Review

I'm gonna come out the gate and ask a big question, "Did this need to be on the list?" I am not disparaging Spielberg here. He is Spielberg and that is a well-known fact. But even though I really enjoyed the film (the characterization and humanization done to this puppet is wild), it just seems a bit oddly high on the list at the very least. The 24th best American film of all time? I dunno. I think I'd do some real swapping around when it comes to Spielberg's stuff. Jaws is criminally low. Also I know Star Wars and George Lucas writ large was literally the moment around. Like he was an icon and a legend. But wow there is so much Star Wars in this movie that is does feel a little weird. Like if you haven't seen ET in many years like me, Star Wars is fully in every scene. I just think that if we're taking ET here as like an exemplar of this period of movies, I feel there are better examples. Star Wars itself being the obvious one. And also Indiana Jones. So it was fine and fun and everything, just not as crazy good as I think this sort of position on the list deserves. The moon shot is still very magical, though.