journal features

movie review - E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

Kokubunji, 2020.11.07

Today we watched a movie the kids only know from memes. We'd tried to watch it when The Boy was younger, but he panicked at the idea of an alien in the very earlier scene where Elliot - the main character - meets the E.T. This time, with him being twelve and his sister made of sterner stuff, we had no such trouble.

I hadn't seen this in maaany years, and I was not surprised to find it somewhat dated. I don't think that response of the officials made a lot of sense, and I didn't find the family's behavior during all of this stuff much more believable. Also, the pacing was uneven and some of the dialogue a bit blah.

I have to say, Drew Barrymore was unbelievable in this. Barely more than a toddler, and she was completely believable.

Recommended. But only for Science Fiction fans.

rand()m quote

Immature poets imitate mature poets steal bad poets deface what they take and good poets make it into something better or at least something different. The good poet welds his theft into a whole of feeling which is unique utterly different than that from which it is torn the bad poet throws it into something which has no cohesion. A good poet will usually borrow from authors remote in time or alien in language or diverse in interest.

—T.S. Eliot