★★★ Close Encounters of the Third Kind

[Gino: 3.0 sp]

Gino says: 'My pre-conception of this movie was that (A) I had seen most of it in bits and pieces on cable and that (B) it would be a slight but (C) fun movie. I was wrong on all accounts: turns out I had seen almost none of this, and that it was a more serious work than I had thought (the nice cinematography, the slow pace), and to top it all off, it wasn't really fun, or scary for that matter.

I didn't really enjoy the cast (I have nothing against Richard Dreyfus, but nor do I understand that generation's fascination with him, and the casting of François Truffaut as the head investigator guy seemed distracting and fruitless.) Also once you already know that these people have that Wyoming monument in their heads as the alien meeting place, watching the characters try to figure it out for 45 min, is tiring.

All in all though, I have never seen a "bad" Spielberg film, this one included. The writing was good (other than what I said above), and the attention to detail, and serious treatment were admirable. '