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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Fran?ois Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, Bob Balaban Director: Steven Spielberg Average Rating: 
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2008-12-23The sign of a classic movie is how well it ages and "Close Encounters ..." seems to get better over the years and the more times you watch it. This film has many signs to show that it was influented by Stanley Kubrick's masterpeice "2001: A Space Odyssey" from the opening sequence to the massive role of music to the whole feel of the movie and yet Spielberg did not simpley copy Kubrick's formula but instead took the genre on to another level putting his own stamp on it. Franchises like The "X-Files" and many others have at least been influented themselves by this film and the special effects are spectauclar for the time given there was little if any CGI to the scale of today and yet the visual effects hold up very well even by todays standards.
This one-disc Collector's Edition is also a real treat for fans as it has been restored very, very well for an excelllent picture and sound quality. I watched this in DTS suround and anamorphic video and the impact was fabulous! I finaly did justice to my system as it gave all my speakers a great workout. I tried to find picture imperfections but in vain.
The only reason I gave this 4 stars is because there are no Special Features to speak of and for that you'll need to get the 2-Disc version. For those who just want a great Director's Cut version of this film and are happy with just the one disc like myself, this is a very good dvd version to get.
Highly recomended!
2008-12-10Strange events around the world foreshaddow the first contact between mankind and aliens. severeal people who encounter UFOs are psyhically imprinted with an impulse to converge on the meeting area, including a worker for the phone company (Richard Dreyfuss) and a mother (Melinda Dillon) searching for her abducted son (Cary Guffey).
I'm not sure which of the three (at least) versions of this film I saw. I didnt get to see the interior of the ship at the end, but I did see the scene in which Dreyfuss tears up his yard to construct a replica of the mountian in his visions; that may provide a clue to those who are more knowlege about this movie than I. There may be a superior version of this film out there, but I enjoyed this one quite a bit. noone can convey that sense of wonder better than Stephen Spielberg at his best. The story stucture is very effective, alternating between the intellectually stimulating narrative of two scientists (Francois Truffaut and Bob Balaban) who are investigating the unusual phenomena and the intense, personel stories of two people who don't understand what is happening to them. The wonderful finale provides a nice contrast to most science fiction films, which are really teched up action flicks with violent endings.
2008-11-03One thing it might mean is that this is one of the most unique science fiction films ever made. I recently watched it with my wife (who very rarely enjoys any kind of sci-fi), a friend, and that friend's wife (who simpley detests all sci-fi). Yet everyone enjoyed it. (My friend and I had already seen it.)
"This means something," is a reccuring line throughout CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, similiar to "I've got a bad feeling about this," in the STAR WARS films. So, the dialogue is not the best ever written. But CE3K contains a human element interwoven throughout both the character development as well as the plot development that you're unlikely to find any other science fiction film, and certain not to find in any other UFO film.
Often great movies get cloned and copied, and fans of the orginal get annoyed. Well, I don't think CE3K ever got cloned or copied and that's what annoys me. The movie industry would be able to boast in much more quality if it put out more movies like this. I'm not saying it's a perfect movie on any level, but it's certainly not the typical alien invasion movie either. In fact it's not an alien invasion movie at all. I can't think of any other popular film (with the exception of E.T.) which featured not only peaceful visitors from another world, but a peaceful intial encounter between them and us. It reminds me of a statement which famed Christian author C.S. Lewis once made when he explained that if there are other life forms out there he would be more scared for them than of them, since we would only end up corrupting them as we have already corrupted ourselves. (I'm paraphrasing the statement, but it can be found in his collection of essays GOD IN THE DOCK.)
A decent review of CLOSE ENCOUNTERS cannot conclude without mentioning the briliant musical scoring by John Williams (who was nominated for an acadamy Award but lost to...himself for STAR WARS). A person cannot watch this film without having those five simple notes buzzing around in their brains for some time. perhpas most moving of all is when he wraps the movie up with an intermingling of the movie's theme with "When You Wish Upon a Star" (Disney's PINOCCHIO plays a part in an earlier part of the film.)
This is the kind of film you love so much, that with every viewing, you know you haven't watched it for the last time.
2008-10-03Bought for my grandfather and he said it came quickly and he is very happy with the quality of the video.
2008-10-02The idea of an "everyman" confronting aliens is a great plot device, but Spielberg's ham fisted direction sinks this project. It COULD have been a classic. I was rather taken with it back when it played first-run, but now I can see that the effects work of Doug Trumbull and the music of John Williams were what really kept this afloat intially. Also, this blu-ray looks grainier than the theatrical presentation.
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| Editorial Review |
Anybody who has written him off because of his string of stinkers--or anybody who's too young to remember The Goodbye Girl--may be shocked at the accomplishment and nuance of Richard Dreyfuss's performance in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Here, he plays a man possessed; contacted by aliens, he (along with other members of the "chosen") is drawn toward the site of the incipient landing: Devil's Tower, in rural Wyoming. As in many Spielberg films, there are no personalized enemies; the struggle is between those who have been called and a scientific establishment that seeks to protect them by keeping them away from the arriving spacecraft. The ship, and the special effects in general, are every bit as jaw-dropping on the small screen as they were in the theater (well, almost). Released in 1977 as a cerebral alternative to the swashbuckling science fiction epics then in vogue, Close Encounters now seems almost wholesome in its representation of alien contact and interested less in philosophizing about extraterrestrials than it is in examining the nature of the inner "call." Ultimately a motion picture about the obsession of the driven artist or determined visionary, Close Encounters comes complete with the stock Spielberg wives and girlfriends who seek to tether the dreamy, possessed protagonists to the more mundane concerns of the everyday. So a spectacular, seminal motion picture indeed, but one with gender politics that are all too terrestrial. --Miles Bethany
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