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Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) More at IMDbPro »
2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000
1-20 of 72 items from 2012 « Prev | Next »
Steven Spielberg's 'E.T.' Coming To Blu-Ray Without The Walkie Talkies
13 hours ago | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
It’s taken a few years but Steven Spielberg’s classic ”E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial” is finally getting a high-def upgrade. The 30th anniversary edition of the film, which hits stores this October, will feature an all-new digitally remastered transfer of the original 1982 theatrical cut. That’s right kids, the much-maligned 20th anniversary 2002 reissue won’t be making appearance on the disc other than in the form of two deleted scenes, so you don’t need to worry about seeing any walkie-talkies.
For those of you might not remember, the DVD release a decade back swapped out the guns used by the federal agents for more family friendly and less threatning walkie talkies, much to the dismay of fans (though the original theatrical cut was included as well). Why Spielberg bothered with the tinkering is unclear, but last year he made it known which version he preferred and wanted people to see. »
- Cain Rodriguez
Spielberg's "E.T." Goes Blu In October
30 May 2012 9:55 PM, PDT | Dark Horizons | See recent Dark Horizons news »
A while back film fans were lamenting the fact that Steven Spielberg had only taken brief dips into the waters of high-definition. At the time "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" were the only films he directed that were available on Blu-ray.
Well the man has made up for that shortfall over the past two years as a good portion of his back catalogue has made the jump. "The Color Purple," "Empire of the Sun," "Hook," "Jurassic Park," "The Lost World," "Saving Private Ryan," "Minority Report," "A.I.: Artificial Intelligence," "War of the Worlds" along with recent efforts "The Adventures of Tintin" and "War Horse" are all now out on Blu-ray.
It's the second half of this year however that the films most have been begging for will come. We've already heard of the announcements of "Jaws" in August and the »
- Garth Franklin
Ride My Tail Anytime: Thn’s Top Ten Movie Pilots
30 May 2012 8:07 AM, PDT | The Hollywood News | See recent The Hollywood News news »
With Red Tails whizzing into cinemas on the 6th of June (you can read our review here), we at Thn got to thinking, who are the best cinematic pilots? Come aboard as we count down the top ten magnificent men in their flying machines (they go up tiddly up up, you know).
10. Colm Meany off of Die Hard 2 (1990)
Poor Colm, he doesn’t even get a name in this movie. His character, as well as all the others on the doomed ‘Windsor Airlines’ flight exist only to die at the hands of Col. Stuart (William Adler) in order to prove what a ruthless sod he is. Flying in from London, the devilish Stuart tricks our nameless pilot and his crew into the wrong trajectory, so they crash into the runway, which is just plane unfortunate (‘Ave’it!). We know they’re English, because his first line is ‘Dallas Approach, »
- John Sharp
Must-See Short of the Day: Vessel
22 May 2012 4:42 PM, PDT | shocktillyoudrop.com | See recent shocktillyoudrop news »
A flight goes to hell in a pretty stellar short film called Vessel. This slice of "cool" from director Clark Baker grabbed our attention this afternoon and we just had to share.
Described as Alien, The Thing and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, "Vessel features a blend of old school, practical creature effects and slick, modern day VFX. The story focuses on Liberty Airlines' Flight 298 and its passengers. Shortly after takeoff, the passengers encounter an otherworldly force and are thrown into a fight for their lives!"
Head here for the official site to learn more about Baker and the team who made this film possible. Head inside to watch the short...
Read more »
Girls on film: how Tim Burton finally got his vamp right
18 May 2012 2:02 PM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
You can't really be an auteur until you've got your type – and that's just as true for the women directors
Tim Burton's Dark Shadows may have received a kicking from critics, but one person has emerged from the dust-up unscathed: Eva Green, the French actress who plays the evil witch Angelique Bouchard. With her red-lacquered lips, her crazy-beautiful eyes and possessed-marionette limbs, Green's lolling vamp represents the perfection of a type Burton has long been trying to get right – from Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman in Batman Returns, to Lisa Marie Smith's bosomy Martian in Mars Attacks!, to Anne Hathaway's White Queen in Alice in Wonderland.
Critics may be tired of the rest of Burton's directorial signatures – the ornate production designs, the seventies kitsch, the collaboration with Johnny Depp – but he's finally perfected his vamps: peroxide-blonde, big-chested, cinch-waisted, eyes like Bambi's.
All film directors have their types. Everyone »
- Tom Shone
6 Filmmaking Tips From Steven Spielberg
16 May 2012 11:00 AM, PDT | FilmSchoolRejects.com | See recent FilmSchoolRejects news »
With a giant pile of movies to his name, Steven Spielberg has the considerable honor of being the only filmmaker who makes entertainment that’s massively popular, critically acclaimed and decade-enduring. It’s an illusive triumvirate. His fundamental success is owed to a lot of things, but principle among them is his childhood sense of wonder and magic – a sense he’s never let go of. His childhood was also spent with a camera in hand. From Jaws to Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Indiana Jones to The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun and Jurassic Park and Amistad and Schindler’s List and Munich and, and, and…he’s been a prolific, skilled presence in the filmmaking world for going on 5 decades, and he’s done so by spanning genres, tones, and subjects. So here’s a bit of free film school (for fans and filmmakers alike) from a little kid who hid »
- Cole Abaius
The galactic disco genius of Meco!
11 May 2012 7:32 AM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
Twenty-five years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, disco producer Meco gave the Star Wars soundtrack an astronomical twist. Feast your ears on the cosmic funk
Quelque chose d'un wee bit différent this Friday, but bear with me: nearly 25 years ago, something momentous in world culture happened, an event that would sear the imaginations of every creative artist who has gone since, and if it didn't, well, it should have done. I refer not to the premiere of George Lucas's Star Wars, on 25 May 1977, but to the work of musical genius that the film inspired. John Williams's score? Only partly. Much, much better, indeed galactically finer, astronomically more ambitious, and charting new realms of cosmic genre-bending was what disco producer Meco came up with that summer.
Meco made a 15 minute suite on the themes of the movie, after obsessively watching the film in the first few days and weeks of its release. »
- Tom Service
Canned Cannes News: Mick Garris Launches an Invasion! Vampires vs. Leprechauns Deadlocked in Battle
3 May 2012 4:49 PM, PDT | DreadCentral.com | See recent Dread Central news »
How's that for an irresistible headline? In any event, Screen Daily got the initial details about three new projects coming out of Cannes so rather than write three stories, they're all right here for ya! Dig it!
First up Little Studio Films has signed Mick Garris (Bag of Bones) to direct Invasion, which is allegedly based on true events surrounding a reporter’s investigation into a possible UFO conspiracy in Washington, DC. Casting is under way ahead of the start of production later this year. Sd reports that the Los Angeles-based company will represent all rights to the sci-fi thriller at the Cannes market. “Its tone and style are reminiscent of “Mad Men” and Close Encounters of the Third Kind but with a strong, unique female lead,” Little Studio Films partner Alexia Melocchi said.
From there comes word that Causeway Pictures has unveiled two new horror projects for the Cannes market. »
- Uncle Creepy
'2001: A Space Odyssey' tech pioneer on 'Hobbit' footage: 'A fabulous and brave step in the right direction'
2 May 2012 7:21 AM, PDT | EW - Inside Movies | See recent EW.com - Inside Movies news »
Douglas Trumbull knows a little bit about movie visual effects. In his mid-20s, he worked with Stanley Kubrick to create the look and feel of the final frontier in 2001: A Space Odyssey. He later helped craft the effects for Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the gorgeous futuristic visuals of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. Last year, after nearly 30 years away from the Hollywood business, he collaborated with Terrence Malick for the symphonic visuals in The Tree of Life.
Trumbull has always been an innovator. For decades, he’s been tinkering with technology to enhance the audience experience, »
- Jeff Labrecque
Heather Graham, Carrie-Anne Moss, Kevin Dillon & Joe Mantegna Have 'Compulsion'; Vilmos Zsigmond Lensing
26 April 2012 9:19 AM, PDT | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Sustaining a post-child-star career seems a difficult enough labyrinth to manage by itself, but combine that challenge with a bubbly, incessant neighbor intent on stardom, as a new film exploring the toll of celebrity aims to do, and you have a interesting dark vehicle for two talented actresses as a result.
Carrie-Anne Moss and Heather Graham have both signed on to star in “Compulsion,” a thriller written by Floyd Byars (“Masterminds”) that takes place largely within the confines of two adjacent apartments. In one, a former child star (Moss) sinks deeper and deeper into a nihilistic worldview, while in the other, an optimistic, amiable chef (Graham) with notions of landing her own cooking show resides, with little communication between the two women. That all changes, however, when the two polar opposites meet in a confrontation, and their fates become entwined down a dark and disturbing path that will challenge both their worldviews and lives. »
- Charlie Schmidlin
Heather Graham And Carrie-Anne Moss Set For ‘Compulsion’
26 April 2012 3:31 AM, PDT | The Hollywood News | See recent The Hollywood News news »
Now, here are two names we haven’t seen for a while in lead roles but Carrie-Anne Moss and Heather Graham are in production with Compulsion. The film is directed by Egidio Coccimiglio (Imaginary Grace) and written by Floyd Byars who’s probably best known for writing Masterminds back in 1997 that starred Patrick Stewart and Vincent Kartheiser.
Compulsion follows Amy (Graham) and Saffron (Moss) as two people who live opposite each other in an apartment block. However, in spirit they’re complete opposites as Amy is a optimist and Saffron, a depressive former child starlet. However, when one day they meet in a confrontation, it begins to unravel in an unusual and disturbing way. What makes this project more interesting is the inclusion of Oscar-winning cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond who won for Close Encounters Of The Third Kind but also worked on The Deer Hunter and The Black Dahlia. However, even if the film looks amazing, »
- Dan Bullock
The top 50 sci-fi movie protagonists
19 April 2012 8:55 AM, PDT | Den of Geek | See recent Den of Geek news »
Whether they’re male or female, old or young, they’ve illuminated some classic movies. Here’s our top 50 list of sci-fi heroes and heroines…
On the face of it, compiling a list of truly great sci-fi protagonists should be easy. Pick a load of familiar names from a hat, write some breathlessly adoring drivel beneath them, and head off to the pub to reward a job well done.
Except it was never going to be as simple as that – and compiling lists seldom is. For every character making an appearance in the list below, there were at least two other possible candidates who didn't quite make the cut. Some sci-fi heroes were removed, then quickly reinstated. The order was jiggled around, then reordered again.
At one point, your humble writer realised there were more than 50 entries, and then had the unenviable task of hunting back through to decide which poor soul to eliminate. »
Re-imagined Poster Art for Classic Spielberg Films and More
17 April 2012 10:30 AM, PDT | GeekTyrant | See recent GeekTyrant news »
Here's a fantastically cool series of re-designed poster art for some classic films created by artist Alain Bossuyt. I enjoy finding different artists' interpretations of movie posters like this. Some of the films included in this series are Jaws, Soylent Green, Psycho, Duel, Raider of the Lost Ark, The Birds, Them, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and a couple of James Bond movies. Look over the posters and rank your top three favorite movies from them.
Source: Geek-Art (http://www.geek-art.net/alain-bossuyt-movie-posters/) »
- Venkman
Watch: Steven Spielberg Joins Andy Samberg & Bill Hader On 'SNL' For 'Laser Cats 7'
15 April 2012 11:07 AM, PDT | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
Steven Spielberg has always preferred to balance the serious and the light-hearted, often alternating between heavier fare and popcorn entertainment from picture to picture (look no further than 2011's "War Horse" and "The Adventures Of Tintin"). And with the director currently in post on his dream project/Oscar bait "Lincoln," he's taken a quick breather from the sober historical flick to join Andy Samberg and Bill Hader for the "Saturday Night Live" digital short "Laser Cats 7." And the results are somewhat amusing, even if this laser cats thing is already kinda played out.
Airing last night, the short finds a game Spielberg joining Samberg and Hader to pitch the most epic "Laser Cats" yet to Lorne Michaels. And while it runs too long and isn't quite as surreal as the past installments, the nods to Spielberg's films are pretty funny (particularly the capper to "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind »
- Kevin Jagernauth
Steven Spielberg's Latest: Laser Cats 7 (SNL Video)
15 April 2012 7:34 AM, PDT | Indiewire Television | See recent Indiewire Television news »
Steven Spielberg played himself in an SNL Digital Short last night, as the ostensible director of the latest installment of Laser Cats -- the low-tech, sci-fi series with Andy Samberg and Bill Hader, a perfect franchise for a guy obsessed with space aliens. Although the Spielberg alter ego called attention to what he crowingly called his “Hitchcockian cameo” in the film, the real homages were to E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Jurassic Park. Here is the decidedly un-Spielbergian Laser Cats 7.
»
- Caryn James
Steven Spielberg Gets Hitchcockian on Saturday Night Live's 'Laser Cats 7'
15 April 2012 12:46 AM, PDT | Rope of Silicon | See recent Rope Of Silicon news »
The highlight of last night "Saturday Night Live" was undoubtedly the latest SNL Digital Short "Laser Cats 7" in which Steven Spielberg made a "Hitchcockian" cameo appearance. On top of the silliness of it all damn near every Spielberg film ever was homaged from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, E.T., Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park and more. My favorite moment comes when Tyrannosaurus Cat shows up and you can see the hand bumping the table to make the water shake. Not sure why, but that gave me the biggest laugh. Have a watch below. »
- Brad Brevet
Joss Whedon: the film that changed my life
14 April 2012 4:07 PM, PDT | The Guardian - Film News | See recent The Guardian - Film News news »
How Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind made an existentialist of screenwriter and director Joss Whedon
The special edition of Close Encounters of the Third Kind came out when I was in London, by myself, at the age of 16, during a one-week break from boarding school. This was in the era of Jaws, when Spielberg was making movies that weren't so iconic that they lost all humanity. Close Encounters felt very grounded.
It's about Roy, an ordinary guy with a wife and kids, who sees an extraterrestrial. He becomes a sort of madman, alienating everybody, then meets a woman who's had a similar experience – her son's been abducted. Eventually they both go to where the aliens are having their great meet-up with humans. She gets her son back while Roy goes on the ship, never to return, at least not in her lifetime.
More than anything, seeing »
The Essentials: The Films Of John Milius
12 April 2012 7:04 AM, PDT | The Playlist | See recent The Playlist news »
All those who complain about the liberal domination of Hollywood have never come across John Milius. A film school pal of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, Milius had tried to join the Marine Corp, but was turned away due to his asthma. Instead, he channeled his frustrations into both a life-long obsession with firearms (he was paid for "Jeremiah Johnson" in antique weaponry, and has served on the NRA Board of Directors) and making some of the most masculine, testosterone-filled movies of all time, both as an acclaimed writer and as a director. The basis for both Paul Le Mat's character in "American Graffiti" and Walter in "The Big Lebowski" -- the Coens are friends of Milius, and offered him the part of Jack Lipnick in "Barton Fink" -- he's one of film history's most singular, colorful characters.
He might not have had the overwhelming success of Lucas or Spielberg, »
- Oliver Lyttelton
Daily Briefing. Spielberg, Solomon, Mitchum, Lucas
27 March 2012 2:47 AM, PDT | MUBI | See recent MUBI news »
Even as Reverse Shot carries on working its way through the Spielberg oeuvre for the second time — the latest entry comes from Eric Hynes: "His cinema telescopes and microscopes, making big what's small, and near what's far, and always making you feel — both physically and emotionally — the ingenious contraption at work. Rarely has his marriage of form and feeling worked as fluidly and guilelessly as it did in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, a film of colossal ambition that plays as intimate, of heart-thumping sensations that register as cosmic, of wondrous spectacle that in the end just sings" — the new Film Quarterly features Jonathan Rosenbaum on what more than a few believe to be Spielberg's best work: "A.I. is a film about having been programmed emotionally — something that the cinema does to us all, and a subject that my first book, Moving Places, attempted to explore. This is one reason why, »
The curse of outer space horror movies
21 March 2012 5:49 AM, PDT | Den of Geek | See recent Den of Geek news »
Aside from Alien, why do so few outer space horror movies succeed artistically or financially? Ryan takes a closer look…
Mention the words, “deep space horror” and the first film that springs to mind is probably Alien and its sequels. If you wanted to earn extra film buff points, you might mention It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) or Planet Of The Vampires (1965), two films which inarguably provided the template for Alien’s monster-on-a-spaceship premise.
Beyond Alien, has there really been another outer space horror movie, released since 1979, that has matched it in terms of filmmaking quality or box-office success? The answer, as the following examples illustrate, is no. Alien’s sequels were, of course, a success, but they were buoyed by the reputation of Scott’s original, and it could be argued that Aliens was based more in the action genre than horror.
Most other deep space horror movies have either been low-budget, »
2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001 | 2000
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