.jeri.

A couple of weeks back I joined up with Brendan, the Hutchinses, and Angela in the parking lot behind the Fox Theatre. It was another of their Movies at the Fox events, and the movie was Close Encounters of the Third Kind. I don't think any of us had actually seen the movie all the way through, so it was a treat for us. I was a little bit ticked off when the host of the event (they need to hire a professional emcee, by the way) kind of spilled the beans about the ending. But since the movie was thirty years old, I really don't think I have the right to complain too much.

I'm guessing most of you have already seen it, but as a quick recap, a few people are deeply affected when they witness the flight of some UFOs. They have an image in their head of an odd-looking mountain and are obsessed with it. Their journey seems destined to lead them there.

Richard Dreyfuss stars as a man whose obsession grows increasingly difficult for his family to live with. I really liked that aspect of his story. The thing I didn't like involves a spoiler: he's a jerk (in general) and he deserts his family to go fly away with the aliens. Dreyfuss usually gets on my nerves as an actor, but here he actually becomes his character, and even though the character himself isn't necessarily likable, he does a good job at making us understand the man and sympathize with his quest.

The movie is very suspenseful and mysterious, and does a great job of letting the action almost seem normal or ordinary in scenes that don't feature UFOs. I also loved how the tidbit of musical tones sent from the UFOs is woven into the score slowly, rather than hitting us over the head from the get-go. It was pretty funny, though, to see how all of us walked to our cars singing the music because it does get repetitive (in a good way) toward the movie's end.

Also cool was the Fox Foundation's choice of cartoon for the evening, which was Duck Dodgers in the 24th Century, which is what one of the kids is watching on tv in the movie. Nice tie-in!

I had a great time hanging out for the little while we had, and seeing a movie I hadn't seen that was on my list of movies I need to catch up with.