Rating: 
Summary: One of the best movies I have seen
Review: I believe this is Spielberg's second best film (behind the incomparable Schindler's List). This is definetly the definitive version with all the original and some new scenes included. It's a great story, with memorable characters, and amazing special effects. The transfer is solid. Keep in mind it's an older film and the fact that it looks about a billion times better than the VHS. The one thing that really caught my eye were how great the spaceships and the lights they emit look. Amazing!! One of the great movies and one of the defining ones of the 70's.
Rating:
Summary: Dangerous science fiction
Review: Steven Spielberg's original masterpiece analyzed the UFO phenomenon and produced an emotional meeting between humans and aliens. But that is the original version not the sanitized special edition. If Steven Spielberg is such a great filmmaker, than why did he recut the original? He destroyed the emotional ending by inserting Richard Dreyfuss hyperventilating as he enters the mothership. And he suspiciously removed the scene which accused the government of covering up their knowledge of UFO's and how people are looked upon as crazy for their beliefs. So, Mr. Spielberg continues to censor his original masterpiece. Why? I have rated the original. Please search it out. Incredible photography, fantastic performances, and dramatic special effects combine with Steven Spielberg's pastiche of UFO events to create one of the finest science fiction films of our time.
Rating:
Summary: This Movie Changed a Genre
Review: Steven Spielberg is at his best here. The film plays almost like a documentary, and leaves you half-expecting to see alien ships whipping past you on the highway.Richard Dreyfuss, in a stellar performance, is an ordinary man who is suddenly possessed by something, but is not sure what. We, and he, gradually discover that he is not alone in this obsession; a small group of people across the country have been summoned to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. There is also a sudden increase in UFO sightings across the country. The summonees gradually converge on Devil's Tower, while the scientific community tries to keep everyone away, out of legitimate and sincere safety concerns. The scientists have figured out that a spaceship is on its way and plans to land. The entire movie runs like Ravel's "Bolero": a slow crescendo culminating in a roaring climax ... The special effects are not only extremely good but are also beautiful. The alien scout ships look like luminescently surreal Christmas tree ornaments and the mother-ship looks like the surreal tree they came from. Everything glows in outlandish colors. The musical score fits the movie perfectly (well, it was done by John Williams) and can stand alone as an orchestral masterpiece. The acting is also very good, and especially so for Richard Dreyfuss. This film redefined the whole genre of aliens-visit-Earth. Before "Close Encounters", such movies had the aliens attacking us, the aliens appearing friendly but actually here for nefarious reasons, or the aliens being here for genuinely friendly reasons but we don't get it and end up attacking them. "Close Encounters" showed benign, intelligent aliens being met by benign, intelligent humans for information exchange and mutual gain. Of all the garbage and violence we've broadcast out into space (for everything seen on broadcast television is also transmitted Out There), I hope that any would-be visitors, if they exist, see this film before arriving. Even without understanding a word, they'll get the message: if you come in peace, you'll be received in kind. I'm not some fanatic who's convinced there is someone on the way, but, just in case there is, I hope we can respond as maturely and intelligently as this film portrays.
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated. But then you knew that, or refuse to believe it.
Review: Ah well...yet another example of a minority of rational reviews having ten times the substance and validity of the majority of commercially-biased, lemming, nostalgia-tainted, and/or plainly ignorant reviews here on ... . Fortunately, I've gotten used to their overall level of trustworthiness and now never buy anything sight-unseen based on them alone; I rented this film first and can now sleep just fine knowing it doesn't have a place in my collection after all. This is one incredibly overrated film. Previous reviews were more accurate than I could be in describing its numerous points of weakness, but the one that stood out for me was the story, and in particular the over-the-top, contrived situations and characters that go beyond believable and just destroy the viewer's suspension of disbelief (assuming said viewer has a 3-digit IQ) no matter how hard they want to maintain it and stay in the film world. I was very young when this film came out, so I have the luxury of judging this film on its own merits and not with the taint of childhood film hype or nostalgia. Those of you burdened with either of them will disregard reviews of it anyway and can't be convinced that this is anything but a masterpiece. To the rest who believe they might fall into the same category as me, ...
Rating: 
Summary: Superior to the special edition but not the original
Review: This version is basically the 1980 "Special Edition" without the ridiculous "inside the Mother Ship" sequence at the end. All of the other scenes added for the special edition (The ship in the desert and the additional scenes of Roy Neary's breakdown) are here. The main scene cut from the original version, which shows Roy Neary at work at the power station is still missing, but it is present as one of 11 deleted scenes on the second disk of this set. Most of these scenes were justifiably cut from the film, adding nothing to the story. Most interesting is an alternate meeting between Bob Balaban and Francios Truffaut in a limousine at an airport. Similar dialog but different. This scene was clearly meant to follow the air traffic control scene that is still in the movie. Also includes the obligatory "Making of Documentary, clearly shot at the same time as "Saving Private Ryan" as Spielberg is filmed in front of a debris strewn European street. This is a first class DVD presentation. I just wish that they could have done what they did with "The Abyss" and include BOTH versions of the film.
Rating:
Summary: Forgot how much I liked this movie
Review: Having not seen this movie since I was a kid, I felt like I was watching the movie for the very first time. It was great. The sound was wonderful on my system, and my friends are now all inviting themselves over to watch it too. It's great for all ages, and other than a few clothing styles, it's truly a timeless classic.
Rating:
Summary: This movie is amazing, my favorite from Spielberg
Review: I am not the biggest fan of Spielberg. He might be thought of as one of Hollywood's sacred cows, but not everything he's done has turned to gold. A regrettable example of that would be ...Batteries Not Included in 1987. He has done his share of stinkers as well, but Close Encounters of the Third Kind, even more so than E.T., in my opinion, is his crowning achievement. I guess I have a bias towards Close Encounters as far as Spielberg films goes because it gives me such fine reminders of my early childhood (I was just five years old when it hit the theatres in November 1977). Trust me on this, this is one creepy film. Especially the special effects and the fact a lot of it was set at night, giving one the creepy feeling that one might encounter of UFO. Enough has been already said of the film that hasn't been already said. The film involves Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who keeps having a recurring vision of Devil's Tower in Wyoming, which he is so compelled to go there that it ruined his marriage with Ronnie (Teri Garr). Devil's Tower was the location where Roy will encounter the giant mothership and communicate with the aliens. There are at least a couple of versions of this film. There was the theatrical version where Roy communicates with the aliens in the spaceship at the end but that's it. And then there's the 1980 Special Edition where you actually see the interior of the UFO that Roy went in to. I have seen both versions, so I should know. When you're younger, you mostly enjoy the movie for the visual effects and the fact you got to see aliens at the end (which look very similar to the "Greys" that real life people said they encountered when they were supposedly abducted by aliens). When you're older, you'll find out the movie has a lot of cover-ups and conspiracies involved as to why the area around Devil's Tower was evacuated (truly a treat for those who listen to Art Bell's radio program). It took me so long to figure out what was up with those fighter planes found in the desert, those were the ones that disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle in December 1945 (several months after WWII ended). If it was any movie that was perfect to watch at the drive-ins back in the 1970s, Close Encounters was truly that one movie. I am not much for Hollywood movies, because so much of it is so hyped and commercialized, or so mediocre, but this is truly amazing and needs to be seen.
Rating:
Summary: Just as amazing as it was when I first saw it...
Review: This is such a classic film, it's hard to review. So great to see special effects that were really special, and not just a bunch of CGI. The acting is superb, the story is beautiful and inspiring, and the added material on the DVD edition was really neat to see! If you've seen this film, then you probably know what a jewel it is. If you haven't -- you should!
Rating: 
Summary: Over hyped eye candy with no plot
Review: Okay, we all agree the visual effects were beyond the leading edge for the era. We all know today's computers can blow it away visually. But really, the plot is WEAK. The characters are so shallow. I mean, the farm mother loses her kid, and doesn't even seem that upset! Hello? And what is a single mother doing raising a young kid on a farm in the 70's? Where is the father? Where is the character development? Why didn't Dreyfus' wife put him in the psyche ward when he tore up the neighborhood? Why didn't the police drag him in for protective custody? The plot is so goofy and contrived it totally distracts from the big picture themes. The 1 star is only for visuals, otherwise, it ranks about a zero. One of the most over rated films of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Required owning.
Review: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is one of those films that define what the 70s were all about, moviewise. It is an exploration of humanity - what would it, truly, be like to meet an alien race from another world? What kind of people would be up to it? How would we communicate? And would they be hostile or friendly? Steven Spielberg's film has defied dating. Although the time and place are the same, the messages are universal and do not grow less with age. And Richard Dreyfuss as Roy Neary, American Everyman, hasn't been better before or since, in my opinion. Plus, the film boasts the legendary Francois Truffaut. The special effects, amazing for the day, continue to jawdrop. The sound and picture quality are flawless, especially the DTS track, which resonates with the voices of the otherworldly. The documentary, culled from the laserdisc version, is excellent, and even better than a commentary. It offers insight into the making of one of the most important science fiction films ever made. And there's a particularly hilarious story Steve Spielberg tells about an orangutang on roller skates that must be heard to be believed. This is a must own.
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