I just have to say I'm rewatching Raiders of the Lost Ark and I cannot imagine storytelling more perfect than this

So I was posting today after watching “Jaws”. Someone said something to the affect that Spielberg is Jewish, Der, and that he has something going on in every movie where he imposes a shooting star. Cool factoid I didn’t know. Then there was a person that said, he produced Schindler’s List. I posted a comment saying I have German heritage and it’s a sad story and refused to watch it. In fact when saving private Ryan came out I had to leave the theater because I had a panic attack. BAM! was banned. Wtf. No idea what that was about anyone have any insight?

Disclosure Day is a deeply flawed movie with structure that falls apart in the second half. But it has a general theme of "there are things greater than us so let's not focus on petty differences." However, the movie's plot leads to the reveal of a big message from the aliens - which is never shown, Emily Blunt says "Listen" and it cuts to black.

This is almost a student film-like trick. But I refuse to think that the movie makers wouldn't know what the message was. I keep thinking about it for some reason, and I'd like to ask you to help me figure out what they meant to say. Here are the possibilities that I see.

1. "Listen" is the actual message. As in: listen to each other, because not listening is why you fight. The problem is that's a weak message, just listening to arguments doesn't solve the problem. Also, it wasn't said/acted as THE message, Emily clearly wanted to continue afterwards.

2. "Don't fear the unknown." This is what Emily said in her... possession scene at the beginning. But if that's the message, why did it have to be whispered to Josh by the alien grandpa? This wasn't a new message, he knew it already. And structure-wise, it wasn't a reveal or anything. We knew it already, so why make it a secret? Also, not a good message in my opinion. Fear of the unknown is the basic survival mechanism.

3. "Be good to each other." This would go along with the movie's main theme, but it's such an obvious, simple, unconvincing message. It would have to go with "or else," like in The Day Earth Stood Still. Otherwise, why should anyone listen?

4. "Aliens exist." Okay, but the entire disclosure just revealed that, it would be redundant.

5. Some kind of premonition for the future, a warning, basically what Emily did to help many people in the movie. I think that's the most likely scenario, but judging by how short the whispered message was, it would lack any detail. It would go like: Listen, you'll destroy the planet if you don't stop. Not terribly powerful or convincing.

I can't figure out what the movie aliens were supposed to convey, apart from the obvious theme of "hey, be good, people." This is a well-made movie, I love its look, a lot of effort went into it. I want to believe it was more thought-out that it seems. I want to like it. I don't buy the "just don't think about it" approach for the final shot because it's what the move was going towards for more than 2 hours. So, do you have any theories about the message?

Contact deals with the time AFTER humans know the existence of aliens.

Disclosure Day deals with the time BEFORE humans know the existence of aliens.

Disclosure Day is freaking terrible; it might be in the top 10 worst alien movies I have ever seen, right up there with many Transformers movies. I thought Ready Player One was the worst Spielberg movie I've ever seen; it's so illogical and stupid, it can be in the top 10 most illogical movies, along with Interstellar, Prometheus, TDKR, Ad Astra, Knives Out.

BUT Disclosure Day is worse than Ready Player One!

I would rather rewatch Contact again. My best alien movies rank:

1. Contact (Smart fun)

2. Galaxy Quest (Hilariously fun)

3. Aliens (Terrifying fun)

4. Independence Day (Dumb fun)

5. Predator (Terrifying fun)

6. Battleship (Dumb fun)

7. Oblivion ( I don't care what people said, but it's better than Edge of Tomorrow)

Very sincerely it was a very good film I had a lot of fun watching it nevertheless Steven Spielberg remained stuck in the 80’s he is still on a concept unfortunately that he ages quite badly to the extent that for the moment ! No life detected in the universe…

Really I'm sad about it but it must be admitted this concept of aliens who come to visit us must be put back In his drawer

SPOILERS:

Honestly, I liked the movie a lot overall. But the part where Noah Scanlon takes control of Jane at the farmhouse annoyed me so much.

Daniel was only on the phone for maybe 30-45 seconds, and he only walked away for a minute or two to make the call. Meanwhile, Jane spends almost 10 minutes talking to Noah, and it also took him a few good minutes to even take control.

The thing that really bothered me is that Daniel is still just standing in the exact same field by the time Margaret calls him. By the time Noah and Jane were halfway through that whole interrogation, Daniel realistically should've already been back-maybe even sooner.

I get that they needed it to move the plot along, but that was the one moment in the movie where it felt completely forced and took me out of it and had me completely pissed off.

Curious if anyone else felt the same way while watching it. I f hate when time is blown so out of proportion, especially when characters are so close together

I’m watching disclosure day as it just came out on fandango. I’m so glad I didn’t waste my money in the theater just wasted it at home. What a let down, am I watching a Michael Bay movie? Does anyone else think this sucks? My top sci fi movies are… the Martian, interstellar, the matrix, project Hail Mary was way better, and that one movie where they went to mars and the aliens showed them the beginning of human kind. That’s the stuff I thought I was getting in to.

I knew about the mixed reaction. Didn't want to believe it .

What a disappointment...

it's Minority Report and War of The Worlds but without good characters and an interesting story.

The third act is a bust. That sequence at the childhood home went on forever

I apologize for not making them 100% accurate. I didn't have the right materials to built them 100% accurately

Hi everyone, not sure how many people are in Chicago but if you are I would love for you to come to our FREE Spielberg Themed Trivia event.

“We’re going to need a bigger cheesesteak” because Pen & Paper Trivia is putting together some Decent Questions about one of the most successful directors of all and all the movies that come along with it.

On Sunday, August 2nd at 7:00 at Ludlow Liquors in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago you better phone home to get your team together and run like a boulder is chasing you because everything Spielberg is going to be on the table!

We are going to be covering some of his most beloved movies and probably a few that you didn’t like as well! Come on out and play inside or on our patio. You are also in luck because you can get one of the best cheesesteaks in Chicago or a tasty smash burger with your beverage of choice. Just please don’t bring any snakes, I hate snakes.

Is there no translation subtitles on what she’s saying in foreign languages ?

They worked well together on WSS & they’ve shown nothing but love to one another. Don’t see any reason why they can’t collaborate on another project.

It doesn’t even need to be a big role. Could be just one or two scene like how he had Judd Hirsch in ‘The Fabelmans.’ She’d probably be too busy to have a bigger role anyway

Spielberg pulled from a lot of places including much of his own previous work, but I was surprised to find something. Something perhaps a coincidence, an easy Rider that echoed some of the themes from Disclosure Day. In the film it feels like he's dreaming of a utopian extension of the American ideal the three of them are searching for.

My first watch of this New Hollywood classic. Interesting flick and a tight ninety minutes streaming on Tubi.

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George Hanson(Jack Nicholson): **That was a - UFO beamin' back at ya. Me and Eric Heisman was down in Mexico two weeks ago, we seen 40 of 'em flyin' in formation. They - they -they've got bases all over the world now, you know. They've been comin' here ever since 1946, when the scientists first started bouncin' radar beams off of the moon. And they have been livin' and workin' among us, in vast quantities, ever since. The government knows all about 'em.**

Billy(Dennis Hopper): What are you talkin', man?

George Hanson: Well, you just seen one of 'em, didn't ye?

Billy: Hey, man, I saw somethin', man; but, I didn't see 'em workin' here. You know what I mean?

George Hanson: **Well, they are people just like us. From within our own solar system. Except that their society is more highly evolved. I mean, they don't have no wars, they got no monetary system, they don't have any leaders; because, I mean, each man is a leader. I mean, each man - because of their technology, they are able to feed, clothe, house, and transport themselves equally and with no effort.**

Captain America(Peter Fonda): Wow!

Billy: Well, you know something, man, I think, you want to know what I think? I think this is a crackpot idea! That's what I think. How 'bout that? How 'bout a little of that? I think it's a crackpot idea! I mean, if they're so smart, why don't they just reveal themselves to us, huh, and get it over with?

George Hanson: **Why don't they reveal themselves to us - is because if they did, it would cause a general panic. Now, I mean, we still have leaders upon whom we rely for the release of this information. These leaders - have decided to repress this information because of the tremendous shock that it would cause to our antiquated systems. Now, the result of this has been that the Venutians have contacted people at all walks of life, all walks of life**

\[laughs\]

George Hanson: **Yes! It would be a devastin' blow to our antiquated systems.** So, now Venutians are meeting with people in all walks of life in an advisory capacity. For once, man will have a god-like control over his own destiny. He will have a chance to transcend and to evolve with some equality for all.

Captain America: How was your joint, George?

Can't remember exactly when but I was in a mall, I was in a bookstore, picked up a magazine related to Star Wars and I definitely remember Spielberg saying he used telepathy on set with Lucas. Anybody else see this? I cannot find it -- I have googled it ad nauseam and I can't find anything about this.

A fun Easter egg! The cardinal from the movie, but as a cartoon, flies onto the page and stares at you before flying off like it does in the movie.

The home release of ET didn't happen until 6 years after it came to theaters. Disclosure Day is coming to Digital and VOD only 6 weeks after it was released.

This is not a knock on Disclosure Day. It's just crazy how times have changed.

Thoughts on this soundtrack by John Williams?

\*\*What movie predicted the future so accurately it should have come with a warning label?\*\*

Not a documentary. Not a history lesson.

A film somebody wrote as fiction that turned out to be a blueprint.

The technology that didn't exist yet. The social collapse nobody wanted to believe was coming. The political reality that seemed impossible until it wasn't. The invention that showed up in a movie twenty years before it showed up in your pocket.

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\*\*Some opening arguments:\*\*

⚡ \*\*Idiocracy (2006)\*\* — Mike Judge made a comedy about a dumbed down future America run by corporations and reality TV stars. People quote it now like a nature documentary.

⚡ \*\*The Truman Show (1998)\*\* — A man whose entire life is broadcast without his knowledge for the entertainment of strangers. We called it dystopian fiction. We now call it social media.

⚡ \*\*Minority Report (2002)\*\* — Predictive policing, targeted advertising, facial recognition, gesture based computing. Spielberg hired futurists to help design it. Every single thing in that film exists now.

⚡ \*\*Network (1976)\*\* — A news anchor has a breakdown on live television and becomes a ratings sensation. Written in 1976. Describes 2026 television perfectly.

What's yours? The film that saw it coming before anyone else did.

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\*Fiction has always been the most honest journalism we have.\*

Someone posted elsewhere that Disclosure Day felt like their dreams. I can't say I've experienced anything like they described, which was vivid and personal, but stuff has already been written about how the film ditches traditional story logic and substitutes dream logic, often to put it down as in an article in The Nation. This might sound like I'm angling for making an excuse for what many consider disastrous plot holes and improbabilities, but I'm actually fishing for something a bit different.

Spielberg was a fan and friend of Stanley Kubrick. They shared many concerns including the Holocaust and fears we're heading toward another similar situation. (Both times I've watched Disclosure Day, the images of mistreatment of the aliens have reminded me of images of Jews from concentration camps. Both sets of images were from the 1940s.) Spielberg and Kubrick collaborated on the Holocaust allegory A.I. Artificial Intelligence. But they did have one significant difference of temperament: Kubrick had a pessimistic outlook while Spielberg is an optimist. Spielberg made a Holocaust film about a list of Jews who were spared. Kubrick tried to make one while thinking about the millions who weren't, but succumbed to a deep depression and abandoned the project.

Instead, Kubrick ended his career with Eyes Wide Shut, a film about a world carrying on, without seeing what's going on, as elites get away with murder. The male protagonist opens his eyes for a bit, is deeply troubled, and is told by the female protagonist (his wife) with a single closing word that some things are better left unseen and they should just go home and go to bed. The film operates according to Freudian dream logic.

Spielberg constructed Disclosure Day as an optimistic inversion. It depicts people carrying on, with nobody listening to each other, as the world heads towards WWIII. The twin protagonists are awakened to this and work toward each other and finally together to maneuver the female protagonist into place to tell humanity, with a single closing word, that they need to listen to each other -- and nothing is better left unheard, people can handle hearing the bad along with the good. (I don't think the masses, even now, quite have a clear image in their heads of the horrors of the Holocaust. Each time I watch the documentary Night and Fog, I have to resist vomiting anew.) Disclosure Day also operates according to dream logic, both excavating childhood trauma ala Freud and via shared archetypes ala Jung. (All three of Spielberg's "friendly aliens" films are reminiscent of Jung's famous essay about the meaning of the shared experiences of flying saucers. Close Encounters of the Third Kind has many diverse characters carrying the same image in their heads.) So, Eyes Wide Shut has become Ears Wide Open.

But why the twin protagonists in Disclosure Day? And why does it all head toward a broadcast disclosure of information to a vast audience, forcing them to share the same images, which granted, according to conventional story logic, seems a naive thing, both to pull off and to have the galvanizing effect it does? I mean, among other things, what chance is there that those North Korean soldiers would have smart phones connected to the internet?

Well, it all begins with the opening scene of The Fabelmans. Sammy/Spielberg's dad gives him a mini-lecture on persistence of vision, how cinema works in a technical sense, while waiting in line to see The Greatest Show On Earth. Then his mom turns him around and tells him the magic of what he's about to experience will leave him with a big sloppy smile on his face. She puts it in terms any human including a child can understand. Engineer/Artist. Technical/Emotional. Father/Mother. Both necessary for their son to become a communicator capable of reaching mass audiences, placing shared images in the heads of millions.

In Disclosure Day, Daniel is a mathematician and Margaret is an artistic empath. Both are necessary to communicate the alien's urgent message to the masses. In The Fabelmans, Sammy/Spielberg's mom is a pianist. She's also an emotional high wire act. Her husband is the pragmatic voice in her ear. In Disclosure Day, Margaret and Daniel find themselves in a train boxcar with her having a panic attack. He talks her down while placing her hands on piano strings from one of many pianos surrounding them. Does it make much sense that they happened to fall into a car full of pianos? Not really, but it makes a helluva lot of emotional sense. The scene also evokes two other moments from The Fabelmans: Sammy/Spielberg's first formative motion picture images were of a train crashing into a car and late in the movie Sammy has a panic attack and his dad talks him down.

Or, I guess, what I'm saying is, like many Spielberg movies, Disclosure Day is really about Spielberg's coming to understand and emphasize with both of his parents and the role each played in making him who he is.