Jaws (1975)

 

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

 

A.I.: Artificial Intelligence (2001)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) **

For me, the best thing about writer/director Steven’s Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) is that Francois Truffaut is in it.  Yes, the film is full of (for the time) wonderful special effects and the miniature aliens are inspired, but I’m just not a big fan of science fiction.  When I scan my cinematic memory I can only think of two films from the genre that I really liked: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and District 9 (2009).  As such, this hampers my appreciation for revered science fiction movies like this and 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). 

The first big mistake Spielberg makes is casting Bob Balaban as David Laughlin, Claude Lacombe’s (Truffaut) French interpreter. Perhaps it’s a small thing but Balaban looks and sounds too much like the film’s star, Richard Dreyfuss.  From the very start I was confused—what would a utility man from Muncie, Indiana, be doing in the Sonoran and Gobi Deserts? Yes, I eventually realized they were two separate men and actors, but it just seemed like a poor casting decision to me.

Anyway, the film is about the three different types of encounters that humans can have with aliens.  The first section of the movie deals with the sightings of UFOs that no one wants to report for fear of being labeled a kook. The second encounter is, I suppose, when alien ships hover above you and shine a light bright enough to give you a severe sunburn—thus, creating evidence that you have been touched by an alien.  This happens to Roy Neary (Dreyfuss) and Jillian (Melinda Dillon) and her son, Barry (Cary Guffey).  Well, Barry’s experience is slightly different than the others, because he willingly makes contact (the third encounter) before everyone else.  When he starts joyfully chasing the aliens through the cornfields you think he may not be right in the head, but when you actually see the aliens at the end of the film you realize he probably thought he was running after an image of himself, as he looks suspiciously a lot like them.  I ask you, where was Barry’s father and why was he never mentioned? 

While Barry was off gallivanting with the aliens, an image of Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, was being implanted in Roy and Jillian’s minds.  Soon both are compelled to artistically depict this message—Jillian endlessly sketches and Roy builds first a mashed potatoes and then a clay sculpture of the landform.  Roy’s actions are of particular consequence, as his wife (Teri Garr) and three children leave him after he appears to have become completely unglued.

The man who brings all of the stories together is Lacombe.  Based on a bizarre conversation in Northern India, Lacombe figures out that the aliens communicate via a five-tone musical phrase in a major scale. He then starts explaining this to other scientists using the Zoltan Kodaly Method—using hand signals to reference musical notes.  With the help of his interpreter and  Dreyfuss lookalike, they figure out that the aliens are sending them longitudinal coordinates that indicate, you guessed it, Devil’s Tower, Wyoming.  What happens next is a music and light show from out of this world—literally.

Let’s forget that I wasn’t that interested in Roy and Jillian compulsion to track down the aliens in Wyoming and focus on what I liked about Close Encounters of the Third Kind. First, Spielberg let Truffaut speak 90% of his lines in French, thus adding some authenticity to an otherwise ridiculous character.  Second, as creepy as the music was, composer John Williams made it memorable.  Third, although I don’t drop acid, I can appreciate the work that went into creating first the various UFOs and then the massive mothership. Douglas Trumbull and his special effects crew did an awesome job with the ships, and Carlo Rambaldi’s aliens were creepily cute—I especially liked when one smiled.  Other than that, I wasn’t overly impressed. 

My quest to find another science fiction movie that I can admire continues.  Although Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a visually impressive film, it falls short in the area of storytelling and lacks a character that I could really bring myself to either root for or against.  I do like the fact, however, that the aliens were peaceful and not trying to destroy the planet.  Surely that is something.

Jurassic Park (1993) **

I’m one of those people who as a child could have cared less about dinosaurs. I never had a desire to learn all of the dinosaur names or go to museums and look at their skeletal remains. When I visited the Field Museum in Chicago I was more interested in looking at the Aztec, Inca and Maya collections that anything else.  As such, it should come as no surprise that I just wasn’t that into director Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park (1993). Yes, there are a lot of stunning visuals (CGI can work miracles), and it is somewhat interesting to see what dinosaurs might have looked like, but that’s really all I can say for this horror/disaster film. 

Michael Crichton was paid $500,000 to adapt his best-selling novel, Jurassic Park, for this Spielberg and Universal Pictures enterprise.  Crichton was aided in this endeavor by fellow screenwriter David Koepp, who cut out large segments of violence from the novel and simplified the final screenplay. Still, the movie justly garnered a PG-13 rating—there was more than enough violence and terror for me, let alone the minds of young children, whose parents still took them to see this $900 million world-wide grossing adventure.  Oh, and bought them the t-shirts, lunch boxes, and other merchandise that made this one of the most profitable franchises ever—two sequels and a river adventure at Universal Resort created what seems like an endless revenue stream. 

If you think about it it is more than bizarre that there is Jurassic Park River Adventure at Universal Resort.  The film is about a dinosaur theme park (Jurassic Park) situated somewhere near Costa Rica that has some liability and security issues—namely man-eating dinosaurs.  Why would anyone who has seen humans terrorized by giant reptiles want to go on a vacation to a resort that mimics many aspects of the film?  Granted, the dinosaurs aren’t real, but this doesn’t negate the fact that Jurassic Park was most assuredly not the happiest place on earth. 

Seeing the life-size dinosaurs and the lush rainforest were both highlights.  Spielberg has a unique talent for creating stunning visuals for his adventure movies.  He and cinematographer Dean Cundey produced lasting images with the help of the special effects of Stan Winston, Phil Tippett, Michael Lantieri, and Dennis Muren.  Enhanced by a memorable musical score by John Williams, Jurassic Park’s visuals are truly a sight to see.

Ah, but stunning visuals does not make me love a movie.  The story itself is utterly ridiculous.  Could a man (Sam Neill) really safely navigate through lush terrain infested with carnivorous dinosaurs?  But wait, he has to drag along two kids (Ariana Richards and Joseph Mazzello), too? 

When you have a lot of screaming and running something usually happens to the quality of acting—this film is no exception.  Laura Dern relies on a variety of facial expressions for emotive purposes, and Neill just looks pissed off in most scenes.  Richard Attenborough, who plays the eccentric owner of the park, fully delves into his character’s quirkiness.  Quite simply, this movie does not rely on the performances of the humans to push it along—that honor rests solely with the CGI created dinosaurs. 

Final analysis: extraordinary visuals; ridiculous plot; and, lackluster cast.  One out of three isn’t necessarily bad, but it is definitely not good, either.