Transcript
Speaker: It's 1977. Gas prices are astronomically high due to turmoil involving Iran. Steven Spielberg makes an alien movie. It's 2026.
Speaker: Gas prices are astronomically high due to turmoil involving Iran. Steven Spielberg makes an alien movie. What do you think is going to happen in 2075?
Speaker: Welcome back to Lost in the Frame. I'm your host, Alex. I'm your host, Malik. I'm your host, Tachi. And we are really excited to talk about two Steven Spielberg alien movies that came out 49 years apart from each other. And they're somewhat thematically similar. And you got to wonder, why didn't they wait the 50th year for 2027? You don't want to risk gas prices not being astronomical.
Speaker: that is true that is true i don't think it's gonna end anytime soon though so he he can i will say i saw gas for 539 got i was excited for that isn't that awful It was in the three, like 320 by me. So I do need to go fill up my truck today because it's been sitting on like 20 miles of range for weeks. my God.
Speaker: The same with my truck. i don't drive it anymore. It just sits there. i drive it every now and then. It's so sad. I've been using the same half gallon or half tank for like, I don't know five weeks so.
Speaker: It's awful. I have filled up my truck, I think a month ago and use it sparingly. And it's a half a tank now. So that's how, that's how not often I'm driving it.
Speaker: But last yeah, I mean with, with the gas prices right now, like it was 50 bucks to fill up a Honda civic yesterday. I'm just like imagining like in Texas it was 50 bucks to fill up my truck, so I'm like, okay, I'm paying the same. I'm just not driving my truck.
Speaker: Boy math. Basically. ah We are not talking about gas prices for the rest of this episode. Like I said, we're going talk about two Steven Spielberg alien movies. ah First one being Close Encounters of the Third Kind from 1977.
Speaker: um And the second one being Disclosure Day, which came out on Thursday. We're recording this on a Saturday, so it came out. Well, the official release was yesterday on a Friday, but I saw it Thursday because I'm special.
Speaker: We all are. Yeah. Before we we do that, how about we hop into our rapid review? I'm in. Sure. I guess I'll go first today.
Speaker: I've been doing all the talking. It's stressing me out. So I'm going to do two rapid reviews. One of them really quick because it's a follow-up on one of Malik's from a previous episode, but one of them is my actual one. So I saw Trainspotting in theaters oh um for the 30th anniversary release, 4K. Movies are 10 out of 10.
Speaker: it's It's a 10 out of 10. No notes. I will say that... I'm already paying dividends for the Alamo take that we posted on social media the other day because the audio in Trainspotting, I really hope it wasn't the just the way that the restoration was because it was horrible.
Speaker: Really? Yeah. like Not only could I not understand them because they were Scottish, I couldn't understand them because the sound was terrible. Oh, that's unfortunate.
Speaker: Yeah. I... I mean, i'd see I've seen the movie a couple times before, so it wasn't like the end of the world. But yeah, there were a couple of moments where i was like, oh, this is... The audio quality here is horrible.
Speaker: Yeah. And you would hate for someone that to be like someone's first experience like watching the movie, too. Especially the theater. Agreed. the The other... Part two of my rapid review is I watched Mercy on a plane on a trip to New York this past week.
Speaker: um Yeah, it's it's it's not a good movie. I think it's really, really entertaining, though. Like, it's it's not a boring watch. There are a couple moments that really drag where Chris Pratt just argues with a computer for a while, and it's like...
Speaker: pseudo philosophical and horrible. But when this movie is using the AI to like solve the crime you've been framed for, it was actually fairly entertaining.
Speaker: Two out of five.
Speaker: Yeah, I guess so. Like you do have to give it that it is. It's not a boring movie. No, I can agree with you there. Yeah. Like, unfortunately, I'm sitting there and I'm like, wow, I really like I want to see how this wraps up.
Speaker: And like it it's so much worse watching a two out of five movie that is just extremely boring and a slog to get through. Like War of the Worlds is a is an awful movie. Not once was I bored.
Speaker: Oh, it's a tame rewatch value. But War of the Worlds has what, more watchability? Yes.
Speaker: Or ah rewatchability? Yes. I would say so because War of the Worlds is so bad that you almost just want to be like, I'm going to show this to everybody I know.
Speaker: Yeah, the meme ability of War of the Worlds is 10 out of 10. I would happily rewatch that movie today. If someone asked me to rewatch Mercy, I would suggest anything else.
Speaker: But if someone suggested War of the Worlds, I'd be like, put it on. Okay. ah still need to watch it. You do. I'll wait till I'm on a plane. Okay. My rapid review is going to be about Hoppers. i don't know if you guys have seen it.
Speaker: I haven't, but i saw i got put it on ah Disney+, plus so I need to check it out. Yes. I think it i think it dropped maybe like a week ago. don't know, really recently. But anyways, um really good.
Speaker: Honestly, the the most entertaining Pixar movie i've watched in a long time, probably since Toy Story 4, which I think was 2019. ah Yeah, really fun movie.
Speaker: Not sure that it says like, you know, philosophical as soul or, you know, whatever else they've released since then, but really well made, really funny and had a good time. i would happily rewatch this as well.
Speaker: ah Four out of five stars. Nice. it's certainly not It's certainly not philosophical like ah everybody's favorite pro-gentrification movie, Elemental. Bro, I did not enjoy Elemental. That movie pissed me off.
Speaker: The ending was so absurd. It's like... Okay, we accept the fire people, so we're going to completely neuter their culture so everyone else can enjoy it. What is the message here?
Speaker: Did we talk about Elemental on this podcast like in the first few episodes? I remember someone going on a rant about the ending. I definitely have gone on a rant to you guys on it in person. Because I think yeah after i saw it in theaters, I texted you, the end of this movie is insane. Yeah.
Speaker: um is is hoppers the james marsden one or am i thinking of something else that's i don't think he's in this dave franco's in this hold on he's definitely not james marsden which one am i thinking of y'all y'all know which one i'm talking about he's it's james marsden with a bunny is it hopper
Speaker: I think there's a Hopper singular. Is it the Peter Cottontail movie? I think so. twenty you one Oh, okay. Hoppers just came out. Yeah. Yes.
Speaker: Got it. Okay. The entire time we're talking, i was I was imagining James Mars then driving a car with a bunny next to him in the passenger seat, like la Sonic style. No. Wrong movie. Now I know what you're talking about. Okay.
Speaker: Okay, cool. That one is on my list. I do need to check that one out. Yeah. Cool. I recommend it. um my rapid review is going to be michael man's manhunter um i was able to see this at the academy museum last night with michael man in attendance uh there is a new 4k restoration out the movie looked absolutely gorgeous um i don't have anything to base it on like before but looked insane and it sounded great that theater was like one of the most beautiful theaters i've ever been to in my life like I went and saw Manhunter at the Academy Museum. I'm sorry, dude. was so sick. and it was so It was so sick. um
Speaker: I really wish you guys could have been there. It would have been a lot of fun. ah But Manhunter will be getting a wider release for this 4K restoration in a month, I believe. So yep if it's near you, I highly recommend it. um It was my first time watching the movie. I've said it on this podcast before, I'm new to Michael Mann.
Speaker: very interested in him as a filmmaker. Like he's really, he just, he's really, he's a really interesting guy. His move. I'm still trying to get a grasp on like who he is like outside of heat because he feels so singular compared to the other Michael Mann movies I've seen.
Speaker: Um, But I mean, I had a good time with this one. ah It is the first on-screen adaptation, or first on-screen look we've had with Hannibal Lecter, I believe, ah played by Brian Cox.
Speaker: Great performance there. I'm going to give it a three and half out of five. Oh, finish it I'm going to give it a three and a half out of five. Nice. Yeah, it's ah it was the first adaptation of any like Hannibal Lecter material on the screen. But the weird bit about it is...
Speaker: They remade it like 10 years later yeah into Red Dragon. They did. With Anthony Hopkins, yeah. oh Do you know who directed Red Dragon?
Speaker: ah Not Michael Mann. Interesting. So, obviously, yeah this is yeah, the adaptation from Red Dragon. Brett Ratner.
Speaker: That's crazy. That is crazy. He's the director of Rush Hour. also... he also directed the Melania movie. That's exactly, yes. Oh, wow.
Speaker: And this one is starring Edward Norton and Anthony, yeah, and Anthony Hopkins, Ray Fiennes. Real interesting. So, yeah, Manhunter was originally going to be called Red Dragon, um Michael Mann was saying yesterday, and they decided on the name Manhunter, but wow, did not know that they remade that 20-some years later. Huh.
Speaker: Have you seen Red Dragon? No, I haven't. I need to. There's a couple like legacy sequels that I need to see. I need to rip through all the ah the Silence of the Lambs sequels, and then I want to do all the Exorcist sequels as well.
Speaker: There's like two that are the same movie, but they're like recut ah with Stellan Skarsgård in them. whoa for the Exorcist ones. um I saw one of them at Half Price Books the other day for three bucks and I just should have bought it. but You should have.
Speaker: That would be fun to do before um before the new Exorcist releases next March. March 2027 starring Scarlett Johansson. Is it next March? It is a wrap filming I think earlier this week.
Speaker: Nice. Wow. Wait, so did Michael Mann speak at the event? Oh, yeah. do q and a he was He was there in person. wasn't a Q&A. It was like a moderated panel with okay ah with the, ah I don't know what you would call him, the programmer.
Speaker: um So 30 minutes after the movie, was Michael Mann and this woman who um was like the head of programming at the Academy Museum. And yeah, she was just they were just talking about the movie. She ran through a few questions. He was talking about...
Speaker: The restoration, what was added, um talked a little bit about like the behind the scenes, like working with the actors. How was it working with um yeah with ah with Brian Cox as as Hannibal Lecter? Super interesting.
Speaker: um How old is Michael Mann in his 80s? 83, I just checked. That's crazy. He looks good for 83. I mean, he's walking around like totally fine and very coherent, so he's good.
Speaker: It better be good. They're starting to be too. He's scouting locations. Yeah, he's scouting locations for it already. It's thrilling. ah Let's see what's going on in the world of movie news, and then we'll get into the movies. um First up, Social Reckoning trailer.
Speaker: We talked to them about it a little bit over text, but wanted to talk about it on the pod. Uh... We were just kind of discussing the first 10 seconds with the unintelligible Mikey Madison line read.
Speaker: After her saying she's going to be clear? Yeah. Let me be clear. i I heard it fine, to be honest. It feels like the white-yellow dress versus the gold of black or black and blue dress thing.
Speaker: Besides the unintelligible line, what is your excitement level for this movie? like What did we what you guys think of the trailer? I'm intrigued. Yeah, I'm intrigued. I'm pissed. Why?
Speaker: It feels like a just the straight to DVD knockoff drama. um I don't know why we're getting this movie. um I don't really want it.
Speaker: Jeremy Strong is Mark Zuckerberg. Like he nailed the voice. Right. I will say that. But I don't know. Like and I and I love Jeremy Strong. I really do. Like I think he's a phenomenal actor.
Speaker: um i I don't know if I if I buy him physically as the Zuck man. It feels like cosplay.
Speaker: It all feels like cosplay. There's a cheap sheen to this trailer that I can't quite put my finger on, but I will watch the movie.
Speaker: It's got a lot of actors I like, so I will be there. feels like aaron sorkin always has something to say anyways so we'll see bro can't stop talking i like aaron sorkin as a writer uh should have got another director for this 100 um
Speaker: michael man for the sequel that'd be crazy yeah you gotta watch the insider that's his like political drama movie It's very good. Is there a shootout? No, it's about a whistleblower about the tobacco industry.
Speaker: Snitches get stitches. Mm-hmm. You know it. Other trailer that released was Whale Fall, directed by Brian Duffield, starring Austin Abrams. Did you guys catch this trailer?
Speaker: Yes. Thankfully. Oh, my God. ah If you do not know what whale fall is, here's the synopsis. Following the death of his father, Jay Gardner goes diving off the central coast of California in search of his remains, but is swallowed by a massive sperm whale.
Speaker: While trapped inside its belly with only one hour of oxygen left, Jay comes to realize that the hard-earned lessons his father imparted may be the key to his escape. ah This trailer is terrifying. It shows him getting swallowed by the titular sperm whale.
Speaker: um And I was scared. I'm very excited for this movie. I'm in. Are you going to go swimming now in the ocean off California?
Speaker: I do want to. I want to surf. um Yeah, buddy, you're going to get eaten by a sperm whale. I've seen videos of sharks near the shore. Apparently, it's um there's a lot of sharks closer to the shore because of the warm waters due to El Nino.
Speaker: So we'll see what happens.
Speaker: I didn't know whales ate just whole octopus like that. i don't think they do. I think this is just just the movies. according to I literally just looked it up. According to the AI overview on Google, they do eat octopus along with a wide variety of deep sea squid.
Speaker: I was going to say, for the longest time, we only knew nude giant squid existed because of the evidence of sperm whales fighting with them to eat them.
Speaker: Huh? Yeah. Really? Wow. Like, we only knew that the giant squid and, like, the colossal squid existed because, like, we'd find remains of it. And you'd see, like, the massive scratches and stuff on a sperm whale.
Speaker: Bro, the ocean is terrifying. Giant squids are insane. What do you mean there's a Kraken out there?
Speaker: There's the giant squid, and then I think there's the colossal squid. The colossal is the cracking, right? Which means there could be an even bigger colossal squid. There's always a bigger colossal... Alright.
Speaker: First bit of news for me is the first shot from the Batman 2 was released by Matt Reeves. We have finally gotten to the point where this thing is filming.
Speaker: For those of you who... I guess haven't been antsily waiting for this movie. It's been quite a long time since the Batman part one came out to this point. And so this is a very, very monumental day. However, another bit of news came out along with it regarding the casting.
Speaker: As you may remember, a couple weeks ago we talked about how Sebastian Stan, ah you know of Winter Soldier fame from the ah Marvel Cinematic Universe, was cast to play Harvey Dent. Well, now there's a conflicting report that ah he's not going to play Harvey Dent. He's going to play Victor Zazz.
Speaker: And the real person who's going to play Harvey Dent is Brian Tyree Henry. Whoa. However, the guy this came from
Speaker: is very notorious for being wrong. Okay. But Sebastian Stan as Victor Zsasz would be incredible. Who is Victor Zsasz? I'm not familiar.
Speaker: He's like a... I don't even know what tier level Batman villain you'd call him. He's... But he's like a serial killer who like puts the Roman numeral or the tally in his skin of the people he's killed.
Speaker: o So it's like one, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Is he covered in them? Covered in them, yeah, apparently. The DC's Killmonger. Brian Tyree Henry is Two-Face.
Speaker: Hmm. Walk with me. I can see it. I'm intrigued. I'm intrigued. Yeah. The shot we got of the first shot of the Batman.
Speaker: There's like a guy laying in the background blurred out. I got to know what's happening here. I'm so happy that this movie is filming now. I hope it's good. If it's not good after all this time. Surely.
Speaker: God, that would suck. Is it 2027? 2027. Yeah. Okay. I think like spring 2027. We'll be there. We will be there.
Speaker: All right, moving on. The next bit of news for me today is Michael. The Michael Jackson movie is now officially the highest grossing musical biopic surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody.
Speaker: Ow!
Speaker: Sure. Congrats, Michael. We had a feeling. MJ has shooters. I think unlike anything else we've seen before. MJ's an artist. Amazing.
Speaker: Michael the movie. Bad. Two things can be true at once. but Ish. Oh yeah, I forgot. How much do you think a Taylor Swift movie would pull in?
Speaker: A Taylor biopic? She had the Eras Tour live concert. That doesn't count. But that made a lot of money. Well, the concert made a lot of money, but I'm talking like a movie, like a true Taylor Swift narrative biopic.
Speaker: Would make a lot of money. Unfortunately. Who would you cast as Taylor Swift? Bryant, Irie Henry. It was right there. Yeah, it was right there.
Speaker: feels right there yeah who was right there he he He does have musical experience as Paperboy from Atlanta. Paperboy, Paperboy, gotta have me Paperboy.
Speaker: good one Good one. um Who would I cast? I don't know. Nicole Kidman? In like a future look-ahead?
Speaker: Give me a biopic that hasn't happened yet. Give me a future biopic. Taylor Swift 2049.
Speaker: That'd be something, huh? I would love to see it President Swift has to deal with a nuclear crisis. ah
Speaker: Oh, man. All right. Next bit of news. Mark Ruffalo is announced to be the lead of Pixar's new film Gato. The film follows a black cat in Venice with a love of music who's shunned by locals due to superstitions.
Speaker: I'm in. yeah did Did you see the trailer, the teaser? I did not. No. Is it different from what released last year? It's a little bit extended. You hear people talking and like the animation is moving.
Speaker: But I can confidently say that the animation looks like the concept art. i That was my next question. did Is if they changed it or is it still kind of looking like the ah like hand-painted ah storyboards? It still kind of looks hand-painted. does not look like a Grubhub commercial.
Speaker: Let's go. Grubhub commercial is insanely accurate.
Speaker: Then the unfortunate thing, like i those types of commercials I think adopted that art style like following all these pixar movies so it's just a shame to look back on like turning red or anything of that nature and just be like well grubhub ruined you i'm sorry
Speaker: the worst part about it ah ah to to circle back to hoppers tashi have you seen the the little bit from uh the concept art for hoppers where it's like 2d animation i've not Looks like an American Ghibli movie. like why Why can't we go back to that? Why do we have to have Grubhub?
Speaker: Grubhub core. It's its own subgenre. Oh man, that looks amazing. the movie The movie would have been very different. Because I i think it in some ways it benefits from the art that it had.
Speaker: But this is really nice, that concept art. um like that a lot. Well, oh well. next Last bit of news. 24 Jump Street is officially announced.
Speaker: And they said it took so long to make, we had to skip one. I was confused. I was like, is there a 23 Jump Street? And then I saw that quote and i was like, okay.
Speaker: That's funny. I'm so excited. I'm very excited. I love these movies. I don't know if i mentioned the other day, but I rewatched 21 Jump Street not too long ago, maybe within the last month.
Speaker: It still holds up for the most part. It's really funny. It's a that is a solid entry. And then the sequel just tops it. My name is but Jiv. I've told the story on this part about how I got kicked out of the cinema.
Speaker: in 22 Jump Street, right? No. don't think so. I swear I have. Maybe. Tell us again. We ended up in Edge of Tomorrow. After. You did say this, yes.
Speaker: Why did you get kicked out? But it was like one of your friends that got you kicked out, wasn't it? No, because we were like 15, 14, and we snuck in. And it was so funny, right?
Speaker: Because... My parents and someone else's parents, I think, volunteered just buy us the tickets and go in with us. And they were just like, no no no, no, no, we're going to be fine. We're going to go see Edge of Tomorrow.
Speaker: So then we we bought tickets to Edge of Tomorrow and then um went to 22 Jump Street. Then my buddy got kicked out. And then the rest of us all got kicked out right after.
Speaker: The moral of this story is I want to get kicked out of 23 Jump Street just just to keep it going.
Speaker: But then you got to go see Edge of Tomorrow. Two Edge to Tomorrow? Yeah. Two Edge to Tomorrow? that's ah And that's a great movie. um Speaking of movies, let's get into ours.
Speaker: We'll kick it off with, ah not brief, but did want to... Double feature this with Close Encounters of the Third Kind being Steven Spielberg's first alien movie with his latest one, Disclosure Day.
Speaker: um We could talk about Close Encounters for a bit, what we thought of it. I think we'll discuss it maybe a bit more in tandem with Disclosure Day as far as parallels and themes, um but definitely wanted to get like initial thoughts on Close Encounters. But um I will kick off by reading the synopsis, and then we will do our letterbox love like loathe.
Speaker: Close Encounters of the Third Kind was released in 1977, directed by Steven Spielberg. After an encounter with UFOs, an electricity linesman feels undeniably drawn to an isolated area in the wilderness where something spectacular is about to happen.
Speaker: um Alex has our five-star, Tachi with a three, and I will read one-star today.
Speaker: Today's five star for Close Encounters of the Third Kind comes Laird. Laird. This review may contain spoilers. A movie about the importance of leaving your wife and kids in order to pursue your passion to fly in a UFO. It's valid.
Speaker: It is. Today's three star comes in from Mike. If you love close up shots of people staring at things off screen, boy, do I have the movie for you.
Speaker: um Our one star comes from Elarky Savin. I swear, if Steven Spielberg didn't consult fucking scientific experts on sociology, language studies, anthropology, et cetera, for disclosure day, I'm gonna walk out.
Speaker: It's even more infuriating to see this dude who is clearly suffering not fucking be able to communicate what he's experiencing. Like, bro, your wife doesn't believe you because you can't use your words.
Speaker: Miscommunication the movie, everybody. um This was all of our first time watching this, if I'm not mistaken, correct? Correct. Yep. I think we said it briefly. I've seen it. I've seen this thing spoofed like 500 times in various shows over the years.
Speaker: Yeah. I think very similar to 2001 Space Odyssey. You can see a lot of... um Roots of the alien movies that came after kind of have their inspirations from this.
Speaker: ah So I've also seen a number of spoofs and then again, now we get to see kind of the the source material, but um I was excited to watch this. I think this has been on my watch list for a long time. I think I said on the last episode, I have the vinyl for the soundtrack on this and it was very like creepy and eerie. And so that was kind of,
Speaker: the expectation that I was having coming into to the movie, a lot less creepier, a lot less creepy than I thought it was going to be. But um what did you guys think? Yeah, there's only really one creepy-ish scene, and that's in the house.
Speaker: In the house, which is a great scene. Yeah, for sure. ah Real quick, though, that boy looks like an alien, right?
Speaker: I mean, he looked just like him.
Speaker: Is this ah like the little kid? Yeah, Barry. Who's a Barry? Yeah. He looked just like those aliens. Well, that's why they got him. They said, oh, that's not one of us. There's our guy. Go back and get him. He left him here. I think canonically she was a single mom, so.
Speaker: Could have been a. Maybe she had a really close encounter. That's actually the fifth kind of Close Encounters if you look look at the scale.
Speaker: What actually is the Close Encounter of the fifth kind? There is like a legit scale. There's a scale. So first kind is seeing. Second is, ah I might have this wrong.
Speaker: Third I know is like, ah I don't know any of it actually. I'm just talking. i let was get All that to loop around, I was going to say, I know fourth kind is abduction because of the fourth kind. That's all I know. So I know that there's a scale.
Speaker: All right. So there's close encounters of the first kind is visual sightings and of and of an unidentified object seemingly less than 500 feet away that show an appreciable angular extension and considerable detail.
Speaker: Close encounters of the second kind is a UFO event in which a physical effect is alleged. This can be interference in the functioning of a vehicle or electronic device, animals reacting, a physiological effect such as paralysis or heat and discomfort in the witness, or some physical trace like impressions in the ground, scorched or otherwise affected vegetation, or a chemical trace.
Speaker: Close encounters of the third kind are UFOs encounters with which an animated entity is present. These include humanoids, robots, and humans who seem to be occupants or pilots of a UFO.
Speaker: and And yeah, there's the fourth kind, which is an event in which a human is abducted, as you said. And Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind sex is where...
Speaker: You know, actually, yeah, it it could count, right? Because it's where an alien abductee receives some manner or physical effect from their close encounter, typically either injury or healing. Oh.
Speaker: Or pleasure. yeah There's some ah some aliens in them Star Wars movies that could heal me. Oh. It makes me think of the SNL sketch with Ryan Gosling and the ah and Kate McKinnon with the alien abduction. And she's like, that's not really what happened to me. like Everyone else had like a beautiful wi experience. And he's like, they shoved ah a probe up my coot. And and is that that and that sketch Gosling just keeps breaking.
Speaker: Oh, that is such a good one. um This movie is starring Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Terry Garr, and Melinda Dillon. um I thought this movie was interesting.
Speaker: This is Spielberg's second feature film following the insane success of Jaws. um Another example of a 20-something-year-old making cinematic history with both of these movies. what How old is he in this? Like 30? I think when Closing Counts of the Third Kind was was being made. That's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah, which is awesome. um this yeah This movie was definitely interesting. Not what I fully thought it was going to be. um I don't know. I feel like I was just left with more questions following this. The reason I wanted to like look back on this is, like one, it being his second film, and I think Disclosure Day being his 35th feature your film. So a lot has changed from point A to point B, and I thought it would interesting to kind of see...
Speaker: where spielberg was as a filmmaker and like as a person between these alien movies um and i think a lot of those answers are in disclosure day but um i mean did we like this how do we feel about it i liked it i thought the special effects for some scenes in particular were really really impressive yeah um I loved at the very end the the entire set of where when everything goes down and the Devil's Tower.
Speaker: um Yeah, that that light soundboard was so sick.
Speaker: I've had that theme, the little five note theme in my head the last couple days. Yeah, and beautiful, beautiful sets. um I also really like the special effects. You can see a lot of inspiration of 2001. Alex is doing the hand motions that they use to communicate. Alex, what do you think of this?
Speaker: but i liked it ah I liked it, right? So, i don't know... like i didn't... Like, I knew what to expect going into this movie um just based on the spoofs that I had seen.
Speaker: So, I kind of figured out that... like I understand the plot for the most part. And I did in terms of like, oh this is probably what's going to come next, right? There was a lot of it that I was like, oh, I'm i'm surprised this is the route they're taking with it kind of thing.
Speaker: um But I feel like it's a tale of two movies, and we we'll get into this later in Disclosure Day as well, right? Because you have... This very incredible ending.
Speaker: you know Very iconic music. um the The tone has been in everything. um yeah just the special effects are incredible, especially for 1977.
Speaker: But for me, like the movie loses itself a little bit in the middle. Yeah. And i granted, I watched it at like 10 a.m. after working out after a trip. So was pretty out of it.
Speaker: A lot of it, I was just like, like this is fine. Like, can't like come on. Yeah.
Speaker: But... Yeah, it was it's certainly peaked up my interest the most at the very end. the The start I thought was strong, and the middle I thought was like, okay, and in the end I thought was very, very strong. But I mean, Taj hit a nail on the head. I think the special effects here aged extremely well.
Speaker: The sets look great, and that last 15 minutes, very, very good. Yeah.
Speaker: Agreed. I was going to say, um I agree with you where the middle of this movie, well I'll just call it like act two, kind of bogs it down a bit.
Speaker: and it's It's forgivable because it does feel it like this does feel like a beginning entry in the Spielberg filmography. like You can kind of see like some of the tropes and like camera movements that he will like later implement in his other films kind of have their beginnings here.
Speaker: um i think from like a story perspective, especially when it comes to like a family dynamic, it feels like a first iteration just because like you had a little bit of that in in Jaws, right? but more of the threat of the shark is present throughout the movie, whereas like the aliens kind of take a back seat for like,
Speaker: The middle 45 minutes here. And becomes more of more of a family drama. um Which I think is interesting. But like you said. I just didn't know.
Speaker: Or expect that that was the direction. That this was going to go. Just because it starts off so strong. And so heavy handed on the alien side. That when they're gone. I'm kind of just waiting for them to come back. And.
Speaker: interested where the where the story is going to go. But yeah, once we get to like those like last 30 minutes of being at Devil's Canyon, I'm i'm i'm in. It's beautiful sets.
Speaker: Looks great. The music is fantastic. ah John Williams on the score.
Speaker: Overall, I enjoyed it.
Speaker: there i don't I can't really, i don't know.
Speaker: I guess I wanted to ask what you guys thought about the script. There's there are some bits and pieces throughout that were pretty impactful to me. There's this line that Roy repeats maybe a couple times, but he's like, he's staring at his little pile of, you know, mush, whether it's mud or mashed potatoes. And he's like, this means something. This is important.
Speaker: I really liked that.
Speaker: I'm not really sure why, but it's got some sauce. It does. and now there's there's there's a lot of thoughts I have about this movie, about Disclosure Day and about Steven Spielberg as a filmmaker.
Speaker: That ties back into that line read of Roy, of the interpretation that I think. Spielberg puts himself in in all of his movies. Like his experiences, his lived life, all of it, his personality. It's all like it's all there.
Speaker: um I've always loved Spielberg as a filmmaker. I think in the last... four years, I've started to really appreciate him following the release of The Fablemans. I don't know if you guys got a chance to see it, but it's a loose retelling of Spielberg growing up, of his childhood, him getting into filmmaking and like what it means to him. like It's the most I'm looking in the mirror, this movie is my life, movie that Spielberg has.
Speaker: And that following that movie just answered or showed me a new side in all of his movies. And so like when I see this movie and I see Roy reading those lines, I see Spielberg and I see the obsession of filmmaking and like how this is his language. And he's like, like he said, this means something to me.
Speaker: That's how I read it. um So I'm with you on that. I think there were a lot of very impactful moments in the script. in In the Fablements, does he have a brush with alien kind because he clearly has a really strong affinity the unknown.
Speaker: I don't know if he's ever had an encounter or at least something of the first kind. I'm not sure. It's a good question. Maybe only the fifth kind. i Something got him.
Speaker: And he's going to write about it.
Speaker: About halfway through the movie, I realized the mom of Barry, who is kind of going through the same experience as Roy. She's the mom in Christmas Story.
Speaker: And this came out before Christmas Story. I thought a Christmas Story was ancient, but it came out like the early 80s.
Speaker: I will say i thought we were in a world where a Christmas Story would have been older than this. Right. Me too. Interesting. Yeah. Who is she? That was... I want to say... I think A Christmas Story is just spiritually older than Close Encounter. It is.
Speaker: i agree. I could agree with guys there. um yeah feel bad for Roy. Roy lost his mind. He sure did. He lost a lot of things. He really did. You could argue, though, he found it.
Speaker: I think I would have loved to see... like it It felt like his descent, quote unquote descent into madness was pretty quick, or at least his family's reaction to it.
Speaker: um Specifically his wife, where like he she finds him in the bathtub like sobbing. And I'm like, oh, this is a real emotional moment. Like, it feels, like, really intimate.
Speaker: And the way it escalates of her just yelling at him and that, like, you're ruining this fucking family. was like, give my guy a break. Like, he's clearly going through something. His comes in, sorry. Cry, baby. Cry, baby. I was like, geez, Louise. Can we just lay off the gas on this guy for second? I think the funniest bit is he sees this thing that everybody on the line sees and then the next one he gets fired for it.
Speaker: like They didn't want to talk to you but they told me that you're fired. You're done. i was so confused. I was like, what did he do? i was like, they were all there.
Speaker: They're like, no, that guy specifically. Get him out of here. I would have been really pissed if my, i don't know, I guess my spouse was throwing bricks through the windows, though. I would leave the house for the day.
Speaker: Bricks and plants and chicken wire. Yeah. Although I will say the scene where he's dumping out the trash right in front of the garbage man. It was so That cracked me up. yeah Totally unnecessary.
Speaker: And the thing is, i didn't even get all the trash out and just used. That was just disrespectful at that point. It was. it throws it through the window. i mean, yeah that was kind of the bit where that whole sequence in the movie for me is where I started to be just like, okay, like let's get on with this. yeah yeah It goes on like a long, long time for him to realize that the mound he's building is Devil's Tower in Wyoming. it was john It was drawn on for quite a bit just to like see the flip side of Barry's mom kind of just immediately come to the picture and she's like, oh yeah, I've been drawing it
Speaker: Like, that seems a lot more doable than what he'd been doing to his home. her Her kid gets abducted, and she's just like, ah, yeah, ain't nothing but a thing. Yeah, her her initial reaction to Barry just walking off, just, Barry, Barry. like, if you don't run after your child right now, you will not come home.
Speaker: It's probably just like ah, Barry, probably gone through it before. like He'll come back. Then it's like, I'm probably not coming back. He'll come back. Usually pops up around dinner time. i also feel like ah we need to go back to so like making movies set in in very strange places, right? i mean, when Muncie, Indiana popped up on my screen, I was like, what a pull.
Speaker: What a crazy pull for a location, right? Muncie to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Yeah. They made it like it's like, ooh, like, ooh, like, you know, this takes place in New York because, o you know, every movie takes place in New York, and it's like, nah, give me Muncie, man. i like that. give Give me Athens, Ohio.
Speaker: want to see a movie take place in liberal Kansas. Yeah. I think it would add a lot of character to modern movies for sure. Everything takes place in New York and L.A. There's probably something to be said about that in terms of culture or culture right now.
Speaker: But maybe that's another episode. I wonder where the middle ground is for Disclosure Day being set in Kansas City. It's a known city, but it's known in New York or L.A. Is it Kansas City, Kansas or Kansas City, Missouri?
Speaker: Oh, i actually don't know. I want to say it's Missouri, but I can't say with confidence. I can't either. i want i was thinking, where the Chiefs from? Kansas City, Kansas?
Speaker: missouri Missouri. Fuck. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Why are there two Kansas cities? so Well, it's this it's the same city. They just sit on the border. What? But spiritually, they're they're very different, I think.
Speaker: I've never been. I don't need to get into all that. Yeah. There's another line read ah getting towards Act 3, I guess, when they when they first started getting to Devil's Tower. And Roy says, according to my birds, the only bad air here is you guys farting around. My second favorite line in the movie. That was very Midwest. That was very Midwest. That's a good line.
Speaker: I want to incorporate that to my... What's the word? Lexicon. Vernacular, yeah. Vernacular. According to my birds here, you stick out your arm in a falcon land. That'd be so sick.
Speaker: um I mean, what else is there to say of this movie? I really want to talk about Disclosure Day. All right, lastly, I'll say then is I think at Devil's Tower, the clouds rolling in with the UFOs flying out of it, that had to have been a direct inspiration for Nob.
Speaker: Like it had to. Yeah. Right. I thought the same. The aliens in the clouds. Yeah. And also those effects were awesome. The effects of of the clouds like kind of forming in in itself, yeah but also out. yeah All of the effects were so were were done so well.
Speaker: h And like I was thinking, what is, and this might just be like ignorance, but I'm like, what is, it besides like CGI and the way that this was a bit more like handmade, and I don't know the exact process, but I'm like, what does this process, this old process, look like with like today's technology?
Speaker: I think we should see more of that instead of CGI everything. Yes, please.
Speaker: It just feels more real. What perfect movie talk about that with than Disclosure Day. That's perfect. That's right. Close Encounters real quick. Wait, before we rate, i want to do one bit of fun fact. Okay.
Speaker: Daft Punk used to open up every single show of theirs with the Close Encounters theme. but the five Is it the like the five notes? The five tones. Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker: That whole like where then it starts speeding up. Yeah. Oh, man. They also closed it when they surprised fans at Madison Square Garden at a Phoenix concert.
Speaker: And there was like a ah ah ah joint like encore thing and they closed the show with the The Close Encounters Five Tones.
Speaker: So for a while, that was like the only thing I really knew about this movie. Daft Punk must have loved this movie. That's so cool. That is really cool. yeah Yeah. They have a lot of crazy film lore.
Speaker: they know bad I guess one of their favorite movies of all time was Texas Chainsaw Massacre. They watched it like all the time.
Speaker: Neat. Let's go rate it. I'm going to give this a 3 out of 5.
Speaker: Me too. Three five.
Speaker: I feel like I'm indecisive between a three out of five and a three and a half out of five. Because the ending is like a four and a half out of five. The ending is so good. But the rest of it is like a three out of five. I don't know.
Speaker: Get back to me on it. Okay. Yeah, we'll get back to you. Okay. Let's get into the main show. Disclosure day. Let me read the synopsis and then we'll do our letterbox love like loathe.
Speaker: Disclosure day directed by Steven Spielberg released in 2026. A cybersecurity expert becomes a whistleblower to reveal secrets about aliens, putting him on the run from a corporation while a meteorologist experiences strange phenomena and joins forces with him to prove this life beyond our knowledge.
Speaker: This is starring Emily Blunt, Joshua Connor, Colin Firth and Coleman Domingo. Similar to close encounters, Alex has a five touch with the three. I have the one, and then we'll get into our thoughts.
Speaker: Today's five-star review for Disclosure Day comes from Liv Roberts. Spielberg at his best. Williams at his best. Williams isn't John Williams. The plot avoided being like another generic sci-fi film and the music was truly perfect. Gave a mix of E.T. and Indiana Jones, which just worked so well for the ambiance.
Speaker: The amount of nail-biting suspense and action was also the perfect ratio and it all just flowed beautifully. Also visually captivating. Felt like my jaw dropped... Droped at least three times. They're missing a P in dropped. It's jaw droped. Yeah.
Speaker: who up drooping their jaw? ah Not me.
Speaker: Speak for yourself. So this three star review comes in from Haley with two eyes. I wish the aliens gave me a special gift. All I got was autism.
Speaker: ah Same.
Speaker: ah um I got a couple one stars here. First one comes from Diza. Half a star for being a decent action movie. Half a star for my husband's commentary, which pointed out the similarities between the movie's main characters and the Trinity and Catholicism.
Speaker: The lack of the rest rest of the stars is for losing my interest by its out of touch call to unite humanity. We're a lost cause in real life.
Speaker: Second one star comes from Luke. In the theater waiting to watch, preemptively rating it a one because I think it will suck. We'll edit it after. Is he still in the theater? I think he just left it as a one.
Speaker: When was it posted? um June 13th, today. What time? Oh, i don't know if you can see times.
Speaker: I thought you can. I'm going to keep it i'm gonna keep track of this one. i'll Refresh it right now. Refresh it right now. I'm scared to lose it. Let me just go to his page. ah We're still at one star.
Speaker: Is there a time? I'm not saying timestamps. Yeah, there's no timestamps here, but I'm going to stay on on this page because I'm very curious to see if if their rating will change. um The last three movies they watched are all three stars, those being He-Man, Masters of the Universe, Backrooms, and Obsession. Three stars across the board. so Hard to please.
Speaker: Yeah, maybe Disclosure Day will ah change that for you. I'm not sure. There was another five-star review I had. don't think I say it on the pod, though. Oh, okay. It's the one I read you before. Yeah, somehow the most obscene review I've ever seen was five stars.
Speaker: And I just... i don't know I'm not sure I want to read this one, but i yeah wanted to I just wanted to say that it's out there for anyone who wants to go looking for it. think if you read it, theyre it you'll know.
Speaker: You'll know immediately. It was posted on June 13th today. And it was five stars and it features an emoji in it.
Speaker: So go look for it. All right. Excitement levels coming into this movie for Disclosure Day. um I'll start. I was stoked. I was very excited.
Speaker: This felt like the first big Spielberg blockbuster in a very long time. um We've got West Side Story in 2021 and then The Fablemans in 2022. Very different movies. Obviously, Spielberg is a big blockbuster guy.
Speaker: Kind of invented the blockbuster her Jaws. So this felt like a return to form. And I was just excited to have the chance and opportunity to see... something of this magnitude from this filmmaker in theaters so much so that I avoided any and all trailers.
Speaker: um I think this might be the first movie that I've successfully done that for because I love i love a movie trailer. um But as you guys know, the last couple of years, I've been more of the camp of wanting to avoid them, not doing a great job at it. But i i I'm going to pat myself on the back here.
Speaker: I avoided every single trailer for this movie. um And I'm glad I did. So I was like a 10 out of 10 excited for this, trying to manage expectations.
Speaker: Where were you guys at? I was pretty excited. Not 10 out of 10, maybe a like six to eight range. Okay. I was ready to be impressed.
Speaker: I was getting primed and I'll leave it at that.
Speaker: Wow. I wasn't that excited. Whoa. This one. Yeah, I did watch the trailer. So I was intrigued by the concept and um when when I heard it got announced. And then I ah saw the trailer and I was just like, this looks mid.
Speaker: Whoa. I was like, this is going to be every other like sci-fi chase movie ever, isn't it?
Speaker: And so I just kind of wasn't that excited for it. I know. i think Kill me. Shoot me. I mean, I did it on me. I didn't know you felt that way. It was you. You hit it.
Speaker: shit Should it? I should have probably been more excited. Right. I mean, aliens, paranormal stuff. That's like right up my alley. Yeah. But no, I just there was something in that trailer. I was just like, wow, this is i'm not hopeful about this. Wow.
Speaker: Interesting. I guess we'll see. I don't know how you actually felt about the movie. Where do you guys land on actually believing in other life in the universe?
Speaker: Oh, I 100% do. Yeah. 100%. Okay, let me reframe the question. Do you believe aliens have visited Earth? Do you believe in like what we see in movies and media for the last 70 years that we've had contact with aliens?
Speaker: So I'll put it this way, right? From a very high-level perspective, I think it's illogical to think that we're not the only thing in this universe, just from a numbers perspective.
Speaker: the The chance that we were the only life to ever have...
Speaker: bit existed in something so infinitely large is obscene. Like, the odds that are just so infinitesimally small.
Speaker: Now, visiting Earth is another question, right? Because if we look at, like, physics and... um you know just what it would take to get from another solar system to here, it requires a level of technology that I don't even think we've begun to approach yet.
Speaker: Um, in terms of being able to like get there and like any sort of reasonable amount of time, right. Cause we can shoot a satellite or, you know, the or something off into space and it'll float for 80 years and it'll be that Pluto.
Speaker: But, um, you know, if you're going to go like and travel at any sort of, you know, relative, uh, what's the word here? Uh, feasibility, like, um, you know, and or, uh,
Speaker: I don't even know what the word here i'm looking at. Making it even useful to travel, right? you would be ah yeah The technology would be insane, right? But there's been a lot of things in reported events in our history that are...
Speaker: in my mind, very hard to explain with conventional wisdom and explanation, right? I think there are certain things that go beyond our level of understanding um and whether that is something that we as a people, you know, have been obfuscated on by some sort of you know shadowy government entity, or if it's truly like, hey, this is a genuinely unexplainable event, it's something that we do not know. i think many of those have happened. Now, what that source is, is is TBD.
Speaker: But in a lot of, there there are a few cases specifically where I look at them and I'm like, yeah, there's something like this, just weird. Like, i don't I don't really know how to explain this other than this is, like, if you take it at its face value and if you say, hey,
Speaker: what's written here is what happened, then i don't know how else you can explain it other than something that we don't know happened, something paranormal. So.
Speaker: Tachi, where are you at with the belief in aliens, aliens with earth, UFOs in general? Pretty much the same thing as Alex stated. i mean, even personally, I've, I've experienced things that, that we talked about on some of our paranormal events,
Speaker: kind of horror type episodes where like I had these experiences that i just cannot explain. I don't know if my brain like really just hallucinated these events or not.
Speaker: Why then? Why there? How? You know? So you know if If that can happen, then I can't possibly rule out alien alien life.
Speaker: so yeah yeah i board i'm Yeah, I'm on board. Yeah, I'm right there with you guys. Have you guys ever had any type of like first kind encounter with aliens where you thought you saw it? like You thought you saw something in the sky or something strange was afoot?
Speaker: No, but my dad has. What is your dad's story? This is Saudi Arabia 91. Operation is this Desert Shield. so Remember the bit in Jarhead where they're waiting in Saudi Arabia to go into Kuwait?
Speaker: yes That bit. So they're in Saudi Arabia waiting to go into Kuwait and they're in the middle of the desert out somewhere. And the gist of the story is that there's this very weird low flying aircraft that wasn't making a lot of noise and was flashing a lot of weird colors moving really slowly across the sky.
Speaker: And they had no idea what it is. Now, given that the setting is that it's a war, yeah it could have been some sort of experimental military craft, you know some surveillance tech going into Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, you know returning from somewhere. um But the gist of the story is that, right? it was this very strange aircraft that no one on the ground had seen before or had any idea what it was, right? Because the thing that...
Speaker: and we'll talk about this a little bit later, but the thing that always bugs me about, like, some of, like, oh it was, like, a military craft, you know, kind of story, right, is in a lot of these events, you know, you'll see it's, oh, the the craft is, like, slowly, silently flying over, you know, wherever we were, right?
Speaker: And it's like, oh, it's probably just some experimental military jet, right? But having seen... a bunch of formerly experimental military jets flying.
Speaker: They're all really, really loud. Even the stealth ones. Like I've seen a B2 bomber fly over me twice. It's like the stealth bomber. Yeah. um That thing is loud.
Speaker: it's It's not discreet at all. It is. That is not a discreet aircraft for... like you know what people think it is they're like oh it's just a b2 bomber yeah like no because you would know if it was a b2 bomber because it sounds like a jet plane um i don't know so i don't i don't i don't know but yeah that's his story i have a memory and this was a long long time ago i had to have been five years old
Speaker: This was so long ago that my dad is involved in this memory. That's how but far back it was. um it's I have a very fuzzy recollection of going to Disney with my mom and my dad when I was a child.
Speaker: We took a trip to California. um The only thing I remember, I remember two two things from that day. I remember the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, the smell of the water, the animatronics. That's like...
Speaker: One of my earliest memories is just like ingrained and following the day at Disney on the way back to the hotel, I presume. I remember driving and looking out the window to the right and there was like a hill and we were driving slow like we we're behind traffic.
Speaker: And I saw this glow, this like pulsating glow. And I don't know what it was. I remember telling my mom, I was like, what is that? And she was like, what is what? And I said that, like the the lights. And then I remember her saying that she didn't she couldn't that she didn't see anything.
Speaker: And I just remember it freaked me out. It could have literally been anything. i'm not saying it was aliens, but like as a kid, I was very much the dinosaur kid. I was very much the alien kid. I loved all of the the cryptic creatures, Bigfoot, Loch Ness Monster, like all of that.
Speaker: My first thought was there's an alien ship over that hill, but I just remember this... this and This feeling of uneasiness like washing over me as I saw this like pulsating light no idea what it was but what most likely was not an alien but that is a memory that that I do have.
Speaker: Hmm. It kind of follows that that ah horror movie trope where only the kids can see the thing. Yeah. So maybe it was like that. Maybe you did see something.
Speaker: Maybe. um the thing I know I did like a meteor. It just crashed down. It was burning up. but It was also green. It was green. ah i have seen so i have seen like some sort of space debris enter the atmosphere and and fly over me. And it made a noise. That's how close it was.
Speaker: yeah It was this ball of something. And it was changing all sorts of colors. It hissed. is this was I was camping in New Mexico. And I was so mad because everybody else was in the camper.
Speaker: And we we were setting up a telescope to stargaze. And I'm like, guys guys, guys, guys, guys. I'm like, between fifth and sixth grade. I'm like, there's someone just making stuff up. was probably a shooting star. i'm like, that was not just a shooting star. like yeah Looking back, like it was definitely like a meteor of some kind. But whatever it was, it not just a shooting star. It was big, and I heard It was aliens.
Speaker: um Okay, back to the movie.
Speaker: I'll start with my overall feeling towards the movie. um Hinted on it like a little bit talk when we were talking about Close Encounters from a thematic standpoint.
Speaker: um I think a lot of what it seems Spielberg wanted to say in Close Encounters is said here. um i do think it's different, and I'm glad that we watched Close Encounters in this because I can see...
Speaker: I see a difference in, I think, what he thinks of like human nature overall and where he sees like humans as a species and like what would happen with aliens. What do aliens like mean to him?
Speaker: um With this movie, this feels a lot more hopeful. I've seen a lot of criticism thinking that this movie might be a bit naive and ah My drawing of the movie was very hopeful, and we'll get to kind of the ending,
Speaker: but As I'm watching this movie, I'm having i'm having a blast. like The way this movie opens is like unlike anything I've seen from Spielberg.
Speaker: um Also, this is going to be a very spoiler-heavy discussion. So if you have not seen the movie, like always, turn it off, go watch it, come back. Welcome back. Yeah.
Speaker: Opens with a POV of us getting kind of thrown around the wrestling ring. ah yeah Yeah, I haven't seen it Spielberg do anything like that that. was a very interesting way to open the movie. but um And there's no reason for that.
Speaker: No. You said that for fun. It was just for fun. And like, how cool. This 70-year-old man is just finding new ways to have fun with this with this art form. Yeah.
Speaker: But I mean, I'm locked in from the beginning and like, I think the set pieces in this movie are fantastic with some excellent performances from from all of the cast, Emily Blunt in particular, which we'll get into, but ah I'll have to say before we get into like details of the plot and specific things that we like, um I loved this movie.
Speaker: I noticed something after watching Close Encounters this morning that the and maybe this ties into his his message of his I guess his hope for humanity and maybe how he thing how he wishes things kind of would play out.
Speaker: Whereas these secret. top level government agencies that are trying to handle and like quell, I guess news breaking out of, you know, these encounters is that they're very gentle.
Speaker: They're not like malicious. They're not just like murking people off the street to try to like keep things private. Um, it's like they there's a level of care there.
Speaker: with the information that personally I don't think would follow how are our world really operates. yeah um But yeah, I thought that that was interesting. that it's I guess they handled things in a similar way.
Speaker: And I mean, you bring up a good point. um And I think if you look at like Spielberg's filmography like as a whole, Like, this is not... This is is what? One, two, like, fourth alien movie.
Speaker: This is obviously, like, a... A story that he likes to go back to and reiterate on and have different themes. Like, if we look at, like, War of the Worlds, that's the exact opposite.
Speaker: Like, that's what people call, like... kind of the start or not the, yeah, not the start, but like in the beginnings, like when we're talking about like Minority Report, the Terminal War of the Worlds, this is like all post 9-11 Spielberg and you can kind of see how he wanted to deal with with that. And I think you see that a lot in War of the Worlds of this um outer threat coming in and shaking things up for the worse. And those aliens are violent. That is, it is fear-driven. That is a fear-driven movie. And then the complete opposite with Disclosure Day. Like he, this
Speaker: I don't know. it's It's just really, I just thought it was really interesting to see like the differences between those two.
Speaker: So this is my actual Letterboxd review.
Speaker: And I will read it to you right now. When did you post this? I have not seen it. This was the the day I watched it. Okay. so I said, um Spielberg made a two and a half hour movie with the entire purpose of making the last 15 minutes.
Speaker: Okay. Let me expand upon what I mean by that. There is a vibe shift in terms of what I felt was the heart and soul of the movie within the last 15 minutes, where it went from...
Speaker: like like the like It really, really felt like those last 15 minutes, like someone's heart and soul were poured into making that. It evoked every kind of emotional response you can get in a movie theater.
Speaker: The chills were going down my arms and back. and you know For no real reason other than that, this just was, it felt like movie magic. The rest of the movie felt like an excuse to make those 15 minutes in my mind.
Speaker: I was... disappointed by the script. I thought there were a lot of parts where it felt like half-baked and it was kind of a mess.
Speaker: Um... There were some threads that I just rolled my eyes at. um
Speaker: And I feel like a lot of it just, like I just feel like a lot of it didn't pay off. Like those 15, what paid off in those 15 minutes paid like 10 X dividends and the rest of it just wasn't included in that payout.
Speaker: interesting Interesting. Right. I think, and we can unpack that a little bit more into specificity when we we dive deeper into it. I just, yeah. And Spielberg didn't write this movie, but there should have been a lot of rewrites yeah was written by david co-op what else has he done uh he has jurassic park spider-man panic room the lost room he's worked with spielberg before war of the worlds on quite a few things so i mean you got some hits here you got some stinkers
Speaker: style of destiny. That's a stinker. yeah
Speaker: But he's got some hits. Yeah. OK, Tachi, think going to ask a question. I was going to ask Alex if there were any any scenes that he could point to just right off the bat that were instances of.
Speaker: I guess bits of writing that he. i don't know, would revise or would just take out entirely. Oh, for for starters, right? The the the bad guys chasing ah Josh O'Connor and Jane, who was played by... Eve Hewson.
Speaker: Eve Hewson. Oh, that's Bono's daughter. No way! That's cool. From U2, yeah, that's Bono's daughter. Oh, a daughter of activist Ali Hewson and singer Bono. Did not know that. Hmm.
Speaker: Nepo baby alert. So they were so the like the the police chasing or the agents, whatever you want to call them, chasing Josh O'Connor and Bono two's character are.
Speaker: We're so like comically stupid. No situational awareness like They're sneaking away and they're like four feet from them and they're just like, oh, like, no way. like I can't believe they drove off a cliff. yeah Fuck. I like I can't disagree with you, but.
Speaker: I really liked it. It felt like this this movie this movie feels like, and I saw a review that said this would have slapped in 2006, and it was like a two-star review. And I was like, I agree, but like give that a higher rating because of this. it This does feel like a movie that would have been made 20-some years ago, and there's a lot of what I'll call like video game logic when it comes to like that scene specifically that you're pointing to, but it just, it felt, it felt right.
Speaker: Like this felt just like, like a movie to me. It, it, it really did. And this isn't like, there are flaws in this. I totally see what you're saying, but for some reason I was just, I would, I i liked it.
Speaker: I was in it for it. the The other thing that I thought was really, really half-baked, and I'm just like, this is trying so hard to be deep, was the very, very surface-level religious imagery and like religion thread.
Speaker: I, you know, you can pull what you want from it, right? Like, to me, that whole bit was about, like, the weaponization of belief and, you know, religion. But the actual discussion about, that it was having with, you know, the... The nun. The...
Speaker: the cohabitation of alien life and religion was just like Wikipedia, Reddit, you know, pulling a comment and being like, this is our whole philosophical analysis of it. It's like, well, you know, ah specifically the bit where it's like, you know, on you know, in Genesis, it says, ah you know, we were God's creation on earth. and It's like, Oh, like,
Speaker: come on
Speaker: ta I'll let you respond.
Speaker: i I don't know. There were a lot of, I guess like like Alex says, there's there are a lot of things that feel shallow, half-baked,
Speaker: And i don't want to speak to the religious thing just because I don't really remember what all was, guess, written.
Speaker: but there's not like the the The problem is, to me, I didn't think there was a lot written. like It was just like, oh like religion and aliens. um Think about it this way.
Speaker: Right. um Yeah, I don't know. i I guess I just don't have a strong opinion on that. I think my my problems lie with...
Speaker: I think what Alex was kind of, in a way, glowing about the movie, where the two hours were made in order to pay off the final 15 minutes. And it's just those two hours just don't feel.
Speaker: and I know i have to suspend my disbelief. I have to. you know, lean into Spielberg's vision of hope. or Or message of hope. And sometimes I just can't.
Speaker: ah Like those agents were so stupid and incompetent. And it felt like that Star Wars clip where they're tripping over things like trying to capture a five-year-old Princess Leia.
Speaker: and so Running through a forest. And whatever show or movie that was. Yeah. you on yeah um Just terrible. But it felt like that. And I just, i can't take the realism out of, out of like what I'm watching.
Speaker: Like there's, I don't know. Like there's, there's so many easy ways to write the scene where I don't have to suspend my disbelief where I can just be like, Oh yeah, it makes sense. I couldn't capture them there.
Speaker: Um, but where's the fun in that? Like this feels like I was, I was honestly getting you to compare it to a movie or to another movie. I'm getting tenant.
Speaker: I'm getting... Don't try to understand it. Feel it. yeah That's the vibe was getting. it felt like Paul. yeah Bro, okay. That's that's the vibe that i'm that I'm getting. So, like, there has... Like, i don't know. There just has to be, like, the...
Speaker: just that disbelief, I guess, but i can I do see where both of you are coming from, and it kind of seems like this is where this movie is landing from a discourse perspective. It kind of seems split down the middle.
Speaker: I'm seeing a lot of hate for this movie, but I'm also seeing a of You're about to see more. ah
Speaker: let's Okay, let's get into specifics, starting with performances. Okay. Josh O'Connor. um He's one of two of the main protagonists of this movie.
Speaker: um I don't know how the trailers poised him. In the movie, um him or Emily Blunt as being like one or the other for for main protagonists as we go, but it feels i kind of split down the middle.
Speaker: I think it was fair with the trailer, how it portrayed him as. I think it was a pretty fair like representation of their importance in the film. Okay. like it I would say it probably...
Speaker: hid Emily Blunt's role a little bit more than Josh O'Connor's, but you could tell Emily Blunt going to be really important in it. Okay. um But Josh O'Connor was clearly like the main guy because there's in the trailer, there's the whole bit. It's like, I stole the secrets. I was paid to protect. And it's like, oh yeah this guy's not going to be here for like five minutes. So yeah, I think I'm long ball with him.
Speaker: I think comparing both him and Emily Blunt's performances from a script, standpoint, ah Emily Blunt got a lot more to chew on than Joshua Conner's character. Joshua Conner played Daniel Kellner in the movie.
Speaker: um To me, he does feel a bit one note. There's not a lot for him to work with. He kind of just feels more of um a vehicle to move the plot and our alien device forward through these chase sequences.
Speaker: Regardless, I do think some of the set pieces we have with Josh O'Connor are a lot of fun, specifically the safe house with the video game logic that you guys are pointing to.
Speaker: we have a really long tracking shot of Josh O'Connor sneaking behind agents and rolling through fences and getting to the house and stealing the car but like from a filmmaking perspective just the way the camera is gliding through the world on this tracking shot I was enamored I was so just like in it I loved it so much I thought it was really good but um how do you guys feel about Josh O'Connor
Speaker: good i think just good i i think you're right in that he wasn't given a lot of like fat to chew on he does good with what he is given yeah but for him it's probably one of his more like forgettable roles Because it it doesn't really feel like he owns the character. Yeah.
Speaker: He's just there. But I don't think that's necessarily his fault. Because, with again, with what with what he does, think he does a good job. But like if I'm going to so say, hey, for your first Josh O'Connor movie, you should watch anything else besides Disclosure Day. Yeah, agreed. Giving him Challengers and giving him Wake Up with that Dead Man and giving him La Camara.
Speaker: I totally agree with you. And I think the movie would have not worked for me as well if the Emily Blunt character didn't have all of the fat to chew on and her performance.
Speaker: um I think Emily Blunt is straight up fantastic. She's very good this. In this movie. This might be my favorite Emily Blunt performance.
Speaker: Really? Yeah, it's it feels up there with ah this and Edge of Tomorrow for me. Edge of Tomorrow, like top of my head, top three would be.
Speaker: This Edge of Tomorrow, Sicario. Oh, yeah. I forgot about Sigario. That's great. yeah And like, she's a fantastic actress that I think when you look at her filmography has a lot of questionable choices. But when she's on, she's on.
Speaker: And i think back to her standout scene in Oppenheimer in the interrogation room when she just locks in yeah for like five minutes. And I was like, who is this?
Speaker: but Where did this come from? and While tonally different, there was... i felt that spark that I had in Oppenheimer with her with that scene for this entire movie.
Speaker: She is so good in everything she does. Her standout scene for me is when she's running late for work towards the beginning of the movie. And it's another... like tracking shot, like when we think like a big set piece, we think the Joshua Connor safe house, we think the train sequence, but this specific tracking shot is her just walking into the office as she's about to go on air in about 60 seconds.
Speaker: And the conversation she's having with everybody around and the camera just doesn't cut away from her, And she moves from group to group to group to group while this strange phenomena is like happening to her. She's speaking Korean to someone and people are like, when did you learn to speak Korean? And she's like, what are you talking about?
Speaker: Cause like no idea what's going on. Like her Korean sounded very good. It did. and So you're Russian that's that whole sequence leading up to her freaking out on air.
Speaker: And we hear the alien noises.
Speaker: That's movies, baby. That's movies. Yeah. Cinema. Yeah, absolute. One thing i I really feel passionate about and great about is, i guess, in like a positive ah nature towards these two movies that we talked about today.
Speaker: is spielberg's direction the way that he sets up the background the blocking all the people moving around like there's so much happening on screen where it makes the the movie the universe feel alive that's lived in like yeah it's lived in there's there's more than just this story going on these characters going on and the the direction like to have these long tracking shots with a lot of dialogue with a lot of different characters and a lot of different interactions i just i love that and i i hate personally when movies are are edited in a way where they're just cut after like every other second to just show like shock different reactions yeah yeah
Speaker: and uh i i really really appreciate that about spielberg i don't know if it's about if it's like that in office movies but it is i mean i think people claim him as like the king of blocking and just the people he chooses to collaborate with like on these movies from cinematography to production design to like makeup and hairstyling it's just all so intentional and cohesive and like you you're 100 spot on like all of his movies just feel so lived in um i saw a tweet comparing like some rooms in et to uh zendaya and robert pattinson's apartment in the drama and like just talking about the differences between like set design it's like while the drama was like a pretty set and it looked like
Speaker: Yes, like it was lived in them. People live there like comparing it to like E.T. You're like, there's memories here and there's just and and you can feel it and you can and you can tell. So I think all of that is very intentional. I think what Spielberg is famously known for and what you can expect out of his movies. And I yeah, I don't think there's any difference in or any change in Disclosure Day because it's all there.
Speaker: For sure. I did have a problem with the train scene, though. I didn't love that. Was the issue maybe like CGI? Kind of. or It also just kind of felt unnecessary.
Speaker: Like I get that he has to raise the stakes in some way in the middle of the movie. but yeah It was very Mission Impossible. It was. like It just didn't feel like it belonged. There are quite a few things in this movie I think are lean a bit more silly.
Speaker: That being... maybe the main one where I'm like, okay, yeah I see Ethan Hunt. He's around the corner. I know he's gonna run in at some point.
Speaker: It just felt like a strange time for that agency to you know become lethal where at any other point they were not, basically.
Speaker: He's like, I'm gonna kill them. yeah This train will destroy them. Following it up with realistic depiction of a panic attack. You know, and i was ready to kind of talk about that and see like the discourse because that's just a meme at this point for the whole, yeah, the realistic panic attack.
Speaker: I thought she did a great job. I thought so, too. yeah i She job. She's a good actress. yeah Might actually be the most realistic panic attack we've seen. but it's why So what's the discourse?
Speaker: Puss in Boots. Oh. Yeah, following... um Was Puss in Boots kind of the ah the start of last it? Yeah. It was. Him having the panic attack, people were just like, wow, I just...
Speaker: They just really depicted a panic attack. And then I think there were a couple of other things like animated movies specifically that kept doing it. Like there was a, um, an extended scene of into the spider verse, I believe of miles having a panic attack. people were just like, wow, another great panic attack put to screen. So it just kind of became a meme at that point. Gotcha. Okay.
Speaker: It was good, though. It was really good. I mean, I think we can confidently say Emily Blunt is is the best part of this movie. Yeah, 100%. I don't think this movie works without her.
Speaker: Do you think this is award worthy? Award nomination worthy? I do. I could see Do you think she'll actually get nominated for it? I don't know.
Speaker: Oh, wait. Nominated? Yes. Yeah. Win? I don't know. Same. I do think we'll see... Yeah. I think we'll see a nomination for her and for probably a couple other things for this movie.
Speaker: I'll tell you what I don't think it will be for. What you don't think it'll be for? Yeah. What? Best visual effects because I love the CGI in this movie. It was horrible. The CGI is very questionable.
Speaker: the the Especially the animals. it like The whole like Hansel and Gretel dream sequence looks like a Coca-Cola commercial. It did. as hurt Like she's walking in the snow?
Speaker: Yeah. like I can agree with you. What in the AI am I watching here? I'm not saying it was AI, but it looked like something that someone would put on Twitter and be like, AI is going to put Hollywood out of business.
Speaker: Hollywood execs are shaking in their boots. I put this together in 60 seconds. Look how good it is. Look at me prompt away. I'm a genius. Excuse me. I just prompted all over the room. I 100% agree with you. ah Questionable CGI, especially the animals where I'm like, i've we know this could be better.
Speaker: I only think of like the Planet of the Apes movies whenever I see bad CGI animals. I think of Better Man where the entire movie was centered around a CGI monkey and it looked real.
Speaker: It was. But the the problem is it's like it's a fox and a deer. It's like you can get a real one of those to to do what they did. Yeah. Yeah. Like they're not that hard to come by. What are the rules now about putting the animals like that in your movies?
Speaker: Like are my rules. Oh, I'm sure there are. Like when we, we had the conversation with 2001 with the leopard in the beginning, and that was like a real leopard. And we're like, you couldn't do that today. Well, I feel like that'd be like a insurance and a safety thing, but like, but no one does it today.
Speaker: but no one does it today Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm trying to think. and if it was If it was done today, that leopard would have been CGI.
Speaker: So maybe Spielberg is just a coward. You can just get footage of a deer and have them and superimpose it. yeah I saw one on the way home from the movie. I will send you a picture, Steven Spielberg. There was one literally on Spicewood Springs. I was going home and it would not get out of the road. It was just chilling.
Speaker: Following the Hansel and Gretel scene, though, we do get like one of the coolest shots. That was very cool. thought you hit on it earlier if you want to talk about it. Yeah, there's a scene in the movie where there's a deer on screen and then suddenly it's not a deer.
Speaker: What could it be? it's it's a thing. it's an alien spoiling yeah it's a little gray guy but yeah just the way the camera looks like a pretty big gray guy actually he was large but it was one of the cool scenes of the movie it was awesome yeah great editing great great effects there great artistic vision yeah and this is like a memory that we're seeing And what we're seeing is ah Emily Blunt and Joshua Connor as children look like they were abducted at the same time. It's like a fourth or fifth kind experience going on. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker: Both. And through this abduction, they were quote unquote chosen to be... I don't know, the messengers of whatever message these life forms want to bring to Earth, which is what gives us the movie. Like, Josh O'Connor was affected by this, I think, years prior.
Speaker: um He was given the ability to... ah translate the language of the universe, which is math, so he can understand the language.
Speaker: And he has, with these abilities, landed him in a federal prison. Once he was out of the federal prison, was recruited by this company who was the one holding the secrets that there are alien life forms.
Speaker: And he's working there for a number of years and feels that it is... the people on earth's right to know what they've been hiding and what he was hired to protect. And so that's kind of what's driving the whole force of the movie, bringing in Emily Blunt's character and her role as more of the, empath of understanding. And so with these two holes or with these two halves kind of make the whole of the message of the movie. Um, what else works for you guys?
Speaker: Do we want to talk about the final sequence? The last like 15 minutes of the movie, the climax. Yeah. I'm trying to think if there's like anything else like major that I want to hit on before we get there.
Speaker: um i mean, we can touch on the supporting characters. We can talk about Wyatt Russell. and White Russell's funny in this. I like him. ah Coleman Domingo.
Speaker: Underutilized Coleman Domingo. Very. Did not know he was in this movie. That was a very nice surprise. ah Yeah, I would say he's one of my favorite actors working today. um Better this. Wish i got more of him.
Speaker: Huh? You liked him better in this than Michael? Yeah.
Speaker: He's forever my Joe Jackson. All
Speaker: all I could see in this movie was his perm. I did see that photo of someone in the first row of like an IMAX theater. Like taking a picture of Joe Jackson just looking out and his face is just massive.
Speaker: No, he's, yeah, he's unfortunately extremely underutilized in this movie. um He's got a couple line reads that that i was like, damn, I wish he had more here because he's so good.
Speaker: Yeah, agreed. What do you think about Colin Firth? um
Speaker: I don't know. He feels very stereotypical, like cartoon villain. I, the thing that I really wanted was more between Colin Firth and Coleman Domingo, right? Yeah.
Speaker: There was a very interesting dynamic there. Yeah, there was an interesting dynamic. Very... This could that meme where it's like, guy who's only seen Boss Baby. But you could have had like a Heat-esque dynamic.
Speaker: Guy who's only seen Heat. Similar convictions for two diametrically opposed things. like there were There was something you could do more there. and Instead, we just got like a whole... yeah at the end. Well, the thing is... like that You guys said it earlier. It feels like there's a lot of like half-baked ideas. there's ah There's kind of a lot going on here.
Speaker: But like it's not a detraction for me because it all felt very, very intentional. And that that's not what Spielberg wanted the focus to be at. And so um I know you guys like kind of see that like as a negative. It doesn't really...
Speaker: affect me in a negative way here. So like, yeah, I think it could have been cool to see an expansion upon like the religious themes in it. I think it could have been cool to see um more of the dynamic between Coleman Domingo and Colin Firth's character. But like with what we got, I'm happy with what we have because it, I don't know, it just all culminates to, like you said, the last 15, 20 minutes of the movie.
Speaker: Sort of.
Speaker: I'll throw it to you guys for your feelings on the last 20 minutes then. I was really pissed at how much I enjoyed the last 15 minutes. Like, seriously, not in the sense that like i was I wanted to dislike this movie, but it was like, where was this the last two hours?
Speaker: m where Where was this?
Speaker: Because clearly they had it in the bag somewhere, and you know I get that you're going withhold the the final punch, right? So it it pays off better. But the level of care in those final 15 minutes, I just feel were were way higher than anywhere else in the movie in terms of emotion, narrative, cohesion. like it just it That really felt like the movie that was supposed to be made was those 15 minutes.
Speaker: And i keep i keep repeating that, but... you know even in the sense of like the whole like dream sequence where they they, Josh O'Connor and Emily Blunt figure out their powers, they, even even then it was like, okay, and?
Speaker: Like, I don't even think we paid off that that well. In the end, we didn't even get to see, oh, Emily Blunt has the power of understanding. She can, you know,
Speaker: understand this and, and know it and explain it to everyone else. We didn't even get to see that. But for a movie about like disclosing and aliens to the world, like we did get to see that at its core.
Speaker: Yeah. And those 15 minutes I thought were incredible. Cause it really made me think it's like, what would happen? Like what would happen to us if the news came on and that started playing? I mean, we can talk about that a little bit. Cause literally the day after we all saw this movie, the government released the next tranche of UFO documents.
Speaker: um And it didn't make a peep. It barely made a peep. I don't think people would... You could get on there and be like, aliens are real, and people would be like, okay. you catch the Knicks game the other day?
Speaker: Yeah, i I find myself agreeing with pretty much everything you're saying, Alex. um But to to add on to that final point, I don't know what it would take for people to all collectively...
Speaker: just sit and stare in silence, even amongst themselves in the same room, and just just so they can all see it for their own eyes, like uninhibited by like sharing a screen.
Speaker: Everyone's just so locked in to this one moment all together. i don't know what it would take. Clearly, it's not ah vague, possible UFO footage, but don't know.
Speaker: I don't know what it would take either. And I think that's a lot of um people's issue with this movie. ah At least like from what I've seen.
Speaker: like I don't know how this movie especially would is going to do amongst like a younger audience. Because like we said, like this does feel like a movie that could have been made 20, 30 years ago. it's got that It's got that flavor. It's got that...
Speaker: um that positive, hopeful outlook where I feel in the last 10, 15 years, the alien movies that we see are a bit more scary. They're here to destroy. They're here to like cause fear, cause panic. And I think with where we're at in the world today, that's just a bit more relatable.
Speaker: And so I know this movie's not going to vibe with a lot of people purely because of that, because I think it's just... It feels like something of the past. Like this kind of feels like a relic, but in that last 15 minutes that all culminates together.
Speaker: And it was like, like one of the most beautiful experiences that like I've seen in a theater that I was just so like mesmerized by.
Speaker: when we're talking like performances and like the direction of it, like wanted to talk about the news anchor that is the one breaking the news of the footage that they are receiving.
Speaker: Um, she fully sells this entire scene. The emotion she has, the way she's delivering the message, the confusion on her face and in her voice as she's also kind of coming to grips with what we are watching as a society and the...
Speaker: the massive feeling she has in that moment is performed so well by her for that entire last sequence that I was like choked up on the edge of my seat.
Speaker: Like my goodness, like I said earlier, Alex, that's movie magic right there. And i don't know. I like that Spielberg wants to see a world where we can all collectively have this moment together and I don't know, have it be a moment of realization and togetherness. like We haven't even touched on that in the background of this movie.
Speaker: World War III is apparently happening. like North Korea is about... It's gearing up. Yeah, it's gearing They're about to nuke us. I really liked that aspect that... Like we first see it with ah Emily Blunt and Wyatt Russell when they show up to the gas station and everyone's kind of just running around. And i was like, I thought I missed something. I was like, wait, why is everyone in a tizzy?
Speaker: Like what's going on here? And then we don't find out until someone like off screen mentions like, oh, like World War III is like happening. You're oh, didn't know that was happening in the background. So I really like that inclusion of it. But I mean, all that to say, it's just like, it just, it felt nice seeing this kind of message um in this kind of movie.
Speaker: I agree. And I think this sort of movie is really important because hope is kind of, i don't know. I'm just kind of thinking about it right now, but hope feels like such a core human experience and desire. I mean, it's,
Speaker: to, to very briefly touch on the religious aspect of the movie. Um, I mean, I feel like that's kind of why religion was created, right. To explain things, to provide hope for a future where it may not exist on earth, but there's a, a future that you could be guaranteed where things are better.
Speaker: Um, So for Spielberg to have this this viewpoint with experiencing alien life firsthand and to have it exposed to everyone all at once,
Speaker: it does feel nice in a way. i don't know that i feel that way, but to know that there are still people who wholeheartedly believe or have this viewpoint I guess is refreshing in times like now where everyone's struggling very deeply and yeah, I guess I'll just leave it at that.
Speaker: I hope that made sense. It does make sense. and i I think exactly what you're saying is um the split that I think we're going to see continue on with this movie. Um,
Speaker: you either like it or you don't, like at at the end of the day. like If you look at the world right now, it's just not like where we want it to be, and so I think watching a movie like this could be very easy to roll your eyes at.
Speaker: like i So i totally I totally understand that. um But on the flip side, it is, like you said, nice knowing that, um I don't know, that just... People can see it a little bit different.
Speaker: And it's nice to... It's just nice to see. Agreed.
Speaker: um I want to talk about the look of the aliens for a little bit. um I was kind of surprised that they were just our stereotypical little gray guys.
Speaker: And a I like that it's just the stereotypical little great guys. Why? Because every alien iteration we've seen in the last 15, 20 years is like a new a new creature, a new body form, just like something something unfamiliar.
Speaker: i think it speaks a lot to the central message of the movie um of a belief in aliens that he was just like, Yeah, ah it's going to be the stereotypical alien. Like, you think alien, this is what you think? That's what they are.
Speaker: Like, when we look at War of the Worlds and E.T., there's a lot of allegory. I think Disclosure Day feels very literal in its message, where it's like,
Speaker: Like, oh, the aliens in War of the World represent this. The aliens in this represent, hey, aliens are real. And i believe that I believe that they're real. And this is what I think would happen if that were to come to fruition. So um it's old and it's refreshing in a way at the same time.
Speaker: It's interesting. I didn't think about it that way. i I didn't like it. But now that you've framed it that way, i guess I don't hate it. It's just
Speaker: I guess boring. But if that's the intention, then sure, whatever. i guess it's fine.
Speaker: I don't know. I didn't make this movie.
Speaker: Alex, thoughts on the alien? this Yeah. Yeah, it was fine. Damn, I'm fighting for my life out here. I wasn't expecting i mean i wasn't expecting anything like more than what it was.
Speaker: But it's...
Speaker: It's just a very like tried and true depiction. And if you believe a lot of the disclosure comp um content, then like that's just what aliens look like, right? There's like four different types and the greys are one of them.
Speaker: So yeah, you're going to that. depiction a lot but I wasn't like blown away by it I was just like that's yep that's an alien there he is that's Paul wasn't like oh yeah it's little Barry all grown up hey guys I smoke weed oh man I'm fighting for my life out here anything else that we want to talk about with this movie um
Speaker: I don't know. i don't court Courtney Grace. That's the name of the news anchor. Or the actress who played the news anchor. Okay. Man, why she build last? was trying to find her. It was really hard to find her. Yeah. yeah There was a lot of other names before her that, don't know, didn't really have a as much of an impact. Great.
Speaker: Yeah, and to wrap up the last like two minutes of this movie before we get to our ratings, after the news anchor and like we're seeing all of this and they wheel out the alien that it's alluded to that Coleman Domingo helped escape years prior.
Speaker: um They've been keeping this alien somewhere safe and they wheel it out, not for the world to see, but for a message to be delivered. um Joshua Conner and Emily Blunt approach this alien and this alien whisper something in her ear. And she walks up back up to the screen.
Speaker: And then the last line in the word in the film is listen. And like, Dude, oh my god. I was so locked into this. This is a two and a half hour movie. I didn't know where we were at this point and I wasn't thinking, but I was at the edge of my seat and I thought there was more.
Speaker: She said, listen, and the screen went to black and the music cut and I swear to god, I felt like the air leave of my lungs and I wanted to cry. i legit wanted to like stand up and just salute the screen as directed by Steven Spielberg came on the screen.
Speaker: I was like... Meanwhile, they roll the alien out and they talk to him. and I'm like, you don't hear what they're saying. And I'm like, do not. I'm like, do not do what you're about to do.
Speaker: Man. And then they did it. was like, come on. I was like, come on. Wow. um'm I'm really happy you experienced this in such a pleasant way.
Speaker: i don't know if we've ever been so divided.
Speaker: On a film thus far. I think you just hope too much. It feels like we're just on two separate islands right now. Also, we need to talk about this. The movie immediately takes the side of the aliens. It's oh, well, this this clip upset me. It was so hard to watch.
Speaker: What if they deserved it? Why do we just implicitly believe they're the good guys? It's the suspending disbelief. It's that they're not here to... Yeah, its they're not here to to destroy. it's They're here to teach us. I think Coleman Domingo says that he's like, they've like like empathy is like their number one priority. like That is he theirre their evolutionary standpoint, and that's the message of the movie. It's right there.
Speaker: is it... yes Is that what it would be in real life? That's not the point. That's the hope. I want to believe. I don't think the implicit trust... if so If another being came to the planet Earth, like, let's zoom out. it something come If aliens come to Earth today and say, empathy is our emotional thing, I'd be like, they're lying. We need to kill every single one them.
Speaker: I literally would not trust them at all. Not in one bit. i don't even trust our government. What makes you think I would trust space government? That's fair. And I think whether you can look at both sides of that, real life versus movie, or you i don't know, that i think what I think your reaction to that is justified.
Speaker: And if you, the listener, feel on either side of the aisle, that determines whether you like this movie or you don't. I think it's as simple as that. like I think we should have disclosure, but not going to buy into alien ganda.
Speaker: Propagalians. Propagalians. more I appreciate your hope, Malik. um I just, I don't know.
Speaker: I wish the movie was better more throughout instead of just having nuggets of goodness. There was just a little bit too much bloat that really didn't serve the movie in a way that i thought was necessary.
Speaker: But it's okay. All right. Final ratings.
Speaker: Alex, you go first.
Speaker: I'm stuck between a 3 and a 3.5. Wow. Same rating for Close Encounters. It's lower than Close Encounters. So whenever I give Close Encounters, it'll probably be the next bit lower. So I think you're going to do... I would probably give Close Encounters a 3.5 and this like 3.
Speaker: and's so That's what I thought. um I'm going to...
Speaker: I'm going to give this one 3 now. Okay. I'm giving Disclosure Day 4.5. Wow.
Speaker: how
Speaker: That's high. That's high, guys. I was in. I'm happy for you. I don't think I've ever wanted to immediately rewatch a movie. If I could have turned around and gone to another showing, I think I would have
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: ah Man, this is crazy. Yeah. It'll never be lower than that. moved to LA and subscribed to Hollywood viewpoint.
Speaker: The funny thing is um I was listening to Spielberg on a podcast the other day, and he was saying that a lot of the feedback he's been getting, um not directly, but like just talks that he's seen about the movie, is that he's somehow involved in a shadow government and that this movie was...
Speaker: There ah was the elite's way of saying aliens do exist and priming us for that exact like news to be released. He's like, I thought it was a ridiculous at first, but like the more people tell me, the more I'm like, sure.
Speaker: He's like and they're like, you believe it now too? and He's like, maybe. He's like, maybe they are doing it and just don't know about it. He's like, maybe I'm just a puppet. He could be. Yeah, which I thought was funny.
Speaker: All right. Well, this was a long one. This very long one. Yeah, but I had a good time talking about aliens. Yeah. Before we drop, I want to talk about one bit of Hollywood UFO lore that I think you guys will really enjoy. Okay.
Speaker: So there were two events name dropped in the movie, right? There was the Roswell crash. I think everybody knows what Roswell, New Mexico is. It was during the disclosure sequence that lasts 15 minutes. It was like footage from Roswell. Then the second one was footage from from Kecksburg, Pennsylvania, which is a lesser known East Coast incident where and a UFO allegedly crashed and was retrieved, pulled away by the military. It's supposed to be like acorn-shaped. There's like...
Speaker: A couple people who claim to have seen it get taken away and all that. um But there was a third massive, massive UFO story that you know is one of the the Mount Rushmores of this community, right and that's the Phoenix Lights from 1997.
Speaker: So for those who don't know, the Phoenix Lights were an alleged sighting by thousands of people in the Phoenix, Arizona area of a giant ah triangle or a craftsman square shaped aircraft. ah flying over the Phoenix area, and it had all sorts of lights on it, right?
Speaker: Now, the military explanation is that this was a training formation by A-10s, which, again, eight ten s are very loud. This craft was supposed to be silent.
Speaker: And flares, which they did end up dropping flares, but it was way later in the the night. So, like... you know way before way after like people had started seeing the lights is when these these flares were dropped. However, one of the first people to radio this in was an amateur pilot flying into Phoenix International Airport.
Speaker: ah That pilot radioed in something. ah He said, hey, is there an aircraft over in this area? I'm seeing something here. I don't know what it is. And they said, no, there's not really supposed to be anything over there. And he said, oh, that's weird because there's something here.
Speaker: That pilot was Kurt Russell. Whoa. What? Really? Yep. yeah Whoa. Yeah. He's an amateur pilot. That's crazy. he one of the first people to see and report the the Phoenix Lights.
Speaker: ahs Wow. Maybe that's why Wyatt Russell was cast in this movie. As a doubter. Yeah. It's all one big conspiracy.
Speaker: It is one big conspiracy. And one day we'll disclose that. I'll be ready for it. um Thank you so much for listening to this episode. We'll be back next week with Toy Story 5. Go watch Disclosure Day. Let us know what you thought of it.
Speaker: um And we will see you guys in the next one. Bye. See ya.
