E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)

-

Director: Steven Spielberg

Writer: Melissa Mathison

Stars: Henry Thomas, Robert Macnaughton, Drew Barrymore, Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, KC Martel, Sean Frye, C. Thomas Howell


    

A stranded alien finds refuge with a young boy (Henry Thomas) who tries to help him find his way home. 



This timeless film is a perfect dream of childhood, in which the kids are heroes and the adults are clueless at best and villains at worst.

 


Elliott and his siblings (Robert Macnaughton and Drew Barrymore) come from a broken home and live in a soulless suburban neighborhood, but they find that adventure is right in their own backyard.

 


There is something very touching in the way that the boy and the alien are perfectly suited to provide for each other’s needs.

 


The innocence of the children makes them the most appropriate ambassadors for this encounter, but that innocence is also tainted by their exposure to adults and their impulse to control and analyze rather than simply connect. 



Such is the bittersweet transition from child to adult. 



One quibble with the story: the powers of levitation that ET demonstrates would mean that he should have the capability to fly around like Superman, an ability that would have caused many key scenes to play out differently.






























Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Hamilton (2020)

-
Image
Director: Thomas Kail Writers: Lin-Manuel Miranda, based on the book by Ron Chernow Stars: Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom, Jr., Phillipa Soo, Renee Elise Goldsberry, Christopher Jackson, Daveed Diggs, Anthony Ramos This powerful Broadway musical provides an exciting, explosive account of Alexander Hamilton’s battle to transcend his outsider status as a low born bastard from the West Indies and gain the respect and power in America that will ultimately grant him access to “the room where it happens,” the place where policy is made and the course of the nation is set.  This filmed record of the stage production, assembled from two performances, showcases the energy of the performers.  In addition to the quality of the play, it is astonishing just to witness the complex interplay of music, rap, and choreography in long unbroken takes.  Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote both the music and the book and made the bold choice to cast it almost exclusively with people of color.  This...
Read more

The Dragon Reborn (The Wheel of Time #3) (1991)

-
Image
by Robert Jordan This novel draws Robert Jordan's large cast of characters, scattered during the events of the previous book, together once again for a confrontation with evil in the city of Tear, where Rand al'Thor, now becoming widely acknowledged as the much anticipated and dreaded Dragon Reborn, must claim a legendary sword in accordance with prophecy. Robert Jordan  Jordan has quite a few balls in the air already in a series that numbers fourteen fat novels.  Judging from the opinions of readers of the later books, it looks as though this profusion of heroes, villains, and schemes may ultimately serve to diffuse the drama of Jordan's story; however, this novel maintains its narrative momentum by showing us how our cast of characters converge for an action-packed climax.  Rand is oddly missing from most of this tale, but we gain some intriguing insights into other characters. "The Dragon Reborn" (Spanish) "The Dragon Reborn" (Italian)
Read more

Three to Get Deadly (Stephanie Plum #3) (1997)

-
Image
by Janet Evanovich When Uncle Mo, owner of an ice cream shop and a beloved member of the community, fails to appear in court for a concealed carry charge, Stephanie Plum is tasked to track him down.  It’s supposed to be an easy assignment for the fledgling bounty hunter, but it makes her unpopular in the community and takes a dark turn when dead bodies start popping up.  This outing isn’t a mere repeat of the previous two adventures, in which Stephanie chased down quirky bail jumpers.  Although this one dips a toe (but only a toe) into the vigilante men’s adventure pool, my understanding is that subsequent entries pull back from this direction.  So it’s a little darker, but the formula is also beginning to gel (or congeal, depending on your view of it).  Reliable cast members such as Morelli, Ranger, and Grandma Mazur are present, but there is no development to their characters, and it’s starting to look like their unchanging nature may just be part of the formu...
Read more