TH

The Filmcast

The Filmcast

Final Thoughts and Future Episodes

From Ep. 879 - Disclosure DayJun 16, 2026

Excerpt from The Filmcast

Ep. 879 - Disclosure DayJun 16, 2026 — starts at 0:00

Right in. Here in New Jersey, every school day begins with the pledge of Allegiance. And every school day, they learn a little more about our shared history so they can help build a brighter future for us all That's how we will live up to the promise made over two hundred and fifty years ago We never can justice for all ONDeck is built to back small businesses like yours. Whether you're buying equipment, expanding your team, or bridging cash flow gaps, ONndecks loans up to four hundred thousand dollars make it happen fast. Rated A plus by the Better Business Bureau and earning thousands of five star trrust pilot reviews, ONDeck delivers funding you can count on. Applying mininutes at Ondeck dot com Depending on certain loan attributes, your business loan may be issued by Ondeck or Celtic Bank. ONDeck does not lend in North Dakota all loans and amounts subject to lender approval Hello everyone and welcome to the filmcast, a podcast about movies. I'm David Chen and disclosure D more like I didn't even know or day. Join me today's.. some modicum of effort. This is a Spielberg movie, sir,o. Joining me today is DVndro Hardoar I want to believe in the boomers And Jeff Kanada This movie begins Professional wrestling He closure day more like Disclosed liner Day, am I right Well, now you can't You can't even complain about thatoral your moral position there. I wasn't gonna do it that way until after you did it that way and then I changed the way. We like this clothes line day. Yeah. That's what I say Its only got a bad joke to get away from Dave's bad joke you see. Yeah, no, I was just repeating. I was just like letting it kind of wash over me again, you know. All right anyway was tried. Y. Yeah.. thoseose are vague and oblique references to the fact that Disclosure dayay G to be the main review this week madeade forty four million dollars over the weekend, by the way, domestically. Spielberg's fifth bigiggest opening of all time and his Biggest opening of all time for any non adaptation, non seQL, not based on existing IP That's so surprising because those trailers were terrible. L they did not market this movie well at all. so Yeah. I have a feeling u I don't know that this one's going to have a lot of legs. Let's put it that way. I mean It's just going to float in the air. There is a possibility guys. that this movie does not make the top ten for the summer, which would be I don't think many of us put it there Honestly No I didn't? I forget if I did. I think I I feel like many of us did put it there on the sur R a com Let's see. disisclose your day. Peter had it, Daviningra had it number ten. Jermaine be Jen Oh yeah, um, I had top ten. I thought I put it in my top ten. No you didn't. I didn't DeVindra Yeah was tenenth is like barely ten. L maybe he'll touch it. Yeah. Yeah. interestnteresting. I as a dark horse Well, we will see how it all plays out. I haded a darkers as well, but anyway, for today, Spielberg is back at the top of the box office. Take that young YouTubers. Yes. in your face In reality, of course, Bielberg has shown much support for movies like Obsession and Backrooms, which are completely crushing. I don't know if you guys saw by the way, Obsession has already passed Mandalorian in Grogu and Backrooms is about to. justust as we predicted. It is all coming true as we have foreseen, Jeff. That's right. As we have first seen. You know the proble problem is that we do the summer movie wager at the beginning of the summer. Oh yeah, yeah, you know at the end it would be so my God. Dude Let me write this down, hold on. Jent. All right folks, todayay on the podcast, we're going to do a couple emails real quick, a little bit of film news, and then we're going to move into what we've been watching before we get to our conversation about Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day But before that, I do just want to make a quick announcement, which is that I am going to be returning to the United States in the next week U in like ten days or so, I'm going to be coming back, well, well, Portugal finally chased the out of ten just just country with pitchforks. Yeah. We was just waiting for u for Motocross jumps at the White House L. I saw that UFC stuff going. I was like, I got to get back to that Yeah. I got to get I'm missing out. I'm missing out? Like I can't just like let that happen without me being in the country I can't miss the july fourth celebration. so That was Dave's actual ultimatum. I will not come back to the country until I see at least one bloodied face on the White House lawn. That's right So Anyway, I don't know if you guys know, but moving to another country in general can be a very stressful, time intensive experience. So our The next week schedule is going to be a little weird as we get back as I get back, sorry, you guys are already in the swing of things. As I get back into the swing of things. And in particular, I will not have seen Toy Story five byy the time we record our next review, so I will just be participating as a moderator in that conversation. Can I tell you something, Dave? What's up? You're good. Well,' totally get review it DeVindra. it's a few words. You're good. It's okay not, you've got a friend in me anyway Tice story five. So I won't have seen it, but we'll still be recording that review and putting it out as usual at the regular time frame But just letting you know, like things are just really intense as we pack up the entire house, sell all of our possessions and get ready to go So thank you for your patience in this regard All right, before we get to a couple film news items and what we've been watching, I do just want to read a couple quick emails. This email comes in from Care Riting into sllash filmcasts at Gmail. com Care writes in, my name is Care and my partner Tyler S, AKA shherable, Texas on letterbox is a long time listener and subscriber to your podcast. He has been on a mission since twenty twenty four to watch every film from twenty directors including Alfred Hitchcock, Alfonso Quaron, Chris Nolan and Wes Anderson, to name a few, which have totaled three hundred and sixty six movies He is about to finish his last two films And I wanted to do something special to commemorate the occasion And then Care asks us about like a couple options what we could do. And I said, Hey, Why don't we just acknowledge Tyler at the beginning of the next episode of podcast, and she thought that wouldd be great So I'm doing right now, but I just want to mention not only has Tyler completed this apppparently massive undertaking. A year' worth of movies. Yeah. But he is also a very active and positive participant in the filmcast community always commenting on stuff and always replying to stuff and just just being a wonderful cineophile presence in general And it's wonderful to have those people in our community. So I just wanted to say from all of us, Congratulations, Tyler on completing this huge challenge And amazing work, amazing to do something like that. You know, likeike have you guys ever D, a big movie challenge like this before I think it's big my big one that I remember is I did all the Harry Potter movies in a row one like but. Not all heroes wear capes today. Thank you. Thankk you, Jeff. Thank you. I think the biggest' done like a you know, it's nothing near what Tyler has done here, but I'm curious, like, have you guys ever done like a movie challenge? I think a lot of time and effort. personersonally, but when we did the Mission of posossible like all the movies, that was that was fun. Yeah We did all the mission posossiblevies L we reviewed them all for Afrodorrs of our Ck or something like that. That was fun. Yeah. yeah U Whenever I hear about something like this, I'm reminded of the old song from the nineties, Tiger Woods. You ever heard that song Dig Woods, Dager Woods. You you ever heard that song? The lyrics of that song A one point he says, I had a friend whove always dreamed of going on going down on Madonna Mhm. And then one day, He did He went down on he met her at a party And he went down on Madonna. List the rest of the song is Too soon, too soon. You went down on Madonna too soon Too soon, too soon He went down on Madonna too soon There's nothing left in his life to shoot for. Nothing left to. I was like really struggling to see how this connects with P Sallge. I was thinking about that. like Hey, man, congratulations on this but now life is empty and has no meaning. You know you did it. you climb mountain. Okay. Are there any mountains left to climb? I don't know if that was quite worth giving up our family friendly designation for that reason. We have a family friendly designation? No, no really. but I know many people listen to this with their families I have friends who listen to this podcast with their kids in the car. So I mean, than Je have warnings. There are there are warnings. You know, I that Jeff, that's that's great. Re saying maybe after this podcast ends, put on that song for your kids because it's a good one. Yeah free get time explain explain. It also says how big his balls are. Okay, o, thank you. thank you. A lot of great conversations that we're gonna inspire with the families these days. Okay Leo writes into slash on Kashgima. com. Hi Filmcast. I was listening to your discussion concerning whether the tongue in cheek approach to Masters of the universe is endearing or insulting, and I felt compelled to defend DeVindra's position I thought it was a yet thoughtful and appropriate approach for a hum Man movie in twenty twenty six that didn't look down on the property. These days, a truly cynical take on Han would be a movie advertises for the fans it's just a live action remake of the cartoon series, but the people who have a fondness for H Man are adults now adapting a cartoon designed solely to sell toys into a straight feature length live action film will only remind fans how shallow and cynical the show really was and deflates some of that nostalgia. What do you do? Masters of the universe understands that HeMans' fans aren't kids anymore, so it delivers a story that gives them what they remember while also sharing their nostalgia In this movie, Prince Adam is a stand in for people who grew up with Han. becausecause he was thrown into our world as a child, he grows nostalgic for a magical place he believed in as a kid and can't let go of. He just wants to go back. We as an adults certainly understand that feeling But he gets to go back and become the hero he imagined himself to be only to learn he had it in him along Masters the universe does this while also delivering memorable characters, locations, and action from the original cartoon For me, that's a much more satisfying experience than a slavishly recreated live action version of the cartoon, which I would forget within a week That said, I don't think the movie needed so much adult humor This could have been PG like Hook, which also had a met narrative that appeals to kids and the adults they gw up for your consideration Leo from Wisconsin. Pes, I've been listening since I I first got a smartphone thirteen years ago And you're the only one that' stuck around that long I love your casual yet thoughtful approach to discussing movies. It's much more comforting than other movie podcasts that either feel like a product or a Hollywood chill, end quote And when I read that last line, I was like So we don't sound like a refined product. We've tried so hard to sell out. Sounds like so much fun Appreciates the Tiger Woods reference. Anyway, I do think there's a lot of people that feel like this listener. Thanks for writing this slash from Kashima. com but vacation Yeah, they didn't feel like it was looking down. Jeff, you know, often we put out our reviews, we talk about it. Then we get reactions and sometimes our opinions can change a little bit. Have you had any further thoughts on this or any reactions to the reactions to our Master's of the Universe review? This is one of those movies which happens every once in a while where shocks me. Yeah, that people can be so far apart having watched the same movie. This is one of those ones where Yes, just wait until our Dclosure Day review. Okay. anyway go ahead. the The reaction, people genuinely love this movie and don't see it. Its is like the white dress blue dress thing from several years ago it feels like are we looking at the same thing? It really u Every once in a while you get that movie where You feel like everybody is going to share your opinion because it's undeniable And then The people on the other side feel the same way and it's like, wow, that's That's a wild thing and it's of beaut of ar. I love.bsolute I love that Agreed. agreed Thanks for all your opinions. and yeah, a defensive Divingros point of view and And obviously a lot of people really passionately love this movie. Having said all that the movie is tanking horribly at the box office. It is collapsing in a really big way I spect going to do really well in video debate Yeah You know, one moment from that movie that we didn't talk about. this is not, I don't think this is a spoiler at all It's one moment that I wanted to bring up in the review that we didn't U There's a moment where an Amazon truck Yeah It's a very important role. I sa it. I remember amazing. I was like, wow. there was like is some good ye, cross branding there. Yeah Yeah. I couldn't believe it. thosees MGM, which is the studio behind one of the studios behind the movie. So And then there was the Amazon logo very prominently at the beginning of the movie. Yes Yeah Which is why it was saves the day at one point. know This movie is tanking, but it's also a big chunk of Amazon movie spent on a geek fever dream and you know what It's fine. It's totally great. Many people are speculating that They're going to make them just because Jeff Bezos likes Masters of the universe stuff and so sp's a billion dollars on Lord of the Rings and I don't know how many people are watching that show., you know. Yeah and the expanse too. expse and the expanse. Our culture is a reflection of billionaireress preferences I mean, at least he lik stuff that I like them but we got to keep them like nerdy and distracted and not like, how do I destroy democracy? How do I, you know break down the backbone of media in the world? That's you gott to keep them distracted Hungry people in our country? I don't know. I like Lord of the Rings Taking a away better Speaking of which, a couple quick media stories before we get going what' be watching, Fox is buying Roku for twenty two billion dollars. sucks Reading about this in a gadget. Now I just want to point out this is Fox Corporation. not twentieth century Fox, which is owned by Disney, right? But Fox Corporation consists of the bad Fox. Yes, right overx T stations and some of the Fox streaming services. But apparently this will create the third largest play in US TV. So the TV world is getting a little bit smaller. Furthermore, just learned this week, the Justice Department is waving through the Merger between Paramount and Warner Brrosers And that means that they have not asked for any divestitures or remedies of any kind. They really to read Justice Department in like quotes, right? It's like justice. Sort of. For just us and us being billionaires. Yeah. Yeah. I gotta be honest, like I try not to think about it too much because it's too depressing. It' good thing by the way. 've been lean away from Meroco for a while because they've done really crummy things likeike they've been promoting like right wing apps upon install. like I've had some at the top of my front row for new devices. So hey Thinking about moving away from Roku Time for an Apple TV. getet a used Apple TV like that'll be totally fine. I'm not a big fan of the Amazon Fire sixix, but use your TV's apps or get an Apple TV. That's my recommendation Roku used to be my go to. I have several Rokus. I am not using any of them anymore and it's a bummer because I used to really love Roku. It was the slickest interface I enjoyed it the most. Yeah. It was the simplest and they literally it is year twenty twenty six and their interface still looks The same as it did like Yeah. they used to have great search. their search not great anymore. Yeah I didn't know if we'd be impuing the honor of Roku City this morning on the podcast. So Really sad day Okay Anyway, that is some film and TV news that' going on in the world right now We're going to take a break and we'll be back with what we've been watching right after this This episode of the film cast is brought to you by Kachava You know, now that summer has started My family loves our new routine. It is a daily Family walks. It's delightful. The kids have started looking forward to it. We love doing hikes too, but those are much more of a A doingin We get to do this every single day, a walk around the neighborhood kids get to pick the route And it makes us feel better. It makes us feel like we're out in nature Days are longer We can do it in the evening if we want to. We can do it in the morning. I love doing it in the morning And even better when we do it in the morning, I get to throw in Chava Travel packs. It's a all in one nutrition shake that I could take with me wherever I go Maintains my daily wellness ritual makes things easy and simple Because Kachava helps with energy, digestion, strength, metabolism five key vitamins and minerals. It's got fiber, probiotics, enzymes, protein and electrolytes. You've got your bee vitems, your minerals Vitamin C, zinc Really all I need with me in one Travel pack nutrition my body craves in a simple shake and ready to go A single pack provides the complete nutrition for a life on the go and the best part are the flavors. I got to tell you, I've tried a lot of similar products. There's rarely anythingything that compares to the variety deliciousness of these flavors. You got yourour chocolate, your vanilla, you find that a lot of places Shy Matcha Strawberry My favorite Coconut asai. Oh my goodness, so yummy Kajava provides clean nutrition Fuel Wherever your day takes you, there's no fillers, no nonsense, no artificial flavors, no artificial colors or sweeteners. It's non GMO, no soy, no animal products, no gluten, and no preservatives. Plus you can try Koachava risk free with their love it guuarantee I love it. I bet you will too, and thousands of Rve reviews agree. you're gonna love it Take your daily ritual with you Go to kachava. com and use code filmcast for fifteen percent off your first order That's Kachava K A C H A V A d. com and the promo code filmcast FILMCAST for fifteen percent off Time to get to what we' watch this week. You know what Dra, let's start with you because you've seen a movie in theaters this week Hell ye, I am extremely jealous, right You have to see this movie. Oh I mean, it is lerally one of the first things I'm going to do when I get back to the United States is see this movie. What is the movie you saw this week?? I saw late last night, I was like, I got to make an effort to go see the Furious in theaters. This is Keni Tonagakiis a martial arts epic about a man fighting to find his daughter after he just wants his kids back just once's it's the purpose of pretty much everything. Every one of these. It's taken. it's so many of, you know, big action movies stars Miao and Joe Taslim. and My God Just see The sheer beauty of the choreography in this movie. Like Jeff, we were talking about, what was it Warriors of the desert? the the recent like U I think you're thinking of Bl Gard. Bl ofy of the Gardians. Yeah, but the on set in the desert. I was like, okay, I like that before. I have seen seen a lot of that before, right? That's a master doing kind of the thing he kind of does There are things in this movie I've never seen before. The movement of the human body, the way the camera moves around to show you the action, the sheer insanity of what is going on the screen here, This is new. This is a new kind of action you movie. And I used to think like, oh, man, the John Wick movies, that's really Apex, right? We really can't go beyond the John Wick movies That's like first gear Right? This movie is cranking at fourth and fifth gear. Like it is it is faster, it is crazier, it's more violent. I love the John Lick movies But just the sheer intensity of what goes on in this movie, it is the sight to behold I've recently been looking at some like martial arts clips with my daughter, just like,, hey, we're breaking in the new TV. Let's look at some Jackie Chan clips, because I can't get her to look at the entire movies, but we can look at the highlights of Super cop or something, right Incredible stuff is fights are great Um A lot of those movies you could be like I'm going to fast forward to the great part. I'm going to fast forward to the big fights There's nothing to fast forward in this movie. likeike it literally practically every scene is a banger at I love. I love it. It's just like you it's short. It's tight. It's well, it's under two hours. Yeah, but its it feels pretty tight. like every action scene is a banger tremendous use of the environments. just great, great choreography. There's a point where there's like a five way battle and there's like multiple lines of loyalty just happening. It's just like a beautiful thing. And the movie just takes a break and just gives you like a five person split screen on their eyes just takes like half a second to be like, bo, boom, boom, boom They really fight It's glorious. So if this movie is in your vicinity Go see it in theatater. seeee it with the crowd. I saw it with like not like a big crowd, but Once the bones started like crunching skulls and stuff, people were just like shouting out loud, like, oh my God What is happening? L that Like it is a Visceral crowd pleasing thing. U I have to say Kenji Tanagaki, like his work, I have been following his work for a while Um I have to say like we've talked about Blade two quite a bit I think one of the reasons I love Blay two is that tremendous sword fight scene. like the blade versus the two like invading vampires, right? I think one of the best like choreographed sword in that we've had in like American cinema. That's that was mostly Kenji Tanagaki. He's done stuff like the Rironi Kenshy movies, but stuff we've seen recently too or that we've talked about like Twil of the Wriors walled in. He designed the action for that, Raging Fire, the Donnie N movie we've talked about he did enter the Fat Dragon, which I've not seen because I think the the concept of that movie Yeah, I think is abhorrent, but apparently it was a lot of fun. It's just called Enter the Fat Dragon and he's dressed like a fat Brucely. Like it's not I end, but he's dressed as a fat Bruceleee U I don't need to see that Kendry Tanagaki. this guy has been at it for a long time. He has not directed many films on his own, but this is It is amazing to see and I hope he has like a beautiful future ahead because this is This is like a new standard for what an action movie should look like. It's incredible That is amazing Giivven your hardwire. I will say that for me First of all, incredibly jealous. Can't wait to see this movie. It's literally gonna to be one of the first things I do when I get home into the United States I was trying to like, As I'm thinking, I'm making a statement.'m going to make a statement and then you tell me it's reasonable, but I think's reasonable I don't think I have seen a better action movie Since twenty fourteen' the Raid to Berendall by Gareth Evans Like I agree. I think that was one of the bestest was ever. John R four in there. Yeah. Okaykay J is incredible, dude. It's great. But it's it's doing a lot of different things. I'm talking about like brutal hand hand fighting. Yeah, mayaybe like maybe hand combat.es. I agree. Jwike four is great, but like I think probably hand to hand fighting it's probably still the Raid Iberero. I can't recall. seeing a better action film than that. So ye. So this is like a level up from I was say does this be the raid to Barndal in your opinion? I think so because I think the problem with that movie is that it's too long that movie tries to be like a godfather epic and trying to cram too much in this is This is like a focus story and it's tremendous. It's so good. Yeah. I am also extremely excited to see this and can't wait and Do not doubt that it is incredible That said Really Dave, I really want you to see Blades of the Guardian because I I should wrap my head around. see Blades of the Gardindra doesn't give it its's props, man. I said that's great. I said it's Well, you said it wasn't as good as mortal comombat too. So in terms of the action. It wasn't as interesting because I have seen I have seen So much of that stuff, you know? I am going to make an effort to see Blades of the Guardians. by the way, it just got a VOD release. It's going to be coming out the end of June on VOD. So I will be watching Blades of the Guardians at some point for sure Really looking forward to the furious Jeff, mayaybe it's something we can talk about in a couple weeks. Oh ye So can' wait to see it. I'm very excited All right, that's something DeVindra has been watching. The furious it's out in theaters right now. I had a chance to watch Hoam You guys heard about this movie? This was almost a I wly knowem She do. It was for you. I'm glad you are getting onto the barely know them train of Sinking down to your level Yeah It was a very disclosure. you know anyway, okay. So it doesn't work. It sounds like it works It sounds like anyway U This is the newest film by Damen McCarthy. This movie was almost a main review for us But I couldn't see it because it wasn't available in Portugal. But it's come out on video and demand for several weeks now. and I finally have a chance to watch it this last week. This is by Dami McCarthy, who you may have seen his previous films including Oddity and Caveat I really liked Auditity. I thought that was a really creepy horror thriller that came out in twenty twenty four and would recommend that film. And so I was really excited about Hocan because it seems like he's like leveling up. He's got Adam Scott in the movie. There's more locations, there's more characters And I am very sad to report that this movie basasically did not work for me at all. Wow. I've heard amazing things about this. Yeah, I'm surprised like I thought this was a slam like I love Adam Scott in many things, including severance, right? And Damiian McCarthy's last movie, I thought was great. And so I thought, oh, wow, this is going to be of my favorite talents coming together Sadly did not work for me. The idea behind Hom is Adam Scott plays Om Bauman, an author who is trying to finish a trilogy of successful novels And he goes to this hotel that's in kind of the middle of rural Ireland to write the book But then creepy stuff spooky stuff starts happening in, you know, and then he needs to navigate that Is it related to his trauma, Dave U you know it's funny you mentioned that different group Yes a, yes, it is. off course. And I found the trauma to be completely uninteresting. I was like, reallyally this is. You don't want to be this guy's therapist. I find your trauma to be completely uninteresting. This is it. And also one thing, you know, one thing you might appreciate about this is Om Bauman, the character he plays is a raaging assholes to everyone at time. I would appreciate this. And so what just like I think Generally it's fun when a character iss a raging asshole. then and then the movie kind of like brings you around his perspective or it helps you to understand him or like like Adam Sott and st Step brrothers. You There you go's a real Adam Scott and step brrers. There And the character like changes over the course of the movie. And I will just say that I did not find his transformation particularly well done either. Okay There's that there's the fact that Uh there's there's a pretty significant cast of characters in his movie And Adam Scott has great chemistry with one of the characters and I'm thinking, oh, cool. like The movie is going to be about this relationship And then it's not. like the movie basically gives that relationship zero airtime whatsoever Uh so It's just kind of Adam Scott wandering around spaces, spooky stuff happening, but The Scaarres aren't particularly great. There's a handful of cool images, but that's about it I just this just did not work for me at all, sadly. So I'm pretty bummed because again Loved Addity would still recommend that movie, but Hom Not a movie that I found great enjoyment in, but this movie still was a decent hit made around twenty four million dollars at the box office on a five million dollars budget. and so People did turn out for this and I'm glad McCarthy is going to get to continue making films and and hopefully he has more ideas in store But yeah, this one just was not for me. The movie's Houm A available on video and demand right now. It's something I David Chen have been watching this week Jff Canota hit us up with something you bo watch this week Well my Affinity for Saturday Night Live is well documented on Yes podcast And we're in this wild golden age of Saturday Night Live documentaries. There's so many of them. I'm watching all of them, baby. I'm soaking them all in There's a new one that was actually released in theaters and now has hit I hope my by the way, I hope I hope our new gu is has heard It was heard me shout it in my room. She takes care of me. You should give her a warning. I'm so worried about the Zencaster recording like blanking that out because sometimes basically the system we used to record, if it's too loud, sometimes it will mute it. Yeah. So yeah, every time Jeff does something like that, I'm worried it'll get. That should be some sort of obscene error, not a human voice. Yeah Too soon, too soon I screamed peacock too soon Anyway, it's callback Morne is the name of this documentary. Of course, focusing on Lauren Michaels, the The original producer of Saturday Night Live then left and came back and now has been producing Saturday Night Live for decades and is, I think, synonymous with Saturday Night Live And this is a Very, very interesting documentary if you're curious about him as a human and the world of Saturday Night Live at all because He is a real enigmatic fella. He's a real private person. very little is publicly shared about him Even to his closest confidants, it seems And what I love about this documentary is that it seems to be bunch of people that are very close to him. professionally tryrying to figure out who the hell he is And what a fun endeavor for a documentary to set out to unravel the mystery, such as it is, of this person's everyday life. I mean, there's literally You know, it's a who's who, a murdere's row of of comedic talent that they interview Um, you know many different eras of Saturday Night Live. I mean, Chevy Chase is even interviewed here talking about Lauren and A lot of the, you know, current cast all the way, you know, every era, Dana Carvey, you know, who's who? And You know, everybody's got their Luren Michael's impression, everybody has their Luren Michaels stories and so few of them have any insight into what kind of person he is, how he lives, what And so it's really it's more like an investigative. It's made with Luren Michael's full cooperation, by the way, which is hilarious because usually those two things are mutually exclusive. You either have the documentary that's like, Who is this person? We got a, you know, we didn't have any access, so we had to figure it out Or you have the full access where you're like sitting down with the person and it's, you know,'s This movie is both because Lauren Michael's gave his full approval to have this made. And yet at every step of the way just does not want to cooperate. I mean, it's not that he's not cooperating., he's sitting down and having interviews. But sometimes ye, sometimes documentarian can have an everversir relationship with their subject. I think that does put far. It's not adversary. He's not actively working against it. He's just unwilling to share, right? Right And it's not adversarily. he's there, but every time there's so many shots of, you know, the fly on the wall camera moments that you see in things where, you know, here's a normal meeting for Saturday Night Live. Lauren Michaels turns to the camera and goes, right, I forgot, you have to be here. All right. Okay. ye. all right. You know, or he'll turn to the camera and be like, okay, none of this is usable. none of the, you know, but we just saw all of it, which is great. So you have this Fun dynamic of him you know trying to maintain his privacy and his closed down kind of way of life. And at the same time, all these people who were so curious about him and you know, recognize him as being this I think unrivaled force in comedy over the last forty years, fifty years. Like there's no single human that is more responsible for mainstream comedy than Lauren Michaels. L he is he's the guy He's made it happen. He produced the movies, he found the people, he cast the personalities. He has reinvented Saturday Night Live multiple times, resurrected it. It's an extraordinary tale. and The documentary does a great job of recounting all of that and stepping you through the timeline and showing you all the things and showing you the early part of his career, how he got started Um, you know, kind of showing you. he is such a Odd person. He's a guy who's seventy nine as of the documentary I think he may have turned eighty already Um, but he He wakes up at noon, goes to bed at four in the morning He eats at the same restaurant every single day. It's just a wild portrait of this very peculiar, very specific person who has add an outsized impact on what Everyone in America and the world laughs at I wonder my startounded great. I really loved it. and I think structurally it's so clever It's juicy with lots of interesting details that I think are previously unknown It is comprehensive and it has all the people you'd want to hear from talking about him in awe, in reverence, in You know Beguilment. they don't know what to make of him a lot of the people that even work with him every single day. it's it's interesting. I mean, Steve Martin is like all the people you'd want to hear from So I highly recommend Lauren. . The thing like we keep hearing about Lauren is that he's just always working. So I wonder if like it's really hard to dig into his inner life when his life is the work. his life is the job, right? He's at the parties. he's there all day. That's why he gets up late because he works in rhythm, he lives in rhythm to the show and how it's produced and everything Well, it's very interesting you bring that up because one of the big Revelations in in the movie is u that he spends a lot of time. He has a property in Maine That is completely off the grid It's just this like farmhouse where he grows vegetables And he, you know, on the the hiatuses of Saturday Night Live, So he's this like guy who's synonymous with New York City. He is like of N I mean he's Canadian originally, but he' become Creature of the big city And what he does in his spare time is he retreats to this Totally diametrically opposed landscape where he's in nature, he's off the grid, he's not engaged, he's slow moving. And I found that to be fascinating and really applicable to our own lives. this is What he needs to be able to do the fast pacace stuff is he needs to slow down. That's one of the things I really liked about this documentary' like, I didn't know that about him beforehand and it's I think it's interesting I wonder if he's pissed off about the Galfinacus show because Galfinacus basically did that, right? He went up to like Vancouver Island or somewhere' like is farming and is doing a gardening show L's like, Godd damn it makeaking a show about my secluded farming house Well that's Lauren, and there is a documentary available on Peacock that Jeff Konata recommends Let's take a break for a sponsor. We'll be back with more what we'll be watching right after this This episode of the film cast is brought to you by Quinince. Weather is warmer, it's summertime. that means I'm changing up how I dress. I want Things that feel lighter, more breathable, things that are easy, but still look good, still look like I'm put together. That's why I keep coming back to Quins. They focus on high quality essentials that feel And look Amazing breathable linen and soft organic cotton. Well made basics. Without that luxury markup It's that rare balance where everything feels elevated, but still effortless I love their Quince European linen pants and shirts. They're the perfect warm weather upgrade to add to your rotation. They start at just thirty four bucks T shirts are soft, easy to wear. their lightweight cotton sweaters are perfect for cooler summer nights, and everything at Quintince is priced fifty per to eighty percent less. than similar brands. They work directly with ethical factories and cut out the middlemen, so you're paying for quality, not brand markup Quince goes way beyond clothing, custom upholstered sofas, ceramic cookweare, premium bedding It's the kind of brand you end up recommending to everyone for everything I gotta say my quQince lightweight cotton sweater is my go to for a date night. For anytim I want to feel good and comfortable It's fantastic Elevate your summer wardrobe Go to quintince d. com slash filmcast for free shipping on your order and three hundred and sixty five day returns Now available in Canada too. That's Quintince QuI andcE. comot slash film cast, FILM CAST for free shipping and three hundred and sixty five day returns Qince dot com slash filmcast Jeff, before we move on from the Loren topic I think I've heard good things about this documentary, but I've also heard people disappointed that this documentary didn't delve into some of the more problematic aspects of Lauren Michael's character. It certainly does not. Yeah. Yeah, I was going to ask like no, does it do that at all, you know? ' is a reverent look at him through loving eyes that u I think Yes, That is that is I think, a fair criticism. Yeah. it seems like more like more h geographic thaney geography or H geography. I thought it was the hardgeib H geography. Yeah, okay. He geographic than than a more hard hitting documentary. I mean, how do you feel about that? Are you like disappointed at all that that doesn't come through? Well, clearly, you know, I come away pretty positive from the whole thing. I think that would be an interesting aspect to include and probably is necessary, especially with these extremely powerful wealthy Men uh you want to have the full gamut of reactions That said I think this is kind of doing something differently, which is it's coming at it from like a What's this dude's deal? You know, like what what even is this guy? Right. And so it's it's I think it's bitten off a lot already to chew on. And maybe I'm being overly generous and It is a feel good kind of thing. It's a bunch of people laughing and smiling about their boss, basically. and It's certainly I would not fault anyone for coming away from it and feeling like, well positive. It's only all positive. Right. R. And for those who are wondering what I'm alluding to, there have been rumors and talks about how he can be a difficult person to work with Yeah and it's not necessarily disqualifying or cancelable necessarily. as far as I have read, I don't know, mayaybe I haven't read everything, but I just think it's really hard to Get to where you are in Lauren Michaels' career and not have clash with people, you know, in a b way, right? And so to the idea that it's presenting it in such a way that it doesn't seem like that's the case feels a little bit in know auth Well they, you know, there are a few anecdotes included paint a pricklier picture, but there's not lingered on. And most of the time when you know, this documentary talks about him throwing his weight around. It's throwing his weight around against people that you wanted him to throw his weight around against, you know, like Don Olmeyer and, you know, the executives at NBC. there's a great anecdote in it where Uh, there somebody took over, I can't remember the name of the person, but somebody took over for NBC and they decided they were going to call ten most important you know, executives and producers, personalities at NBC and introduce themselves and they call or this person calls Lauren Michaels and say, Head, you know, I'd like to sit down with you and introduce myself and You know, I'd like to have u Breakfast this week? Are you available And evidently Luren Michels goes Well, it won't be breakfast Because he doesn't wake up till noon. Right, right. Yeah ye, yeah yeah yeah. Like that's fair. The guy runs the network and Lordure Michael is like No Sorry. Yeah. you work on my schedule, pal. Right. R. So that's the kind of that's the kind of that's about his wow, hard hard hitting facts about. Exactly. Yeah. they talk about. They talk about him, you know, sort of cving to some of the pressures. They talk about him being a person who is Um very drawn to controversy in that he will book people on the show like Donald Trump, like Andrew Dyce Clay, like, you know, all the people throughout history that he's booked on the show to stir up controversy, to embrace The moment of controversy you know There's that aspect of it, but I don't it does not get into any kind of real, you know, prickly bits. Good to know ood to know. The movie's lan on Pacock, something Jeff Gannaa has been watching this week All right, guys, I'm actually gonna go to me right now and talk about a movie that has been at the top of the Netflix charts for a little bit. It's a documentary called Maternal Instinct Have you guys heard about this documentary by any chance? No U I'm guessing you don't have my habit of browsing what is in the Netflix topop ten and occasionally watching it if it strikes your fancy No I By the way, I have gotten some pushback from people saying that they don't think that Netflix's top ten is authentic and I just don't Like Let me put it this way. I think it is okay to have issues with how Netflix measures views. I think it is okay to have issues with the fact Netflix. can manipulate its algorithm push things into the top ten I am personally one of those people that does not believe Netflix is lying about its top ten. That's my You think that your top ten and my top ten are always exactly the same I am not sure about that even like I need to look more like I've seen like people saying that there's been variations of that, but they've changed it a bunch of times over the years too. Yeah. there's recommended lists and the top ten is like global is right There' There's a global top ten that you can go to the website. It's the same for everyone. And they also have started releasing total number of minutes or hours streamed for particular shows on a regular basis. So it just strikes me as u I just don't believe that they're lying about what's actually top the global top ten. I would not be surprised if there is an aspect of recommendation in the top ten. That's all I'm saying U let me personalized recommendation. I would not be surprised. You may be completely correct that it is all authentic and the same across the board for every person, but I they have they have in the past talked about U distinguishing between like here's what I do believe. there's like a recommended for you section. I know that's different for everyone Of course. But there's a you right in it But there have been and anyway, regardless, I think stuff feel around as I was saying, like you can like Netflix is like, hey, we're going to make This title, the home page of everyone's thing. and then it's like, okay, then it becomes in the top ten. But I just don't believe they're lying about the I've read it, you the order of the top ten may be shifted based on your preference. So there may be ye Well whatever. people I just want to acknowledge some people don't believe it. I believe that what is in the top ten is the top ten and I believe that when you go to the website that has the chart of this is a global top ten, that they're not lying about that. That's me Other people can have different opinion. Regardless. maternal instinct is in it has been at number one And I just by the way, like, I don't know if you guys do this, but Oftentimes when I'm trying to pick out something to watch with my wife The way it works is I will provide her a list of, um, a list of options Right Rather than me saying like, hey, let's watch this upsetting horror film that David wants to watch tonight, like Hom U I'm going to give you like five options and you can choose from them, right? you all five upsetting horror films that David wants to watch tonight. There's variation. Okaykay, theres variation. Shoes It' like ghostbusters, right? Choose the form of the destructor So and usually what I'll do is I'llnd her the trailers. I'll be like, here's theil she doesn't, I generally try to avoid trailers, but she doesn't mind watching them. So I'll say, like, here's trailers and she'll like watch all the trailers diligently and then say, okay, of these, let's watch this one. Almost like they serve a purpose. Those trailers. Interesting. So interesteresting So I sent her a bunch of titles, including Houm, and then this one for this movie called Maternal Instinct That's on Netflix And here is the premise of maternal instinct. is this is a documentary And What happens is a woman Driving to the hospital in great distress. like the documentary opens. It's police body cam footage. A woman is in great distress. She has just she has just given birth to a baby And she's holding the baby in her lap and the baby is in terrible shape, and the baby still has the umbilical cord attached to it. and she's like frantically driving to the hospital. She's like I need to the hospital. I need to my husband. So they get her to the hospital And then people really quickly realize that something is very wrong Uh, because The baby Uh there's like a lot of blood everywhere, but the blood doesn't match the womans or the babies Uh, and perhaps more significantly, Upon closer examination A doctor can tell pretty quickly whether a woman has given birth recently And This woman has not given birth recently So what is going on? That is the opening scene of the documentary that like reveals this mystery of What is what happened here And I'm just going to read from the post that I wrote on threads about this movie. I said Maternal instinct Without a doubt One of the most unhinged ed up stories I have everver Wed Suspenseful storytelling that leads to an inevitable, horrifying conclusion, an unbelievable descent into human depravity I'm ruining things for the kids listening Breaking and gut wrenching I will probably be in shock for a while from this end quote, That's what I wrote. And that's kind of the best way I have of summing up the movie. Five stars, Dave Chen. Yeah. I mean, Dannis Sayed then pointed out It sounds like David Ch Katnip, which it absolutely is. I mean guys, this is Every single time I think I've watched One of the most upsetting things I've ever watched on these Netflix documentaries Somehow they manag to up they managed to one up themselves guys They manage to w up themsel. These are the jams Netflix is seeking. They're like, what can What fucked up thing can we really put on our algorithm that's going to pop to the top ten This this. I can already imagine where the story is going. Yeah, yeah. I mean The only way I can describe it is I thought I had seen it all. I thought I had seen like like the worst things that humans could be capable of And then I am surprised by this documentary of maternal instinct. I do have to say, I just want to say a couple of quick things about it though. Number one I think the filmmaking is really well done. It's like just a very suspenseible documentary that like, goes methodically through these people' suations. It has a decent number of interview subjects that can speak to the events of what it depicts. So I just think it's like a very well done documentary And also that there are supplemental materials out there Uh, if people want to read more about this case like I started listening to a podcast by a woman named Ellie Mac, I think is her name. She hosts a bod guest called True Crime with Ellie Mack And I you know, if you if you listen to the podcast, it does spoil what happens in the documentarary, so FI, but I started listening to it and It's a two and a half hour long episode of the podcast And it gives way more detail into what happened with this situation. and Listening to it may me like appreciate How diffifficult, it must be sometimes to make a documentary because In order to tell a compelling story, and Jeff, you know, kind of referencing Lauren here too, right is that There is so much art to what you are not included as Yeah, right? Like there's it's it's really an exercise in there in particular for this woman that is in this story of maternal instinct. there's so many areas you could cover. There's so many like pllaces you could explore. that are sad and upsetting. And the documentary is like,ope, we're just going focus on this one thing, this one incident And you as the viewer are like, oh, I wish the documentor went into this. I wish the documenter went into this but it's like Sometimes you need to be really selective about the story you're telling if you want to have a big impact And I think that's what this documentary did. I haven't listened to this whole podcast episode yet, like I said,'s and a halfours long I'm looking forward to getting through it, but yeah, One of the most shocking things I've ever seen and Uh, You know, you know, sometimes you read something and then you like understand on a deeper level what humans are capable of in a bad way You know, this is one of those things I'll also say I'm put to light as well G good here of the summer I'll also say I posted this on across all my social channels and Many people who like watch true crrime documentaries like this, you know, they're like, oh how bad could it be? David Chen? And then they then watched it on my recommendation. And then they came back to me and they said I was not prepared I was not prepared. for how bad this would get. So Anyway You're like the guy behind the tree just rubbing his hands together like Give it to me. O for the Sickos. this is this is really one for the Sickos like number one on Netflix. So what does this say about it? Yeah. Well I think it does, you know, assuming you believe in a different draw, I think it does say that. First of all, it's a very easy to get through document. It's like ninety minutes long. And so you kind of like The value proposition is you give ninety minutes of your time, you get told a shocking story that is true Easy to get through. one of the most horrifying things to liver here ninety minutes of your time, and never sleep again. easasy, busy Truly True Like I wish I could talk to you guys about what actually happened in this case because I think then you'd understand kind of And I can I could take a guess. It might reshape your I could take a guess. Yeah. It might reshape your perspective of like what humans can do like Anyway, I like my perspective, the shape it is. I'm fine with the shape of my perspective. A sure? I should like it could use a little reshaping That is maternal instinct It is something I've been watching this week. It is available on Netflix right now Let's take a break for our sponsor. We'll be back with more, what we've been watching right after this This episode of the film cast is brought to you by Storyworth. Hey, you know, Father's Day is coming up. Father's Day right around the corner. What's a great gift for your dad? Well, I got a good one for you. I gave this to my dad who I A door. I would not be doing what I do. I would not be podcasting I would not have a love of language If it were not for my dad. My dad taught me how to write. He taught me how to communicate, he stayed on me He's the reason I love grammar I love my dad And a few years ago, I gave him story worth because I wanted to know more about him You know, most Father's Day gifts end up in a drawer you know, some tie or socks or something. Storyworth does not. It gives your dad a year long experience and gives your family full of stories Your dad probably would never think to tell on his own Each week, story wororth sends your dad a question about his life He responds however he wants, writing back over email or on the web even voice recording or new this year, a guided phone call No apps, no logins, no tech hassle Storyworth meets him where he is So you can focus on the joy of remembering and reflecting you can even help pick the questions. You can choose from Pre written questions, write your own, or let Storyworth create personalized questions based on his life each story as he tells it. which is awesome Throughout the year, it's like a gift to yourself as well And then when the year is complete, Storyworth compiles everything, his words, his photos, his life Beautiful hardcover book Families have used storyworths to create over a million books And more than fifty thousand five star reviewers agree it will be a treasure your family will love New this year is Storyworth's unlimited plan. You buy it once and you can give Storyworth memoirs to friends and families all year long It comes with all their newest features and multiple full color book copies It's been a few years since I did this with my dad, but I loved the process. It was so cool. seeing him responses to questions all year long It just warmed my heart. And now we have a book that I can share with my own kids This year, give your dad a gift that captures who he really is before the stories get harder to remember. Father's Day is Sunday june twenty first. Order right now and save up to twenty dollars at storyworth dot com slash filmcast to twenty dollars at storyworth d. com slash filmcast That's storyworth STO R Y w O R T H d. com slash FILM C A ST. All right, guys, you both have been watching something at the same time I show. I only watched this because DaVindra posted about it Yeah No, he brought it on my text you guys. Yeah. Okay U So DavVingra, why don't you tell us about you start and then I want to hear what Jeff had to say about this. So what is the thing that you both watched this week I started this new show called Dragon Striker on Disney pllus and This show iss kind of incredible. Guys like this is I am a fan of like great animation. This is a gorgeously animated show in the style of Avatar Last Airbender, but also there's a bit of Miyazaki in there. It's about kids who have powers who also use those powers to play like a magical version of a soccer game. So there's also a lot of shalid soccer in there And I have to say, I've been watching some Challolon and soccer clips with my kids I want my daghter to like see like you want to check out this movie eventually? And she is amazed by Challolon socer. And I do think to myself, why are we doing more shallon soccers? Why aren't there more inventive spins on sports with like superpowers and shit So' doing it, That's about it. And I mean, anime is doing it too, but most of the time, it's just like it is the actual sport, right? It is just soccer, It is just volleyball or something which I love. I love a lot of those shows as well. But Dragon Striker just takes all the combination of things. alsoso school with multiple houses. So there's a bit of like Harry Potter in there too And it's like the Star Wars thing, which like, oh this farm boy kid may be this like mythological this hero, this dragon striker that everyone has been looking for has been thinking about for a while. So I've seen a couple of episodes of the show. I'm just struck by first of all, like it is funny. It's really well animated. The show is just like so well realized. It's produced by a French animation studio. I don't have their name in front of me right now looks amazing. And oftentimes when I look at like shows produced for American networks or something. I bring this around for invincible I can feel how you're cutting corners, right to get to pump this thing through. And that's something Robert Kirkman is also being actually getting a lot of criticism for because he just wants to pump out new content. He's figured out the secret to pump out, you know, a comic book TV show. It's by making it look like shit. What if What if? and that's something anime has done for a while too. That was the secret behind Dragon Ball Z and everything for a long time. But they I mean the analindy haies. yeah They Anime kind of does that they kind of fix that by having some episodes of the big fights with great animation. They put all the budget into that Dragon Strikers just looks like a beautifully lush show. Like this is This is like the animation that we're doing for the Legend of Kora basically, but I think even more so, like it is It's a gorgeous show. it's also like funny and it's a good time and I like the characters, I like the world and mystery they're building. So if you are into any of those things I referenced in relation to this, if you have young kids I think it's worth checking out Dragon Striker on Disney plus. Jeff, what did do you think Yeah, we're digging it too. My son and I haven't had a show like this in a while. We did, you know, we did Avatar the last Airbender did mech cadets We did Wolf King and I'm hoping those two ladder shows both get more seasons. Wolf King has two. I think Mcadet's only got one so far. but We're always looking for a sort of action adventure serialized storytelling show Uh And so when I saw DaVindra comment on this, I lefted at it and said, Hey, we gott to watch this My son and I have We've been binging and I think we're six episodes in and It's u It's good fun. It really does evoke Avatar the Last Airbender in a lot of ways. It's a crazy premise I mean you know, it makes no damn sense because it's the idea is there's, you know, there's this school where we play soccer and everybody has a different superpower So there's like no balance in Like the idea that this would be a competitive sport, but like one kid can make jelly come out of their hands And another kid can literally stop time, you know, it's like Maybe he'd be a good gollie. Yeah. Yeah. So there's there's a kid who can um can cause you to have an illusion in your mind so you literally don't see where the ball is going. like I feel like that would be a little OP in the whole sports arena, you know Um But, you know Wh cares because it's so much fun. And I love I love superheroes. I love the I mean this is basically like the X men play a sport is what this is because every kid has what they call a Tama in the show It mean it is their specific superpowerers. So you your Tama does one thing and it does one thing only and it's cool and it's different That's what I always loved about the X men is like every X men has a very specific thing that they could do And so you have these Divid just said, yeah have these different houses of a school. and so every single player on each team does something unique and different. And so you have these wild soccer matches All these powers are popping off. And they don't have to You know, there's no limit on the pers. They just get to use them constantly. So it's a really wild kinetic fun The action sequences are In fact there was an RPG, like an indie RPG that I played a few years ago that was U like an RPG, but then any fight you had, you played soccer And I was like, that' a cool idea where all the fights are just soccer matches. I can't remember the name of it That's basically how this works. It' like it's a story. and then every episode we're plan a superpower infused soccer match And it's great fun. So I'm right there with DavVindra recommending Dragon Striker because you know, I want more shows like this. Th serialized adventure stories suuper fun to watch with my kid and we're having a blast with it. It's on Netflix Also love the love the Disney pllus. but excuse me, right Disney plus. sorry. I love the setting by the way too because it's just on like a sky Island, like a sky Island. area for no reason. So if you were into RPGs where people are just living in sky Islands Just that setting, which must be really hard to live in practically, but it looks beautiful for the background of your animation. That's another plus for me Oh yeah, my son and I had a whole long conversation about, you know, the only way they get there is by these like insane gondolas up into the skky Island. and my son you know was talking about like the The feasibility of that and how annoying it would be to have to go to school every day in a gondola. something' like the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree it was very fun. It's Dragon Striker on Disney plus. by the way, Schwet Studios, I think is the studio you' referring to earer Lushet or something Yeahah. She went to studios anyway. Wy Balls? We' were so close. The Sight Saturdayight liive sketch. Oh Seat real sweaty. And my sweaty balls. Dust I c that part out of the kid. I've seen it As. Alex Baldwin. I've seere. doesn't mean you just reference it out of the. Talking about a kids show All right N' ready is what we've been watching this week Let's get to weeekly plugs We think This is a very short version Wow that I have used before I think on. So that is a brief. That's a little. Maybe I thought I'd try it out today and I've I thought I knew which one it was and that's even shorter than I thought thought It's meant for you to mix like you're dejJing. You're supposed to hit a couple of times. and get us like. There we go. Yeah All right, mayaybe that one's a little tooure. I'll try probably some happy medium This is like the Goldilocks of like the other one' too long and this one's Please short, maybe. Okay Weekly plug is part of show each week where we plug something else will'll be making I wanted to throw a shout out to Matt Goldberg's review of Disclosure Day which was published at Deoding Everything. One of my goals over at Decoding Everything is to be one of the first places you can read reviews of any major releases coming out in the United States. and been really appreciating working Mt Goldberg about that. I'm going to be coming back to the U.S. and I'll starting to be able to go to press screenetings again, so I'm looking forward to being able to publish those at deccodingverything. com as well. suubscribe for free. Check it out at decoding everythingthing. com ing your hardwire your weeklyu Yeah, check out the E Gadget podcast. We had a good discussion about SpaceX's IPO, which was Huge news last week. It made Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire also talk about like why that's deeply fucked up And we brought on slates in the Chish Pwa to like break all this down U because that same week, when that man became a trillionaire, he was also inciting race riots in Belfast. likeike he is out there posting racism and white supremacy on Maine. That is the world we live in. So we tried to why that's happening and why the financial world doesn't seem to care Jeff Kanada, your weekly plug Father's Day iss coming up Boys and girls, what better gift to the father in your life A limerick built and made and delivered specifically for them by me at cameo d. com slash Jeff Kanada. happappy to do it. peopleople seemeem to like them, cheheck out our over two hundred five star reviews over there at cameo d. com slash Ge. Canada And you know, don't forget Dad because he loves here in five lines that rhyme and the structure, it's fun. It's good times and it's available for you As a gift, cameo d. com slash Jeff Canada. O course I want to throw shout out for Patreon. com slash film podasts where you can get ad free episodes, occasional early access episodes and exclusive bonus after dark episodes It's our patrons that help to keep us going. Thanks so much to everyone at patreon. com my film podcasts who helps to support us Of course, we never watch you a donate if it did any wayay cause you financial hardship. You can always support us for free By leaving a star rating for us wherever you get your podcast, we really appreciate that. Or share the podcast where if you find it on social media or on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash at the filmcast pod Before we get to our review of disclosure dayay I just have a really U simple question for you guys, what do you call an extremely clingy alien Let's to our view disclure Wh did you steal Fuits. pay me to protect Personal space. invader Personal invader. Yeah, wow Welcome to the film Cast review of Disclosure Day J St start on that note. Just start on that note Welcome to the filmcast review of Disclosure Day. I'm going to read the plot summary of this movie from the internet. A meteorologist and a cybersecurity expert find themselves at the center of a movement to expose the government's cover up of extraterrestrial secrets and Oviously we all think Steven Spieler is one of the greatest filmakers of all time. In this film, Disclosure Day, he returns to one of the movie, one of the thematic elements helped to propel him to superstardom in the director world which is Aliens Are they real? What would their impact on society be? This seems to be an obsession with his from ET, War of the Worlds Kingdom of Crystal Skull So the question is, does he have anything new to add here in Disclosure Day Overall, Daingra, what did you think of the film Um I would say this is a film made for The me that existed in the nineties How about that? because the nineties era was big on Hey, that was the X files era. that That was the decade of the X files. I was a kid fully in on this. like I was reading all the books, I was reading about project blue book and everything And, um You know, I was reading Walter Child's review, which is mostly favorable to it, but he compared this to Francis Ford Copa is Megalapolis And you know what? it's a little it's a little bit like that. It is sort of like this guy who is a master of the forum getting on years kind of putting down the stone and being like, here here's how it is folks. like This is how things could be It's just kind of interesting. I think this is like It is an interesting exploration of what Steven Spielberg thinks it would be like if We revealed the existence of aliens And there are some great philosophical discussions in here of like what it could mean has an impact on society and on religion Um, But I think like where it ultimately goes, We'll have to talk about this in spoilers. It feels Like I said earlier, very boomerary in the sense that This movie hinges on the idea of disisclosure Day, of disclosing the existence of aliens. and I'm gonna tell y you There's a lot of things that have been released out in the world, facts as they were They have had very little impact on our society and has done little to like really I don't know make things better. So its I've got complicated feelings around this movie. I will say though the part of this movie that is not the sort of like philosophical treatise Um where he's just Spielberg being Spielberg setting up some banger set pieces like that, dude has still got it There's There's a scene between a car and a train. That's a lot of fun. There's just like a shot I think about a lot about a car crashing into a house The way it's framed, the way it looks, it's just kind of jarring. like I've not seen that before. So it's really fun to see Spiberg in this mode. I think like narratively, this film has a really interesting structure because it basically starts you in three of a story, which is kind of cool. I've got questions about the very first shot of this movie which is a POV shot of a wrestler getting stomped in the like in the ring. I I feel like He is the master of the form, right? Like this guy knows how to where to put the camera, how to produce a shot, how to stage a scene Having that be the very first image your of your movie, I don't know what am I reading into here? just It is kind of draing to me. It like I was wondering if they're gonna to come back to that somehow. Yeah Did I step into the wrong movie or something? I feel like that is ao the very first shot of your movie is a holy thing And what impact are you going to make on the audience? And it's a wrestler stomping down on the camera I just found that kind of funny. But overall, like I found it to be a good time. Spielberg like do set pieces is a lot of fun to me. I wish we lived in a world where the ideas he's bringing up here could lead to some major, perhaps societal awakening or societal like Good, but also I live in the year twenty twenty six Yeah and society keeps disappointing me I do think that the movie is extremely boomer coded. What Davindra was alluding to is that the movie is about disisclosure Day, but the manner in which the movie envisions the disclosure occurring is a very, very old school and in my opinion aint and naive way of thinking of how disclosure might occur. And don't forget like we sort of did have like a mini disclosure day. Like there's a lot of stuff that got. There have been government hearings on UAPs as they're called now There There been video footage footage has been out in the world about youA That inspired this movie. Like the release in twenty seventeen of like some footage of like air Force footage like what the hell is going on here And credible people kept coming up and saying like something is weird. Butly Mie imagines disclosure as a cataclysmic world altering evvent. R. But let's just say we have seen versions of disclosure in reality that have not played out that way. So it's kind of hard to take seriously in that manner. All that said aggreed with you on the set pieces, Jeff Kanota, I want to hear what you had to say about Disclosure Day Well, Dave I guess you could say what I had to say about disclosure Day is best summed up in the form a limerick. Let's hear it Your view on this film is depending on whether you vibe with the ending The movie is so thrilling. it's one that I'm willing to spend a full segment defending Okay Here we go, Jeff. Here we go I am a huge fan of the San Francisco forty nineers When I was growing up, One of my favorite players quarterback by the name of Steve Young Steve Young was a scrambling quarterback. He often did these thrilling runs and one of the most famous highlights, Steve young highlights to this day. it's still one of those, you know greatest moments in NFL history. is he is knocked out of the out of the pocket. He's bumping into people. He's scrambling, he's running. He's dodging people. He's doing this spectacular I don't know forty yard scramble And he's he's been knocked into people literally Bouncing off of linebackers that are twice as size spinning. dodging, running, and then he gets in the clear, ten yards from the end zone. No one around them And he stumbles and falls into the endzone. No one touched him. He just falls And I remember the u The announcer the local San Francco annoucer, just one of the greatest anouncers of all time U So he dives into the endzone. he didn't dive. He fell I'm But he still scored and it's still one of the greatest Oh wow. that's where Okay I think this movie stumbles at the end Mhm And it's still Friaking amazing movie. Yeah Ily liked it. Yeah. Loved this movie. Love. I was sitting there through wo hours of this movie. It's two hours twenty, I think Two hours, Yeah, plus of this movie I'm going This might be my top five Spielbergs ever. Wow It's certainly going to be in the top ten Spielbergs And then we get to the end. And I also recall When saving Private Ryan came out, people hating the ending, hating the very very the coda of that movie, the overly sentimental Tota of that movie and thinking it ruined everything that came before it Spielberg is proclivity for this. he is he is he is drawn to that sentimentality that I think peopleeople find off putudting, and I think he almost can't help himself sometimes. Yeahah. It certainly seems that And This movie falls prey to that sentimentality, that overly idealistic And you guys can call it a boomer mentality whatever it is, It is one that I can relate to because I am also a Pollanna oftentimes. And I think It's A shame that the biggest criticism I can level at this movie is that The world is too cynical for this movie, like the world itself We have lived through such cynical times that a movie that is not cynical feels discordant which is exactly how this movie lands at the end. It is so It rejects cynicism so much that it feels unrealistic And as you sayge David I can't be mad at that Did I feel it at the end? Did I feel like, well, this isn't probably how it would play out? Did I feel that Literally everything that's wrong with this movie is in the title. Why do we need to call it disisclosure dayay? We're working head' so many better names. Yeah. So many the name is bad on the face of it. and also the fact that There's a question as to whether there's going to be a disclosure day that's answered in the title of the movie already is a fault. You know? R because it would be too lame to call your movie disclosure day and not have a disclosure in the movie. That's exactly right. But the whole the whole central question of the movie is are we going to be able Pull off this disclosure. Disclosure day, you know And yeah, but so so like Recognize those flaws My God, every moment of this movie up to that point, up to the ending, the very ending is so thrilling This is one of those movies where I forgot to breathe for long stretches. It is I am on the edge of my seat. There are these incredibly tauut suspenseful sequences that just go and go and go and you have incredible performances. I mean, Emily Blunt in this movie is like tour de Force performance, in my opinion. She's asked to do some really technically difficult things. There are moments where Just her expression changing is what communicates everything. like she'll look at someone and then her expression will kind of shift slightly And that's Like this key plot point That's not easy to do. and she does it with such a plaum. it is It's a great performance by her. It's a great performance by I mean, I love Josh O'Conor. It's a great performance by Colin Firth, who's doing some cool stuff in this movie. Why Russell's hilarious Cman Domingo is awesome in this movie. The cast in this good like Bamo's daughter is kind of great in this movie, I and As you said, Davindra the set pieces or par with anything you want to put up against them, in my opinion. anything in minority report anything in Jurassic Park like this The sequence reference with the car on the train Dude The fact that it's in conversation with the history of cinema where we've had a million scenes where the car and the train is coming and the car and the train is coming What about the fact that the train has already come? Never seen that before. So rad So cool. And then where it goes is so awesome There are there I mean, there are such cool sci fi concepts such cool communication of that. As you say, Dividra, we' dropped into what feels like the third act of a movie. We're dropped in like hit the ground run and in media res They don't explain much to you either. likeike you're you got to pick up, you got to pay attention. That's C it. It feels like a novel. It feels like I'm shot out of a cannon and we're going and the pace of the movie is awesome. I care about all these people. There's comic relief. That is that really works for me. There's, you know differentiffere dynamics we're popping between different groups of people and all of them are interesting. I'm excited about it I Love this movie. I love this movie and it's just a bummer that ten yards before the end zone It stumbles But it still scores a touchdown, just like Steve Young did. He still got in, It scored a touchdown for me understand it it bummed me out because I was in a screening with this with all press And the two guys next to me were laughing at the end And I went that That's what's going to hinder this movie from being in the echelon because these guys It was so uncomfortable for them to see sort of Um, hard on your sleeve. Earnestness And this is what Spielberg is drawn to is earnestness. And in our cynical culture Earnestness feels false. and I understand it, but it breaks my heart. I guess I'll tell you, Jeff, though, by the way, it's not the ending that hurts it for me. I think like it's leading up to the ending. It's kind of what they're doing. But we can talk about that in spoilers. ye Yeah, Jeff love I love the earnestness of your review and I had a feeling You know, there's certain lines in this movie, particularly that are said by Coleman Domingo. that I thought were very Jeff coded. I'm like, oh, that's really going to resonate with Jeff. And Can' on point here.s great, but so good. But Jeff, I think my request is certainly there will be some people that will not like this movie because of earnestness, but I think that I would not dismiss people's critiques as solely being because they cannot accept the ar. I don't think we live in a cynical culture. It's that reality, the reality of our world fucked up I just talked about the world's first trillionaire. being somebody who is responsible for race riots. alsoso, you could talk about what he's done around USAID, like he is going to be directly responsible for millions of deaths of people but he is heralded as the leader like as the most successful capitalist in our world. Like we live in a world where we have seen What happened to the White House this weekend? It's not, it's not just culturally unmynical. It's like These idiots have a UFC tournament on the front of the White House. it's a screenshot for ediocracy. and that's what we live in. what this movie is try if this if we lived in nineteen in the nineties in the little when we were a little more like Things were not as insane. I'd say I'd be like, oh, this this is This is the Ozsy Mandius idea. This is like, oh, you give humanity a greater force and we'll come together and we'll like we'll have reckoning and we'll be less stupid with each other We also just lived through the pandemic, which was the greater force that was supposed to unite us a little bit and it ended up being very stupid and very dividing for a lot of people. So Yeah, it's I love I love earnestness, Jeff But it also has to be, I think if you're making a grand statement about humanity and how a major revelation will affect humanity Unfortunately Like I want to believe in humanity. But the world itself right now has let me down quite a bit That's all fairly said, DavVindra, and I'm making a different point than that, which is that I don't think the critiques necessarily are solely because of the earnestness But let me, um just share some of my brief thoughts. I think I in my opinion This is Spielberg basically at the top of his game. There are sequences and shots in this movie that are incredible. justust like he is one of the best Right is Bocking and knowing how to move the camera in a way that Uh, where chararacters occupy in the frame somehow represents what that scene is trying to communicate in a way that very few other the directors are able to achieve It's almost showing off in this movie. There's sequences where it's like, Wow. Yeah there early on there's a shot where he like, takes the camera through a car door window that's dappled with rain. It just like lingers behind that. I'm like, you're just showing off, man. It's just so awesome. There are a ton of shots that I'm just that blew me away. partarticularly, there was a scene with Josh O'Connor and a fence fence fence and all this stuff's just like amazing stuff going on this film. Yeah, there's another tracking shot through through the like You know, Cool guy, secret society tech room where we Colin Firth walks in and the camera follows him and he walks past the table and the camera goes through the table it's like Okay That is extmely an extremely simple moment that you made very difficult to shoot because you just wanted to defy the laws of physics for a second. It's just awesome. Yeah. sorry, go ahead to I'm sorry to interrupt No worries. So I think Spielberg is great when it comes to direction I think in my opinion, the failures of this film and they are considerable are one hundred percent due to the script. Now this is a story by Spielberg and he gets a story by credit with a script by David Kepp, which is rare for him to even have like a I don't know, like a story role and thing. And not only that, but Spielberg is in a he is heavily featured in the trailers for this film. Jeff, I know you don't watch the trailers, but literally one of the trailers is an interview with Steven Spielberg where he talks about how Man, wouldn't it be great if aliens were real? likeike wouldn't it be great if aliens and I do believe that if aliens were real, it would be this massive unifying moment for all of humanity. Like that's basically what he's saying in this trailer and Point of view is reflected in the movie itself Um Not just the ending, but yeah, not just the ending. The entire film has that kind of air to it, in my opinion. U And obviously I have some issues with that But Uh, like like in in many ways actually is kind of a very bleak and cynical point of view, but I'm not going to get to it inntill. The other The other thing I would say is that This movie has no new ideas about aliens. Like I would say that when I watched Arival That was a mind blowing movie where I wasm like, o wow, like spoilers for arrival But the idea of Oh wow. like understanding a language makes you perceive time differently You know, like like holy cra, that's what a mind blowing And that makes sense. It makes intuitive sense if that would be the case Um and Like that that was not the only thing that was int that was not the concept introduc in R But this movie does not have anything you to say. In fact, I on David kept is on record as saying. , I think he did an interview. I think it was either Spielberg or David Kpp did an interview with Chris Evangelista fromlashfrm d. com where he basically said That was not our intention to introduce any new ideas about aliens. This this classic like nineties record This is thing. We wanted to take like all the iconography and ideas that people already understood about aliens. and what if we like created like a grand unifying plot that like tied it all together And I will just say that I found that plot to be pretty unsatisfying. Like I did not think that When you're going to use stuff that people have already quote unquote seen time and time again U you need to do so in such a way that is revelatory for this to really work as a plot? And in my opinion, the film did not rise to that level. So they do do new things when it comes to like how we use alien tech. and I don't know how much we want Yeah but that I don't think so. but that is a whole cool that I don't agree with that. That's very cool. I don't agree in how they said it. I just factually incorrect, Dave. but I know it itss opinion you're hold strongly, but I mean, this movie is like literally the sentence you said is if you're gonna use stuff we've seen before, you got to do it in an interesting way. And I think The structure of this movie, the way information is unveiled, the I think it is an interesting way. I think it is a completely wild ride through the just the information dispersal in the movie. And I know it's impossible to imagine, if you could imagine sitting down for this movie, not knowing it was about aliens It's The idea that it is even aliens isn't even revealed for forty five minutes I also wonder for people who culturally were not around the like alien stuff of the nineties and eighties and everything. Like for a young generation going to like this is all new information for like a teen or twenty something audience, probably if you were not watching the X files or something. So yeah, that's kind of interesting to contemplate different, Back to your point, and I think we just to spoil this momentarily, but like I think, um, What you think is a feature, I think is a bug. likeike A lot of people went into this movie thinking it would be about aliens. It's basically not about aliens at all. Like And it's not about aliens at all And that it is mostly a spy thriller It is mostly a cat and mouse f of so file It is like eighty percent about that. And then the alien stuff is in my opinion, pretty undercooked He wow Yeah's yeah I also say like if anybody deserves to rehash and reuse the like legacy of gray alien like mythology, it's frrein Steven Spiel Right That's the guy whos who also even before he was making movies made like I think like an indie film that was like about UFOs invading, like he did close encounters. he did ET close encounters, became the sort of like, oh, our cultural understanding of like, oh, if the aliens came, we tried to communicate with them in some way. like He has shaped how this stuff has been been viewed. I'll talk about this a bit later, but he initially wanted to do like a horror film called Night Sies, and that project eventually became ET the extraterrerial. We'll talk about this in the afterdark And a lot of that went into signs, right? So ear signs, the way that's portrayed seems very similar to the idea of nights sk. So I agree with you, Dave, like a lot of this is a rehash, but also The man deserves like I give him this. I give him the ability. Did I say Steven Spielberg has no right to use these economic You you said it's nothing new. Yeah. I'm saying I don't there's no value to that. And I think sometimes even the people who helped shape this and he's like tying a bow on this narrative thread that he's been kind of doing throughout his career, like you've been saying. I mean, that's that's fairough I think we should have the spoilers to stopking around. Yes. The spoilers for Disclosure D dayay starting right now I thought up an ending for my book. It makes no damn sense. Compales me though. I didn't come here to tell you how this is going to end. When I buy a new book, I always read the last page first. That way in case I die before I finish, I know how it end. You can't handle the truth. came here going to begin Right off the bat, I want to say this something I want to talk about something I really liked about the film, which is Jeff, I echo your feelings on Emily Blunt's performance in this. like I think it is Oscar worthy performance. It is really incredible. And the thing that I appreciate the most is The Christ parallels Emily Blnt' st Emily Blunt's arc in this movie is and by the way, I understand that Steven Spielberg is Jewish, but I do think there are a lot of religious in. There's literally Christ illusions in this movie. stigmata in this movie? Yeah. A. Yes. R. so it's like Emily Bluntces Arc is has a lot of Christ's parallels, particularly the idea of But during the course of the movie she starts receiving these powers and then under comes to understand that She is going to be critical for humanity's next phase, whatever that may be. And There is this verse that's quoted in the in the movie about Jesus, I think he's at the Garden of Gethsemane, if if I'm not mistaken, but the idea is that he says to God, he's praying to God and he says, like like, please take this cup for me. Like I don't want to go through this thing that You want me to do. Please, I don't want to be a part of this of your plan at this moment because I know that will entail and There's a moment towards the end of the film where Emily Blunt has seen the trauma house that Coldman Domingo has built for her And she's saying like, I don't want to look in your face. Like I't to look in your face becausecause like then I'll know what is happening And then like I don't want to know yet. I don't want to know yet. and That was deeply moving to me because I think Emily Blunt's character is probably pretty close to what Jesus as a human might have felt like in learning that he had to go through whatever the hell he had to go name' a weather manan. He was, you know exxcept he was a carpenter. She's a weather person, you know, they're both have to do with working for the people. Trees Yeah And wood. Anyway. So that is one of the things I really, really loved about this movie is Emily Blunt as a Christ parallel and kind of and just not wanting to be a part of the plan, but then like coming to accept your role in it I think it's really beautifully done and One of the reasons why overall, even though I think that the ending of this film and Many elements of the film are extremely frustrating I still like the movie but also There's a lot of people who think this is the dumbest movie they've ever seen And I have a lot of sympathy with that point of view as well. I have it's hard to like look at this and just call it dumb is a thing. I could call it misguided. I could call it maybe a little ignorant of where we are as society right now. but Dumb is a dismissive word that I think tootally ignores like what this mo There's like there's layers of texture here that's interesting. Elet Eve Heouwson's conversations with the nun, played by Elizabeth Marvel. I think really, really interesting and she's awesome in this too. It's all on the nose. It's all very obvious, but I think just even having that conversation 's kind of fascinating. And I do I was say I don't I think that is a very undercooked part of this movie. Like I mean you're somebody who was raised in a religious household and you've been like hearing the stuff for a while too. So I'm just saying The fact that this movie's even trying to do that, they I found like a little interesting. It's notable that most movies don't even engage on religion at all theseays, I guess that's a good for For for a specific topic like this, which reshapes our idea of who we are in the universe, like I think it's a very important thing to do. So I found that all like really interesting, but just on a practical, like on a fundamental level, I think everything around the alien tech in this movie is cool Like if you w want to talk about new stuff When in the opening scene, Conrith is like, don't How donon't hold that too hard. L be very careful. I love how they kind of so cool they just like, what is that? We don't know what it is. It takes a while for it and it ends up being a freaking like inception esque object to dive into other people's minds. and it's so cool how it's visualized and they don't have to really explain all of it. It's just shown. That is classic Spielberg to me. That is like the classic like, what is this new thing we've never seen before? Oh, he can't get into Josh O'Connor's mind. he was he's an experiencer. What does that mean I don't know's let's hear more about this world in this universe. like they layer these things on. That's really cool. The way he dives into people, I think is is just like a really cool concept. Eve Houston's performance when she's going from Would she turn into like too evil a little bit? Just like that look in her eyes just like, oh, that's She went from being the girlfriend that she he's trying to save to like, oh The horror the serial killer in a horrorvie, just from the Glint in heroryes. haveaz. I could not agree more, Divinra. baffles me, Dave, to hear you say, Oh, this movie doesn't do anything new or interesting because just that alone, The notion of we want to get to this guy can't. because he has some defense against that. We're going to get to his girlfriend possess her V The sequence where he's saving her, but we the audience know that she has the knife and is going to kill him. L that is It's Cckian. that is like let's that is Dream Tension storytelling of You know, we're rooting for this guy to do this. He blasts her out. he's driving the car through the house. amazing shot. Yeah. inccredible. And then but she's in the back Gonna stab him in the neck. like It's layers of danger, it's layers of tension U And it's not something I have ever seen before having Colin Furth in the other room You know, like him him like putting his own life in peril. likeike he's not some evil mastermind. he's literally like risking his own life to Get this information All that stuff is topop tier filmmaking in my opinion. No disagreement here on literally anything you said. No disagement. You said we've never seen anything. There's nothing has not offer. It's alien stuff. It is tied to the ali stuff. it's just like ye in my opinion, you know When I think of alien stuff, I'm not like, hey, can you come up with a cool new gadget? Yes, like, yes. Okaykay. it's it is using this technology in a way that we have not seen before, but like it has nothing use to say about the concept of aliens is what I'm trying. Even what it's doing, like it is presenting an abduction. like we see an abduction in this movie. And I think that is a scene that is maybe not handled very well, right? Because we learn that the house that Colman Domingo's building is her childhood home and he's trying to like have her reexperience this moment. I don't quite understand Josh O'Connor's character in that moment, right? Because for her it's like, oh, this this was maybe a traumatic event, but it ultimately was not like it ultimately ended up being a thing that prepared her for the future. Josh O'Connor's character is like terrified of them as people used to be. It's like he's like for me, it was communion. Like for you, it was like, you know, this angelic information dump For him, it seemed like the experience was communion where they were just like force feeding him stuff or something. Like I didn't quite understand why he was reacting the way he did in that thing. But again, that's like something we've seen before, but I think portrayed in a way that's different. They come as animals and they lead her out and it's all to set them up as like basically as ways to guide humanity forward when the aliens choose to reveal themself It's hokey, but it it's not the same as like the normal alien gray stuff where people are just like experimenting on this for no reason Yeah, I mean the idea of unlocking in him the language of math sort of language of the universe and unlocking in her compassion I mean, I think I think people reject this I called it earnestness, but I think it is a uh, you can call it quaint, you can call it whatever it is. this this notion that the superpower that will unlock our decency to one another is actually compassion It's empathy and empathy Epathy, passassion, whatever term you want to use. but I was Weeping that scene where she walks out U, you know walks out among the guards that are there to stop her and each of them sees what they need to see. And he says, you know, what is she? And he says, she's unstoppable It's like, well, what is unstoppable about that? It's Love It's not. an action sequence, it's not violence. it's not it's not some powerower dynamic. it's love and I think in our culture right now, that is something that people just are too cynical to handle. I'm not talking about you guys, I'm not trying to cast aspersions. Maybe I understand you have different problems with the movie, but I think There is a sort of Pollanna esque idealism and optimism in this movie that is discordant with our times and that is of you know, you can call it boomerism, whatever you want. It is it is of an older time, but it is something I would like to see come back I would like to this movie Yes, feels like a Spielberg movie from the eighties where you would go to the movies and you would watch ET and you would feel uplifted I can't remember a movie like this that is that is like this, that is that the central theme of it is Hey, maybe love and compassion and empathy are the key to everything. I can't remember the last time a mainstream movie I feeling Jeff. I feel like what you're saying here. My thing is like It really sucks that It requires alien intervention for humans to less be less shitty. Yeah. I want to that I want to touch on that point, D Vindra. But first before we do that, Jeff U I kind of want to hear from you, you know, you said Hey, This movie scores, but it still is a kind of he falls down at the end, but it still scores like we have to talk about the ending, right? The ending is They are able to broadcast it and there's a flurry of activity and U I'm curious if the newscaster worked for you, a lot of people are saying they thought the newscaster was awesome, right? Because we hear and newscaster react live to all this footage that they're brocasting on. veryy difficult job. It's very diffive. Very difficult felt very true. tellll that moment V the best part of that whole sequence, by the way, was Josh O'Connor Just like sweatily dumping data over This is the most the most like man have USB three point two in this situation, you know, like I mean, he's doing all over one bus. Like' like Yeah, you gotabes multiple PCI express lanes here for this. I don't know how the He made it thrilling. It's just like, and the way he's doing it's like row them in the pile. Dump the data. I have to say have the cool design for the USB drives. like ye those things are.. Anyway. So then they're like, it is run it through the AI verifier. Oh, noope, it's not okay, good. It's clear. And then And then they bring out old ET who's like taller and bigger than the ones we see in the video out and it's like He's about to say something We're going to translate it And then they don't show what he says and the movie ends right there What do you think I. I made a bet to myself that he would I expected a cut to black at some point during a big announcement of this movie. I do think that I thought cut to black way earlier. In fact, I think the movie would have been stronger if if she sits down the table, they turn the lights on and she goes I have something to say and it cuts away we don't see any of the info dump I think it's stronger to leave that all to the imagination R And then but I did like the way that Emily Blunt said listen right at the very time. That was that's a great closing line and a great closing moment. But Jeff, I just want to hear from you, like why do you think the movie still scored despite the end? And what did you not like about the end Well, I mean, I think it it u certainly sympathize with the people that u recognize that that's not how that would play out. R that there would be more which by the way, something that would generally bother you about a movie like this, I have to say. I just think I had the momentum of joy I was feeling up to that moment just cascaded over washed over any kind of There was a part when they go to the invisible they can't see house. That's kind of cool and they're incredible. Incredible. That sect where the guys are running and they' just hitting invisible shit falling over. So good. So so tech. Gadent tech.. Oh my God. I mean, that every little everything up to arriving at the studio to me worked. Everything is like, this is my favorite movie of the year, maybe. this is like ammong my favorite Spielberg movies ever. And then we get to the thing And You know, nobody really behaves the way they behave and You know, I just we live in a world where information now is not valued. and you know, so Well the idea that, hey, the way we're going to do disclosure is we have to get it to a TV station. It's like Really? likeike is this We all have li streaming devices in our pockets. Yeah. likeike you hit a button and you're That's not even like that's literally not even the most efficient way to do it. You know what I'm saying? Like Yeah. And the fact that, you know, like all All of these newsp news people would decide to give away their exclusives. Oh you know, like let's share it. It's too important. It's too important for humanity Okay. I totally understand all of that is Unrealistic. A fanciful You know Pollianna. is it is an idealistic view of What if just people just all did the right thing at the at the same moment Right All around the world. Right? And that just wouldn't But I appreciated the commitment to the bit, if you, if you will, the idea of like O O central idea about this movie. The reason that we called it disisclosure Day is because we're making a movie about what if it did do that? What if it did happen right? What if What if there was something, there was one thing actually would Change hearts and minds instantly. And what if it was this? So like that supposition againgain is wildly unrealistic, but I kind of felt like it was the movie's biggest ask of me as the viewer. It's like Everything has led up to this and what we're asking you to do is to imagine What if there was something that could actually do this I kind of give the movie credit for that. L it had the courage of its convictions to say I built this entire story around the concept of a disclosure day, of a piece of information that is so potent, so universe altering that it actually would Pjure best intentions of our human spirit And is that a quaint notion? It is. Is that Unrealistic, it is, but In this fictional world, we want you to buy it I was willing to go, okay, like, yes, it would beautiful. It would be amazing. I would love there also to be a switch I could flip to just make people decent Mhm, you know So that's why I feel like it's still scored a touchdown for me is because the movie is just so thrilling up to that point And then beyond that point, it's like I would love that to be the way it works I would So Yeah, I want it It's a beautiful dream in someautiful dream. It's a beautiful dream in some ways. Heard what Davindra said I think there's something that I find really troubling about that dam. You know like I think that Cleman Domingo's speech about how empath like you think that killing everyone is better, but like these aliens think that empathy is the next highest form of evolution. I love that as a concept. like that's cool, right Um and And you know, it is also the world I want to see. However, like hearing Spielberg talk about it in this trailer for Disclosure Day And then also u seeing the movie, right? It seems clear that the idea is Hey, like again, wouldn't it be great if this thing if this thing this exal force. if they just sayal force came out of nowhere and like united us all in this big moment, you know? Wn't that be great And As you've already said, as we've already agreed on, like the practicalities that make absolutely no sense in the film, but Next to that, it's also Well, that's not that's not happening Right? Like and and, you know, to paraphrase Carl Sagan, right? Like we are all we have, right? There's no, no, no one is coming to save us And Viewed in that lens, I just feel like this movie is hopelessly naive of like, ye like we we we need to save oursel. like no, no external force is going to come and save us. likeike I would love a movie that could give us some solutions for the actual issues that we face, you know Not like some external force comes in like everyone unites and we're all good. And by the way to the film's cred It doesn't show us what happens after Disclosure Day. So like I do think the movie sets up that hey, like there' going gonna be riots and people will be upset. is doubt day. But I mean let's make Msday. The movie leaves open the possibility that like actually bad things could happen as a result of Disclosure Day. And so I do want to acknowledge that do your own research day coming up next But I think largely the tone like largely the tone of the film is like hopeful about what disisclosure Day will be It's absolutely. L But like like if this movie came out in the nineties, like this would be one of my favorite movies Absolutely. because this isree hundred percent agree This would like fit with my world view as a kid certainly as a teenager. I was a cynical teenager, but also like I had I don't know ideas like about things like this very similarly. And where I am now, I'm almost thinking like What's interesting is Spielberg genuinely believes there are aliens out there. He believes in the footage that's recently been released. Like this is not just like an idea for him. L he really wants it to be true Um, I wanted that to be true too, because I think it's inevitable that the universe is so big that of course there would be other beings out there But the way I'm looking at it now, it's like, man, what if they' were just waiting for us to get our shit together Right? What if it's like Star Trek and they're like, we can't We can't give them the key to empathy. They have to find it for themselves, right? But once they do, then we can be like, Hey guys We've been here greatreat that you're no longer like out there committing world wars or you know, you find a better system beyond capitalism or something. So that's kind of like. I don't know. That's kind of like where I am now and something that just left me a little disappointed about the movie. Something like a rival ces the idea of the aliens coming as like definitely a global forest too that's really impactful. But does something else with it beyond just telling the story like. Listen, you're not gonna get any argument for me. Arival is one of my favorite films of all time. So Arival is superior to this movie on almost every level. So you're not going to get any argument from me there And that's arrival Yeah. Arival is similarly earnest. It is in its fithfulness about what aliens, you know what aliensention what alien impact on Earth could have, right? Like if you remember the very end of that film and like what the aliens do that helps humanity, it's like it's very earnest. So coming down to a few people trying to do the right thing rather than assuming a dailyge of information is going to like change the minds of the entire world. and I live in the world of information. likeike and I can tell you doesn't it doesn't better. I think the biggest misstep of disisclosure day is that the idea that I knew newews organization is going to be the one I also suspect that if close encounters with the third kind came out today, and we hadd never seen it before It would land people would complain about the ending of that movie Its like, oh, that's the government would handle that moment no way. You know, it's ilber isn't like the end of that movie because he wasn't a parent then. so you know He would have stayed Yeah, Yeah have right say. Right. You know, so It's unfortunate. I totally recognize that the ending of this movie is Clumsy and overly uh naive as you say, Dave. I I'm not you're not going I'm not going to argue that that's not the case. It is the case It just didn't ruin the movie for me. and it made You know, I was having so much fun for two full hours Stuffing it' such a blast of this thriller preremely made thriller Uh that ends in a kind of, you know, pat little way It didn't It didn't mar the whole experience for me. What I said at the beginning of the episode, I I am being earnest with that I want to believe I want to believe that this could be a thing, you know Yeah, and by the way, I think there's also other like plot machinations in the movie that we haven't even gotten to about like, you know Did it need to choose two people? whyy two people? What was Coleman Domingo's backstory exactly? You know, There's a lot of like little things that the movie doesn't, I'm not saying these are plot holes or anything, but I just say like the movie doesn't really address I the basic idea of like, hey, these people are aware of the like the harms like first of all, this organization exists. It's not a government organization. This is a company that exists to hide information about aliens. That's deeply messed up. And also we've been complicit in torturing these creatures. And I understand that. I understand that. but it's like literally in the footage that they show on the news cast is like a massive alien spaceship And it's like But the aliens have concluded The best way to get the message out is we're going to abduct these two humans when they're kids And then let them, you know, be raised with the gifts that we've given them such that one day when the time is right We can then reveal our presence to the world, to which my reaction is Are there not other ways like Fly us fly us saucer into Times Square And I think people are going to really realize very quickly that aliens exist. You don't need to go through KQED or whatever the hell you say. they kind of realize they realize hereQ, whatever the hell, know, whatever it is. I don't remember KQED is the station. wased as was a kid in this area. Yeah. But you know you don' say like it's like it's like, it's a very, very convoluted pl It's very convoluted, but also a point where it's like, you want everyone to know about aliens. you have a fucking flying spaceship You know, like we are very like ye, we are very stupid. like the whole thing about this is like they're trying to make it easier on the silly humans who are not aware of extraterrestrial, you know, right. L right? Like they come to people as animals so we're not afraid of them as aliens. Right right that have to we have to ease them e them You could intuit that the previous attempts didn't work out You know that all those moments before You know, Roswell, et cetera, et ccetera. are them trying it a different way? And they're like clearly, by the way, these guys are not very good at flying spaceships. That's another thing that we've learned too. Maybe they were shot down. It was kind of kind of a touchy time to be a weird object in the sky.ight in America. Yeah. I'd like to I'd like to switch gears slightly and just talk about some of the wonderful moments in the movie. I mean, I think I think Wyatt Russell is great in this movie and what a great character to include as this the sort of every Like at no point does he do anything unreasonable? Like if you were if your girlfriend started behaving that way, you too would be like All right, honey, let's just go to the hospital please. And, you know, let's not we're breaking out of the hospital now. that's It seems like a very bad idea. And I love the scene where he can't quite run over the cell phone with was so little right end the moment, but I did enjoy that. That was So great. Like the movie takes time for stuff like that. and I it's a fun script too. like Eve Eouston's like No, Josha Cnneror was like, were you're a nun and she's like, we've had sex. ye He's like, you should you should probably take a guess there. Yeah. Yeah. Anything else stuff? Uh, I mean, I just fantastic Tension filled moments Great bits of comedy. Emily Blunt's, you know sort of bewildered I'm these powers are happening to me, but I don't really. I don't know why I'm feeling like this, but now I kind of have to go with it. Like she sells that in a way that's not easy to do. All of all of their Her journey through to connect to that moment. And the fact that moment was she walks in just walks into the to the bad guysy's lair And he's like We've been searching for this chick. She just walpsed right in here Its it's awesome. and Josh O'Connor looking at her she's looking at him and calling for this like You're her Oh shit. like it's just it's I think there's a lot of really unexpected turns that the script takes that are so fun. and that train sequence is Faller. I'd love to see it again in theaters honestly because it's we it's rare that we get a full like this is a full meal even if like The aftercase is a little off for me. Yeah Great Glad you guys liked. by the way, I also liked it. I just like the I feel very to u to sort of amplify some of my critiques of the film just because I know Jeff is so positive on this U But I also ended up like overall liking the film. I just like ye I think it has a propulsive energy to it. I think the biggest critique I have of the film, the way I would summarize my entire critiqu is Which one of you said it feels like it starts in act three? No yeah it feels like it starts in act three and also ends Before A three is over. how I would describe it On A three. It's Yeah is entire The entire movie is set within a subset of act three is how It's oops all actct thes. yeah, like the Oops all all there.ool. That helps it stay propulsive I think. I do. I didnt wonder What was the What was the process that had him at a professional wrestling match at the beginning. Like wasas this a meeting that they was he jo this this a hand out of sight and they just found him there? They wanted the files and also the the device Yes, but is he there dealing that can do whatever the plot requires. They kid and they find him there or is they kidnap the girlfriend? They told him to go there to end off. They kid herirl.ight, right. They had the girlfriend. That's right. But yeah, again, you got to gota pay attention. I like that. It th they're like, well, let's meet ub place. he's like I got to I've got these tickets. can't let them go to place. I agree with. I agree with you like I agree with you, Ding D drum. likeike why why did they set that? Like was there some thematic relevance about like, oh, maybe this is like People all gathering around in a bad way, unlike the end when they're all gathering around in awe. in a good way. Kind of I'm just stuck on that first shot. Why would you make your movie about the disclosure of aliens The first shot is a POV of the camera getting stomped by wrestler What thematic? Right thematic meaning does it have how does that like impact the movie? It's just kind of weird. I think desespite all that At the end of the day It is incredibly impressive that Steven Spielberg made a movie. May he never stop? May he never stop Yeah hundredroup percent agreed. I keep telling.

This excerpt was generated by Smart Features

Listen to The Filmcast in Podtastic

For listeners, not advertisers

All podcast names and trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Podcasts listed on Podtastic are publicly available shows distributed via RSS. Podtastic does not endorse nor is endorsed by any podcast or podcast creator listed in this directory.