On Demand picks

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND *** (Starz on Comcast) A visual and aural feast from Steven Spielberg in his mystical-childlike mode. It’s a totally manipulative film about UFOs and those who believe; you know you’re being manipulated and you love it. The last 35 minutes are genuinely moving, almost like a religious experience. Winner of an Oscar for best cinematography and a special award for sound effects editing. (PG; runs through August 10)

EMMA ***½ (Comcast Movies: Free Movies) Following on the heels of “Persuasion’’ and “Sense and Sensibility,’’ this sunny delight reconfirms that Jane Austen was film’s hottest writer of the ’90s. The adaptation rides the punctured confidence Gwyneth Paltrow projects in the title role. Anything but clueless as a provincial English Miss Fixit, she high-handedly dispenses romantic advice that’s invariably wrong, yet projects a redeeming air of good-heartedness and quality. (PG; runs through Aug. 11)