Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977, EMI Films
Steven Spielberg is in top form with this seminal film about bug-eyed space aliens visiting the Earth. While it was an enormous hit, and certainly deserved of praise, I'm not able to give it full marks; it suffers from being over-long. Not to mention the musical "conversation" at the end is just too silly and overwrought, in contrast to the reasonably plausible build-up to the climax. And the "special edition" version where we go inside is nothing to write home about; all it does is needlessly drag out the ending, not unlike A.I. Artificial Intelligence. But kudos to Spielberg for making a friendly alien story for a change.
DKS 12/17/17
GRUMPY OLD FART-O-METER® Rating:
