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willinganz
Reviews
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
A Spielberg Masterpiece I didn't understand when I was a kid
One Friday night when I was a kid, my buddy convinced me to go to the movies with him and his dad. He told me they were going to see something I never heard of, something about "Encounters" but my buddy assured me it was "like Star Wars"... lol... it was NOTHING like Star Wars and as a kid I was completely confused by everything in the movie. YET I WAS HIGHLY ENTERTAINED... the visuals Spielberg created were spellbinding... the air traffic controllers crowded around one controller's screen... the children's toys come to life... on and on. I was absolutely spellbound even though I had no clue what was going on. Now that I am an adult, I have watched it repeatedly. Its simply one of the greatest motion pictures of all time.
Welcome Back, Kotter (1975)
Such an extraordinary polarized set of reviews for a decent show
I watched Welcome Back Kotter as a kid. I remember loving the theme song and the opening credits tour through Brooklyn. But having revisited "Chico and the Man" (another similar show a couple of years ago), I expected the show to be much worse than I remembered. But, it really wasn't. The always bashed Gabe Kaplan comes across as quite likeable and he seems to hold the show's cornball humor together quite well. Don't get me wrong, this is not "The Office" at high school, but it is good natured middlebrow comedy. Of course, the show was always "on the clock" for getting canceled because the premise is time limited, and indeed I guess the show declined horribly over the years, but this is a review of Season One, and as far as that goes, its enjoyable comedy.
Curb Your Enthusiasm: Beloved Aunt (2000)
One of the funniest sitcom episodes in television history
If you are naming the funniest comedic episodes in television history and this episode is not on your list, your list is not worth reading. This is the episode, with all its comedic tricks, that convinced me that Larry David was the genius behind Seinfeld and Jerry was just the main character. It has all of the earmarks of a classic Seinfeld episode, but "unplugged" if you will by the freedom of HBO. The first time I watched this episode I cried with laughter. Every move Larry makes to appease his in-laws or fulfill his social duties for a relative of his wife that he obviously didn't know or cared nothing for is either inappropriate or blows up in his face in hilarious ways. Just a great, great episode -- up there with "The Contest" from Seinfeld, "The Dinner Party" from The Office, or "The Garage Sale" from That 70s Show. A masterpiece from a very warped comedic mind.
That '70s Show: A New Hope (1999)
This is the Episode that got me into That 70s Show
When this episode initially aired, Star Wars nostalgia was in full bloom, with the 20th Anniversary editions in the theaters and the Prequels coming that summer. So, this episode was highly anticipated and it delivered well. The characters are about a decade older than me, but they nonetheless caught a lot of the initial Star Wars hype that I remember from 1977 -- Eric being obsessed with every plot point, Kelso wanting to see it again and again (he even used the proper nomenclature of the times "Jackie, Star Wars is a limited engagement". In fact I remember them always saying it was "HELD OVER" in the newspaper ads. Also, I loved the fact that they appeared to use authentic Star Wars Death Star sets in the making of the "dream sequence" -- just a well done episode, and funny (though the characters didn't quite find the stride they would have in future seasons -- Fez was doing too much of the "dumb foreigner" and Eric was more of a weasel than the lovable loser he would become)
That '70s Show: Too Old to Trick or Treat, Too Young to Die (2000)
Its Clever but you MUST get the Hitchcock references
I have to rate this episode highly for cleverness, but I'm a Gen Xer and I've only seen 3 of the main 5 Hitchcock movies being referenced, and that's only because my mom loved Hitchcock (I've seen Rear Window, Psycho, and Vertigo). That 70s Show's main audience were people like my millenial niece who I am sure got NONE of them... if you don't get them the episode must have seemed weird. For instance, I've never seen The Birds, so those segments just fell flat. And I had forgotten how Jimmy Stewart turned the protagonist into a blonde in Vertigo, so I did not initially get that one... but still cleverness points get this one an 8... and the scene where Hyde plays Grace Kelly sneaking into the apartment in Rear Window but instead stealing beers is CLASSIC.
The Day After (1983)
The Cultural Impact was Enormous and Profound
I'm wrting this for anyone who wasn't alive in 1983. The cultural impact of the movie "The Day After" was massive. I distinctly remember the hype surrounding it ahead of its debut and the "conversations" it provoked after. In that sense, it was a cultural touchstone of the 1980s.
BUT I don't actually recall liking the movie (as an actual movie) or ever hearing anyone else say "Wow that was a great movie! I gotta see that again!' So, I present this review to give you some context if you weren't there. It was an important cultural event but it was not a great piece of art.