Attention to Detail

Rating: Null/10 (30 October 2004)

Having been nine in 1957 myself, i appreciate the incredible amount of attention to verisimilitude that this film exhibits -- even the wide turn-ups on Hogarth's jeans, for example.
Another thing i was interested by is the fact that we are never told *why* Hogarth's mom is a single parent... but i seem to recall a framed photo somewhere in the house showing a pilot standing by a jet fighter. I knew a couple of kids my age whose dads had never come home from a place called Korea.
There are some glitches -- a 1959 Cadillac in a scrapyard in 1957, for instance, or going skinny-dipping in a lake in Maine in late October; and i'm fairly sure that (a) There was no "Spirit" comic in publication in 1957 and that (b) the "Spirit" comic cover shown is actually a painting "Spirit" creator Will Eisner did in the late 70s/early 80s for a reprint series.
The references to films of the period -- the sand pit from "Invaders from Mars", the tank disintegration for "The Day the Earth Stood Still" and the animated "Brain from Planet Arous" on teevee are neat, too.
Looking forward to next Friday's opening of Brad Bird's new film, "The Incredibles", though i suspect that "Iron Giant" will prove to be the stronger of the two...