Colman Domingo as Hugo Wakefield, Tommy Martinez as Santiago, Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild and Josh O'Connor as Dr. Daniel Kellner in a scene from "Disclosure Day." (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
Summer is here, and so many of us seek the confines of a darkened auditorium for some well-rendered escapism. Okay, sometimes we know going in it's not going to be mind-blowing, but the prospect of spending a couple of hours out of the sweltering heat is enough motivation.
That's not to say all escapism is strictly popcorn fare, and all prestige efforts are completely devoid of escapism. Two new releases out in theaters this weekend toe the line between thrills and commenting on current affairs. At first glance, they couldn't be more different. One of them is a big-budget undertaking that blends science fiction, political intrigue, faith and spiritual uplift. The other focuses on a community of reptile hunters in order to etch a vivid portrait of the Florida Everglades.
Josh O'Connor as Dr. Daniel Kellner in a scene from "Disclosure Day." Photo by Niko Tavernise, courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
A closer inspection yields several similarities: lush and evocative visuals, as well as a skillfully edited depiction of people in pursuit of something, be it truth, social reform or an invasive species that's wreaking havoc on an ecosystem. For these filmmakers, neither extraterrestrial intelligence nor slithering varmints pose the bigger threat. Oh, no, they say. Humans are humanity's biggest stumbling block.
Now hold on to your butts.
“Disclosure Day”: Steven Spielberg's return to alien-themed sci-fi begins as a cluttered chase movie, but it transforms into something else by the time it cuts to black for the last time. Something richer, more layered, less concerned with quickening your pulse than in pulling you in for a cosmic embrace.
Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild and Wyatt Russell as Jackson in a scene from "Disclosure Day." (Photo courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
The results are messy and dorky in spots. They're also absolutely beautiful. Despite signs that the prolific auteur, now 79, might be out of touch with some aspects of contemporary life, it is also clear he's got plenty of gas left in the tank. He has a lot to say about the way we live and our place in the universe, and yes, he still wants you to look up to the night sky in wonder.
“Disclosure Day” begins as a movie already in progress. Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor, once again trying on an American accent) is part of the audience during a wrestling match, but the cybersecurity expert is not interested in watching the fighters taking to the mat. Rather, it's the contents of his backpack that he's trying to protect.
From who? A bunch of nondescript baddies keen on nabbing him and his bag. Pulling the strings is Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), CEO of the Wardex Corporation, an entity functioning outside the purview of the U.S. government, tasked with preventing people from knowing the extent of the interaction between humans and extraterrestrials.
Spielberg, working from a screenplay by frequent collaborator David Koepp (“Jurassic Park,” “War of the Worlds,” uhh, “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”), puts viewers up to date in quick, broad strokes. Daniel is a former Wardex employee, fed up with keeping secrets that he's convinced should be open knowledge. So he stole the evidence. Oh, yes, he also took a sleek doohickey that's not of this world. Plus he's not working alone.
Colin Firth as Noah Scanlon in a scene from "Disclosure Day." (Photo by Niko Tavernise, courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
Daniel has also gotten Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson) mixed up in this mess. Who's Jane? In true Spielberg fashion, they appear to be siblings or cousins when first seen together, but as the movie eventually tells us, they've been dating. One of the nondescript baddies says “girlfriend” at one point, but it's apparent the pair haven't been an item that long.
Whereas Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), the vivacious meteorologist at KCXE in Kansas City, has been with her musician boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell), for probably a little too long. In one of the film's most ingenious scenes, a visit from an unusually friendly cardinal (the feathered kind) triggers something in Margaret. Suddenly she can speak all kinds of languages and knows things about people, lots of things — freaking Jackson out.
The ghost of Alfred Hitchcock hovers above the first hour and change of “Disclosure Day,” which is bent in the shape of one of Hitch's thrillers about a wrongfully accused man who's on the run. Even the aforementioned scene between Margaret and Jackson wouldn't be out of place in “Rear Window,” only the couple in the newer movie is faltering, only pretending to be harmonious.
Blunt is every bit as good as advertised, making the tonal shifts required of her demanding role feel effortless, but let's save some praise for Russell (son of Goldie Hawn, whom Spielberg directed in “The Sugarland Express,” and Kurt Russell) for imbuing his portrayal of Kansas City's most miserable bohemian boyfriend with some welcome ambivalence. O'Connor, Firth and Hewson are solid as well, but I kept wishing for more background details about what's fueling Daniel's whistleblowing quest.
Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild in a scene from "Disclosure Day." (Photo by Niko Tavernise, courtesy of Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment)
“Disclosure Day” is at its most suspenseful during a scene where Noah uses his own alien doohickey to control another person who's not in the room, bringing to mind “Minority Report” and “War of the Worlds,” Spielberg's sci-fi collaborations with Tom Cruise. (Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski's harsh lighting only accentuates the aesthetic similarities to these prior efforts.) The moment of tension is welcome, particularly in a film that, at 145 minutes, could have used some trimming, despite feeling reasonably brisk for entire stretches.
But as the narrow escapes and cat-and-mouse chases pile up, the suspense ebbs away, and viewers primed to expect menace and violence from yarns about government secrets might be surprised to find little of either here. Spielberg is in playful mode when staging these scenes of peril, including one featuring a train that's a bit on the clunky side, but he also might leave you wondering what happened to the body count that was so rampant in “Report” and “Worlds.”
It's all part of “Disclosure Day's” design. It introduces Jane's recent past as a novitiate when she and Daniel seek shelter at her convent where she stopped short of taking her vows. This, not the men-in-black business, is what truly interests Spielberg. The film gradually morphs into a meditation on faith and belief, grappling with the repercussions that could come from people knowing the truth about the existence of aliens and their links to Earth. Would it lead to pandemonium? Society's breakdown? Or would it lead to the next chapter in humankind's evolution?
Anne Stratton and Toby Benoit in "The Python Hunt." (Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)
Spielberg and Koepp keep the focus on us, not the visitors from another star, as “Disclosure Day” finally comes out of the closet as a melodrama about processing trauma. And a film that starts out as the gentlest conspiracy thriller you're likely to encounter is revealed to be a portrait of broken lives closer in spirit to “E.T.” and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” While this latest effort isn't quite in the same league as those all-timers, it is nevertheless bathed in Spielberg's grace.
His kindness is a rare and powerful gift, and in “Disclosure Day,” that intimacy is a soothing salve. One feels the film's missteps melting away, like the Gestapo agent's face at the end of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” as Spielberg beckons you, away from all the noise of the world, for a close encounter of the internal kind. This is therapy for the soul, a non-denominational service in a shiny, transcendental package.
If you have grown up with Spielberg's films, as I have, you might feel he is speaking directly to you, as I did, and the hold he has over you might reduce you to a blubbering mess, as it did to me. In “Disclosure Day,” he laments the fissures that keep us divided, the walls we have erected to stay disconnected. Mindful of the relentless passage of time, he mourns what we have lost, then turns around and says it's not too late for us. As we continue drifting on this rock, his optimism for the future shines brighter than the sun we orbit.
Shannon McCartney and Jimbo McCartney in "The Python Hunt." (Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)
I see you, Uncle Steven. You've made a film of staggering inner beauty. It glows from within, like E.T.'s heart. Now tell me another story. While we're both still here on this pale blue dot.
“The Python Hunt”: An ideal chaser to follow “Disclosure Day's” emotional high comes in the form of this groovy, easygoing documentary that champions community. The community in this case being the people from all walks of life who take part in the Florida Python Challenge, an annual, state-sponsored scavenger hunt that aims to help reduce the number of Burmese pythons from the Everglades. Whoever nabs the most pythons wins, but the 10-day event has one caveat: Hunters must kill their catch.
Xander Robin, the director of this 2025 Miami Film Festival selection, invites us to hang out with these colorful folks with differing degrees of dexterity in snatching the scaly critters. There's novelist, musician and outdoorsman Toby Benoit, a good kind of Florida man, who is chaperoning octogenarian Anne Stratton, a self-described “nature enthusiast,” and has promised her a python for her to kill.
Anne and Toby are just the tip of the iceberg. There's Richard Perenyi, a bearded San Franciscan who teaches science, drives a Mini Cooper and is keen on trying out this distinctly Floridian competition. There's former Marine Madison Oliveira, a recent Florida transplant who searches for the snakes from her chic Volkswagen Beetle. Then there's a young man from Belgium who's had Florida described to him as “the butthole of America.”
Toby Benoit in "The Python Hunt." (Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories)
But the beating heart of “The Python Hunt” is the man not taking part in the competition: the formidable Jimbo McCartney. A past incident that ran Jimbo afoul of the hunt's organizers led to him being banned from competing, but it's not as if he wants to be part of it, because, in his words, “it brings the wrong kind of attention to this problem.” Jimbo's hard-earned wisdom goes hand in hand with the engaging rapport with his daughter Shannon, which is even more disarming than the banter among the hunters, particularly during a “snaking party” held in a motel room.
Robin, who also made the quirky indie romance “Are We Not Cats,” has a knack for portraiture that occasionally gives this slickly lensed eco-doc the air of a Christopher Guest mockumentary. What the South Florida-based filmmaker conspicuously avoids is ridicule, which puts him closer to Errol Morris and his earlier documentaries. Rather than using these people as a way to explore this “Burning Man of snake hunting,” he lets viewers experience the event through their eyes, interspersed with shots of periscoping pythons, “The Python Hunt” could have taken a more cynical approach to this subject, like something one would find in Billy Corben's snarky, highly caffeinated Florida docs, but that's simply not the way Robin rolls. His generosity of spirit makes all the difference here.
If there is something that holds back “The Python Hunt,” it's Robin's decision not to delve more fully into the politics surrounding the hunt and the ecological toll this invasive species has taken. Toby cites Scooby-Doo to point out that “the real monsters are always people,” but the filmmaker appears hesitant when dealing with public officials' role in the matter. An occasionally tense meeting of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is the closest the film comes to taking a longer view.
But this reticence is the only instance where Robin's character-driven emphasis feels limiting. His brand of nonfiction storytelling is akin to spending quality time at a friendly dive bar, one that's awash in nocturnal imagery and only allows good vibes. Better than that, it takes a thoughtful, even philosophical approach to a corner of the Sunshine State that, one senses, is ripe for further exploration. His movie slithers into your good graces.
“Disclosure Day” is now showing in wide release, including at AMC Aventura 24, Silverspot Metsquare Cinema in downtown Miami, CMX Brickell City Centre, The Landmark at Merrick Park, Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas Coconut Grove and Regal Kendall Village. “The Python Hunt” is showing at O Cinema South Beach through Tuesday, June 23.
