joe. It is such a blessing to have a DTS soundtrack, and the image quality is beautiful. (I've never seen the oranges and reds so bright and saturated, and I've seen this a zillion times)
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