Unashamed to call it great

Rating: Null/10 (25 July 2001)

The film is not perfect, but it certainly is one of the most wonderful and unique cinematic achievements ever made. So many simple plot elements are made into a beautiful and continually watchable experience because of the movie's great director. Spielberg has developed an unfair reputation over the years for making "blatant" and "simple minded" type films. I love a lot of his movies: "Jaws", "Close Encounters", "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (the whole trilogy for that matter), "Schindler's List" and "Saving Private Ryan" are amongst my (and pretty much the critics and everyone else's) favorites. These are great films. It may be even more challenging for a director to turn what would appear to be pretentious and maybe boring ideas into films as exciting as the ones he's made. "E.T.", though not my absolute favorite (that one goes to "Raiders"), is a magical film, magical because of it's use of music with images. Had one or the other been missing, the film would have failed. So, I guess you could say John Williams was just as crucial, if not the most crucial collaborator with Spielberg on the film.
"E.T." deserves it's spot as being one of the best films made. It's an important film. A rare film. One that doesn't hit every mark, but no film I can think of does.
*****/*****