throopw@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Wayne Throop) wrote in news:1206637736@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>: Gene Ward Smith <gene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>: The fact is, the movie is what we saw, and what we saw would have
>: made it on its own merits, without Star Wars.
>
> CE3K had merits? Huh. I must have blinked during that part.
Yeah, boring merits like characters, sensawunda and stuff. But let us
consult the Ultimate Authority, and see:
Close Encounters has a 95% rating at rottentomatos.com and keeps a score
of
7.8 on imdb.com. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times said "it's one of
the
great movie going experiences" and today this film is known as a classic
by
most critics and fans, the movie is considered to be one of Spielberg's
best films and also one of the best films to deal with aliens coming to
earth. ... In 1998, the American Film Institute placed the film 64th on
its' list of the 100 greatest American films. In 2007, the film was
selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by
the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or
aesthetically significant.
Gosh, maybe I'd better check the Ultimate Authority on your favorite
movie,
except I don't know what that is. Here is Star Wars:
"In a 1977 review, Roger Ebert called the film "an out-of-body
experience," compared its special effects to those of 2001: A Space
Odyssey, and opined that the true strength of the film was its "pure
narrative." Vincent Canby called the film "the movie that's going to
entertain a lot of contem****ary folk who have a soft spot for the
virtually
ritualized manners of comic-book adventure." Pauline Kael of The New
Yorker
criticized the film, stating that "there's no breather in the picture, no
lyricism," and that it had no "emotional grip." Jonathon Rosenbaum of the
Chicago Reader stated, "None of these characters has any depth, and
they're
all treated like the fanciful props and settings!" Peter Keough of the
Boston Phoenix said "Star Wars is a junkyard of cinematic gimcracks not
unlike the Jawas' heap of purloined, discarded, barely functioning
droids." Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic also responded negatively,
noting, "His work here seems less inventive than in THX 1138." According
to
rottentomatoes.com, of the 54 critical reviews of the film provided on
that
site, 51 responded favorably (95% of the reviewers), stating in consensus
that "the action and special effects are first rate."
In 1989, the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress
selected the film as a "culturally, historically, or aesthetically
im****tant" film. In 2006, Lucas' original screenplay was selected by the
Writers Guild of America as the 68th greatest of all time. The American
Film Institute (or AFI) listed it 15th on a list of the top 100 films of
the 20th century; in the UK, a poll created by Channel 4 named A New Hope
(together with its successor, The Empire Strikes Back) the greatest film
of
all time.
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