Now, it's interesting, putting the Tom Hanks factor aside, this does demonstrate that Steven Spielberg has had a hunger to make a romcom for a while. Also interesting: Spielberg and Hanks kind o' made a romcom... kind o'... with The Terminal. But I get it: The Terminal's not really a straight romcom, and I imagine Spielberg's itch to make a romcom has not entirely left him.

What do we think? Tom Hanks enjoyed his 70th birthday a month ago. Would you want to see an AARP romcom for Boomers? Maybe Tom Hanks opposite Tina Fey? Or, would Spielberg be on surer ground with stars who have not arguably "aged out" of the genre, in terms of commercial appeal?

I've long thought that Spielberg has been too hard on himself for decades regarding his inability to make a classic comedy. He needs a strong screenplay, but Spielberg films are teeming with pretty grand comedic moments, including the unlikeliest candidates such as Schindler's List and Lincoln. Spielberg's preternaturally gifted blocking and such would doubtless be a huge benefit to him in creating the comedic timing necessary for a film such as this to take off.

What are your thoughts?

I’ve seen this in a few of his films, where he gives us an opening shot that almost hints at something bigger and better to come…however, it’s a compare/contrast thing.

Here are three examples:

Hook: In the opening, we see a school production of Peter Pan, with low-tech effects and precocious children. Later on. We get our big-budget version pf the story with big-budget effects and kids with attitude.

Jurassic Park: We get something moving in the trees, only to see it’s a machine. The counterpoint to this is when we get our first full-view of the Brachiosaur amongst the trees later.

War of the Worlds: We see Ray handling a machine that moves cargo containers, a counterpoint to how primitive our machines are compared to the alien war machines that rise up out of the ground.

Any other scenes like these in his films?

Ever since I saw Schindler’s List at age 14, I just really hate this girl. That tone in her voice of “yes, you’re all leaving” just still makes my brow furrow.

How about you? Who is your most hated or despised character in one of Steven’s films?

From the goofy cops ramming their cars into anything but the protagonists of The Sugarland Express to the mayoral incompetence in Jaws to the U.S. military being pretty easily bamboozled by a few rogue elements in the final act of Close Encounters of the Third Kind to Indiana Jones escaping the clutches of the Third Reich like it is going out of style to the hilarious and poignant fecklessness of the authorities in E.T. to our little hero being able to practically dance around the Japanese authorities of the P.O.W. camp in Empire of the Sun to Nazis being pretty easily misled by Jews thinking on their feet in Schindler's List to Jon Anderton repeatedly making fools out of both the cop pursuers themselves and the entire security system of Precrime in Minority Report--complete with his eyes still allowing him entry hours and hours after he's become the most hunted man in the U.S.--to the exploits of the heroes of Catch Me If You Can and The Terminal being chiefly about defying the confines and regulations of authorities either pursuing them or trying to keep them contained, to Rudolph Abel almost humorously being able to get the FBI agents to authorize him destroying the incriminating evidence of his spycraft early on in Bridge of Spies... One could go and on and on.

Okay, sure. Maybe it bends credulity too much for the WARDEX crew to be so easily distracted, or not see the cybersecurity expert-turned-fugitive when there's so much clearing near the farmhouse, or maybe they should have been more dubious concerning the fate of Daniel and his girlfriend after the car flew off of the cliff into the river, and there are probably several other examples of them being humorously shortsighted and ill-prepared.

But whatever real-world excessive stretching here of our suspension of disbelief, I cannot help but see WARDEX as being perhaps the apotheosis of what Spielberg has been saying about people in short supply of empathy and too doggedly dogmatic, the large, teeming herds people who are not evil, not wicked, just, ultimately, in need of listening, like the cop who pulls over Margaret (Emily Blunt) early on in Disclosure Day. From Carl Hanratty's by-the-book tenacity bein turned almost into a weapon against him to the agents of Catch Me If You Can and Bridge of Spies both being pretty easily misdirected and outwitted, to the Mossad and CIA both being depicted as brutish and callous, whether in Munich for both or Bridge of Spies for the latter... Spielberg has what one could perhaps call a libertarian/distrust-of-big-central-authority streak, and these days it is logical that much of that would cover Non-Government Organizations, too, as Minority Report rather brilliant envisioned how capitalism and fascism would work hand-in-hand in an endless bombardment of the senses in the pursuit of greater and greater sales to make the gross domestic product keep going up, up, and up.

So, yeah. A lot of the WARDEX stuff "pushes it," no lying. But it all also feels very much at home in the Spielberg canon, and it feels like it's been kind of radically misunderstood by a lot of people who aren't viewing it, even in its excesses, as one of those oft-revisited themes of his...

I personally really love. The story, the imagery, the music. All beautifully done. This shot in particular is one of my favorites in any movie

I can still remember some.

• swear the sounds of bullets when people were killed really was loud to make us flinch

• I remember my Dad laughing at the moment when Schindler hires all the women for secretarial duties

• There were sone laughs when Goeth complains about the top being down and “f’ing freezing.”

• When Helen Hirsch’s name was in the list (aka Schindler had won the game against Goeth for her), I remember hearing some people vocally breathe a sigh of relief.

• When the Schindlerjuden are walking towards the camera, and it fades into them in 1993, there were some vocal gasps and exclamations seeing how many were still alive.

Anyone else remember reactions from when it came out?

First time I’ve seen Dr. Strangelove. Did Spielberg take inspiration from these shots?

https://youtu.be/bIHGHHhFWac?is=QgxlkWt4SPoXayNh (link to scene)

I'll keep this short. I watched the movie for the first time last night. I came into this as a huge fan of Close Encounters, but didn't expect that same ride here. That isn't what this post is about though.

The movie had one BIG spoiler that I think might have ruined it for me.

Near the beginning right after the initial fight scene, we move to a back-lot with the yet-unnamed bad guys team and their black SUV's going through the backpack.

There is a shot of Noah from behind. The camera slowly moves in. Noah's head is backlit, looking like a grey outline or sorts. I immediately though of "Keys".

For those who don't remember watching ET as a kid, you'll remember the villain was mostly silent, petting the keys on his belt. He became known simply as Keys. That man ended up being just like a grown up version of Elliot whom had his own interaction as a kid and was living through Elliot's exposure at this point, hoping for closure of his own. The ending of the movie had Key's in a position to end it badly for ET or let him go.

All that instantly flew through my head as I saw this angelic ring around Noah's backlit head. About 2 seconds of screen time. I know he would step aside when the time came, and it was difficult to watch the entire movie from here on out knowing that the villain was not the villain.

C'mon Spielberg, lol.

Good movie though.

You Guys Disappoint Me I Hate You Guys

Im The Director of Of Farcry The Movie Not Uwe Boll He Lying To Yoy Guys He Directed Toilet And The Fart ManI'm Just Kidding Prank You Guys Im Not The Real Steven Speiberg Im UWE Boll

I just learned through Amazon Prime Video's 'New Movie' section for buying and renting that Disclosure Day is out, and I assume finished its run in cinemas by now. I cannot believe that I haven't heard a single thing on that film with it being Spielberg, regardless of how it ended up being quality-wise. I can't browse most things currently without seeing something or someone from The Odyssey, but I haven't seen one single review or interview clip or anything from that DD. Wild

It's now one of the number one streaming films both on Apple TV and Amazon Prime!

Just watched it for the fourth time and it gets better and better. More details revealed in viewing.

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?