The first film in years to give its audiences a tingle of shocked emotion that is not entirely based either on fear or on suspense.
Comment
02/09/06
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
95
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:39
Fresh:37
Rotten:2
Average Rating:8.7/10
Consensus: Close Encounters' most iconic bits (the theme, the mashed-potato sculpture, etc.) have been so thoroughly absorbed into the culture that it's easy to forget that its treatment of aliens as peaceful beings rather than warmongering monsters was somewhat groundbreaking in 1977.
Runtime: 6 hrs 44 mins
Genre: Science-Fiction/Fantasy
Synopsis: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND is Steven Spielberg's extraordinary film about a man named Roy Neary (Richard Dreyfuss) who becomes obsessed with meeting extraterrestrials after encountering a... [More]
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon, François Truffaut
Director: Steven Spielberg
Reviews for Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Top CriticSaturated with imagery that fascinates, terrifies, and utterly consumes the viewer with the desire to discover the secret that's eating away at the on-screen characters.
06/27/01
Top Critic. . . this is thrill-a-minute stuff.
01/01/00
Top CriticNo review available.
10/04/03
No review available.
01/12/03
Has just not held up.
11/24/03
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is a humanistic postmodern masterpiece.
01/01/00
Top CriticA daring film concept which in its special and technical effects has been superbly realized.
06/05/07
Top CriticThe film...lacks blockbuster detachment.
05/21/01
By the end, we’re swept away by the wonder of discovery; it's enough to thrill even a sci-fi sceptic.
07/25/01
No review available.
12/05/03
It plays out as a film buff's idea of what a UFO sighting would be like if it could be a cross between a Disney theme park and a 1970s light show at a disco.
09/13/07
[A] great movie, and one of the rare uplifting experiences in modern cinema.
01/01/00
Though made the same year, Spielberg's awe-inspiring sci-fi fable has held much better than Star Wars due to his sublime crafstmanship, which benefits from sharp imagery and F/X, and engaging story and charcaters, well-acted by Richard Dreyfuss and others
11/11/07
Masterwork thriller about UFOs.
09/01/02
No review available.
07/29/04
Close Encounters of the Third Kind is unquestionably a great movie.
07/11/02
Spielberg is nothing if not adept at punching our buttons and making us puppets in his hands.
05/30/01
Not even Spielberg makes them as they used to.
12/05/03
Definitive cut of director Steven Spielberg's masterpiece isn't just great science fiction: It's great art.
11/07/02
Latest News for Close Encounters of the Third Kind
January 03, 2008:
New Indy 4 Interviews, Pictures Online!
May 22 still feels awfully far away, but if the nearly six-month gap between your eyeballs and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull has you feeling forlorn, fear... More...
December 13, 2007:
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This Christmas, we're asking Santa for Sam Jackson's Star Wars: Episode III lightsaber, Neo's Matrix Reloaded coat, and a full scale T-800 Terminator 2 endoskeleton for that... More...
June 28, 2005:
Critical Consensus: Aliens Invade, Critics Cheer
Steven Spielberg has made a couple movies -- Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. -- about benevolent aliens who come in peace and gently help us to reflect on our place... More...
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