Disclosure Day (2026)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo

Have I Seen It Before: By the end of opening weekend, I ended up seeing it twice.

Did I Like It: Well, I’ve found the film that every year seems to need lately. We’ve all got to take some position on this thing now, and it wouldn’t be the worst idea if we come up with our stances on the people who have a different stance.

If you completely dismiss the film, I find myself automatically distrusting you. We can have a discussion about where it might rank in the Spielberg pantheon, I may even have a qualm or two about the final act (more on that later). That’s all fine. When you watch it, it might not hit you in the way you had absolutely hoped. Judging a movie by your mood that day feels like it shouldn’t be the way to more incisive criticism, but it’s also hard to shake it off completely.

But if the think piece you’ve been cooking up for your own blog has a title anywhere alogn the lines of “Here’s Why You’re Right If You Hated Disclosure Day” then quite frankly, you are dis-invited from my birthday party this year. Just cancel, already.

Spielberg. Aliens. John Williams score. Not all of that’s going to happen a whole lot more times, lest I remind you. What’s more, the plot has something profound to say about what it means to be human in the 2020s. Cynicism is everywhere. We should listen. It also has some of the better car chases I’ve seen in a good long while, and Emily Blunt is giving one of the best performances of the year. You can have faith in Spielberg’s, and if something doesn’t quite work for you… I dunno. Go see it again?

That faith in the master’s skills might not extend to his philosophy. While I’m on board with the need for a little less guile in the world, the reality of this story ending with every one on the planet believing what they’re seeing doesn’t ring as true as living through the last decade of human history would seem to indicate.

But then that might be the point. When we were young, we had the fantasy of having an extra-terrrestrial best friend. Now, we are all much older, and we have to yearn for a world that might listen.

Shakespeare in Love (1998)

Director: John Madden*

Cast: Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph Fiennes, Geoffrey Rush, Colin Firth

Have I Seen it Before: Oh, sure. It’s surprising to realize I haven’t re-watched this one since starting these reviews nearly 2 1/2 years ago.

Did I Like It: There’s just something about Best Picture winners fro the late 1990s. They age very poorly. I’m mainly looking in your direction, American Beauty (1999). This one, too gets a little bit of derision, but as I’ve already mentioned, it is one of my favorites.

Repackaging the bard as a the prototypical romantic comedy lead works in spades. Doing so gleefully unravels the film from anything resembling historical accuracy, but if you need movies to be historically accurate, I’m beginning to think you don’t get much enjoyment out of life, and that you are perpetually disappointed by your unrealistic expectations of the world. Scenes of the author struggling with his work similarly likely have no basis in reality, but they feel true, which is all we can ask from a film.

Sure, just the mention of Harvey Weinstein makes one’s blood run cold. Also, it’s hard to forget during the film that much of it is centered on a performance from a performer now is now arguably more famous for producing and selling candles which smell like her genitals. On that note, both Paltrow and Affleck do just above Costner-level work to convince us they’re English. It doesn’t help matters. But these are nitpicks—except for the Weinstein part—of a movie that largely holds up and is definitely worth another look.

* No matter how many times I see this movie, I always chuckle as I imagine the famed footballman calling the shots. For the record, I know it is a different John Madden.

Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001)

Director: Sharon Maguire

Cast: Renée Zellweger, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Gemma Jones

Have I Seen it Before: Yes? It’s a favorite of my wife, and we’ve been together for long enough that I would have had to have watched in its entirety, right? And yet, can I be sure?

Did I Like It: It is difficult to dislike a movie like this. Zellweger is far more convincing and charming as the quintessential British everywoman than she has any right to be. Firth is at the purest point of his Firthyness muttering his way through every interaction. It was probably desperately needed for Grant to occasionally no longer be portrayed as a lovable handsome man, when in reality he is far more believable as—to bother a term—complete and utter wanker.

But let’s get to my Big Thought for this movie. For my money, Bridget Jones’ Diary is the Rocky IV (1985) of romantic comedies.

Wait. Don’t go. Let me finish.

While both the boxing movie and the romantic comedy are certainly prone to the montage to help their stories, let me ask you a question. Were one to take the montages out of either movie and let their stories play out not with characters looking wistful or forthright on their own, but instead with scenes where the characters actually interact and speak with each other (or at all), how long would the film actually end up running?

My guess is about 45 minutes.

I’m not even sure that’s a problem, necessarily. I’m a sucker for a silent movies, and I’m sure whichever conglomerate go to press the soundtrack album for those films made a mint. I just can’t help but wonder if ultimately there just wasn’t enough movie there, thus the padding. There are worse crimes for a movie, one supposes.

I didn’t expect at the outset of this review that it would double as review for both Bridget Jones Diary and Rocky IV, but here we are. The temptation to now re-watch Rocky IV and just republish the review is almost too much to bear.