The Stop Button

An appreciation of amusements.

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Entries Tagged as 'Steven Spielberg'

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the director’s cut

January 17th, 2008 No Comments

This version–now called ‘The Director’s Cut’–originally came out as ‘The Collector’s Edition’ maybe ten years ago (maybe less). The most striking thing about this cut is Dreyfuss’s insanity. In this version, he’s totally nuts… Spielberg edits back in (from the original, excised from the Special Edition) a couple significant scenes. First, showing off Roberts Blossom–one […]

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), the special edition

December 3rd, 2007 No Comments

I don’t know where to start with Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The jokey open would be something about listing the defects and not having any, but then flipping it and not being able to list everything Spielberg does right because his successes are so difficult to work out, particularly in to an easy-to-read, […]

Jaws (1975, Steven Spielberg)

April 24th, 2007 No Comments

The first half of Jaws–before the boat, when it becomes a different film–might be the most perfectly made film ever. The second half isn’t less perfectly made, but it’s its own thing, not easily comparable to any other film; that first half deals in traditional filmic standards and does so with singular success. Verna Fields’s […]

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, Steven Spielberg)

February 18th, 2006 No Comments

Maybe it was the viewing atmosphere… I also was obsessing about something I’d read from either Spielberg or Lucas claiming credit for “MTV-style” editing with Raiders. Once the film was edited, the two went through and snipped a few frames at each edit point to hurry the film along. As I watched Raiders tonight, it […]