DISCLOSURE DAY, an oblong and unwieldy exploration of humanity's inalienable right to truth in a post-truth world and a speculation on the revelation of extra-terrestrial life is sadly one the most hollow and uninspired movies in Steven Spielberg's filmography.
The cast is fantastic, with Emily Blunt as the clear standout upon whom the entire movie hinges. Eve Hewson is a name I was not familiar with, but her character ended up being the one I found most interesting on a thematic level. Colman Domingo rocks.
94 year-old John Williams gave it his all with a beautiful, whimsical score that might not rival his best works, but still carried this movie beautifully.
While not a masterful example of Spielberg's legendary staging and blocking, Disclosure Day still looks good, because most of its scenes are well lit and Spielberg's action always has great clarity. It is undoubtedly one of the more visually enticing blockbusters of the year (highly questionable VFX aside), but at the same time, there's nothing here you haven't already seen in a superior manner throughout his filmography.
There is an action sequence involving a train which left me particularly disappointed, considering Spielberg made one of the greatest train scenes of all time in 1989.
The glaring VFX issues are even more apparent whenever the digital animals appear, breaking immersion completely. For me, this isn't a make it or break it issue; the design of the aliens however most certainly is! Mild spoilers ahead for something that was already somewhat visible in the trailers, but I was baffled that Spielberg would actually give us aliens that look like this --> ๐ฝ in the year 2026. I love classic sci-fi stories, but Disclosure Day feels so stuck in the past at times, it becomes actively frustrating.
The uninteresting design of the aliens is sadly emblematic of Disclosure Day's biggest issue, which, is legendary screenwriter David Koepp's lackluster script. Too little of the movie actually revolves around its fascinating premise, as the few interesting ideas it has are drowned beneath endless chase and escape sequences. Its central plot never comes close to reaching the immense potential of its premise, its character journeys are never as interesting as they should be and its thematic exploration remains utterly shallow.
Frequently, background characters mention developments in international politics and in its third act, it is outright stated that Earth is on the cusp of World War III, but we never actually see any of it; none of these off-hand comments matter in the grand scheme of things. They are completely irrelevant to our characters and to the story being told. Some people will argue that's not what this movie is about (true!) but for a film that so often talks about the importance of its grand revelation to the 8 billion people of the world, its world-building is bafflingly amateurish and narratively inept, which can make the film feel cold and distant when it wants to be touching and inspiring.
Whenever the movie actually dares to venture into religious / philosophical territories, i.e. Christians in the face of other potential creations of their god or ponderings on humanity's right to know the full truth, I found it utterly fascinating. Sadly, there is just too little of it in its 2h 25minute runtime and some segments are quite frankly boring.
Its 3rd act is by far the strongest and whenever it fully embraces the beauty of its naive optimism & its relentless hopefulness, it is both engaging and touching. The final twenty minutes are pure Spielberg magic, but it's too little too late. Never have I seen a movie where the most interesting story it could have told is found on the 30-40 pages they never wrote.
This film's ending should have been the halfway point of its story, but Koepp & Spielberg are completely uninterested in *actually* showing us the world's reckoning with this great revelation. One of my biggest disappointments this year.
DISCLOSURE DAY, an oblong and unwieldy exploration of humanity's inalienable right to truth in a post-truth world and a speculation on the revelation of extra-terrestrial life is sadly one the most hollow and uninspired movies in Steven Spielberg's filmography.
The cast is fantastic, with Emily Blunt as the clear standout upon whom the entire movie hinges. Eve Hewson is a name I was not familiar with, but her character ended up being the one I found most interesting on a thematic level. Colman Domingo rocks.
94 year-old John Williams gave it his all with a beautiful, whimsical score that might not rival his best works, but still carried this movie beautifully.
While not a masterful example of Spielberg's legendary staging and blocking, Disclosure Day still looks good, because most of its scenes are well lit and Spielberg's action always has great clarity. It is undoubtedly one of the more visually enticing blockbusters of the year (highly questionable VFX aside), but at the same time, there's nothing here you haven't already seen in a superior manner throughout his filmography.
There is an action sequence involving a train which left me particularly disappointed, considering Spielberg made one of the greatest train scenes of all time in 1989.
The glaring VFX issues are even more apparent whenever the digital animals appear, breaking immersion completely. For me, this isn't a make it or break it issue; the design of the aliens however most certainly is! Mild spoilers ahead for something that was already somewhat visible in the trailers, but I was baffled that Spielberg would actually give us aliens that look like this --> ๐ฝ in the year 2026. I love classic sci-fi stories, but Disclosure Day feels so stuck in the past at times, it becomes actively frustrating.
The uninteresting design of the aliens is sadly emblematic of Disclosure Day's biggest issue, which, is legendary screenwriter David Koepp's lackluster script. Too little of the movie actually revolves around its fascinating premise, as the few interesting ideas it has are drowned beneath endless chase and escape sequences. Its central plot never comes close to reaching the immense potential of its premise, its character journeys are never as interesting as they should be and its thematic exploration remains utterly shallow.
Frequently, background characters mention developments in international politics and in its third act, it is outright stated that Earth is on the cusp of World War III, but we never actually see any of it; none of these off-hand comments matter in the grand scheme of things. They are completely irrelevant to our characters and to the story being told. Some people will argue that's not what this movie is about (true!) but for a film that so often talks about the importance of its grand revelation to the 8 billion people of the world, its world-building is bafflingly amateurish and narratively inept, which can make the film feel cold and distant when it wants to be touching and inspiring.
Whenever the movie actually dares to venture into religious / philosophical territories, i.e. Christians in the face of other potential creations of their god or ponderings on humanity's right to know the full truth, I found it utterly fascinating. Sadly, there is just too little of it in its 2h 25minute runtime and some segments are quite frankly boring.
Its 3rd act is by far the strongest and whenever it fully embraces the beauty of its naive optimism & its relentless hopefulness, it is both engaging and touching. The final twenty minutes are pure Spielberg magic, but it's too little too late. Never have I seen a movie where the most interesting story it could have told is found on the 30-40 pages they never wrote.
This film's ending should have been the halfway point of its story, but Koepp & Spielberg are completely uninterested in *actually* showing us the world's reckoning with this great revelation. One of my biggest disappointments this year.
This is not just in reference to Starfighter but also Andor. Not the first time we have heard that Filoni was neither a fan of its concept nor execution and it shows you what the next few years under him will be like.
https://t.co/pA1iMTC5ZP
Giving full creative oversight to a guy who does not want Star Wars to evolve beyond the sandbox of static live-action adaptations of his cartoon characters might be the final nail in this franchise's coffin.
Yes, Filoni initially didn't want starfighter made and was overruled by Kathleen and Bob Iger. However, he is impressed with how well starfighter has turned out and is willing to keep the story going depending on how it is received.
Thrawn is a difficult character to write because you have to create the illusion that he is smarter than the author himself. Sadly, Filoni has resorted to making him say "all according to plan" every episode to hide his lack of ideas for the character.
If you don't want to kill a main character every 5 minutes, you need to find interesting ways for him to seem clever, but since his introduction in Rebels, Filoni has never found a way to properly do that. The Ahsoka series hinges entirely on this hearsay storytelling of Thrawn's apparent intellect and it's frustrating to watch.
Emboโs weapon in THE MANDALORIAN AND GROGU is a bowcaster that breaks into pieces that can be wielded as melee weapons. Jon Favreau wished this was conveyed more overtly in the film.
More trivia facts + details from Jon Favreauโs director commentary here: https://t.co/HCdYMmfHZt
In Star Wars Zero Company, Jae Mordant will become a member of your team. She is a noble from House Mordant of Shu-Torun.
This is the first major reference to Shu-Torun since Marvel's Star Wars (2015), where its royalty went toe-to-toe with the Empire and Rebellion.
He's perfect in Andor and brought real gravitas to the role and the season would not have worked without him.
The only strange moment is when you watch the Andor finale and Rogue One back to back, because in the latter, Bail gets this dramatic, stepping out of the shadows introduction scene that feels kinda awkward now.
I think this looks like a fairly basic story (I have not read the book so I don't know if there is a big twist to it) but Ridley Scott's 50 years of directing experience manage to elevate even the simplest materials to unexpected heights. I will show up day one for ANY of his movies and I am beyond grateful we still get new films from one of our most important directors in his LATE 80s.
New trailer for Ridley Scottโs โTHE DOG STARSโ starring Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Josh Brolin.
The film follows a survivor who sets out to trace its origin of a mysterious radio signal in the apocalypse.
In theaters on August 28.