Can't believe they left the 2002 edition's chucking-loo-roll-about Halloween scene out of the original.
― piscesx, Wednesday, 1 April 2009 18:01 (fifteen years ago) link
Rewatching it now on TV: haven't seen it for maybe 20 years? I remember seeing it Brighton with a friend -- who went on to be a minor Hollywood director swank swank (lass swank if i told you what his movies were, but I shall not betray him here) -- in a theatre full of kids. British kids, so noisily cheerful, not weeping or anything. Don't remember my own response in depth -- didn't hate it; thought it was fun; didn't have any "cineaste" type responses in any direction. I was in my mid-20s, and it must have been out for some years -- so maybe I'd already seen it? (If so I totally don't recall.)
The family stuff is of course terrific, kids and mom; E.T. himself is maybe a teeny bit under-imagined in terms of being an actual alien (as opposed to a human-directed/human-compatible being). I'd forgotten what a racket he makes.
― mark s, Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
interesting reading morbs' opening post on this thread; the movie had always carried a lot of meaning for me in terms of family and this sense of warmth, but i wasn't sure if it was viewed that way at large.
― surm, Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:23 (twelve years ago) link
I definitely remember that being discussed at the time, as something really unusual -- just the fact that this was a one-parent family, and the weave of warmth and hurt, and the well-observed details, like the nature of the swearing (when the mom can't help laughing when Elliot says "penis-breath!" even though she's trying to tell him off); also Elliot's knowledgeable investment in Star Wars figurines -- this was actually an element my later-to-be-Hollywood ex-friend was totally knocked out by; he seemed to think it was completely groundbreaking. (Which it may be: it's become a bit of a nuisance, since -- hommage and knowing pop-culture references and etc -- and my ex-friend's one of the people who made it a nuisance, possibly, but at the time it provided a new layer of realism which was really interesting; ordinary people in films as cultural beings, or something).
― mark s, Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
when the mom can't help laughing when Elliot says "penis-breath!" even though she's trying to tell him off
Such a great moment.
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
wow, i'd totally forgotten that mind-meld moment where elliot acts out the scene that ET is watching on TV at that very moment
― mark s, Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:43 (twelve years ago) link
E.T. is one of those movies that was ubiquitous when I was a kid and I've seen at least half a dozen times and can't remember a single goddamn thing about it. Another movie that shares this same trait for me is "Goonies."
― despite all my rage I am still just a Latter Day Saint (Abbbottt), Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:53 (twelve years ago) link
Both I've even seen as an adult a couple times and it just falls out of my head right after.
― despite all my rage I am still just a Latter Day Saint (Abbbottt), Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:54 (twelve years ago) link
i still remember Elliott calling his old brother "penis breath"
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:54 (twelve years ago) link
I remember Elliot holding the thermometer up to a desk lamp.
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
Which should've made his temperature, what, 185 degrees?
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:58 (twelve years ago) link
hahahahahaha yea i forgot about that part
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 6 November 2011 19:58 (twelve years ago) link
I had the videogame. Actually a friend had it and brought it over to show me, and ended up leaving it and not really wanting it back. I don't think i played it more than once.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmrQkQsM9FU
The Raiders game was pretty much the same thing. SUCK SUCK SUCK
― Emperor Cos Dashit (Adam Bruneau), Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:09 (twelve years ago) link
I had it too. Beat it a few times, but only on the easy level. the FBI/CIA agents used to scare me.
if you want a copy there's a landfill with a million copies somewhere
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:11 (twelve years ago) link
RIPhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atari_video_game_burial
― Number None, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:12 (twelve years ago) link
KEEP THEM AWAY FROM WALTER WHITE
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
It's in Alamogordo, NM, but they're covered in concrete iirc
― despite all my rage I am still just a Latter Day Saint (Abbbottt), Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:13 (twelve years ago) link
i didn't get why E.T. stretching his neck allowed him to float out of wells.
― Neanderthal, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:16 (twelve years ago) link
like it wasn't something that the movie exactly...ehm...focused on
Also I'd misremembered it as much more brightly lit and primary colours than it actually is -- more like Star Wars in tone and hue (most be the John Williams effect) (and the trick-or-treat scene). The lighting's actually really sparse a lot of the time, and the colour's all muted browns and greys. Williams is the weak link for me, I know too much of the sources he constantly raids (Janacek!) not to get irritable when he amps it up.
― mark s, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:21 (twelve years ago) link
If you don't feel a bit emotional when the music kicks in during the bike flying scene i dunno what's wrong with you
― Number None, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:23 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah, I would've definitely given the Oscar to Goldsmith that year.
― dor Dumbeddownball (Eric H.), Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:25 (twelve years ago) link
"Can't he just b-beam up?""This is reality, Greg!"
― mark s, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:44 (twelve years ago) link
one neat little dramatic reversal from earlier -- when the house is suddenly menaced from outside, a house that has comfily housed an actual-real alien for days, the intruding "monster" is... a human in a moon-landing-style spacesuit
― mark s, Sunday, 6 November 2011 20:56 (twelve years ago) link
Suggested E.T. to a friend for their Friday family film night, but it go nixed because it makes his wife cry. So instead I sneakily recommend The Iron Giant, which is not only also great but which is also basically E.T. Family loved it, wife left halfway because "she knew where this was heading."
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 6 November 2011 21:51 (twelve years ago) link
but it has a happy ending!
― Number None, Sunday, 6 November 2011 21:52 (twelve years ago) link
There's a look on Elliot's mom face when she watches the spaceship take E.T. home that is one of the best depictions of ecstasy in a film.
― lumber up, limbaugh down (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 6 November 2011 21:59 (twelve years ago) link
And a great contrast to the shock and horror when she first sees Elliot and ET in the bathroom. That plus the sadness and disappointment on the siblings' faces -- like, how did you EXPECT your mom to react -- followed by ET'S despairing cry when she takes Elliot away and wont help him makes me tear up just thinking about it
― i couldn't adjust the food knobs (Phil D.), Sunday, 6 November 2011 22:08 (twelve years ago) link
haha when ET says "I'll always be here" I was totally expecting him to say "I'll be back" -- he even sounds a tiny bit like Arnie for a second.
― mark s, Sunday, 6 November 2011 22:11 (twelve years ago) link
so Spielberg recently announced the fact that he regretted Lucas-ing up ET. hoping we can get a blu-ray of the original film. i love it unreservedly.
― circa1916, Sunday, 6 November 2011 23:21 (twelve years ago) link
Arrg, that fucking game. Played that thing 50 fucking times. I want that part of my life back.
― Tarfumes The Escape Goat, Sunday, 6 November 2011 23:41 (twelve years ago) link
i suppose I woulda hated it more if i ever played on the intermediate or hard levels.
― Neanderthal, Monday, 7 November 2011 00:23 (twelve years ago) link
Oh God this movie. Just switched it on and of course it's when they find sick ET and now I'm all in tears and WHY IS IT SO TOUCHING?!
― Airwrecka Bliptrap Blapmantis (ENBB), Thursday, 4 April 2013 03:00 (eleven years ago) link
That scene where Michael is riding around looking for E.T. has one of my all-time favorite John Williams cues behind it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGB3XSa5JtE
― ARE YOU HIRING A NANNY OR A SHAMAN (Phil D.), Thursday, 4 April 2013 16:59 (eleven years ago) link
a while back a fb friend of mine went on a diatribe about how homophobic this movie was. his only evidence was 'penis breath.'
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 5 April 2013 00:35 (eleven years ago) link
Tell him to watch the silly new cut where they change that and the terrorist joke, and replace all the guns with walkie talkies, That'll make him feel better.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 April 2013 01:50 (eleven years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0TfR9mgOiU
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 April 2013 01:51 (eleven years ago) link
ThoughtTraveler 11 hours agoI wonder why this was not included in the film. I would have been a touching addition to the movie.Reply ·
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 April 2013 01:52 (eleven years ago) link
Richard Attenborough was a classy guy, by all evidence
“I went to see E.T. in Los Angeles shortly before all the awards and we used language, when we came out, to the extent of saying ‘we have no chance – E.T. should and will walk away with it’,” Attenborough said in a 2008 interview with the BBC. He called Spielberg’s movie “an infinitely more creative and fundamental piece of cinema.”
Of Gandhi, he said: “It’s a piece of narration rather than a piece of cinema, as such. E.T. depended absolutely on the concept of cinema and I think that Steven Spielberg, who I’m very fond of, is a genius. I think E.T. is a quite extraordinary piece of cinema.”
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/08/24/steven-spielberg-richard-attenborough/
― son of a lewd monk (Dr Morbius), Monday, 25 August 2014 17:04 (nine years ago) link
A sequel! It's a Thanksgiving miracle!
https://youtu.be/Pdgk3ERKdug
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 28 November 2019 17:18 (four years ago) link
fucking hell
― A victim managed to capture evidence of the gimp (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 28 November 2019 17:43 (four years ago) link
Henry Thomas rn
https://frinkiac.com/meme/S04E01/1244526.jpg?b64lines=CiBUSEVZIERST1ZFIEEgRFVNUCBUUlVDSwogRlVMTCBPRiBNT05FWSBUTyBNWQogSE9VU0Uu
― I don't get wet because I am tall and thin and I am afraid of people (Eliza D.), Thursday, 28 November 2019 18:08 (four years ago) link
https://imgc.allpostersimages.com/img/print/u-g-F85ZFC0.jpg
― War Crimes Tribunal of the Network Stars (Old Lunch), Thursday, 28 November 2019 18:27 (four years ago) link
I was 14, and I disliked it intensely; I haven't seen it since.
This is the perfect age for an adolescent boy to have this reaction to this movie!
I saw it in a theater as an adult. I could see how the magic was being done, because in order for it to do its work, it can't be effectively hidden, but I went along with it and experienced all the appropriate emotions at the appropriate scenes. Basically, it's a well-disguised Passion of Christ play, and that story has been tugging at hearts for millennia. In E.T. all the tiny parts fit together beautifully and snugly and operate at very high efficiency.
― A is for (Aimless), Thursday, 28 November 2019 18:31 (four years ago) link
i guess last year's google home alone ad was a success
― wasdnuos (abanana), Thursday, 28 November 2019 18:31 (four years ago) link
whatever they paid him it wasn't worth it
― Pinche Cumbion Bien Loco (stevie), Thursday, 28 November 2019 22:20 (four years ago) link
I feel like people are not outraged enough by this. This is surely way worse than the Cats trailer, right? I guess the young people don't care.
― trishyb, Friday, 29 November 2019 15:42 (four years ago) link
Dave Marsh gave the Michael Jackson-narrated E.T. Storybook five stars in The New Rolling Stone Record Guide. I suspect he was high on Thriller fumes, but I've always been curious to check it out.
― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Friday, 29 November 2019 15:59 (four years ago) link
this is cuntish
― deems of internment (darraghmac), Friday, 29 November 2019 16:05 (four years ago) link