Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful and weird.
Review: This is such a great, great, great film. It succeeds on so many levels and this new directors cut is the best presentation of this film yet. Many scenes are restored to the film that I think add nicely to the build up and some have been removed that add to the mystery at the end, such as not showing us the inside of the ship from Richard Dreyfuss's perspective. Also the use of Devils Tower, a black monolith combined with the eerie choral overture is a Spielberg homage to Kubrick's 2001. It is interesting to note that the government organization that is researching the aliens use the illuminati pyramid as their symbol indicating to the audience the secret society connections, they even have their own flag. Also I believe that Spielberg is clearly pointing out to us by the way the aliens arrive in clouds and thunder with flashing lights that they may very well be the God of the bible. Them choosing a mountain to appear for communication, descending upon it in cloud and thunder is right out of the old testament. Also the smaller ships have a definite face or animal like appearance and remind one of the visions of the bible prophets and from a distance can appear like stars in the sky when they mimic the big dipper which could also explain the ancient worlds fascination with the stars. But to remove all doubt Spielberg holds a church blessing on the team that will be going back with the aliens, as the minister gives the blessing he reads from a passage of the bible talking about angels lifting us up and in the background is a Christian cross side by side with the star of David. A deeper film than many believe and overall a beautiful DVD transfer with incredible sound.
Rating: 
Summary: A ruined masterpiece! How could they have blown it so badly?
Review: The 1977 theatrical version of this film was truly great. It was a breakthrough. I hated the rerelease the so called "special edition". It was the first time that I had ever heard of a director taking a magnificent film and then ruining it. When VHS came out I hoped the far superior original '77 version of the film would become available but they only offered that aweful "SE" version. Now the DVD is out and again Speilberg has blown it. At least he has finally admitted that showing the inside of the mothership was a big mistake. STill, he seemed to think the rest of his changes were worth making. In my view everything they ended up doing weakened a once great film. Now I hate that film. It sucks. I understand the only way to view the great origional '77 version is on laser disk which are probably very hard to find. Screwing around with the original '77 version was the greatest mistake I'd ever seen a professional filmmaker make. Allowing the origional to disappear the next.
Rating: 
Summary: Finally on DVD, but What's Missing?
Review: My favorite movie, hands down. It's merited my favor simply because of it's stunning visual effects, which still hold up wonderfully during this age of increasing use of CG effects.
Everything from lens flares to the dazzling colors to the
twinkling starfields are all there in their digital glory.Still, having seen most versions of the film with it's various
edits and changes, I still wish for the complete version of the film with all scenes intact. Also, the documentary seems to have a few scenes missing that were on the collector's widescreen edition(VHS), such as alien sequences and test prints not used in the film. Also, it sure is hard to read those subtitles in
widescreen! I should not gripe, though. The movie is a long-awaited addition to my DVD collection, and the extensive behind-the-scenes sections and deleted scenes sections more than make up
for any flaws. Why be a completist? Enjoy the movie! -KS
Rating:
Summary: Classic
Review: There's too little to add to anything that's been said about this movie. But in a few words I think that's fair to say that we are talking about one of the best movies of the history. I think that the word poetry applies excellent to this movie. And specifically talking about the DVD edition I think that's something that does justice to the movie. An excellent DVD edition to enjoy an excellent movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Along with E.T., one of the most overrated films.
Review: It was a blockbuster when first released, for a number of reasons: the big-budget special effects, the 5-note musical alien message that entered the popular culture, the warm-and-fuzzy ending, etc. But the story doesn't hold up today; like other well-known science fiction films (e.g., The Day the Earth Stood Still), it is more a reflection of our culture and beliefs at the time it was made than a plausible view of reality.
Rating: 
Summary: Dullish but sporadically entertaining
Review: This is a film that has gained a huge reputation as a timeless classic. Why? It drags, the main character cheats on his wife, aliens who are first shown as mean are really nice, a guy with wife and kids goes with some of the cheapest, ugliest aliens ever shown. It does not deserve the praise it gets. Attention CEOT3K fans: watch this again, and think about it.
Rating:
Summary: A Spielberg classic
Review: The film starts and we see UFOs flying above. Roy sees it up close, and becomes obsessed with finding out what is going, at the expense of his family who think he's gone crazy. He becomes friends with a women he met the night he saw the UFOs, who had her son abducted. They both have visions of a tower, that holds some sort of significance. When they see on TV that near Devils Tower in Wyoming, there has been an evacuation because of a toxic spill, they both realize this is the tower they have been seeing. They travel there, and find an awful lot of mysteries there. What is going on at this tower, that is calling these UFO witnesses there, as well as the military? This is one of Steven Spielbergs first films, and was very successful. At the time their was a lot of interest in UFOs in the mainstream. The special effects in this movie are stunning, and the UFOs look amazing. There is also a small romance undercurrent present. The film is open ended and has a lot to be interpreted, letting us use our imagination to build upon the story's conclusion. Kids and adults will enjoy this film, but there is some profanity. Any fan of science fiction absolutely needs to see this film. 4 stars. Check it out.
Rating:
Summary: Starting to show its age, but still wonderful
Review: In many ways, this is my favorite Spielberg film. It has an almost brash innocence missing from many of his later, more self-conscious and overproduced works. There are so many classic scenes here. The fighter squadron in the desert. The alien encounter on the lonely road. The moment Dreyfuss recognizes the mountain's shape. The interview with Truffaut in the Army base camp. The kid being abducted and carried off into the clouds with the mother desperately running after... wow. Great stuff. In fact, I think I'm gonna put it on the ol' DVD player right now.
Rating:
Summary: Good, yet strangly unfulfilling.
Review: This is a nicely packaged set for this famous 70's film. Tons of extra info is included for those who wish to delve into the minutae of the films development and arrival on the screen. This is one of Spielberg's more intriguing films, yet it leaves me curiously unmoved. The storyline is good. The effects are really good. The script is good. The locations are fantastic. The acting is good. I don't know what it is, but this is a film that I am rarely tempted to watch. For me, this is a "pull it out once every five years" film. I find the development of the plot lines to be interesting and one that raises numerous questions. I just am not terribly interested in the way the director chose to answer those questions. It doesn't gel for me. In the end I kind of have a 'so that's it?' feeling. The DVD treatment here is exquisite-more than you need really, but that is a good thing. I found the extras more compelling than the film itself. I probably would not recommend the film on its own, but the inclusion of so much other material makes this a good buy.
Rating:
Summary: Spielberg's masterpiece
Review: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is one of Spielberg's most personal films, and one of his best DVDs. Originally released in 1977, Spielberg re-released it with additional footage in 1980, then altered it again for the film's 1997 re-release on VHS with the extra footage dropped and some scenes never released put back in. This DVD is the definitive version of Spielberg's classic, with the extra sections making the film's progress more involving than when it was first released.
Extra stuff aside, does the film itself deserve a place in the collection of all-time great Science Fiction? The answer is a resounding yes, as the film conveys a sense of excitement, wonder and obsession. Different from other nihlistic sci fi films (The Alien movies), Close Encounters is a story of a man (Richard Dreyfuss), who, after having an encounter with a U.F.O, starts to become fixated with images and sounds that draw him to the film's conclusion.
Dreyfuss, who also starred in Spielberg's own Jaws (1975), is brilliant in this film, with his gradual obsessions and transfixion creating a fascinating film, which has become an undisputed classic. While perhaps not as essential as the 2 Disc version with lots of extras, CE3K is an impressive film in any format.
|
