American Praetorian

At nearly 80, Steven Spielberg is still in the kitchen cooking with hot grease. Disclosure Day (🌟🌟🌟🌟) is preposterously good filmmaking. Extraterrestrial life is quite literally Spielberg’s forte & after two decades, Spielberg returns to his natural habitat. With him he brings Emily Blunt, who gives what I believe is the second best performance of her career behind Oppenheimer. She is the heart & soul of this film- she could not have been better. But beyond Spielberg’s return to aliens is a story that collides with the truth- and who it really belongs to at day’s end. This is a mature, deep piece of Cinema from Spielberg that demands to be seen in theaters. Oh and by the way? Long live John Williams.  “The truth belongs to you.” From the opening shot of this film- a shot looking up from the floor of a wrestling ring- Spielberg throws Josh O’Connor’s Daniel Kellner head-first into the chase of his life. Kellner…a name that constantly pops up in this film because Kellner holds secrets known by Colin Firth’s Noah Scanion- secrets about decades-long abuse by the U.S. government toward unknown, extraterrestrial life. The idea here is that Kellner, like Maragaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt),  have each been touched/struck/infected by alien life: they know & understand things that others cannot see. All of this boils down to a pretty simple premise: Maragaret & Daniel run from Noah & the government in an attempt to “disclose” to the world all the secrets about alien life the government has withheld for years. That’s really all you should- and need- to know.  I found all three acts of this film to move with great pace & engage the audience in different ways. The first act, in which Blunt’s Margaret slowly discovers that something is off- that something has touched her- is both fascinating & entertaining. The second act features a breathtaking chase sequence from Spielberg that demonstrates his utter excellence as a filmmaker. And the third act is the strongest stretch of this film- a culmination not just of Spielberg’s over-arching message that the truth is something we all deserve to know, but also some of the most interesting use of special effects I’ve ever seen from Spielberg. In many ways, I found this film to be a combination of certain aspects of War of the Worlds as well as certain parts of The Post. We’re not just in a hunt to uncover outer space, we’re in a hunt to expose to the truth. And that truth involves wild special effects.  The weakest part of this film is unquestionably the dialogue. While Spielberg wrote the story, David Koepp wrote the screenplay & I think anyone who doesn’t love this film as much as I do will likely take issue with the actual words exchanged between characters. Part of the dialogue felt a little preachy, especially when religious theology enters the equation. But what’s lost with dialogue is made up for in full (and then some) by Spielberg’s filmmaking. I normally don’t trust or like when directors move the camera often. But Spielberg is different- he’s always been different. On at least five- maybe six- occasions, Spielberg produces shots that took my fucking breath away. The man absolutely still has his fastball.  Finally, I can’t stress enough the two other individuals who play the biggest role in making this film a success. First, Blunt. Her emotional range, comedic timing, and line delivery is all exceptional. I lost track of how many languages she speaks here. Without her excellence & her ability to hold the center of this film, I’m not sure I would like Disclosure Day as much as I do. Second, John Williams. The man is 94 years old & he scored this movie to perfection. Earlier I referred to an unbelievable car chase scene from Spielberg - that scene is punctuated by Williams’ trademark use of the timpani. Listening to a new Williams score on full blast in IMAX was a familiar heaven I never want to forget.  One of the great artists of our time just added to his legendary career.

Chili’s & NBA Finals😋

Our coach 🐻⬇️

🚨🚨 BRAKING 🚨🚨 My sources have confirmed that President Trump has officially impeached (Latin for “Terminated”) Pam Bondi from her position as attorney general She was the first woman to hold this roll, released the Epstein files, and never lost a case I’m speechless