E.T.: Was this ever considered a good movie?

[Skywatcher]

@Frylock

It’s completely different.

It appears that lissener has been putting up massive strawmen again.

[Spoke]

There were some two dozen product placements in E.T., which was surely a record at that point.

So there’s something.

[What_Exit]

@spoke-

There were some two dozen product placements in E.T., which was surely a record at that point.

So there’s something.

Well that’s a first I will concede.

[JohnT]

@Zebra

Oh and the aliens in Close Encounters were pretty friendly, if a little weird.

I call them Space Hippies. “Ooh, I can see the music! Groovy!”

[gonzomax]

@Walloon

You’re conflating two different things: the responses of critics, and the responses of the members of the Motion Picture Academy.

The 1953 War of the Worlds won the Academy Award for its special effects, and was nominated for its editing and sound. E.T. was nominated for Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Cinematography, and Editing; and won for Original Music Score, Sound, and Special Effects.

Never taken seriously as a movie. SciFi suffers from that. Many of the most powerful money makers will never get respect for that reason. Aim it at kids and it will never get respect.

[Walloon]

Yes, I guess being nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award, and making #25 in AFI list of the 100 Greatest American Movies of all time (voted by 1,500 critics, scholars, and filmmakers) indicates it was never taken seriously as a movie.

[RickJay]

@spoke-

There were some two dozen product placements in E.T., which was surely a record at that point.

So there’s something.

In “Iron Man” we lost count at about 35. In the first half hour. ET may have blazed a trail but boy howdy, has that virus ever spread fast.