Building Mountains Out Of Mashed Potatoes

My favorite Sci-fi film of all time.
For me, this movie represented the most realistic handling of a story of aliens up to that point in time, (inspiring films like Contact & Signs, both which tried admirably to emulate the "validity" of Encounters). So much so that, at the time, it made it almost believable for me that the idea of extra-terrestrials could be a reality. Also, it was done with such a sense of awe-inspiring hope & beauty, that it almost makes me wish now that they did indeed exist (& maybe aliens do, but that's an entirely different website, altogether).
In this this Speilberg classic, the otherworlders have made contact.
And at first, that makes us humans afraid.
But when we finally come face to face with 'em, we realize that the fear we felt was based more on own insecurites than it was on these bug-eyed long-fingered lil' grey angels from space (though, you have to admit, the fact that they have a knack of kidnapping a few of our jet-fighters, not to mention a kid or two, & then instill mental images of their landing site in own minds, urging us to ruin a plateful of perfectly good mash potatoes, doesn't help much to quell our apprehension of the little buggers).
To this day, even with jaded eyes overwhelmed with modern CGI gimmicktry , the special effects in Close Encounters, combined with their elegant integration to the story's premise,
this film still leaves me with a sense of awe after each viewing.
The kind of awe that I used to feel as kid whenever I would look up all the stars in the sky on clear summer night, & wonder at all of the possibilities that must've been up there.
Mannnn....I wish a UFO would come down & fly my pimp-ass away into the limitless potential of space.


(Sans anal-probes, of course.)




10/10