E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial (1982) 30th anniversary screening

The other day I went to see a 30th anniversary screening of the film ET; it was an outdoor movie event "under the stars", which is usually always a fun experience, even if the movie isn't so great. This was the very first time I've ever seen ET in its entirety;  I've always avoided it over the years and never got into the whole craze.

Suspending my disbelief, I bought into the idea that the alien was smart enough to build a communication device to contact his planet, even in the pre-internet, pre-cell phone days of the early 1980s (what a feat!).

Also I liked the bonding with the boy and the alien. Its fair to say that this movie -unlike its subsequent ripoffs - has a heart, in more ways than one. On a sidenote, Henry Thomas, the actor who played Elliot hasn't vanished into obscurity; he has a new independent movie out where he will portray country music legend Hank Williams Sr (due to premiere in cinemas this summer).

ET has forever captured on film many of the same toys I played with as a kid. I spent countless hours with that Speak-N-Spell. What an awesome toy that was!!  So this brought back some memories!

The version of the film that was shown - I learned later - was the 2002 director's cut, with some additional scenes and some added CGI technology (mostly effects that further animate the alien creature). The GCI didn't fool me; I recognized it right away. However I mistakenly thought the part where the alien watches John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara in The Quiet Man was a deleted scene until I learned that it was in the original. A neat part.

The 2002 DVD (2 discs) has a ton of features that I haven't watched yet.