MOVIE REVIEW: DISCLOSURE DAY

 

A meteorologist and a cybersecurity expert find themselves at the center of a movement to expose the government's cover-up of extraterrestrial secrets.

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell

Release Date: June 12, 2026

Genre: Action, Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language.

Runtime: 2h 25m

Review:

Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day offers up the kind of action and humanity you’d expect however there’s a noticeable unevenness to it all, mainly due to a clunky script that keeps it from being something truly special.  Spielberg hasn’t lost his ability to create an engaging blockbuster that throws you right into the action and does so effortlessly here by dropping us right in the middle of the action.  Kernels of story details are dropped along the way before the full reveal of the alien coverup conspiracy that drives the story.  Well-funded shadow organizations chase down Emily Blunt’s Margaret Fairchild, a Kansas City meteorologist, and Josh O'Connor’s Daniel Kellner, a cybersecurity expert who’s ready to reveal everything.   Car chases and action sequences are interspersed with discussions about faith and how it would handle a revelation of exterritorial life.  It’s an intriguing concept to consider but the script doesn’t find a way to weave it seamlessly into the story which halts the film’s forward momentum.  The film is essentially a road movie with it working best as we follow our two leads trek to ultimately find each other through their shared connection.  It doesn’t make a ton of sense if you spend too much thinking about the whole thing but it’s entertaining enough to keep you engaged and makes its nearly two and half hour runtime not feel all that laborious.  It’s a testament to Spielberg and his cast because the script is filled with clunky dialogue and one-dimensional characterization that would have made the whole thing a mess in less capable hands.  Emily Blunt delivers a thoroughly impressive turn, leaving a noticeable mark the moment she pops up onscreen.  Her meteorologist’s on-air breakdown/revelation is deftly handled in an extended one shot early in the film which shows how effortlessly switches between speaking a foreign language to a frazzled on-air personality running late.  She plays against type for large stretches of the film as the character’s world has been utterly upended as she’s forced to face repressed memories.  Blunt brings so much nuance to her turn which makes her character the most interesting and layered person onscreen throughout.  Her and Wyatt Russell, who plays her boyfriend to start, have some solid chemistry together but he’s sidelined far too early for my taste.  Josh O’Connor does what he can with his character, which isn’t nearly as layered or interesting, leaving him the less interesting task of unloading a fair share of exposition.  He’s fine in the role but he’s just never as engaging as Blunt, which is amplified when the pair team up in the final act.  Suffering similar fates are Colin Firth and Colman Domingo who are asked to bring their notable screen presence but asked to do little more.  Those hoping for a direct connection to Spielberg’s classic, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, will be left wanting since there’s nothing to be found outside a blink or you’ll miss its flash of Devils Tower among a quick succession of alien encounters.  Once it’s all said and done, Disclosure Day may not be Spielberg’s best but it’s probably the kind of movie that you wished the X-Files franchise had gotten back in the day. 

B-

MOVIE REVIEW: WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY

 

Detective Benoit Blanc sifts through a series of suspects when a monsignor turns up dead.

Director: Rian Johnson

Cast: Josh O'Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack, Thomas Haden Church.

Release Date: November 26, 2025

Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Rated PG-13 for violent content, bloody images, strong language, some crude sexual material, and smoking.

Runtime: 2h 24m

Review:

The third entry in the Knives Out series, Wake Up Dead Man, is a slightly darker mystery that has some headier concepts on its mind than the first two films still sporting its wry scripting and big characters led by Josh O’Connor and Daniel Craig.  Rian Johnson borrows plenty of inspiration from classic Edgar Allan Poe and Agatha Christie locked room mystery among others as his launching pad.  He takes a slightly different approach in the first half by using Josh O'Connor’s Rev. Jud Duplenticy as his primary point of view before bringing Craig’s Benoit Blanc into the fold.  It’s a bold move to keep the main character of the series offscreen for nearly an hour in order to let O’Connor establish the character and introduce the cast of characters at play.  Thankfully, O’Connor is thoroughly engaging as the pragmatic, well-meaning boxer turned priest who serves as the linchpin of the story.  His emotional baggage that led him to the priesthood adds layers of complexity to his role which makes the character’s story arch all the more interesting by the time it’s all said and done.  The supporting players led by Glenn Close, Josh Brolin and Jeremy Renner are all clearly having a blast with the outsized characters they are playing.  Close and Brolin both chew up every bit of scenery they get with impressive enthusiasm with the latter looking like a cult leader version of Kris Kristofferson on more than a few occasions.  Renner plays against type here as a nebbish loser, drinking his life away after his wife left him, becoming more and more bitter as the days go along.  Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny and Daryl McCormack round out the primary cast, but their characters are noticeably underwritten as caricatures more than three-dimensional people.  They serve more as types of people that fall under the spell of Brolin’s charismatic extremist Monsignor Wicks.  Those relationships offer up a variety of tantalizing tidbits of thematic morsels that you’ll be left chewing on long after the film’s runtime comes to end.  The concepts of faith, storytelling and fanaticism are thrown about as the central mystery unfurls onscreen with Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc getting a hell of an introductory monologue once he appears onscreen.  Craig is given more to work with here as Blanc isn’t as self-confident and sure of himself as we’ve seen in previous entries.  It allows Johnson and Craig plenty of fertile ground to explore with Blanc and what makes his tick.  Wake Up Dead Man is a thoroughly fascinating direction to take the character although there are more than a few spots where some trimming down would have made for a fluid, effective experience.  

B+

MOVIE REVIEW: CHALLENGERS

 

Tashi, a tennis player turned coach, has transformed her husband from a mediocre player into a world-famous grand slam champion. To jolt him out of his recent losing streak, she makes him play a challenger event -- close to the lowest level of tournament on the pro tour. Tensions soon run high when he finds himself standing across the net from the once-promising, now burnt-out Patrick, his former best friend and Tashi's former boyfriend.

Director: Luca Guadagnino

Cast: Zendaya, Josh O'Connor, Mike Faist, Darnell Appling, AJ Lister, Nada Despotovich, Naheem Garcia, Hailey Gates, Jake Jensen

Release Date: April 26, 2024

Genre: Drama, Romance, Sport

Rated R for language throughout, some sexual content and graphic nudity

Runtime:  2h 11m

Review:

Luca Guadagnino's tennis set love triangle, Challengers, is sleek, sweaty, sexy journey packed with a bevy of subtext throughout carried by a strong performances from its central trio.  Guadagnino choice of sport is perfectly suited for the emotional back and forth he unfurls onscreen as the story unfolds in a series of flashback framed by a championship match between Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist.  The characters themselves are terribly deep since they're little more than clichéd types but still you feel the swings and sways of their emotional journeys as we watch them grow together and apart.  There's a palpable sense of desire, lust, envy, anger, and pity throughout the film from each of the characters which makes for a fascinating interplay between the central trio.  Zendaya, Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist prove to be up to the task as they all cycle between emotional ages as we follow them at different points in their lives and relationships with each.  Zendaya displays a naturalistic ease playing the focused, driven Tashi who shifts from teen phenom to wife/coach.  Zendaya brings a devious energy to her character as she pulls the strings between the friends who essentially serve as two personality extremes.  Josh O'Connor's Art is a doting lapdog who pines and angles for Tashi's attention before getting his opportunity.  Mike Faist's Patrick is far more self assured, desire driven but generally messy who serves as an excellent antithesis to Art.  They both share strong chemistry with Zendaya who ably shuffles through a series of emotions depending on the character and situation.  The exchanges ultimately drive the film even if the story on its surface doesn't go anywhere particularly surprising.  The real meat for Guadagnino is underneath the superficial storyline with his kinetic, vividly visualized during the final act set from the balls POV, exploration of wants and needs.  A few pacing issues, especially in its final act, keep it from landing with verve and energy of the film's earlier acts but Challengers still manages to leave a memorable impression.

B+