Did you miss, in 1977, Close Encounters of the Third Kind?

[NNadir]

In case you did, Steven Spielberg made it again, the 2026 version.

It's called Disclosure Day.

My wife wanted to see it, so I went with her because of the blistering heat.

Look, I had a good time, because when I go anywhere with my wife, it's a good time.

By the way, I really admire the actress Emily Blunt - her performance as Kitty Oppenheimer in the movie Oppenheimer was absolutely great in the way she captured that complex historical figure - and I really like the actor Josh O'Conner, who I loved in the 3rd "Knives Out" movie Wake Up Dead Man. (Colin Firth, as the "bad guy" in Disclosure Day is wasted in this role, a truly great actor forced into being cardboard. Too bad...)

Both Blunt and O'Connor act well in this movie, because, well they're good actors.

All that said...

Steven Spielberg has made some great movies I think, Lincoln, Empire of the Sun and Schindler's List come to mind, but as he nears the end of his life, he's kind of regressed to "ET" meets "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" meets "Disclosure Day." The last two are basically the same movie, the latter simply updated from the former with a little more splash and effects substituting for Devil's Tower.

I'm not a fan of "science" fiction, so take my word for what it's worth. Real science is so much better than "science" fiction in my opinion, always far more interesting.

For the record, if I recall, although I saw them, probably at the behest of some girlfriend or another at the time - I don't actually remember why I saw them - I thought "ET" and "Close Encounters" were eye rollers. My girlfriend of the last 42 years wanted to see this one, and being with her, I enjoyed it, because I was with her, but well...I want to be a good sport of a husband.

I don't know why I felt like doing a movie review, but I just did anyway.

[zanana1]

1. I saw Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

I was confused by the mashed potatoes.

[NNadir]

2. I can't say I remember that part. It's been, what, almost half a century.

[onethatcares]

4. the mashed potatos

were what Dreyfus used to model El Capitan

[miyazaki]

5. You mean The Devils Tower?

[MIButterfly]

3. I never saw ET or Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Neither one has ever been my cup of tea.

[AZJonnie]

6. Even in 1977, when I was 11, Close Encounters seemed cheesy and lame to me

And I was all about the space stuff at the time, huge Star Wars fan (like every kid of that era).

Then again, I knew that was all fantasy, and I've known that the whole 'aliens visiting earth during our era of civilization' thing was extremely improbable since I was about that age, so even sitting in the theater as a child, I remember being like 'yeah, right'.

I've also never seen E.T.

[msongs]

7. I didnt see but I wouldnt say I missed it either nt

[Morbius]

8. About science fiction...

A lot of movies are unjustly called science fiction. Star Wars is a fantasy, Dune is a political drama, Firefly is a western; they're all called science fiction because they're set in space or the far future. Last night I watched Project Hail Mary; this is much more a science fiction movie because there's some actual science involved.

[NNadir]

9. As a scientist who saw Project Hail Mary, I offer my opinion that the science is pretty terrible in that film.

It too is a fantasy.

[Morbius]

11. I wrote that there's some.

Not much, but some, but now that I think about it I can't come up with examples. So I apologize, and I will go away now.

I beg forgiveness for my abject stupidity.

[NNadir]

12. I certainly would not call the claim to be representive of "stupidity."

I had no intent to insult you and if you take it to be so I offer a sincere apology.

On the other hand, this exchange raises a point, which is that "science" fiction can and often does present a false impression of science, and to extent people embrace that impression it can have some unfortunate consequences.

Science is under attack in this country and the consequences may be irretreivable. As a scientist living in a world where respect for the institution of the scientific practice is declining, I feel that perhaps it is wise to distinguish what it is and is not.

It is not what is portrayed in most movies of this type.

Again I apologize if I have offended you. It was not my intent.

[hunter]

15. Most science fiction is a subgenre of fantasy. I read or watch it as such.

Most of the stuff that people call science fiction is pure fantasy, especially anything that has people living on other planets or traveling to other stars.

For a lot of reasons one can say with great confidence that faster than light travel and time travel (two sides of the same coin) are not possible in this universe. A universe where these were possible wouldn't look like the one we live in and would certainly be inhospitable to life as we know it.

Closer to earth, the big elephant in the room is that manned space travel is extremely expensive, dangerous, and largely pointless. Keeping humans alive and healthy in space becomes increasingly difficult with distance. More to the point, anything people can do in space robots can do better. The intangibles -- pride, politics, adventure, whatever -- don't outweigh that. It's likely that humans will send a few more people to the moon and that will be that. If we are lucky no one will die. I don't think there will be any human mars colonies, asteroid miners, manned expeditions to Jupiter, etc. in our future.

A lot of dystopian science fiction hits too close to home. I think I'm done with stories set in post-apocalyptic worlds that feature fascist governments tracking our lives in such detail that they can predict our behavior. I think I'm done with stories about civilizations destroyed by nuclear or biological warfare. I think I'm done with stories about the total collapse of earth's natural environment.

I'd like to see more science fiction that maps out possible paths to a brighter future. If we abandon hope we are doomed. Stories where space aliens save us from ourselves don't count.

[AllaN01Bear]

10. nope and i have it on disc.

[TBF]

13. Yes it certainly brought back CE and ET -

We loved it! It was pure nostalgia of course. Our 23-year-old daughter is a sound engineer in NYC and went to see it when I told her about it. She was not nearly so impressed but did agree that it was "interesting from a historical perspective". lol

[justaprogressive]

14. Saw CE with several

friends of like mind... We all enjoyed it tremendously including cut scenes such as:

throwing the bushes and garbage in the kitchen window...very important in showcasing
Richard's level of obsession...should never have been cut!