Disclosure Day (John Williams)
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The first trailer for this mysterious new Spielberg project was finally unveiled a few days ago. I’ve embedded it below for those who missed it.
I was underwhelmed after all the hooplah. A few shots in there that are really hokey, like the Coca Cola/New Disney image of the person walking towards a cabin with a CGI deer and a bird. And nowhere near the consistent excellence that Kaminski displayed in previous sci fi works, like MINORITY REPORT or WAR OF THE WORLDS (to say nothing of Zsigmond’s amazing CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND). I got some BFG vibes from this, and not the good parts of that underwhelming film.
But time will show. At the very least we have the Williams score to look forward to, maybe his last score ever.
To be honest, over many years I regarded the new Spielberg movies just as a vehicle for a new Williams score. Which led to a bunch of pleasant cinematic surprises. But I am looking forward to this.
I remember watching Dial of Destiny at the cinema and thinking what a blast that is watching a movie elevated by Williams’ music.
Yes, here probably the last time.I envy having a low expectation level like that. Sadly, mine is usually through the roof, as I think Spielberg is the greatest filmmaker who ever lived (I hope Dr. Jacoby is not reading this, LOL!). He usually delivers the goods, but in recent years, I’ve been lukewarm to THE BFG, READY PLAYER ONE and WEST SIDE STORY, for example (despite some wonderful sequences in all). While I truly loved BRIDGE OF SPIES, THE POST and THE FABELMANS. So more unsure than I used to be.
Same for Williams, really. Since 2005 – his last great year – I’ve loved WAR HORSE, THE POST and THE FABELMANS through and through. All the others, I have issues with, despite some great moments.
So yeah — more unstable these days, but for some reason still sky high expectations that have been embedded in my spine since I was a kid.
I am somewhere in the middle when it comes to Spielberg. I dislike the cheesiness that he brought to many of his films after E.T. And his preference for Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks didn’t push my enthusiasm either. There are a few movies of his that I consider perfect like Jaws, E.T., Catch Me If You Can, Schindler’s List, Raiders of the Lost Ark. But usually there is always something great or spectacular in his movies and some parts that I really dislike.
And about Williams, I really loved everything he wrote in the past 20 years, except The Rise Of Skywalker. But this score and The Last Jedi really suffer from the uneven album presentation and maybe the bad movies.
Mixed response to that trailer/teaser with its even generic trailer music… I doube we will get 2nd 3rd encounter score but I am open for surprises (same for the movie) 😉
I think no doubt Steven Spielberg is one of the all time great filmmakers, he was born to direct movies. There is not really a “bad” Steven Spielberg movie in the sense that they are in any way less than professionally produced and well crafted. That does not mean I like all of his movies, but I can see that they are well made. Among my favorite Spielberg movies are Duel, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and my least favorite may well be Ready Player One, which — while it had some interesting sequences — I found to be highly contrived, muddy in its storytelling and downright hypocritical in its underlying ideas and concepts. So no points from me for that one. But Schindler’s List? An absolute masterpiece.
Of Spielberg’s later movies I very much love The War of the Worlds, and I liked Minority Report. Cath Me if You Can was wonderful.
Spielberg has a tendency to blow over the darker implications of the story in some of his movies, and strives to have every movie end as “happily” as can be, which leads to some really out of place endings that feel fake (like the “everybody lives happy ever after” ending of Minority Report, which is otherwise a strong genre-mix of Hitchcockian crime drama and science-ficton).
I hope Disclosure Day will be a triumph, but admit the trailer left me underwhelmed after all the build-up, so I keep my expectations levelled. But I’ll definitely get the soundtrack, no matter what.Perhaps we’ll get Williams’ first generic score to a Spielberg movie. 🙂
To cite the old meme: A generic Williams score would be much better than top scores by others in any case 😉
There is not really a “bad” Steven Spielberg movie in the sense that they are in any way less than professionally produced and well crafted.
The Lost World and Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, IMO. I haven’t watched 1941 yet.
The worst Spielberg movies in my book are Always, Hook and Ready Player One.
But I haven’t watched The Terminal.In my memory 1941 wasn’t so bad. It just wasn’t funny, but spectecular to watch.
And I also kind of liked BFG which everybody seems to hate.
I don’t think some of these film mentioned are downright “bad”. Sure, The Lost World is not going down in film history as the next Citizen Kane, but that’s not its claim, it just wants to be a fun monster movie, and that it was. And it has an excellent John Williams score. I haven’t seen Always since it came out, but remember it as a gentle film with the last appearance of Audrey Hepburn. Even Hook, which has definitely some issues, also has some glorious sets and a wonderful Dustin Hoffman. Even Ready Player One, which I do consider a bad movie, is nevertheless a well made film… just not a good one.
Perhaps for me, the most “problematic” Spielberg film is A.I.. Now that’s got some of the best moments of the entire Spielberg canon, and some of the worst, so it’s really a movie I have trouble liking, though I wish I could. Though I love John Williams’ score for A.I. and consider it one of his finest.
is nevertheless a well made film… just not a good one.
This is where I’m on Lost World and Crystal Skull, although I’m not sure they’re well made.
THE LOST WORLD is a brilliant movie, vastly underrated.
A.I., meanwhile, is maybe the best film and score since the millennium turnover. It’s also top 3 Spielberg and top 5 Williams for me.
I’m not expecting DISCLOSURE DAY to be anywhere near these.
I’m amazed that so many seem to sleep on Lincoln. Is it an American thing? Outside of Schindler’s List, and the debatable remake of WSS (no Jerome Robbins really hurts, and the editing lacks Wise’s rhythm), Kushner has written Spielberg’s best scripts. The last Spielberg movie I didn’t really care for was Ready Player One, and before that, A.I. BFG is a charming movie, stunningly produced, with the best Williams score in twenty years.
This new film has Emily Blunt (Do you see her? nice!), an original idea by Spielberg, and an improbable (possibly) final score by John Williams. Oh, and I think it looks pretty good. Kaminski annoys the right people. There’s a lot of certified geniuses working on this film (and David Koepp lol). I’ll watch their “mediocre” any day.
Kaminski annoys the right people.
He, he. That’s a nice way of putting it. Big Kaminski fan myself. He should have a field day with this.
I find it so unbelievably fantastic that we are getting a new John Williams score this year. Unlike some others I am a huge fan of Williams’ recent output like Dial of Destiny, The Fabelmans, Lincoln, The Book Thief, The Post, Star Wars sequels etc.
Really looking forward to this.Yes, it’s kinda mindboggling when you think about it.
I don’t know what year I first discovered John Williams, exactly, but let’s say it was my socalled “explosion year” 1990, the year I turned 13. Williams was pushing 60 at the time, which is old to a teenager. After all, Williams is only seven years younger than my own GRANDfather (who passed away in 2011 at a measly 86). And here we are, 36 years later. Now I’m pushing 50 myself, and that “old man” from 1990 has yet ANOTHER score coming out! Pretty wild.
Of course, there are several other film composers out there who are older than Williams. And there have been many film workers that historically have even more impressive “old man feats”(….FEATS, not feet!…) – like Manoel de Oliveira who directed his last film at age 106 – but very few who have had the continual presence that Williams has had throughout. So however DISCLOSURE DAY turns out, that’s a feat onto itself.
And to my surprise Williams apparently even conducted a great deal of the score himself:
https://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/topic/38025-john-williams-disclosure-day-cecilia-tsan-confirms-williams-conducting/I find it flabbergasting that one (out of several) DISCLOSURE DAY threads over on JWFAN has 1500 replies….and that’s before the film has even premiered.
We have 21.
We’re less people 😉 But we maybe able to better hold our horses until there is anything proper to discuss, too.
The trailers for this have been giving me more of a M Night Shyamalan vibe than Spielberg.
Some bits seem hysterically bad (all the nuns and passengers, all tuned in to their phones at the same time).
Plus, CGI animals are generally shite and off-putting to me.
I’ve also found Spielberg’s recent films either dull/boring or not that good.
I will keep an open mind and hope for the best, but it’s the new John Williams score that’s got me most excited.I probably like the Spielberg movies that are not that popular (like Empire Of The Sun or The Fabelmans, or that’s right, The Color Purple).
But here are the Spielberg movies I simply couldn’t watch till the end:
Tintin (I confess, kids animation flicks don’t appeal to me)
Lincoln (the way it’s directed, its tone, it just puts me off)
The Post (see Lincoln)
Ready Player One (it’s a nervous video game to me)The Spielberg movies that I didn’t bother to see (because life is short, right?)
The BFG
Indiana Jones And The Dial Of DestinyThe Spielberg movies that I watched but did not like at all:
War Horse (kids movie)
Indiana Jones And The Crystal Skull (idiotic)
War Of The Worlds (overly sombre with characters that fail to intrigue)
Jurassic Park (kids movie)
The Lost World (don’t remember, simply not interesting, no character, no indentity)
Amistad (opening scene was good, then it becomes a visually unattractive TV movie, a courtroom drama, a summing up of historical facts or events)
Bridge Of Spies (again, it was the overall tone that bothered me, a Tom Hanks vehicle)
West Side Story (I don’t know why I stuck around till the end)
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom (silly ADHD movie, kinda like 1941)
1941Although Spielberg is my no. 1 director, I can actually follow your misgivings for some of these. I say ‘some’, because you also have my alltime favourite film in there (JURASSIC PARK), and films I generally consider good or underrated.
I don’t think Spielberg has ever made a weak movie, but he’s made some with issues (1941, THE BFG, READY PLAYER ONE, for example). But even in these, I find lots of values and can go in length extolling these virtues.
But yes, I’m totally biased.
I can also follow on some of these although probably not that harsh with any. I don’t mind “kids movies” 😉 But indeed READY PLAYER ONE was a bit too nervous for me as well… His West Side Story version I haven’t seen.
1941 is the only Spielberg movie I struggled to finish. There are a few I don’t like:
Hook – I agree with Spielberg’s own assessment of this film.
The Lost World – He got real excited about a t-Rex in San Francisco and forgot he needed an actual movie to get there.
A.I. – I don’t know who was responsible for that ending, but it’s the most contrived tear-baiting nonsense of his career. That whole movie is a meandering mess.
Everything else is pretty good to amazing, and I’d go to bat for any of them in some capacity.
Interesting that noone seems to have issues with ALWAYS. It is together with HOOK my least liked Spielberg movie.
Later when I watched GHOST I thought, yes, that is how you tell such a story.
I forgot Always. While I didn’t like the movie at all, I did like the score. It is however short but very ‘heavenly’ (too sweet perhaps?), and it gave us another typical Williams ‘fun’ theme, which is always a good thing.
Is there a better name for Williams’ fun themes? You know, like ‘Follow me’ (Always), ‘The Tennis Game’, ‘Jim’s New Life’, ‘Tourists On The Menu’, etc ….
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