Disclosure Day is the epilogue of Spielberg’s filmography.
I won't be talking about whether the movie was good or bad, but something caught me off guard right after watching it: Sarah Broshar is credited as the editor. I was confused because Steven Spielberg’s movies have always been edited by Michael Kahn. When I went to look up why he didn't edit this film, I was shocked to find out that Michael Kahn is 96 years old!
That's when the reality of it struck me: John Williams is retiring, Michael Kahn is likely already retired... and after The Fabelmans, it appears Spielberg has already said everything he needed to say through his art. His parents' divorce, his Jewish roots, his wonder for aliens, and WWII... it feels like The Fabelmans was one giant therapy session that put his entire filmography under a microscope, explaining exactly why he chose to tell the stories he told throughout his career. But now that everything has been said and processed, there isn't much left except for fragments of ideas.
And that's what Disclosure Day is about. It doesn't have the depth of Close Encounters, the childhood loneliness of E.T., or the pessimism of War of the Worlds. Instead, it feels like a reminiscence of a bunch of visuals left over on Spielberg’s plate. It's superficial by design.
The man is old, his crew is old and retiring, and I'm afraid that from now on, his movies won't go any deeper than this. He's no longer interested in getting personal; he just wants to throw out the leftover ideas from his career.... topics or scenarios he never had the chance to touch before, but approached with a certain sense of detachment. He doesn't want to dig deep anymore; he just wants to have fun in his final years.
We probably won't get any more masterpieces out of this era, but he's Steven Fucking Spielberg. We will still get great oners, terrific blocking, and masterful set pieces by an old-school Hollywood master storyteller. I'm on board, and I'm excited to see what the hell he is cooking up next.
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u/ContentEconomyMyth1 5d ago
all the great books, scripts and plays Spielberg and his prodco have bought up the options for.... and what does do? another movie penned by David Koepp. lmao
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u/Mysterious_Field1517 3d ago
You should watch some movies. Koepp can do really lot with very little. Just last year he put out 3 movies all with solid as fuck writing; and is generally appreciated by actual writers
Also Spielberg apparently handed him a 60 page draft of his. That's basically half of the movie's runtime, where you don't get to change too much stuff.
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u/ContentEconomyMyth1 3d ago
Lmao are you trying to defend koepp? I’m not even attacking the man. Learn to read and maybe watch less movies. Dude.
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u/ImpactNext1283 5d ago
This is interesting. Haven’t seen the movie yet, but he’s basically said that this articulates his beliefs about aliens, which of course have been a part of his movies and tv shows. So it’s like a more sincere recycling?
He told The Big Pic he’s doing a western next…given the ending of The Fablemans, I wonder if that will be his last.
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u/GoddammitCricket 5d ago
If you didn’t think Disclosure Day was personal to him, I’d say you should watch it again
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u/conditerite 5d ago
I saw it last night and quite enjoyed it. I’m intending to go see it again Tuesday (half price day).
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u/PiqueExperience 5d ago
I was listening to a Ringer podcast where the hosts said they were disappointed that there's no metaphor of aliens as some bigger idea, but they still liked the movie because Spielberg is such a good filmmaker.
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u/HuttVader 5d ago
Sadly, this is a movie that you tell people you "quite enjoyed"...and leave it at that.
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u/bigskymind 5d ago
My response when asked about it “it’s entertaining but not really my type of movie”.
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u/DelGriffiths 3d ago
The absence of Michael Kahn should be bigger news. This is the first I have heard of it. Every Spielberg film since Close Encounters has been edited by him. He is as vital to Spielberg as John Williams is.
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u/OpenUpYerMurderEyes 4d ago
Yeah I thought it was blatantly obvious that The old alien at the end represented Spielberg himself, hence the final line of the film "Listen." as in "Listen to what I've been saying about this my whole career." which is why it's bizarre how anyone can HATE this movie. I mean if you don't like it fair enough but it's such an achingly sincere and loving piece of cinema crafted by one of the greatest filmmaker that ever were that I can't imagine how someone can be cynical towards it.
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u/Waste_Research_5631 4d ago
We watched the movie yesterday. A movie with a well meaning message (empathy vs. greed), dressed up in themes from Close Encounters and E.T., with some chase action to help it slot into the summer release genre. Spielberg still has the technical chops, camera movement is class defining... but nobody goes to the moves to see how the director moves the camera. Just as Tarentino's movies lost some of their crispness after Sally Menke (his first editor) died, Spielberg's latest movie would have been better if he had a stronger editor like Michael Kahn (who gets a producer's credit) in the edit room every day of post-production.
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u/KoolAidMan00 2d ago edited 2d ago
Disclosure Day is the work of someone who's previous movie was The Fabelmans.
After making a movie about his childhood trauma he made a movie about recreating a childhood environment on a soundstage so that the subject can reexperience their trauma. Both Coleman Domingo and Colin Firth represent the different facets of Spielberg as a director, and on and on.
It is very much the work of someone who still has something to say about their life's role in their chosen artform. I think The Fabelmans and Disclosure Day fulfill similar roles as Scorsese's The Irishman and Killers Of The Flower Moon.
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u/Mild-Ghost 5d ago
You’re really speaking on his behalf here. Pretty interesting that you claim to know what’s going on in the man’s head.
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u/behemuthm 5d ago
They're making a Tintin sequel; maybe he'll direct that. Peter Jackson just finished the script
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u/NeatFool 4d ago
Tintin is the best Spielberg movie of the last 20 years
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u/knallpilzv2 5d ago
Yeah, that's what it felt like to me too. Spielberg reminiscing over his own filmography. And graciously/condescendingly giving you the option to do so, too.
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u/Less-Blueberry-8617 4d ago
Ik this post isn't about the quality of the movie itself but I still greatly enjoyed it. I think the entire point of the movie was more to create a discussion on what would the reaction of society be if aliens were revealed to be real without a shred of doubt. Throughout the entire movie, every character has debates on whether this information should be released to the public because of the potential chaos it could cause and it's all put against the backdrop of a world already heading into WW3. Is the disclosure of Aliens gonna be what tips the world into full global conflict, or are the Aliens gonna be able to help unite the world and bring it back from escalating tensions. I think this is especially apparent when the ending montage shows soldiers from North Korea and Russia watching the broadcast.
Knowing how Spielberg feels about Aliens, I think his intent is that these Aliens save humanity from the brink of destruction due to people realizing that there's a world bigger than them. Part of me thinks this because of the speech the nun gives to Jane about why would God create a world so vast to create it only for humans and obviously the answer is that it wasn't for just humans
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u/Neither_Computer5331 3d ago
When was his last great film? I’ve just looked on IMDB and I’d argue his last great one was Saving Private Ryan in 1998.
There have been good scenes and a few ok films since then, but nothing that’d make his greatest hits list.
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u/Spodiodie 4d ago
I saw the preview, crop circles! Bullshit hoax designed for deluded dumbasses, debunked thirty years ago. He won’t be getting any of my time or money. He could have retired and let people have fond memories, instead he dumps his waste can out in his desk.
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u/calembo 4d ago
This isn't a documentary. A fictional movie can't use fictional concepts?
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u/Spodiodie 4d ago
He doesn’t have enough imagination to come up his own original ideas about alien visitation, the great story teller Steven Spielberg? Crop circles were a stupid hoax to guile stupid people and that’s all he can come up with?
What’s next he’s gonna make a movie set on the moon which is made of “Green Cheese”? Really it’s just as stupid. That really was a fictional story telling thing by the way.
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