A few weeks ago, writing about my affinity for watching movies on a big screen in a theater, I recalled the night in 1990 when I was the only person in the auditorium for the film “Misery,” and had a great time watching it.
Well, every 36 years or so, things work out like that. Last Monday night, I went to see “Disclosure Day,” the new Steven Spielberg film, and the theater employees told me I was the only customer.
I was so thrilled. A private screening for a Spielberg film? The only thing better would be if it was an Alfred Hitchcock movie.
It was funny because I went to the 8:40 p.m. show, and it had been a long day at work, so I worried about dozing off during the movie.
“Dad, that’s your prime nap time,” my daughter Audrey said during a phone call shortly before I left for the Brookhaven theater. She knows me too well.
Let’s get the pricing out of the way early. The ticket was $15.49, which still seems ridiculous to me. I bought a bag of Life Savers gummies for about $6. Entertainment is definitely cheaper when you’re alone.
And now, the movie. I had heard “Disclosure Day” was Spielberg’s bookend to the 1977 “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and wondered about the wisdom of tinkering with that groundbreaking film.
I was prepared to be mildly disappointed. So it is nice to report that “Disclosure Day” is an energetic, action-packed, intelligent and fun movie. I really enjoyed it. It holds your attention; I never came close to a nap.
You know what this film made me realize? Spielberg is a master of the chase. This movie was one chase after another, and lots of times the results are less important than the chase itself.
Assuming that a lot of readers won’t see “Disclosure Day” till it comes on TV somewhere, keep an eye out for the freight train sequence. It’s maybe not as believable as it should be, but the presentation shows a master at work. Spielberg’s still got it.
Apparently, what he’s also got is a thing for extraterrestrial life. “Close Encounters” was all about that, as well as the difficulty of communicating when we don’t speak the same language.
In “Disclosure Day,” the lead character has stolen the proof of 79 years of keeping alien life secret from the public, and the big question is whether he will be able to let the world know about it.
Time for my own disclosure: I am 0-for-2 in Great American Conspiracy Theories. I think Oswald acted alone when President Kennedy was assassinated, and I just don’t believe there are aliens zipping around the Earth in secret.
Spielberg, on the other hand, tips his film into religious philosophy, asking if it’s possible that God could love life forms on other worlds. It might offend some viewers.
It falls to an pleasant, devout nun to give his answer. She so reminded me of my aunt, a nun who turns 95 in just a few days.
Emily Blunt, a wonderful actress, gets the last word in “Disclosure Day.” Literally, the last word. There are many ways to interpret what she and Spielberg meant. I heard it as a message of optimism, that we are collectively better than we realize, and we can work through our problems.
Anyway, enough rambling. But since you didn’t ask, here are my favorite Spielberg movies of all time, from No. 1 to No. 5:
“Schindler’s List,” “Saving Private Ryan,” “Jaws,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence,” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
Runners-up, in chronological order, are “Close Encounters,” “Jurassic Park,” “Catch Me If You Can,” “Munich” and “Ready Player One.”
I know. “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” is not on either list. I saw it (in a theater, yes indeed) when I was 21, too young for it to resonate with me. I’ll give it another try one day.
Anyway, I really enjoyed my private screening. Did you know that Spielberg turns 80 this December? And he is still turning out truly exciting and inventive movies.
