Shownotes
Movie of the Year: 1982
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
Can E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial "phone home" enough to be 1982's Movie of the Year?
Since this movie first came out, people have wondered what E.T. is short for? It may be a little "inside baseball," but E.T. is short because of his stubby little legs. Were they longer, then so too would E.T. be longer. True, his neck does get pretty long. I'm not totally sure what the deal with that is. But dude's legs are so short that he can hardly move, which brings me to my next point.
Who cares about that? E.T. is not a movie about moving; it is a movie about feeling. True, one of the most iconic moments in movie history involves bikes doing quite a bit of movement in this, but that's not my point. One guy on twitter I follow says that if he and his friends had found E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, they would have killed him with hammers, which, excessive movement aside, would have made for a vastly different cinematic experience.
In this one we talk about the Spielberg of it all, and, really, hasn't he given us so much more than we deserve? We also cover the triumph of practical effects this movie represents. Would we ever have cared this much about a weird, smeared-looking, oddly-hazy CGI monstrosity? Maybe you would have, but not us. We want to become emotionally attached to the puppets, gosh darnt it. Finally, we talk about the way that Spielberg gets "child" people. He must have one day been a kid or something because he really seems to get this kid stuff, and as a result, get some amazing performances out of his child actors.
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