Disclosure Day

Steven Spielberg is back in the director’s chair for the new film, Disclosure Day, which brings Spielberg back to a topic that he seems to love… aliens.

Some of Spielberg’s greatest movies of all time have aliens at the center, from Close Encounters of the Third Kind to E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial to War of the Worlds. Now he is back with Disclosure Day, a film starring Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor.

This sci-fi film had just about everything that I would have wanted in it. Josh O’Connor played a man named Daniel Kellner, who had been working for the people trying to keep the existence of aliens hidden, but he had a change of heart, stealing away data proving the truth behind aliens and the government’s knowledge and involvement. Daniel was on the run, hoping to be able to show the data to the public.

Meanwhile, Emily Blunt, who played Margaret Fairchild, a weather girl in Kansas City, suddenly begins t show abilities that she had never had before. Speaking languages she did not know and knowing information about people she had never met before. When she started speaking in a strange language on live TV, things got weird for her.

Emily Blunt is absolutely on fire in this film. Her performance might just be arguably the greatest performance of her career, despite having plenty of banger performances to choose from. Emily Blunt takes the story to another level every second that she is on screen and she elevated the whole script. I truly believe that she should be nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards next year from this work.

The rest of the cast is great, albeit looking a little less in comparison to Blunt. Josh O’Connor has been doing amazing work recently, including his great performance in the last Knives Out film. We also have Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Elizabeth Marvel, Eve Hewson, and Jeremy Shamos.

Then there was the film’s main antagonist, Colin Firth. Firth played Noah, who was the agent with the top secret government agency trying to keep things under wrap, and he pursued Margaret and Daniel across the midwest.

I would not define this movie as an action movie, but they had some really good action, which included a scene with a train that was as good of an action sequence as you are going to see in any movie.

This film saw Spielberg beg the legendary John Williams, 94 years old, to come out of retirement to score Disclosure Day. Williams provided yet another amazing score for Spielberg, capping off an unbelievable career.

The movie might be a touch too long, but I do like how it took its time to develop the story and not just throw out everything about what was happening. The central mystery is handled well and kept me hooked from the beginning. The ending of the film has had some detractors, but I think it worked well. If anything, I wanted a little more before the screen went to black. I found the ending of the film to be quite an emotional moment.

Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest directors of all time, and a member of the EYG Hall of Fame. His latest film recaptured some of the magic from his earlier filmography, especially feeling connected to films like Close Encounters. I saw this in IMAX and I found that to be a great viewing experience. I would recommend seeing this on a big screen while it is in the theater.

4.6 stars

Music by John Williams

John Williams is one of the masters of film music. He has had more classic scores that exist in your head than practically any composer. From the music of Star Wars to Jaws to Schindler’s List to Raiders of the Lost Ark, the themes fill you with emotions every time. And each score provides something extra to each film, something that makes the film more than it was before.

This is why John Williams has been in such demand over the last fifty years. His music brings that final oomph to a film, and it does not matter what the genre is. John Williams is capable of delivering something magical.

This weekend saw the drop of a documentary featuring the iconic composer in a film entitled, perfectly, Music by John Williams, on Disney +.

The doc does touch upon his life and family, but most of the runtime is focused on the music and the films that he scored. We hear about John Williams’s thoughts from John Williams himself, as well as from his dear friend Steven Spielberg, whom was one of his most ardent supporters.

We hear from tons of people expounding on the amazing talents that John Williams would bring to their films. We saw Ron Howard, George Lucas, J.J. Abrams, Chris Columbus, Seth MacFarlane, James mangold, Kathleen Kennedy, Chris Martin and Itzhak Perlman all provide insight into their times working with Williams in whatever capacity they could give.

One of the more powerful moments was Kate Capshaw, wife of Steven Spielberg, describing when she and Steven went to hear the score for Schindler’s List, played by Williams on the piano, and how she began crying immediately.

The amazing footage throughout was awesome, much of it coming from Spielberg’s own recordings over the year. Being able to hear the words and the thoughts of Williams about the work that he had done is truly special. I will admit that seeing the scene from E.T. where the bike flies in front of the moon brought a few tears to my eyes. It provided us with so many memories from years of amazing work.

The doc is fairly straightforward, but if anyone deserves it, John Williams is it.

4.5 stars