Close Encounters of the Third Kind

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Features

Tuesday, May 29 2007

Future Shock: The Death of Serious Science Fiction

The serious Science Fiction film genre is dead or at least on cinematic life support. As the new millennial marches forward, and an omnipresent production paradigm that substitutes spectacle for smarts, futurist filmmaking is definitely gasping for breath.

Columns

Tuesday, March 15 2011

'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' at 34: Still Thrilling After All These Years

What makes Close Encounters of the Third Kind stand out to this day is that it isn’t the usual UFO tale of “us vs them”, like Spielberg’s later remake of War of the Worlds; rather, it's very much a story about Earthlings.

Reviews

Monday, December 17 2007

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

This is a young man's film, a film with its arms and eyes wide open, with none of the paranoia and xenophobia which plague us today.

Now on PopMatters

Features

Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook

Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Tragic Anglo-American Coup

Columns

Print the Legend: Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective

Blogs

Short Ends and Leader: East Meets Least: 'Thirteen Women'

Curious Omnivore: An Honorable Food: Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's 'Seductions of Rice'

Mixed Media: Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist

Sound Affects: Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House'

Notes from the Road: Cannes 2012: Day 8 - 'On the Road' + 'Post Tenebras Lux'

Moving Pixels: 'The Witcher 2' Does the Exposition Dump Right

Music

Saint Etienne: Words and Music

fIREHOSE: lowFlOWs: The Columbia Anthology ('91-'93)

Carina Round: Tigermending

Carole King: The Legendary Demos

Pumice: Puny

Robin Trower: Farther on Up the Road: The Chrysalis Years 1977-1983

Laurent Mignard Duke Orchestra: Ellington French Touch

Events

Poliça: 11 May 2012 - Rochester, NY

Film

Cannes 2012: 'Rust and Bone' + 'After the Battle'

'Moonrise Kingdom': Storms and Conformity

'Men in Black 3' Looks Back, Again

Cannes 2012: 'Post Tenebras Lux' and 'Beyond the Hills'

'Chernobyl Diaries': What if Something's There?

DVDs

The 'BBC High Definition Natural History Collection': A Cornucopia of Wonders

Love is Rarer than Diamonds: 'Letter Never Sent'

Books

Jonathan Franzen and the Problem of Sympathy in 'Farther Away'

This Biography Ensures the Continuity of Mancini's Legacy: 'Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music'

Multimedia

The Splatters

East Meets Least: 'Thirteen Women' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]

'Man to Man' is an Early Talkie that's Not Stagey at All (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]

Calling Out to Carroll...Baker: 'Bridge to the Sun' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 4:00 pm]

Cannes 2012: 'Post Tenebras Lux' and 'Beyond the Hills' (Reviews) [Fri, 4:00 pm]

An Honorable Food: Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's 'Seductions of Rice' (Curious Omnivore) [Fri, 3:00 pm]

Early Summer 2012 New Music Playlist (Mixed Media) [Fri, 12:00 pm]

Paranormal (Radio)Activity: 'Chernobyl Diaries' (Short Ends and Leader) [Fri, 11:00 am]

'Men in Black 3' Looks Back, Again (Reviews) [Fri, 9:20 am]

'Hell and Back Again' on PBS for Memorial Day (Mixed Media) [Fri, 9:11 am]

Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects) [Fri, 9:00 am]

'Moonrise Kingdom': Storms and Conformity (Reviews) [Fri, 8:45 am]

Cannes 2012: Day 8 - 'On the Road' + 'Post Tenebras Lux' (Notes from the Road) [Fri, 8:00 am]

Cannes 2012: 'Rust and Bone' + 'After the Battle' (Reviews) [Fri, 7:59 am]

'Chernobyl Diaries': What if Something's There? (Reviews) [Fri, 7:44 am]

Poliça: 11 May 2012 - Rochester, NY (Reviews) [Fri, 6:25 am]

'The Witcher 2' Does the Exposition Dump Right (Moving Pixels) [Fri, 6:00 am]

Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns) [Fri, 2:00 am]

Flash Points: Chicks, Sluts and Facebook (Features) [Fri, 2:00 am]

Patriot of Persia: Muhammad Mossadegh and a Tragic Anglo-American Coup (Features) [Fri, 2:00 am]

Jonathan Franzen and the Problem of Sympathy in 'Farther Away' (Reviews) [Fri, 2:00 am]

The Top 10 Overplayed Songs You Hate by Artists You Love (Sound Affects)
Tea with 'Sherlock': Investigating the Investigators (Features)
Sunk? This 'Battleship' Stunk! (Short Ends and Leader)
Top Ten Lost Midwest Punk Singles (Sound Affects)
Tenacious D: Rize of the Fenix (Reviews)
20 Questions: Kate Bornstein (Features)
10 Pieces of Cinematic Art That Require Revisiting (Short Ends and Leader)
Like 'Doom', In Heels (Moving Pixels)
Punk Rock's Pet Sounds: An Interview with Bomb the Music Industry! (Features)
Counterbalance No. 82: U2's 'Achtung Baby' (Sound Affects)
She's a Rainbow: A Tribute to Donna Summer (Features)
'Albatross': A Not-So-Weighty Coming-of-Age Meets Mid-Life-Crisis Film (Reviews)
This Is All There Is: The Boredom of Lessened Expectations (Short Ends and Leader)
Go Goth!: Ranking the Burton/Depp Collaborations (Short Ends and Leader)
We Will Avenge Them Or… Be Avenged?: The Individual in the US Experience (Features)
The Queen and Her Crayons: An Interview With Donna Summer (Features)
Counterbalance No. 83: The Stooges' 'Fun House' (Sound Affects)
Best Coast: The Only Place (Reviews)
The Best Canadian Records of the Year? The Fun Agony of Voting for the Polaris Prize Long List (Sound Affects)
Flash Points: Mommy's Breast, Marriage Equality and Why Chipotle Is King (Features)
Something’s Wrong with the Black Widow! (Graphic Novelties)
Sergio Leone: Something to Do with Death (Columns)
Killer Mike: R.A.P. Music (Reviews)
Sherlock Holmes, Dirk Gently and the Case of the Eccentric Detective (Columns)
In Support of Supports (Moving Pixels)
Willie Nelson: Heroes (Reviews)
The Cult: Choice of Weapon (Reviews)
Like a Jack London Story on Steroids: 'The Grey' (Reviews)
'People's Pornography': The Mundanities of Pornography and Surveillance Culture (Reviews)
Feeling '80s Spirit: Post-Hardcore Punk for the Plastic Generation (Columns)

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