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E.T. is one of my all time favorite movies. This movie blew me out of my seat as a kid, and still kills me every time I watch it. Only four or five movies have made me cry, much less sob uncontrollably. When I returned from seeing E.T. for the first time, I couldn't talk for the rest of the day. I laid in my bed and cried for about five hours.The movie still makes tears well up in my eyes and gives me a lump in my throat. I still find it profoundly moving. It's heart-breakingly sad, yet phenomenally uplifting at the same time. I had no idea a movie could be so powerful when I saw this in the movies for the first time when I was eleven.There are a few movies that actually changed the course of my life. THE GODFATHER PART I and II, TOMMY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and ERASERHEAD all pushed me in the direction of becoming a filmmaker, but it was E.T., at that impressionable age, that made me want to create. Man, if I could some day make something that extraordinary, I would be complete.What I think makes E.T. so powerful for me know, is the heart-wrenching way it has of making me long to be a kid again. I refuse to ever completely grow up, and my memories are my own, but man does this movie make me wish I was eleven again, when riding my bike was a pleasure, Matchbox cars were the greatest thing in the world, Halloween was a night of mystery and creepy fun I looked forward to all year, going to the movies was an adventure, and looking up at the stars could be a mind-blowing experience. E.T. keeps those feeling alive for me. So do a lot of other things, but E.T. is the champ. As much as my cynical adult side may want to slap Steven Spielberg around sometimes, I would happily give him a hug for his timeless gift to the world, E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL.If you can find it check out the now out of print DVD. Just DON'T watch the "restored" version, unless you want the movie to be ruined. Those technical rapists known as CGI artists have mauled the movie with completely unnecessary special effects and completely destroyed the illusion that E.T. is alive, ironically, by trying to make him look more realistic. They fail miserably.Apparently, Spielberg and company thought E.T. looked better with a phony cartoon face and exaggerated facial expressions. The scene at the beginning when E.T. flees in terror from the UFO investigators is also ruined. In the original version, E.T. glides along the ground in an eerily otherworldy manner, and it looked great. Now, he actually runs as though he's leaping over little hurtles, and it looks absurd.Oh, well. They can do what they want. I feel that some things are sacred. STAR WARS, for example. But E.T. was perfect...PERFECT... the way it was. Why can't people leave well enough alone?Regardless, I love E.T. I love Spielberg for making it. So much so, that I even forgive him for ruining it.
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