Is E.T. the most emotionally effective movie ever made?

Old Yeller

I distinctly remember sitting in a theatre as a little kid watching ET and being confused that so many adults were crying. I thought crying was something you did when you were hurt or someone died.

It’s overrated. Way overrated.

I got choked up on E.T., but I know, for me, it's because I tend to mirror the emotions of male characters who are sad, crying or grieving.

I don't feel the slightest sympathy or empathy when I see an actress crying anymore. I think Julia Roberts' over-the-top snot-filled ugly cry in Steel Magnolia was the nail-in-the-cofin & cured me of any sad-girl empathy.

If a male actor is mourning the loss of his father/mother, brother/sister, good friend, wife/gf or dog, I tend to get the feels. Whereas, sh*t like Rose crying over losing Jack just makes me yell, "B*tch you could've made room!"

I'm 48 & never/will never see it. Drives my wife nuts.

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Is E.T. the most emotionally effective movie ever made?

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in this scene, when this line is spoken, it's just like any other line in the movie....

but when those trumpets drop

HO
LEE
shite

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I don't know how he took an ugly inanimate puppet and manipulated the emotions of everyone who ever saw it so vastly, but Spielberg did it

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I’ll tell you how he did it. Unlike almost every other film, Spielberg filmed the movie chronologically to get the best performances out of his actors so they bond with one another and the alien. It cost an arm and a leg to do it, but it was the obvious correct decision and really paid off. E.T. is Spielberg’s best directed film. No one else could have shot that movie that way.

I want to know about the tech that actually made ETs pupils dilate like they did.